Holl for initiative!

 

 

 

 

Dungeons, dragons, and the rise of the RPG

 

Rebecca Peterson,
Assistant Editor

By day, I am a student. I am an editor of

a school newspaper, a freelancer, anda
coffeeholic who doesn’t work out nearly as
much as she should. The most adrenaline-
filled encounter I’ve had over the last few
months has been an ongoing battle of wills
between me and the spindly, creepy-looking
spider in my bathroom. I’ve named him Pablo.

Once a week by night, however, I become
the tiny but mighty Kala Greenwood, a gnome
warlock chained to a powerful elemental
deity from the Primordial Plane. I cast
lightning at fools who dare cross me, can turn
invisible at a whim, and has thus far only
accidentally killed one party member during
the course of our campaign (sorry, Greg).

I, like many people my age, have been sucked
in to the wonderful, wild world of Dungeons
& Dragons, one of the oldest and most popular
role-playing games in history. A decade ago,
knowledge of D&D was fairly niche in nature,
an in-joke even amongst the broader “geek”
community (especially after the release of a
terrible film based off the game—seriously,
it’s soul-destroyingly awful). However, as pop
culture has turned in favour of all things
geek, so too has D&D entered the mainstream.
Mentions of the game in popular comedy
shows such as Community and, unfortunately,
The Big Bang Theory have stirred curiosity,
while online streaming shows and podcasts
like Critical Role and The Adventure Zone
have shown that even simply watching and
listening in on a campaign can be great fun,
never mind playing a role. The trajectory of
D&D from the perceived basement-dweller’s
math game to a fun and challenging bond-
building adventure with friends is more
than a little fascinating, and says quite a
lot about current popular culture trends.

Created in 1974 by Gary Gygax and David
Arneson, D&D was formulated as a departure
from classic strategy games which largely
focused on military movements, rather than
the adventures of individual characters. Since
its inception, there have been many different
new versions based off the original template,
both officially and unofficially. Players are
encouraged to mix their own lore and world-
building in with the game. You might hear
mentions of “3rd edition,” “5e,” and “Pathfinder,”

as well as the term “homebrew.” The first
three are different versions of the original
game—“homebrew” refers to the practice of
modifying world-building and even basic rules
to fit the game master’s vision for the game.

The learning curve is notoriously steep
in D&D. Even the creation of. your first D&D
character can be incredibly intimidating, as
you're faced with pages of blank character
sheets and asked to build your avatar from
the ground up. Choosing a race and. class is
the easy part—then you're tasked with rolling
different dice for character stats, numbers
that will decide how your character perceives
the world, how much they remember, how
fast they can move, how well they can track
people, how good they are in combat, even how
skilled they are at ducking and dodging. This
is all before choosing what kind of provisions
you have, what kind of weapons you use—
all compounded into something vastly more
complicated if you choose a magic-casting class.

Once you get past all this, however—and
once you become familiar with the combat
system (roll for initiative, roll to.attack, roll
for damage, etc., etc.)—you’re let loose into a
world created by you, your teammates, and
your omnipotent game master (the “dungeon
master” in D&D specifically). Players are
encouraged to give their characters their own
voices and personalities, tapping into a side of
oneself that may have been left behind long
ago on the elementary school playground. At
its most simplistic, after all, D&D is essentially
an elaborate game of make-believe.

With math.

Douglas College is not immune to the D&D
bug—in fact, there is a Douglas College D&D
Club that helps to connect potential players
with dungeon masters looking to start a
campaign or run expeditions (shorter, one-
shot games that can be completed in a single
session). Their Facebook page is open for
anyone to join, regardless of experience level.

Most dungeon masters are happy to
help newer players get a hang of the
adventure, and are an excellent resource
for questions throughout the game.

Dedicated readers of the Other Press
may notice that we talk about D&Da
lot in this paper, especially in the Life