* Average Party Level, a term used in Role Playing Games such as Dungeons & Dragons

Alarums and Excursions ( A & E ) is an amateur press association started in June 1975 by Lee Gold ( at the request of Bruce Pelz, who felt that discussion of Dungeons & Dragons was taking up too much space in Apa-L, the APA of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society ).

* Aberration ( Dungeons & Dragons ), a creature type in the role-playing game

* 2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons ( b. 1947 )

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the amphisbaena is depicted as in traditional myth as a giant serpent with a head at both ends.

Rules can range from the very simple, as in tic-tac-toe, to those describing a game universe in great detail, as in Dungeons & Dragons ( although most of the latter are role-playing games where the board is secondary to the game, helping to visualize the game scenario ).

The fantasy game supplement Thieves World, based on the popular series of books by Robert Lynn Asprin, used both the system for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as well as the RuneQuest variation of the BRP for character statistics, representing the two most popular game systems of the time.

BRP was developed from a core set of attributes similar to the original Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ).

Similarly, authors of fantasy role-playing games sometimes compile bestiaries as references, such as the Monster Manual for Dungeons & Dragons.

Originally published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, only two years after the first role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was published, this edition is now long out of print.

For its time, the game was considered " light years " ahead of the Original Dungeons & Dragons.

Rather than the traditional format established by Dungeons & Dragons, which often involved the characters wandering randomly through caves or tunnels and fighting different types of monsters, Sandy Petersen introduced the concept of the Onion Skin: Interlocking layers of information and nested clues that lead the Player Characters from seemingly minor investigations into a missing person to discovering mind-numbingly awful, global conspiracies to destroy the world.

The d20 system also made it possible to use Dungeons & Dragons characters in Call of Cthulhu, as well as to introduce the Cthulhu Mythos into Dungeons & Dragons games.

* Charon ( Dungeons & Dragons ), a lord of the Yugoloths whose primary function is to provide passage across the River Styx for a steep price

* Chimera ( Dungeons & Dragons ), a magical beast in the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons

* Cyclops ( Dungeons & Dragons ), a giant in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons

* Chaotic Evil, an alignment in the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons

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 ).

, Dungeons & Dragons remained the best-known and best-selling role-playing game, with an estimated 20 million people having played the game and more than US $ 1 billion in book and equipment sales.

Dungeons & Dragons is a structured yet open-ended role-playing game.

Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give Up the Ship !, Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and the two then collaborated on developing " The Fantasy Game ", the role-playing game ( RPG ) that became Dungeons & Dragons, with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax.

* Dungeon Master ( sometimes called a dungeonmaster or DM ), the organizer of a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game

Post-Tolkien fantasy elves ( popularized by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game ) tend to be more beautiful and wiser than humans, with sharper senses and perceptions.

Many of the elements in EverQuest have been drawn from text-based MUD ( Multi-User Dungeon ) games, particularly DikuMUDs, which in turn were inspired by traditional role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.

Forseti appears in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game's pantheon, and is often chosen as a patron god by paladins.

Upon the sudden appearance and massive popularity of Dungeons & Dragons from TSR, the company turned its attentions to role-playing games, seeking out and producing systems created by amateurs and freelancers.

Throughout the game's many editions, Gamma World has almost always remained strongly influenced by Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games of the time.

Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, the other approach to fantasy role-playing which traces its roots back to the 1960s and which derives from the wargaming scene, the roots of Glorantha lie in experiments with mythology, storytelling, and recreation and blending of ancient societies.

Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008 ) was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons ( D & D ) with Dave Arneson.

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.

Perhaps the most common approach to game design in MUDs is to loosely emulate the structure of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign focused more on fighting and advancement than role-playing.

* Monk ( character class ), a character class in Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop and computer role-playing games

* Monk ( Dungeons & Dragons ), a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game

The early success of Dungeons & Dragons led to a proliferation of similar game systems.

In 1977, the game was split into two versions: the relatively rules-light game system of Dungeons & Dragons and the more structured, rules-heavy game system of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( abbreviated as AD & D or ADnD ).

In 2000, the original version of the game was discontinued and the AD & D version was renamed Dungeons & Dragons with the release of its 3rd edition.

Dungeons & Dragons version 3. 5 was released in June 2003, with a 4th edition in June 2008.

On July 8, 2008, RedBrick announced a new line called Age of Legend 4e, a port of the Earthdawn setting for use with the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition rules.

At Gen Con 2007, WotC announced that the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons would be released the following spring, and Greyhawk would no longer be the default campaign setting under the new rules system.

In September 2008, it was announced on Wizard of the Coast's ' Digital Insider # 6 ' that Ravenloft would be reintroduced to 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons in the October issue of the ' Dragon ' online magazine.

The Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition supplement Manual of the Planes establishes that in the 4th Edition cosmology the Domains of Dread ( and by extension the Ravenloft setting ) are now located within the Shadowfell, a mirror-world of death and gloom lying adjacent to the mortal realm.

Wheaton is a Dungeons & Dragons player, and played during the PAX 2010 and PAX 2011 events using the 4th edition rules.

* Game System License, a replacement for the Open Game License for the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons

On June 6, 2008, Wizards released the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with the retail availability of a new set of core rulebooks.

This coincides with a lawsuit brought against eight people in an attempt to prevent future piracy of their books, and includes the recent 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons products that were made available through these places as well as all older editions PDFs of the game.

( Some of the changes suggested by Heidi appear to be not-so-subtle jabs at the recent, real-world alterations made to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition.

Wizards of the Coast used the non-open Game System License for the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

In 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, Tieflings are a race whose human ancestors made a bargain with devils to increase their power.

Tieflings have no homeland and are very rare due to a long lasting war with the dragonborn, another race seen in the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

In June 2008, Wizards of the Coast released Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition.

The ancient blue dragon was ranked third among the ten best high-level 4th Edition monsters by the authors of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition For Dummies.

All volumes of the Monster Vault are parts of the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials line of 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons products.

In 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, Psions are a Psionic Controller class.

The cover, a painting by David C. Sutherland III, of the 4th printing of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide shows an efrit grasping a damsel while engaged in combat with a fighter and a magic-user.

The Temple of Elemental Evil was ranked the 4th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Wizards of the Coast published a remake of The Village of Hommlet adventure for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition and released it through the RPGA.