When I was a teenager, I was introduced into the imaginary world of Role Playing games. I actually had a copy of the Red Box set (above picture) when I was a pre-teen but did not have anyone to play it with. As a teen, some of my friends played various games and it was right up my geeky alley. We played a spy game, a super hero game that we create, a futuristic-sci fi game, and many others. The father of all of these games was Dungeons and Dragons.
D&D was the first role playing game and the most developed of all the role playing games. In the 80s, D&D had all sorts of compendiums and adventures when most of the others just had a basic set of books of rules. Most people, who are not gaming geeks, have never heard of games like Top Secret, Car Wars, Star Frontiers. Yet most people have at least heard of Dungeons and Dragons.
Through the years, the rules and some of the methods of playing this game have changed and been adapted. Some of the changes were improvements and some of them have not been seen as helpful. Those who are into D&D gaming usually have a strong preference on what version of the rules they like best. Sometimes, they will refuse to play a different version. Dungeon Masters (DMs) are often the most entrenched and opinionated on what are the correct rules and why the other versions are sub-par.
Wizards of the Coast, company who owns D&D, wants to develop a new version of the Rules – only known as Version 5 at the moment. They want the help of gamers and DMs to help work the new set of rules so they might bring all the fans back to one set of rules- like the One Ring to Rule them all. They are asking for the gamers and DMs to test out the new rules. You can help shape the new set of rules by giving them your feedback. Here is where you can sign up for the Testing of D&D 5th Edition by clicking the sign up at the bottom of the page.
You can also check out an interesting article from the NY Times on this.
