How to Beat (Classic) Dungeons and Dragons

 

Now I know what you are thinking. Surely you cannot “Win” at D&D.
It is an explicitly open-ended game, a sandbox where your character can
accomplish anything within the realms of fiction.

Allow me to enlighten you (or deceive you, gotta watch out for false prophets.)

Classic D&D* is a game about System Mastery, developing your Capabilities and Improvisation.

As a new player, you must first learn the Rules by which the game works. Hit points, Armor, making attacks, spell slots etc. This lets you play the game.

But then you begin to learn the diegetic rules of the game’s fictional world.

Getting ganged up on by Kobolds is bad news, treasure may be cursed, carry a 10ft pole so that pressure plates and other traps don’t ruin your day.

I believe that originally, before the days of Metagaming, players were expected to use their own knowledge to help their characters survive. Perhaps your Level 5 Fighter has never met a Ghost before. But you know what will happen if you go up against one unprepared. So you do the smart thing and run instead of fighting.

To fight a Ghost, your character needs to develop their Capabilities. This enables them to face and defeat in-game challenges and obstacles. To defeat a Werewolf, you need silvered weapons. To beat a Rust Monster, you will need a plan better than “I hit it with my sword.”

Fighters find magical weapons and armor. Magic-Users learn more powerful spells. Thieves become ever more skillful cut-purses and assassins.

The Monsters of D&D attack more than your Hit Points. Wights drain your experience levels, Ghosts age you, Disenchanters ruin your magic items.

The scope of D&D means that you will never have all the capabilities you need for every challenge. You may encounter a Vampire and find yourself without any garlic, mirrors or magical weapons. Perhaps you find a locked door that your Thief cannot open. Or a deep pool of water full of treasure when you cannot Breath Water.

This is where Improvisation comes into play. Fleeing or hiding from the Vampire, forcing the door with crowbars and mechanical advantage and fishing for treasure with a rope and magnet are all solutions which may work. Tactical Infinity means that you will always have an opportunity to change the situation in your favor, however slim the chance.

In conclusion, a player with deep and rich earned Knowledge of the game’s systems and monsters, along with the earned Wisdom of knowing what solutions do and do not work, has essentially “Beaten” Dungeons and Dragons.

And yet, the game is like an ever-opening onion, with layer upon layer. After mastering dungeon-delving, Domain level play awaits, and the player must learn alongside their character how to lead armies and rule a nation. And beyond that, the Immortal level, where they may change to very fabric of reality.

*(By which I mean generally TSR era D&D, AD&D and some OSR offshoots)