Why You Should Be Playing Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop role-playing game (RPG) for four to six players, plus the Dungeon Master (DM). Ever since I watched James Franco’s character in Freaks and Geeks play D&D one year ago, I’ve wanted to take part in this glorious fantasy game. However, as a loner in high school, I did not have the resources (friends). As soon as I stepped foot on a college campus, I scoured for a Dungeons and Dragons club. Lucky for me, there is an FSU D&D Discord server. There, I announced that I was looking for five players for a D&D campaign. One week later, I was reading a campaign that I wrote the night before for people I met through the internet. Despite feeling overwhelmed, I learned a lot from setting up that first session. That experience inspired me to make the process of starting D&D smoother for others.

Chances are, you have heard of Dungeons and Dragons before. The role-playing game is a trademark of our current pop culture landscape. Still, many people’s idea of D&D players are Mountain Dew-drinking basement dwellers. However, those aren’t the only people playing, and the media we watch has taken notice of that. D&D has been referenced in numerous popular shows like Stranger Things, Freaks and Geeks, and Community, among many others. Other properties, such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter, have shown that mainstream audiences are looking for fantasy escapism. D&D is still relevant today because the point of the game is to have fun. There is no winning or losing. At the core of the game is teamwork and comradery.

Thanks to modern technology, Dungeons and Dragons is now more accessible than ever. The whole D&D experience can be done virtually. Start a voice chat, hand out character sheets to your players listing their name, description, and statistics, read your campaign off your laptop, and ask Siri to roll a 20-sided die when needed. This method is perfect for social distancing, and you don’t have to break the bank. There are thousands of fanmade quests on Reddit and PDFs of D&D campaign books on Google, so first, see if your current friend group is interested. If they aren't, check out the FSU D&D Discord. It’s a safe haven for newcomers and experienced players alike.

Once the game begins, the DM sets the rules for the fantasy world and guides the characters through their adventure. If you have a love for storytelling or making sure everyone is having a good time, DMing might be for you. DMs can either create their own world or use one from a premade quest. The only rules to D&D are the ones you create, so if you do not like certain aspects of a premade campaign, change it. For my campaign, I put a twist on a premade story called Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. For example, I kept the map, the NPC names, and the worldbuilding from Dragon Heist but took the story in a different direction.

One thing that is universal about D&D is combat. Love it or hate it, combat is a big part of the game and learning the basics will save you a lot of time during your campaign. To put it simply, when your party encounters a threat, ask everyone to roll for initiative. This will determine the order players take their turn and can be found on the character sheet. Players roll a d20 and add their initiative to the roll. Turns go in descending order. Each turn, players get to take an action and move. To make an attack, a player rolls a d20 and adds their attack modifier to the roll. The attack is considered a hit if the number is higher than the target’s armor class. On a hit, a player rolls a d8 and adds their strength modifier, then the total is subtracted by the target’s hit points. Players should keep track of their character’s hit points.

Here are a few tips for beginners: in preparation for your first session, schedule a time and day your party will meet every week. You can change the place but moving around the time or day will make things difficult down the road. It’s better to skip a week than mess up a fixed schedule. The goal of the first session is to have every character give their backstory and roll for stats. As a DM, try not to fear mundane situations. I made the mistake of trying to make my first game have non-stop excitement. However, the mundane moments make the exciting moments that much more riveting. It’s okay if the party is just walking around; it gives them time to strategize. If your players are invested in the land, they will want to explore and talk to the townspeople for clues. Also, it’s okay if you steal plotlines you enjoy from pieces of media or other D&D games. As long as it's not obvious, your players won’t know the difference. Pirates of the Caribbean, Gravity Falls, and even my history class have inspired most of my sessions thus far.

All of this information can be intimidating. Trust me, I was overwhelmed by the amount of energy and preparation that others put into their D&D games. However, as I went along, I learned that you get out of D&D what you put into it. If there are certain elements of D&D you don’t like, don’t include them. For my first session, I was unprepared, so I made a lot of the story up as I went. Most of the time the players will take your story in another direction and it's best to just go with it. A lot of D&D is improvisational. The only thing I prepare before every session is an outline of fun scenarios for the characters, a list of names, and information about the world. The goal of D&D is not to slay the dragon or save the princess, it is to become closer with your friends. It’s your story and you can tell it however you want to. That’s the beauty of D&D.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, I would highly recommend checking out Tabletop Game Night featuring D&D on September 23 at the Askew Student Life Center at 7:00 PM. The event is hosted by the ASLC’s Game Committee, who have a Discord server where students discuss new and classic games as well as upcoming gaming events. Hope to see you there.

FSU D&D Discord Server: https://discord.gg/8ZT6C8cd

How Does Combat Work in D&D: https://roleplayersrespite.com/dnd-5e-combat-basics#combatDamage

Game Committee Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/S9fhxek

Written by: Dylan Fishman

Art by: Mikael Byrd | Instagram