WHY D&D MODERNISED ITS MAGIC FOR A NEW GENERATION OF FANTASY
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is the oldest tabletop role-playing game of sword and sorcery – emphasis on the sorcery. Because without magic, D&D wouldn’t be very exciting, unless you like war-gaming the Battle of Agincourt while rolling constitution cheques to not contract the plague.
Magic, and its evolving rules, gives its storytelling power, letting players’ minds wander beyond the real world. It makes sense creator Gary Gygax borrowed mythical races and monsters such as ents, orcs, and the Balrog from JRR Tolkien’s . Gygax also modelled certain game mechanics after Jack Vance’s stories. Like Vance’s tales, Gygax’s magic was inherent, like gravity, but could only be summoned by text-bound formulas. It was also kind of clunky.
