Tunnels and Trolls: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"This book is dedicated to Dave Arneson and [[Gary Gygax]], who first opened Pandora's box, and to Ken St. Andre, who found it could be opened again."''|''[[Rune QuestRuneQuest]]'', 2nd edition rulebook}}

In April 1975, Ken St. Andre borrowed a 1st edition ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' set from a friend. He found that he liked the concept but disliked the miniature wargame style of play, the use of polyhedral dice, alignments and clerics. He decided to write his own rules set and play the game with that instead. After two months of playing the game with his friends and rewriting it based on experience, he printed the forty-page 1st edition rules book in a first run of one hundred copies. By then, ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' had effectively trademarked what had been a generic term for tabletop role-playing games -- sogames—so his first choice was out. The rules were instead published as ''Tunnels & Trolls''.

''Tunnels & Trolls'' uses only six-sided dice for game mechanics, and the principle of simplicity and uniformity permeates the rules. Compared to the infamously convoluted and cryptic 1st ed ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' rules, the ''Tunnels & Trolls'' rules were clearly laid out and well-explained. ''T & T'' was also less serious-minded than ''D & D'': the tone was lighter, gameplay was oriented towards having fun, the spell names are mostly cute or punny, or both. However, the game is not joke-oriented as a whole -- itwhole—it is a sound RPG.

* [[Character Alignment]] -- Emphatically—Emphatically averted.

* [[Character Level]] -- In—In editions up to 5th.

* [[Combat Medic]] -- Healing—Healing (properly ''Poor Baby'') is a wizard spell.

* [[Fighter, Mage, Thief]] -- almost—almost, but not quite. There are the ''types'' Warrior, Wizard, and Rogue (and Warrior-Wizard), but they're not classic classes and the Rogue is not a Thief but a free-lancing Wizard.

* [[Five Races]] -- except—except it's six: there are two Fairy races, actual Fairies and Leprechauns.

* [[House Rules]] -- strongly—strongly and actively encouraged by the designer, and fan-submitted house rules have found their way into the official set on a number of occasions.

* [[Loads and Loads of Rules]] -- averted—averted.

* [[Magic Knight]] -- Rogues—Rogues, and especially Warrior-Wizards.

* [[Magic Wand]] -- or—or rather Magic Staff.

* [[The Six Stats]] -- nearly—nearly; replaces Wisdom with Luck.

* [[Sword and Sorcerer]] -- It—It's easy to make the abilities of a warrior and wizard (or rogue, which is another kind of magic user) work together.

* [[Universal System]] -- two—two spin-off games, ''Monsters, Monsters!'' and ''Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes'' used the same basic rules.

[[Category:TunnelsTabletop and TrollsGames]]

[[Category:Tabletop Game{{PAGENAME}}]]