The Caller

A particular Player Role found within Dungeons & Dragons: Basic Set.

Today's post is not about a class in Dungeons & Dragons, but rather a specific player role, one oft-ignored by many players! Listen to the alchemical wonders of... The Caller!

The Caller

The caller is like a player-side dungeon master, or perhaps even a union rep for the players. When everyone is screaming and howling—and there is a lot of grumbling and gnashing in this edition of D&D—it's the caller's job to get things in order and pass on instructions to the GM.

When I was a lad playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I took one look at the caller rules and recoiled with horror. How could such a thing be legal? What depraved tyrant would ever perpetrate such a crime as to propose such rules? How dare these dull game designers dare to impose their will on my pure self-expression! 30 years later, I have reversed my position.

I think the caller is the best rule in the Basic Set.

Since Moldvay D&D is about dungeon exploration, the caller is not a restriction but a functional role. The group must make many minute decisions about direction, rate of movement, light sources, searching, listening, etc. The caller ensures that everyone at table is acting in concert. As noted from my example, if everyone simply headed off on their own, not only would it be unmanageable table chaos, but the adventure would be short-lived (as would the adventurers).

And the game is specific when it says the other players are welcome to give their input and roleplay their characters, but the caller is the one responsible for relaying info the dungeon master. Also, in combat the role of the caller recedes and the dungeon master is responsible for addressing each player as necessary.

One of our house rules was to seat the group in marching order from left to right around the table. The front rank sat to the dungeon master’s left; if they were not in the front rank, the caller sat at the GM's right hand (in the back rank). One night, the group was so rambunctious I couldn't even hear the caller giving instructions. This caused a number of miscues. This might be frustrating in a certain context of play, but in this case it's fun to say that it's not my fault if I can't hear the caller! Being absolved of the duty of polling every character about every decision is fantastic for me as a dungeon master. It makes the intense dungeon exploration manageable since D&D dungeon masters have to do so much creative heavy lifting.

The game rules advise that the caller should be the character with the highest Charisma and that they should lead from the front of the marching order. It doesn't explain why. I can guess why, but we chose to modify the arrangement slightly. We rotated caller duties session to session. This process gives each session a particular character: one caller kept the group focused and quiet, one fueled the fires of chaos and insanity, one was democratic, and another was capricious. When each player knows they will have a turn at the helm, they’re more inclined to play along even if they might disagree with the current caller’s style.

I love both the functionality of the role and its emergent properties.

Next week, we’ll take a look at yet another player role, this one focused on mapping out just where the party has been, with an eye on where they’re going. Until then, we remain your Ludological Alchemists.

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