by John W. Paulus

Created on: April 08, 2008

Dungeons & Dragons is the most popular Role-Playing Game (RPG) ever known. In fact, Dungeons & Dragons accounts for roughly 80% of the entire Roleplaying marketplace, while all of the other Roleplaying games fight amongst themselves for the 20% of table scraps. It is estimated that Dungeons & Dragons is played by over a million people in the United States alone. If market projections are correct, the 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons will prove to be the biggest selling Roleplaying game ever But what is it about this game that keeps bringing people back? What is the appeal of Dungeons and Dragons?

There are several reasons that Dungeons & Dragons appeals to people:

1. Dungeons & Dragons provides an intensely social gaming experience. You can play Monopoly, Euchre, or Tiddlywinks without much real conversation. Dungeons & Dragons is all about conversation. By its nature, it is a social game. The most important tools that you use in Dungeons and dragons are your dice and your voice. There is a whole community that has built up around Dungeons & Dragons, both in person and even on the Internet with the Dungeons & Dragons blogging community and message boards.

2. Dungeons & Dragons deals with the archetypical issues of life. Dungeons & Dragons, like the Lord of the Rings, presents opportunities to experience epic journeys, and for individuals to perform great acts of heroism. Like the fantasy novel, Dungeons & Dragons reminds us of what it means to be human, and of what the human experience is all about.

3. Dungeons & Dragons is perennially fun. It is an enjoyable game, and remains so. Sure, there are lots of enjoyable games on the market. But Dungeons & Dragons is fun, even when it's played over and over and over again. No two sessions of Dungeons & Dragons are ever the same. If you ever tire of your Dungeons & Dragons game, you can simply find a new Dungeon Master, or restart your campaign.

We could certainly add other factors that have influenced the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons. We could talk about the nostalgia factor, about the genius marketing moves of Wizards of the Coast, or about how playing Dungeons & Dragons can help a person just get away from it all for a couple of hours. However, the three factors listed are the main reasons why Dungeons & Dragons is so popular.

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