Welcome to THAC0 . . . with Advantage! We’re two friends that have been playing D&D a long time. While we both love lots of other RPGs, D&D has the lucky number that keeps coming up.

Have you ever heard someone explain to a new player that the great thing about RPGs is that you can do anything you want? Have you ever thought about what that really means, and if it’s actually true? How do you create a space where everyone can share their imaginative choices, where everyone’s imaginations live in the same space? We’re going to look at the limits of player agency in today’s episode.

You may have heard there early D&D had the role of a Caller, the person that coordinates all of the actions of the rest of the PCs and presents the “final answer” for what the party is doing to the DM. But where can you find more about that role and what it does? Well, not in the original edition of the D&D Rules, in any of the brown box white booklets. Also not in the AD&D 1e Dungeon Master’s Guide. Does that mean that OD&D and AD&D 1e didn’t expect you to have a caller? Oh, no, they did, they just didn’t tell you what it was. Both sources include the concept in their examples of play (although the DMG calls it the lead character instead of the caller). Its one of those rules from the tabletop wargaming hobby that you should just know if you were playing D&D. But wait, you’re old like me and remember the caller was definitely defined somewhere, and yes, it was. In the BX Basic Set, the caller is defined as the player whose job it is to listen to all of the other players, clarify what the party wants to do, and present it to the DM. Hard to believe players these days are so soft that they need you to explain rules instead of just imply them from examples. What’s gaming coming to.