Hidden media gems from DND history

Dungeons & Dragons have existed for decades and decades. It was the name of the household for a reason. The classic RPG tabletop experience offers something very few other media formats. This did not prevent the D&D franchise from trying to branch away anyway.

Whether it is an additional material, the new media under the same IP or an attempt to discover interactive media, the name D&D tried its hand in countless different products and formats. But not everyone stood in the time of the time. These old school pieces of the D&D media got unclear.

1

Mattel Dungeons & Dragons Electronic Computer Labyrinth

Novelty in 1982

The magic of D&D is freedom and a dynamic experience you can have, right? Own characters, different abilities, extensive story. What if you played a board game of tricks with it? This electronic board game (which was trendy and rookie at the time), the player moved on the labyrinth of an unknown design. You have to find the treasure and avoid the dragon.

The catch was that it was randomized. When you went, you had to move the pieces and fill the walls and discover the maze for yourself. It was an extremely creative takeover of the board games, although it really does not represent the D&D Super experience. It is a pity that it is super clumsy to try and really play.

2

Film Dungeons & Dragons

A film from the 1920s, not the last movie

When it hit theaters, there was a hype among the thieves. For a good reason! It's a great movie. In fact, it is so great that it is almost easy to forget that it is not the first official film D&D, but the fourth. The previous one was not one, but the whole trilogy of films D&D. And we're not talking about something from the 80s.

The first film was released in 2000. Followed by the story of a group of adventurers trying to claim to hold a wand that could control red dragons before their enemies would do. The problem was that the film was terrible. The plot seems to be solid, but the direction, acting and visual effects were rough, even for 2000 years.

The following sequel was directly on television and directly on DVD films, the last edition in 2012.

3

Dungeon Magazine / Dragon Magazine

They were two different magazines

In the middle of the 70s he received an official D&D magazine, a conveniently named Dragon, a regular publication and offers a number of articles on the popular board game. This translated from accessories to the Council columns.

The magazine would later receive a sister Zine called Dungeon, which focused on providing modules and other adventures that could play in your D&D personal games. Both would continue for decades, eventually became digital publications and eventually reached a complete stop in 2013.

4

The eye of the observer

Hit game from the legendary studio

D&D video games have been for a long time. While some were more famous than others, there is one game that has managed to slip the mind even veteran DMS. Eye of the Beholder is a half-open adventure based on the AD&D system.

What makes this so special? It was developed by Westwood, a gaming studio for Command & Conquer. Eye of the Beholder was a critical knockout when it was released in 1991 at the MS-DOS, enough to even get ports of SNES and Sega CD a few years later.

5

Dungeons & Dragons, by midnight Syndicate

Official Soundtrack D&D

Given how common it is to play music when playing D&D, it is amazing that this music album is not more familiar. At the beginning of 2000, the wizards of the American Music Group Midnight Syndicate brought the American Music Group to create an official D&D soundtrack.

The resulting album releases 23 songs in 2003 and captures different moods for different scenarios. It provides a very “retro symphony” sound and an interesting melody that has not taken attention, it is a fantastic source to find support songs for your own D&D games. It has something for every opportunity, but the fact that it is not a support in every TTRPG music library is a pity.

6

Scourge of Worlds

Because choose your own adventure DVDs are always in the trend

Another novelty of its time, Scourge of Worlds was an interactive DVD. This fully 3D animated adventure if you have decided at key moments in the whole story. In general, the quest brings you to find an item known as a disaster and believes it is a weapon of great power.

Graphics is … Well .. was probably quite good for time, although 3D animation Era does not age well. With the average conspiracy and the inconvenience of using the DVD controller to interact, this is not an experience that I recommend that everyone can try themselves. But it's an interesting piece of media in the history of D&D as well.

7

Gord the Rogue

We have at home

The amendment of stories in the Universe of D&D is hardly held in unclear. The legend of Driz'zt's novels are extremely popular, to the extent that I sometimes ask if they read more than they actually play D&D. But this is not the only written media in the franchise.

The creator of D&D Gary Gygax also wrote novels in the same environment as the table game. Starting with a saga from the Old Town of Gygax, he wrote seven novels after exploiting a man named Gord The Rogue. It may not have a level of narrative splendor as the more popular D&D books, but it is fascinating to see the story of the Creator's mind.

8

Dragonstrike

It's TTRPG/board game/VHS

D&D can be a difficult game you can get into, especially older editions. To try to alleviate it, they suggested an alternative game called Dragonstrike. It was intended as RPG gates, it was a less complicated takeover of the rules of D&D, providing maps, pictures, cards, cubes and even instructional DVDs.

These more controlled experiences offered all the entertainment of D&D without a high ceiling of skills. I cannot say with professional confidence whether they managed or not, but the fact that the name has fallen unclear is forcing me to think differently. But D&D is bigger than ever, so when do we get the dragonstrike?