Introduction to Yaddrin

What is Yaddrin?

Yaddrin is a shared Fantasy role playing world using the Dark Dungeon game system written by Jaap de Goede and Rinze Schuurman. So far, it is only a game in the paper and pencil variety, but we have played live games, and some of us have the ambition to someday make it possible to enter the world in computer games too.

Yaddrin has been known to us since 1989, and our ever changing group now has played well over 1500 adventures, with hundreds of characters, for thousands of manhours. Our players are based mostly in the Netherlands (mostly Amsterdam and The Hague), but we've seen players from the US, Sweden and Germany too, just to boast a little ;-)

Special for the world Yaddrin is, that we do not just have one Game Master with a group of players, but many Game Masters, with ever varying groups of players playing in the SAME world, with the SAME history, with the SAME rich set of heroes and villains. And this makes it so much more alive!

What is Dark Dungeon?

Dark Dungeon 2nd Edition is a paper and pencil role playing system designed by Jaap de Goede and Rinze Schuurman, catered especially to a shared world. The system is designed to play fast and easy, and yet give realistic results and a great variety between characters. Some of our goals in writing the system were to make it possible to play it by heart, without having to consult the rules all the time, and to make it possible to make a character in ten minutes and start playing even if you know hardly anything about RPG's.

Combat in DD2 is fast and furious with lots of realism, Magick is full of creativity, wonder and options, Religion is still a bit cranky **** and the character design system allows for a myriad of differences between characters, making each and every one of them unique.

We think we have one of the very best RPG Systems around, better than any of the commercial ones we know (and we know quite a few). If you want to test our assertions, feel free and download our shareware version.

YES, this is all very interesting, but WHAT IS ROLE PLAYING?

If you do not have the faintest idea of what role playing is about, sorry for the inconvenience! Let's try to set that straight right away!

(Fantasy) Role Playing is a hobby that evolved in the 1970's in the USA, and quickly spread around the world. There are different kinds of role playing, but all share their roots in wargaming, improvisational theatre and believe it or not - psychotherapy. To understand what a game is like, try to imagine a group of three to six people weaving a story together. One of them is the Storyteller or Game Master, and thinks up the boundaries of the world, tells what happens to the heroes, and plays the adversaries and supporting cast. He or she describes the basics of the story as it unfolds. The other people are players, each acting out a specific role or Character, heroes as they were - and they choose what their hero wants to do, and say what their hero says. To make decisions about fights (who wins or not), or about whether the heroes succeed at specific tasks or not, one often rolls dice. Usually if the dice are high this means success is more likely, and if low failure is more likely. How much must be rolled, and what specific heroes are capable of is laid down by the Rules of the Game System used, and the judgement of the Game Master. Remember playing cowboys and indians when you were a kid? Well, this is very much like it, except that you now have rules to avoid the conflict of 'Bang, you're dead!' and 'No I'm not!'

Unlike other games, Fantasy Role Playing is not so much about winning or losing, but more about telling a heroic story together. Weaving a human drama or comedy, and experiencing the fun, fear, and excitement of one's own personal hero. Games can last a few hours to days on end, and heroes may last for many games - some play their favorite heroes for many years, and some even dress up and run around in the forest at night waving swords at oneanother!

This is a Fan Site.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact admin@yaddrin.org

Last updated: June 1, 2003.