Dungeons & Dragons: Things That Frustrate You About The Game

Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook

This is two easy to understand topics about things that are annoying in Dungeons & Dragons. Two categories - The Rule Format and the Dice.

Dungeons & Dragons is a "Role Playing Fantasy Game" and the rules are complicated anyway and people play by their own "understanding" of the rule books based on what they can figure out so you play with different people and they have different rules.

I like to play with the hard rules in it but other people maybe can't learn them so they use thier own more simplified version which is also a part of how to play the game, you can include or exclude rules based on how well you can learn the game. 

The Dungeon Master has to decide what rules to follow in the game for their version and countless arguments break out during the game with players quoting the rules in the Players Handbook back to the Dungeon Master arguing about the game results.

What the player means is that in the Players Handbook the rules they understand mean they get a different result from the game on the Dice Rolls  for their character than what the Dungeon Master is telling them. That is because the Dungeon Master has to tell everyone what rules they are using or "excluding" because they may be too difficult for other Players or the Dungeon Master himself.

So they have to agree to drop rules so everyone can play the same format with a "group rules" understanding which may vary form kitchen table to kitchen table depending on the house you go to.

That is not my complaint about the game because you just play what you can, the advanced player may argue that is roll of 6 becomes a roll of 20 by using special features and complicated formulas in the game to achieve special moves.

The player will argue that they are being cheated in the game by using easier rules and will have to accept a 6 on the dice roll to play with the group who have a lesser understanding of the game. 

I'm basing that on the rules in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons One, which I like to play, but it has been simplified in newer more recent versions for easier game play and understanding but it is essentially the same game.

The newer games are a more "relaxed version" of the original difficult games to get the game going faster with easier rules to understand. 

Obviously, the game went in that direction because the older games were too difficult for everyone to fully understand. So I mean the older game versions but I'm sure the issues are in the newer ones which I play less frequently but I like to usually try every version to see what's in them all being a fan of the game.

Here is my issue, Dungeons & Dragons says it's "role playing and fantasy" now, they mean two things when they say that. I didn't get all this but people tell me how they play it and now I do.

Role playing can mean "dice rolling" or "fantasy role playing", when they say "role playing" you don't know if they mean dice rolling or fantasy playing in your imagination.

The game is TWO parts...it's a dice rolling game AND a fantasy game that you make up.

That is where I get angry at Dungeons & Dragons when playing the game, "Fantasy Play" in the game has NO NUMERICAL VALUES in the game. That's why people wear costumes and stuff when they play it and go on about their characters.

I don't use that section of the game because it is NOT dice rolling. I only use the dice rolling sections of the game. For me the rest of the game is a waste of time.

I will give you an example, I am only interested in the "hardcore rulebook" of rolling the dice and getting the results in the game play. Other people like to make up detailed descriptions and backgrounds of their characters with biographies and stuff attached to them while they play the game.

That section to me is a waste of time and is not part of the actual dice rolling game play HOWEVER some of it does come into effect in the game.

For example if you pick the character "Human Fighter" in the game (or any character) the character sheet takes like 2 weeks to fill out and asks you to include historical backgrounds, lineages and family events, stuff like that, and has noting to do with the actual "board game play" which is the only part I like to use.

Right away in Dungeons & Dragons I scratch off any boxes or columns on the character sheet that are "fictional information only" for fantasy play. I find that this is a waste of time that could be better spent doing actual game play - rolling the dice.

Here is a game play example, the Fighter has to choose his characters "alignment" good or evil - you need that in the game.

So you pick "evil" - after that any stories you make up are the "fantasy section" of Dungeons & Dragons and are "fiction" in the game that do not affect game play like historical backgrounds and family lineages like saying you are royal blood or something. All that is just made up and stuff players talk about at the table when playing the game.

I always drop all that because it wastes game time. Those items have no effect on dice rolling game play.

However let's say you pick you character's alignment as "good" or "evil" after this the rules effect game play. During a game playing scenario your dice roll will be affected by you characters alignment.

Like if some casts a spell on you your chances of getting affected by the spell will be greater if you are evil and less if you are good.

A roll of 10 becomes a 1 if you are evil and a roll of 5 becomes a 9 if you are good.

After this your historical background of why you chose good or evil is "fantasy only" during the game and does not affect game play. This takes up way too much time in the game so I don't use any of those rules.

Also remember it is up to the Dungeon Master AND the Player to "argue" the result of your dice roll while playing the game. The Dungeon Master has to keep track of your characters "alignment" and adjust your dice rolls based on the effects or "adjustments" in the game based on your character being good or evil.

The player MUST keep track of their characters adjustments for character alignment and tell the Dungeon Master that a 5 becomes a 9 if they are "good" in their alignment in certain situations in the game.

The Dungeon Master may miss this and give you a 5, all Players must keep track of this. That way the Player may know they get extra points in certain fighting situations in the game based on their characters alignment.

That has nothing to do with the fantasy section.

Other people who play the game may "drop" the alignment rule and then not make roll adjustments during game play at all - all players get a 5 if they roll it during fighting because the alignment rule is not used, making it a more simple version to understand for players or to just speed the game up.

The evil aligned character may say that when they are using the alignment rule when he rolls a 9 it becomes a 1 based on his alignment, however he also has a "magic sword" it that situation that makes the 9 a 100. 

Then he just goes around killing everything in the game, because even though he loses from a 9 to a 1 on the roll, other rules may make the 1 a 100 based on magic items like swords and equipment - that is the actual game of Dungeons & Dragons.

For many players that is WAY TOO HARD and they don't follow the magic items rule to get the 100 off a roll of 1 in "rare situations" in the game - based on their "evil alignment".

Many players will stop at the alignment adjustment only or not even use it based on their understanding of the game.

For me I used the advanced rules because it makes the game more fun once you learn them and you can "argue" the Dungeon Master for extra points when rolling the dice based on your character and equipment. Those are the "character adjustments" on the character sheet and it is up to the PLAYER to keep track of that and tell the Dungeon Master what you roll adjustments are if they use those specific rules.

Always keep track of all that on scrap paper because the character sheet is too small.

My point there is that including the more complicated rules makes it a better game, wasting space on your character sheet is a waste of time to me by putting the "fantasy" section in that does not affect game play.

Multi Sided Polygon Dice

The second thing is the Dungeons & Dragons dice. These dice are NOT Copyrightable although they may hold the patent for them.

Anyone can use those 20 sided dice etc. for any purpose in ANY game on the market just like a 6 sided dice set. 

This is because you can't patent a polygon or hexagon. Dungeons & Dragons should have their patent removed for the multi sided dice because they are saying they hold a "copyright on a polygon" that is just like saying you own a "cube on a 6 sided dice".

Also the dictionary needs to drop the term "die" when referring to an "individual dice" because it is too awkward.

The term "dice" should be plural with the term meaning one or many dice. From now one I will be calling them all dice even if there is only one of them present.

You can't copyright a 6 sided dice because it is a cube, therefore you can't copyright a 20 sided dice because it is a form of "polygon" with numbers written on it.

These dice should be made available for ANYONE to manufacture and use in ANY board game on the market because you can't patent polygon shapes, just like the cube on a 6 sided dice.

Removing the patent on the dice from Dungeons & Dragons will allow game developers to use the dice in other games and manufacture their own dice just like regular 6 sided dice to help people develop game systems. 

Although I am a large fan of Dungeons & Dragons I am not of fan of them blocking other people from manufacturing the multi sided dice from the game for use in other materials because they are just forms of polygons.

You can not patent a polygon.

However, Dungeons & Dragons have made their dice the "D20 System" which is an "open copyright" on the dice to use in board game development like the game "Pathfinder".

The rule of the D20 system is that if you use their dice then you have to make the game play in your game "open source" that can be used by people making other board games.

So if you use the D20 dice in your game Dungeons & Dragons are saying they are allowed to "copy your game play" on the dice and they can use that to put back in Dungeons & Dragons without paying you royalties.  

Essentially, making your game a "subset" of Dungeons & Dragons" and backwards compatible with their game.

If you want to make a game like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder and use the multi sided polygon dice then you will "lose" your trademark game play back to Dungeons & Dragons and they will be able to copy your patents by taking your game play for their game through the open licence. 

I think that this is a dirty maneuver by Dungeons & Dragons to steal peoples patented game play from their board games to use back in Dungeons & Dragons if they want to use their dice.

If you want to keep the patents for your game play you CAN NOT use the D20 dice because Dungeons & Dragons will take your game play patents which use their dice system.

The correct path should be that Dungeons & Dragons should lose their patents on the multi sided dice system because no one owns multi sided polygon shapes so that anyone can manufacture and use their multi sided dice in their game just like regular 6 sided square dice.

What I am saying is the dice in Dungeons & Dragons should be turned into regular dice just like the 6 sided dice so anyone can use them for any purpose. 

A square cube is the same as a 20 or multi sided polygon.

Then people can develop board games with the multi sided polygon dice and manufacture their own just like with regular 6 sided dice that anyone can use.

That would make a multi sided 20 sided polygon dice that same as a regular square cube 6 sided dice that anyone can use because that's what they are anyway.

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