Critical Success: D&D is more than fairy dust and wizard beards
When it comes to playing games with friends, there is a lot of variety in the games you can play, from board games to TTRPGs like D&D. With most games, there is an established setting or goal that the players of the game are trying to achieve.
This is especially true with D&D as the players and the Game Master (GM), who runs the campaigns, can choose to use pre-built modules that are available on the D&D Beyond website and app, or in physical books bought at a local game store, or, if the GM is feeling up to it, they can create their own world and setting.
Two great ways to find a group to play with are to check out a local game store or an on-campus gaming club, like Hamline University Gaming Club.
“There are a lot of people in Game Club who are willing to help out and let you join their group,” Sophomore and Hamline University Game Club Secretary Nicholas Raymond said.
D&D is just one of the many games that the Club plays and many of the Club members who play D&D create magical worlds or use the pre-made campaign modules. There’s something unique and exciting about getting together with a group of people and immersing yourselves in a world of your own creation, like Junior and avid D&D player Asher Gettings.
“I have never done a module. I want to at some point, but it’s always only ever been my own invention,” Gettings said.
When it comes to actually playing D&D, regardless of an original or pre-made setting, another aspect of the game is the character creation. With an established setting, players can create fun and interesting characters with or without the help of the GM if they are veteran players.
“I sent [campaign ideas] to my players. They come up with cool characters and stuff, send them to me, and then I take those characters, and I just like to shove them into the world,” Gettings said.
As Getting said, the players will create characters that help not only flesh out the world but also create interesting storylines. Not only that, but as the players move through the story of the campaign, they and the characters create a sense of community and bonds.
“I love playing as a player because I have been with this group for so long that we are all comfortable with each other, we can be both silly and serious together, and we are able to work really well together,” Junior and D&D player Trisha Wielenberg said via email.
The chaos or shenanigans that ensue help not only with building community but also storytelling as well. While the GM guides the players through the story, it is the players who make choices that impact the story and world around them.
“There is something about telling stories together that I believe is so deeply human and deeply ancestral,” Gettings said.
Like Gettings, Raymond, and Wielenberg share the same sentiment. When it comes to D&D, storytelling is mainly under the control of the GM; however, the players are also part of the storytelling and how the backstory of the characters as well.
“A favorite moment during one of the campaigns I have been in is the Phantom of the Opera themed session we had and the shenanigans (chaos) we got up to during it,” Wielenberg said via email.
As a party spends time making character choices and stories, the structure of games like D&D quickly reveals itself to be more than a vehicle for creating stories, providing the players with the bonus perk of relationship building.
“A number of the people in the ‘Heathers: the Musical’ cast I got close with because we were playing D&D. And they’re some of my best friends in the world,” Gettings said.
It should also be noted that while D&D may look complicated from the outside, it is beginner-friendly. Entry costs are manageable as well, as the rule and campaign books are around $30, or the books can be shared by the GM.
D&D offers a way to provide people with a sense not only of community but also of collective storytelling, whether on campus or at a local game store.
