Why I Love Dungeons and Dragons

    I mentioned in my first post that one of my hobbies is dungeons and dragons. Since my last post was more on the serious and introspective side, I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s post to that beloved hobby of mine. In all honesty, playing d&d has been one of the things I’ve done the most consistently since March. It’s the first time in two years that I’ve had a consistent group to play with, and it feels great.

How the Game Works

Let me give you just a basic overview of how the game works so I can share why I love it and my gushing will make at least some amount of sense to you. At its most fundamental level, I think of dungeons and dragons as collaborative storytelling where the story is told partly by the people making decisions for their characters, and partly by dice, which determine how successful characters’ actions are. Dice can also determine other events and effects in the world—e.g., if the guard sees your character trying to sneak into a castle, whether an attack hits your character, how much damage your character takes from falling off a ladder, etc. The setting of the story is usually a fantasy world, but settings can vary from facsimiles of Middle Earth to steam punk to everything in between. It just depends what type of game the dungeon master wants to run and the players want to play. 

A d&d party consists of anywhere from three to eight players (though four to six is the standard) and one dungeon master (or dm for short). The players each play one character. The dungeon master brings the rest of the world to life. That includes all people in the world not controlled by the players, the gods, the monsters, and all the locations. There are lots of different styles of dm; but in my opinion a good dm will connect various in-game adventures to an over-arching narrative. A good dm, however, will also allow for the players’ actions to change the direction of the story. The world should change around the players based on how they interact with it. 

Creating a Character

At character creation, you choose a race (e.g., human, elf, dwarf, lizardfolk, elephant person) and a class (e.g., fighter, wizard, bard, rogue). Eventually you differentiate your character more by also choosing a subclass. Each character sheet has a set of skills and abilities, which your race and class combo helps you determine. You then add these ability modifiers to your dice rolls. For example, a buff dwarven warrior will have a pretty high bonus to strength, so he will be able to add a higher number to his roll to kick open a door, whereas a wizard who is not very physically fit but is extremely intelligent would be much less likely to succeed at kicking in a door, but would have a higher bonus to rolls made to try to identify ancient runes in a cave. You get the idea. I hope. 

Why I Love to Play

So, basically, I love to play pretend with a sprinkling of arithmetic on top. But why? First of all, I love d&d because I love the chance to improvise and think on my feet. I love how other people’s creativity fuels my own creativity. D&D is also one of the areas in my life where I don’t overthink constantly. I don’t have time for that. I just let myself have fun. Sure, sometimes after a session I will think about what I could have said or done differently, but most of the time, during a game, I’m able to just be confident in myself and excited for what the day’s adventure will bring. It is wonderful to have an outlet where I can leave self-doubt at the door. And that’s just the beginning. 

Thalia

To explain the aspects of dungeons and dragons that mean the most to me, I’m going to have to tell you about one of my characters. I’m in multiple games right now, playing multiple characters, but the one that kicked off this new chapter of abundant gaming was Thalia Brightscale. Thalia Brightscale is a red dragonborn. (Dragonborn are a humanoid race descended from dragons that retain many draconic features, such as scales and claws.) She was born into a noble family that took pride in tracing their lineage to an ancient red dragon. They were greedy and selfish and just cared about acquiring wealth and power. Thalia had a conversion experience and decided to turn her life around, becoming a paladin and follower of Bahamut, the god of good dragons. A paladin is basically a holy warrior. They can wear heavy plate mail and wield all kinds of weapons like a boss, but they can also heal their allies with the touch of a hand and cast some spells. They can also infuse their attacks with holy power that does extra damage to their enemies. Paladins get their power from their convictions. They are bound by a strict oath. Thalia’s is the oath of redemption. So though she’s a badass warrior, she believes that everyone has some good in them and can overcome any past wrongs to change for the better, so long as they are taught what is right and shown kindness and mercy. She tries to view all people through that lens and extend that grace to them. She seeks peace where peace is possible. She lived out her convictions while interacting with Patches, her polar opposite in the party. Patches is a humanoid cat (cat person? It’s hard to describe these things without using the fancy names of the d&d races)—anyway, a cat person about three feet tall who made a living stealing things. He had been abused, mistreated, and forced to fend for himself after losing his family, and had decided not to care about anyone or anything except shiny things to protect himself from getting hurt again. On paper, Thalia and Patches should have never gotten along. But over the course of many sessions, lots of angst, and a few emotional speeches, Thalia gradually earned his trust and they became friends. 

I love playing Thalia because I love playing an unabashed hero who will lay down her life for her companions in a heartbeat, but will also annoy those same companions with speeches about how light and hope and friendship triumph over darkness and hatred. Playing the hero who has the power to save the world is one of my favorite things about the game. But perhaps even more rewarding than heroically saving people from evil is watching the character development that unfolds organically between my character and the other players’ characters. Allowing your character to be shaped by those around her carries with it a risk of disappointment, because you’re playing with other people, who are all at various levels of commitment to roleplaying and staying true to their characters, but when you find someone who clicks with you, understands your character, and allows their character to shape and be shaped by your character, magic happens. So I keep taking that risk, because the rewards are so sweet. 

Some Final Thoughts

I could fill several more pages talking about my characters and their adventures and their internal conflicts. But for now I will leave you with a couple final thoughts. Dungeons and dragons is a rich game full of endless possibilities. It’s a vibrant landscape in which your imagination can run free. It can have you bursting out laughing one minute and wanting to cry the next. It can be challenging to find a group that meshes with your play style, but once you do, all that searching will be worth it. If you ever get the chance to play, you should totally do it! And if you do play, please tell me about it in the comments. I want to hear your stories.