Dungeons & Dragons has been around for decades and decades. It’s been a household name for a reason. The classic tabletop RPG experience offers something very few other media formats can. That has not stopped the D&D franchise from trying to branch out anyway.
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Whether it’s supplemental material, new media under the same IP, or an attempt to reinvent interactive media, the D&D name has tried its hand at countless different products and formats. Not all of them stood the test of time, though. These old-school pieces of D&D media have fallen into obscurity.
1
The Mattel Dungeons & Dragons Electronic Computer Labyrinth Game
Novelty Even In 1982
The magic of D&D is the freedom and dynamic experience you can have, right? Custom characters, varied abilities, expansive story. Now what if you played a gimmick board game with none of that? This electronic board game (which was both trendy and novel at the time) has the player moving about a labyrinth of unknown design. You have to find the treasure and avoid the dragon.
The catch was that it was all randomized. You had to move the pieces and fill in the walls as you went, discovering the maze for yourself. It was a tremendously creative take on tabletop gaming, even if it doesn’t really represent the D&D experience super well. Too bad it’s super clunky to try and actually play.
2
The Dungeons & Dragons Movie
The 2000s Movie, Not The Latest One
There was a ton of hype for Honor Among Thieves when it hit the theaters. For good reason! It’s a great film. So great, in fact, that it’s almost easy to forget that this is not the first official D&D movie, but the fourth. There was not one but an entire trilogy of D&D movies prior. And we’re not talking about something from the ’80s.
The first movie, released in 2000. It followed the story of a band of adventurers trying to claim hold on a wand that could control Red Dragons before their enemies do. The problem was that the movie was awful. The plot seems solid, but the direction, acting, and visual effects were rough, even for the 2000s.
The following sequels were Straight To TV and Straight to DVD films, the last releasing in 2012.
3
Dungeon Magazine / Dragon Magazine
They Were Two Different Magazines
In the mid-’70s, an official D&D magazine, aptly named Dragon, received regular publication, offering a variety of articles relating to the popular tabletop game. This spanned from supplements to advice columns.
The magazine would later receive a sister zine called Dungeon, which focused on providing modules and other adventures to play in your personal D&D games. The two would go on for decades, eventually becoming digital-only publications, and eventually coming to a complete stop in 2013.
4
Eye Of The Beholder
The Hit Game From A Legendary Studio
D&D video games have been around for a long, long time. While some have been more famous than others, there’s one game that managed to slip the minds of even veteran DMs. Eye Of The Beholder is a semi-open-world adventure based on the AD&D system.
What makes this one so special? It was developed by Westwood, the game studio behind Command & Conquer. Eye Of The Beholder was a critical knockout when it released in 1991 on MS-DOS, enough to even get SNES and Sega CD ports a couple of years later.
5
Dungeons & Dragons, By Midnight Syndicate
The Official D&D Soundtrack
Considering how common it is to play music while playing D&D, it’s amazing that this musical album isn’t more well-known. In the early 2000s, Wizards of the Coast brought on American music group Midnight Syndicate to produce an official soundtrack for D&D.
Releasing in 2003, the resulting album features 23 tracks, capturing different moods for different scenarios. Providing a very ‘retro symphony’ sound and an interesting melody that doesn’t hog attention, it’s a fantastic resource for finding backing tracks for your own D&D games. It doesn’t have something for every occasion, but the fact that it’s not a mainstay in every TTRPG music library is a shame.
6
Scourge Of Worlds
Because Choose Your Own Adventure DVDs Are Always In Trend
Another novelty of its time, Scourge Of Worlds was an interactive DVD. This fully 3D animated adventure had you make decisions at key moments throughout the story. In general, you are brought on a quest by a cleric to locate an item known as the Scourge, believing it to be a weapon of great power.
The graphics are… well.. They were probably pretty good for the time, though early era 3D animation doesn’t age well. With an average plotline and the awkwardness of using a DVD controller to interact, this isn’t an experience I recommend everyone try for themselves. But it’s an interesting piece of media in D&D history, all the same.
7
Gord The Rogue
We Have Driz’zt At Home
Novelizations of stories in the D&D universe(s) are hardly held in the obscure. The Legend of Driz’zt novels are tremendously popular, to the point I sometimes wonder if more people read those than actually play D&D. But that’s not the only piece of written media in the franchise.
D&D creator Gary Gygax also wrote novels in the same setting as the tabletop game. Starting with Saga of The Old City, Gygax wrote seven novels following the exploits of a human named Gord the Rogue. They might not have the level of narrative splendor as the more popular D&D books, but it’s fascinating to see a story from the mind of the creator.
8
DragonStrike
It’s a TTRPG/Board Game/VHS
D&D can be a tough game to get into, especially the older editions. To try to alleviate this, they designed an alternate game called DragonStrike. Intended as a gateway RPG, it was a less complicated take on the D&D ruleset, providing maps, figures, cards, dice, and even an instructional DVD.
These more guided experiences offered all the fun of D&D without the tall skill ceiling. I can’t say with professional confidence whether they succeeded or not, but the fact that the name fell into obscurity makes me think otherwise. But D&D is bigger than ever, so when are we getting that 5e DragonStrike?
Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
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1974
- Player Count
-
2+
- Age Recommendation
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12+ (though younger can play and enjoy)
- Length per Game
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From 60 minutes to hours on end.
- Franchise Name
-
Dungeons & Dragons
- Publishing Co
-
Wizards of the Coast
