I’ve been ruminating a lot lately about the evolution of Dungeons & Dragons. From early days playing through adventures like The Keep on the Borderlands and Palace of the Silver Princess to running fifth edition D&D quests like Curse of Strahd or careening through a slapdash Spelljammer campaign the game – and the people who play it – have changed a lot.

One of the ways D&D cleaves to current day sensibilities is through individualized customized content. This isn’t to say D&D wasn’t personalized for all the groups out there rolling funny-shaped dice back in the day, but the way folks play and the content we use to make the magic happen at the table has undergone a sea change.

D&D content creation of yore

When BECMI D&D was the only game in town, we had the boxed sets of rules and modules (adventure booklets), many of which were linked. We got some accessories like dungeon geomorphs and later we got some gazetteers. Then 1st edition AD&D ruled the roost, bringing expanded material like Legends & Lore and Manual of the Planes. Second edition AD&D ushered in an era of supplements like the Complete Guides to…everything you can think of…and then the doors of creation we flung wide open when third edition D&D established the Open Game License. Content creation scaled back a bit with fourth edition, and now we live in the age of fifth edition D&D.

Customized age

Along with the current OGL we also have the ubiquitous internet, combining to present the best time in D&D history to be both a content creator and a gamer. We can gather material to play from numerous sources. Friendly Local Gaming Stores still fly the banner of walk-in access to everything from official products like the D&D Starter Set and special editions of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything to third party books and accessories like Gale Force 9’s Spellbook Cards.

If digital content is more your style, D&D Beyond makes all the official D&D material available in one easy place. Getting started there with basic access is free, allowing players and Dungeon Masters freedom to unlock exactly the content they want through a pricing structure designed to make using the digital toolset customized for each user.

OneBookShelf sites like DriveThruRPG and Dungeon Master’s Guild maintain digital download marketplaces to buy and sell all kinds of D&D stuff. And third party publishers like Frog God Games and Kobold Press have their own online stores to purchase items direct. If you’re reading this before Dec. 19, 2017 you can even get an absolutely insane deal on the Humble RPG Book Bundle from those two publishers. Then there’s Amazon, the boon (or bane) of many impulse shoppers. And don’t even get me started on Kickstarter…

My point is there’s so much incredible content out there for our D&D games and so many people playing – or getting inspired to play through live games like Critical Role, Acquisitions Inc. and Nerdarchy itself – and the kind of material available for gamers reflects the wide diversity at tables around the world.

Creator space

While I was watching the Nerdarchy live chat with Aaron Hübrich and Dan Dillon, discussing the Jetpack7 Kickstarter for Masters and Minions: A 5th Edition Supplement, thoughts coalesced about where we’re at in both the design and play space for D&D. Like other forms of entertainment, we’re living in an age where we can tailor our media so specifically to our needs and desires.

Cut the cord and you’ve still got Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Or VRV. Or CBS All Access. Or…you get the idea. Too broad? Alpha is an entire web channel devoted to your favorite nerdy stuff from Nerdist and Geek & Sundry. Twitch is constantly evolving into a more robust entertainment source. Options like Google Play Store and iTunes let you pick and choose individual shows or episodes of shows to watch at your leisure. And YouTube could keep you busy and entertained for countless hours too. Believe me…I procrastinate there quite a bit.

D&D of today is no different. All the sources I mentioned above mean our gaming experiences can be customized to curate exactly the kind of sessions we want to run with precisely the content to help us play however our particular group prefers. At the same time, exposure to others’ games inspires us to try new things at our own gaming tables. And best of all the explosion of creativity fuels a lifetime of new experiences just waiting to happen.

Straight from the source

Take Masters and Minions for example. It’s neither a campaign nor an adventure. And yet it’s both, and more besides. Since this product has me and so many others excited and provided the missing puzzle piece tying my thoughts together, I went straight to the source and asked Aaron Hübrich to share his insights into what it means to design products in the roleplaying game market right now.

Question: Is creating material that’s part adventure hooks, part creatures, chunks of lore and so on gamers can “drag and drop” into their games a thoughtful part of designing products like this? Designing for flexibility to use as little or as much for various campaigns? Is it a fun challenge to create things where gamers can use for example the Orc Queen for an encounter, or a one-shot, or an entire campaign?

Answer: For sure. We noticed that there are a lot of monsters for use in a game, and that’s great. But the question that comes to mind is, ‘How do I use these monsters now? How do I properly strategize?’ The idea of flipping through a book and dropping a new monster in on the surface sound great, but we felt there should be more questions as to ‘why and how’ being answered. There was a gap between the monster and the actual game that we felt we could design in. Some experienced GMs will dedicate some prep time and study some new things, but it does take time. By having a book like Masters and Minions, they can quickly access a CR level within and essentially cherry pick what they want, which can save a ton of time. For new GMs, it may give some insight on how to bring in additional encounters and offer strategies and tips that would have otherwise been missed if they were simply using the basic monster stats. In pre-made adventures, there can be a struggle with balancing the story and PCs doing something different (aka herding cats). The benefit of Masters and Minions is that it can be pulled into an existing adventure with ease, so if PCs rush through the current adventure, and GMs want to add one more item before leveling them up, they can leverage what’s in Masters and Minions nicely, as an example. There’s also the experienced player dilemma. Meta-gaming happens and it’s okay sometimes, but with Masters and Minions, it can definitely offset some of that built in knowledge and make it more fun for players and GMs. Getting a, “What is that? They did what?” reaction from an experienced player can be very refreshing. The goal is to offer enough ideas and strategies that when the encounter is put in, it’s already developed enough for someone’s game. In a nutshell, we’re doing the prep for a GM ahead of time.

Q: What is the most exciting part about creating in today’s gaming space? What is different today than say in the ’90s or ’80s?

A: I think the merging of “old and new” gamers is great. The idea that fifth edition has brought so many new players in is amazing. The acceptance of fifth edition by many experienced GMs is exciting as well. Fifth edition just seems to find that sweet spot. We didn’t have the Open Gaming License (OGL) in the 1980s and 1990s, so it’s like being a kid again, introducing some of our own ideas into products that thousands of people can enjoy now. Before, our games may have only been experienced by our own group. But now, those ideas can be experienced by many more people via social media and online sales. The OGL allows for publishers big and small to keep bringing out material for years to come and it keeps things very interesting. In addition, there used to be a kind of stigma associated with playing RPGs in the recent past. Not now. Players are able to find each other so much easier now. And having the “old and new” merge is really nice to see, as we now have several generations overlapping and having fun playing.

At the time of this writing, Masters and Minions reached it’s goal and is funded. The end date for the Kickstarter campaign is Dec. 29, 2017 and there’s still those stretch goals to unlock.

Before you head over there to pledge, let me know in the comments what’s your take on today’s ultra customized gaming? Do you have a favorite D&D book or accessory? Any tips for saving time at the table, or guidance for content creation to share?

Stay nerdy!

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