I sometimes get emails from new visitors to EN World who ask "What is this Pathfinder thing?" and "Which edition is D&D on now?" - and sometimes it's hard to remember that there are folks who don't follow the intricacies of RPG game systems to the extent that some of us do, or who have been out of the gaming scene for some years. So I thought I'd write a very short, quick summary of Dungeons & Dragons for those guys:
- D&D is currently in its 4th Edition, and is published by Wizards of the Coast (who we frequently refer to as WotC).
- The 3rd Edition branch of the game is no longer in print, but Paizo Publishing (who published DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines for several years) produces a game called Pathfinder which is an evolution of that game system.
- Both of the above games (D&D 4E and Pathfinder) are pretty popular, although gamer preferences are somewhat polarized between the two. This polarization (along with those who wish WotC had just stuck with the 3E line) is known as the "Edition Wars" and flares up from time to time. This is tiresome.
- The 3rd Edition (3E) line started with D&D 3E, was updated with D&D 3.5, and continues with Pathfinder - which is a kind of D&D 3.75.
- DRAGON and DUNGEON magazines are no longer in print. They have been replaced by an online subscription article system called D&D Insider. This system also include various online tools (a character generator, a rules compendium, and so on) for D&D 4E.
- There are rumours of an imminent D&D 5th Edition. WotC says nothing (confirmation or denial), but clues seem to point to it. Monte Cook, who was one of the main designers of D&D 3rd Edition and who left WotC many years ago has recently been rehired by the company.
- EN World covers RPGs in general, and especially D&D and Pathfinder. You'll see references to both, along with other games, here.
- A number of people play "retroclones", which are clones of or updated versions of older D&D editions going back to 1974. I wrote an article about them here.
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