Dungeons & Dragons is a paper-and-pencil roleplaying game . The various editions of Dungeons & Dragons have won many Origins Awards , including All Time Best Roleplaying Rules of 1977 , Best Roleplaying Rules of 1989 , and Best Roleplaying Game of 2000 for the three flagship editions of the game . Both Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons are Origins Hall of Fame Games inductees as they were deemed sufficiently distinct to merit separate inclusion on different occasions .