D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons, which is an involved tabletop or digital game where players roleplay as their characters, roll dice, and make interesting decisions. It differs for every player, especially the game leader, who is called the Dungeon Master or DM. Players can create their own character or use a character online to change up their story. Typically, D&D consists of three or more players, one of which being a dungeon master. These groups can either meet in person or have a digital way to communicate with one another. Dungeons and Dragons is a way for players to roleplay as fantasy characters that have deep backstories and be able to engage in something they are unable to do in real life.
Students, specifically Juniors, love D&D. Juniors Riley Mohn, Oliver Pursley, Andrew Koval, and Madden Dietrich have their own group, also known as their own party. This party uses physical dice and an actual board, not a digital map or dice.
Andrew Koval says his favorite part of D&D is how players can interact with the fantasy world around them, both intentionally and unintentionally. His character, Arco, a Kenku Mage- a crow wizard of sorts -is his first and only character in D&D so far. Andrew says the most unexpected event in his D&D journey so far was probably “nearly getting killed after the whole party could not stay quiet.” Acting in character as Arco is common for Andrew, even sometimes acting like Arco around his party members in school, making them laugh like it is an inside joke. He says that “it is normal to have your friends in your party back you up if you do something stupid.” Andrew says that no matter what stupid decisions one may make in game, they never truly stay when the game is over for the day. For example, if Arco were to yell at one of his party members, then the person roleplaying as the party member would act upset at the time, but it never stays outside of D&D. Plus, those situations make a team so much closer. He says the fun of D&D for him is “playing with a party that is understanding yet serious.”
Madden Dietrich’s character, Zaphyra, joined the party much later than the others did. Her character is a Druid Eladrin- or a nature-focused warrior or wizard from the Faerie realm -that acts mysterious and unknown to the other party members.
Oliver Pursley is the Dungeon Master for a party, and their job is to lead the players through quests and battles while letting them have fun and grow as a team. Oliver loves to incorporate the backstories of the characters into the quests. They do not come up with all of the story on their own as the dungeon master since there are several campaign books for them to have a main storyline to follow. Oliver loves seeing the player’s reactions to being able to do what they want to. Oliver says that as a dungeon master, “I try to interact as much as possible, letting the party do what they want to do while keeping all of the party interested.” Plus, Oliver says “I normally just read off of the book, but I also add creatures the players will either think is cool or will have an easy time defeating.”
For more information about D&D, visit www.dndbeyond.com.
