At A Glance |
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Genre: fantasy Play as...
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Dungeons & Dragons (D&D/DnD) is the most well-known TTRPG. Participants play as adventurers in a fantasy setting. Typically, these adventurers are larger-than-life heroes taking on increasingly challenging quests that may tie into in a larger story.
In D&D, the game master is called a Dungeon Master (DM). Players build their characters by choosing a class, species, and background which offer unique abilities and traits. These abilities improve as characters level up, either through gaining experience points or through milestone events. Other significant mechanics include spellcasting and magical items.
D&D uses the d20 system. Players resolve most of their actions by rolling a 20-sided die and adding modifiers based on six core character abilities. Some actions require different dice.
D&D's current edition (5e) is of middling complexity relative to other TTRPGs. An important design goal of 5th edition was making the game smoother and more accessible for newcomers. It has a strong focus on combat, but also incorporates social interaction and exploration.
5th edition (5e) is the most recent edition of D&D. A major rules update was published in late 2024/early 2025, referred to as the 2024 rules or One D&D. These rules are "backwards compatible" with some previous character options and already-published adventures, and they are still part of D&D 5th edition.
Coming Soon: 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, 2025 Monster Manual
Dungeons & Dragons: Player's Handbook (2024) by 
Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook by 
Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide by 
Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual by Although some DMs choose to guide players through worlds or stories of their own creation, there are many pre-made adventures and setting books that DMs can use when running a game. UMSL owns a small number of published 5e adventures. UMSL students, staff, and faculty can also access others available through the MOBIUS consortium.
Curse of Strahd by 
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight by Coming Soon: Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
Drawing from primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World explores the origins of wargames and roleplaying through the history of conflict simulations and the eccentric characters who drove the creation of a signature cultural innovation in the late twentieth century. Filled with unparalleled archival research (from obscure fanzines to letters, drafts, and other ephemera), this new edition of Playing at the World is the ultimate geek's guide to the original RPG.
The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included representatives from the Christian Right, the field of psychology, and law enforcement claimed that these games were not only psychologically dangerous but an occult religion masquerading as a game. Dangerous Games explores both the history and the sociological significance of this panic.
Examines recent evolutions of (neo)medievalism across multiple media, from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings to the film Beowulf and medieval gaming. These evolutions can take the form of what one might consider to be pop culture objects of critique (art, commodity, amusement park, video game) or academic tools of critique (monographs, articles, lectures, university seminars). It is by reconciling these seemingly disparate forms that we can better understand the continual, interconnected, and often politicized reinvention of the Middle Ages in both popular and academic culture.
