Dungeons & Dragons ( abbreviated as D & D or DnD ) is a fantasy role-playing game ( RPG ) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. ( TSR ).

Gygax designed numerous manuals for the game system, as well as several pre-packaged adventures called " modules " that gave a person running a D & D game ( the " Dungeon Master ") a rough script and ideas on how to run a particular gaming scenario.

As teenagers Gygax and Kaye designed their own miniatures rules for toy soldiers with a large collection of and figures, and they used " ladyfingers " ( small firecrackers ) to simulate explosions.

Gygax became active in fandom and became involved in play-by-mail Diplomacy games, for which he designed his own variants.

Gygax designed a set of dungeons underneath the ruins of Castle Greyhawk as a testing ground for new rules, character classes and spells.

The adventure module The Village of Hommlet was a 24-page booklet designed by Gary Gygax, and published by TSR in 1979.

" Gygax designed the Tomb of Horrors modules for two related purposes.

David C. Sutherland III and Gary Gygax designed the module, which was then published in 1980 as a 32-page booklet with a folder of maps.

Although a small adventure entitled ' Temple of the Frog ' was included in the Blackmoor rules supplement in 1975, the first stand-alone D & D module published by TSR was 1978's Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, written by Gygax.

In its 1986 Summer Mail Order Hobby Shop catalog, TSR had listed a new Greyhawk adventure called WG7 Shadowlords, a high-level adventure to be written by Gary Gygax and Skip Williams.

However, this adventure was canceled after Gygax left TSR, and the catalog number WG7 was reassigned to a new adventure, Castle Greyhawk, released in 1988.

Mithril metal is also frequently mentioned in many of the original 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game books and adventure modules written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR.

* Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, a 1980 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game written by Gary Gygax

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is a 1980 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game written by Gary Gygax.

Tomb of Horrors is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax for the Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ) role-playing game.

Gygax developed the adventure from an idea by Alan Lucien, one of his original AD & D playtesters, " and I admit to chuckling evilly as I did so.

Dungeonland ( EX1 ) is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ) roleplaying game, written by Gary Gygax for use with the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( AD & D ) rules.

The yochlol was introduced in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game adventure module, Q1-Queen of the Demonweb Pits ( 1980 ), by David C. Sutherland III with Gary Gygax.

Queen of the Demonweb Pits was intended to be the final adventure in a series of seven by Gygax.

** The Lost City of Gaxmoor – adventure module ( Ernie & Luke Gygax with David Moore ) Troll Lord Games, 2002

Pooling their resources, Gygax had the Eight construct a stronghold in the middle of an evil land so they would not have to travel far to find adventure.

Against the Giants is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR in 1981 for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game.

* He wrote the adventure module Queen of the Demonweb Pits ( Q1 ) ( with some editing from Gary Gygax ).

According to Gygax, both the scenario that became Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Metamorphosis Alpha were successful at the convention.

At the point where these characters had collectively accumulated both enough wealth that they couldn't easily spend it, and standing armies that rivalled most nations ' forces, Gygax gathered all eight of the characters together — Mordenkainen ( wizard ), Yrag ( fighter ), Bigby ( wizard ), Rigby ( cleric ), Zigby ( dwarf ), Felnorith ( elf ), Vram ( elf ) & Vin ( elf )— as the Circle of Eight.

The original modules Descent Into the Depths of the Earth and Shrine of the Kuo-Toa were both written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR, Inc. in 1978.

Recreating the city was also a challenge ; although Gygax still had his old maps of the original city, all of his previously published work on the city was owned by WotC, so he would have to create most of the city from scratch while maintaining the look and feel of his original.

First, Gygax explains, " There were several very expert players in my campaign, and this was meant as yet another challenge to their skill — and the persistence of their theretofore-invincible characters.

Gary Gygax thought it would be a good idea to introduce science fiction / science fantasy concepts to D & D players through the use of a tournament scenario at the 1976 Origins II gaming convention in Baltimore, Maryland.

In the afterword, Gygax mentions that Dungeonland was an early part of the Greyhawk dungeon, and that his players visited it multiple times.

Kuntz quickly grew impatient with play when it involved more than a couple of players, often playing solo adventures one-on-one with Gygax ; their constant ( almost daily ) play meant that Robilar rapidly gained power and possessions.

By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all Dungeons & Dragons characters whose names were anagrams or versions of his own name, such as Yrag and Zagyg.

Since WotC still owned the rights to the name Greyhawk, Gygax changed the name of the castle to Castle Zagyg — the reverse homophone of his own name originally ascribed to the mad architect of his original thirteen level dungeon.

By the terms of his settlement with TSR, Gygax kept the rights to Gord the Rogue as well as all D & D characters whose names were anagrams or plays on his own name ( for example, Yrag and Zagyg ).

He constantly needed his own opinions on fandom considered right, and would stalk and argue with anyone who was either famous, or went against him ( including Steve Jackson and Gary Gygax ).

Gygax adapted the module from his own D & D campaign.

Basing their work on Arneson's modified version of Chainmail for his Blackmoor campaign, Gygax and Arneson collaborated on The Fantasy Game, the role-playing game that later became Dungeons & Dragons.

Role-playing campaign settings like Greyhawk by Gary Gygax, Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings.

Gygax realized that novels set in Greyhawk could have a similar benefit for his campaign world and wrote Saga of Old City, the first in a series of novels that would be published under the banner Greyhawk Adventures.

By the time Gygax and Kuntz had stopped working on the original home campaign, the castle dungeons had encompassed fifty levels of maze-like passages and thousands of rooms and traps.

Gygax and his friend Rob Kuntz further developed this campaign setting, and by 1976, the lands within a radius of 50 miles had been mapped in depth, and the lands within a radius of approximately 500 miles were in outline form.

However in the original world of Greyhawk campaign setting created by Gary Gygax, Drow rank structure was based much more on personal experience level and proven personal abilities rather than on gender.

Gygax originally wrote the novels and short stories to promote his World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

Gary Gygax, the developer of the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, realized that novels set in Greyhawk could have a similar benefit for his recently published World of Greyhawk boxed set, so he wrote Saga of Old City, the first in a series of novels that would be published under the banner Greyhawk Adventures.

Louhi is also one of the names of the witch Iggwilv in World of Greyhawk campaign by Gary Gygax for the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Gygax started with his old Greyhawk Castle campaign material and added a spaceship, which Rob Kuntz helped him populate with monsters.

Lolth was created by Gary Gygax for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, later appeared in the Forgotten Realms setting, and in 3rd edition became a member of the default pantheon of D & D gods.

In the fictional campaign setting of Greyhawk used for the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Pholtus was one of the first gods created by Gary Gygax as he and Dave Arneson developed the game of Dungeons & Dragons.

Gygax published his Greyhawk home campaign as the 32-page The World of Greyhawk folio in 1980, but due to lack of space, did not include details of any of his deities.

It was the original intention of Gary Gygax, Ed Greenwood, and others that the various Tiamat incarnations were aspects of a single entity that happened to be active on more than one plane of existence, despite the apparent differences between the mythological Tiamat and her various campaign setting incarnations.

In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, Melf, also known as Prince Brightflame, is a grey elven archmage, and was originally a player character of Lucion Paul Gygax in Gary Gygax's home campaign.

Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons & Dragon fantasy game, created a home campaign based in the World of Greyhawk in order to test new rules.

Gary Gygax, in helping to create the game of Dungeons & Dragons, developed a home campaign in and around the City of Greyhawk.