D&D: A Fantasy War Game

The star of D&D isn't a particular hero or villain, but rather the elaborate set of rules laid out in three dense hardcover books that can each retail for around $50. The player's handbook alone has more than 300 pages of directives, covering virtually every scenario imaginable. In Theater of the Mind sessions, the dungeon master describes all the action without much in the way of physical prompts. Both styles rely heavily on dice, including a 20-sided die and a magnificently contrived vortex of chance.