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The room is dark. A cool damp breeze hits you accompanied by a nauseating odorous smell. As you slowly make your way deeper into the large cavernous room, your senses begin to adjust to your surroundings. You see him now. The shadowy image of the culprit. Leaning casually against the back wall, he lights his pipe. Though, foul the smell might be, it is a pleasant improvement over the scent of the rotting decay that surrounds you. You take another step closer. No weapon now. Lost in the scuffle of the battle. Rage and sadness fill you as you peer into his eyes with each draw of his pipe. He deserved to be punished. He deserved to feel the pain he caused. The King is dead. The kingdom is in shambles. The cause standing right before you, smiling with carnal arrogance. But you’re a Paladin. Vengeance is against your code. To act without honour is to sever your divine connection, effectively losing all of your spells and abilities. What do you do?

I think it’s pretty safe to say that most of us either love to read books, watch movies or series, or even play video games with cool storylines. There’s nothing like escaping into a world of adventure, drama, sci-fi or horror. To be dropped smack dab in the middle of someone’s epic story, witnessing how the protagonist will resolve the issue at hand and how the antagonist might try to stop them. It’s fun, right?

Video games take it a step further, allowing you to play the main character of the story. Some movies are becoming interactive, giving you a build your own adventure type of movie. This allows the player or viewer to further immerse themselves deeper into the character and storyline. But these platforms provide limited choices. What if you could escape to a world where your choices are limitless, where anything you can imagine, you can do? Welcome to the world of…

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons, also referred to as D&D or DnD, is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG), originally published in 1974. The game was designed by what had to be a couple of big-time nerds, named Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was designed as an open-world campaign based solely on everyone’s imagination.

Basically, you have a Dungeon Master (DM). This is the storyteller and overseer of the campaign. The DM creates the world in which the players play. The DM lays out the setting and roleplays every person in the fantasy world, also known as NPCs (Non-Player Characters). And the players, usually 4–6, each create their own characters. And this is the part that I love most… full and complete customization.

Sure, you have your rule books, with all of your character options; races, classes, feats, skills… But these are merely guidelines you see. A sort of structure to follow to avoid arguments between players. You can create and customize all you want so long as your dungeon master allows it. Some DMs are strict and prefer to stick to core rules, whereas in my case, the sky’s the limit! If you want to be a Na’vi from the Avatar movie, we’ll create the D&D version of the race and balance it out using the ‘guidelines’. If you want to be a Shinobi from the Naruto anime series, we’ll build a character class that matches. If you want to wield the force as a Jedi master, we’ll give you psionic abilities to do so. Whatever you want. The ONLY rule you really have to remember is… the Dungeon Master is ALWAYS right.

And you don’t even have to set your story in a fantasy world either. If sci-fi is your thing, you can totally have a Star Trek-themed game. In the world I’ve created, I have one city set atop a mountain where the Starship Vanguard crash-landed centuries before, looking for the lost planet. An entire city was now populated with aliens and ninjas. Yes, that’s right, aliens and ninjas. Because why not? I also have one called Marvel City. And yes, everyone in the city is based on Marvel characters, as well as DC and The Ninja Turtles. I have a character named Gallifrey, a taxi driver of a blue cart called, The Tardis… and yes, it is bigger on the inside. And If you’re a fan of The CW series, Supernatural, I have a giant tower dedicated to The Order of Supernatural Hunters.

But you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve heard people express their belief that D&D is of the devil. That it’s a demonic game. It’s not a ouija board. Yes, there are demons and devils in the Monster Manual, but there are also fairies and unicorns. There are all sorts of monsters or NPCs to choose from. If you don’t like what’s in there, make you’re own. A dungeon master can choose whatever he or she wants to use as the enemy in the game. It’s important to find a group of players suitable for you.

The point is to have fun.

D&D has gained massive popularity over the years. You can even watch actors and voice actors playing D&D on YouTube. Shows like Critical Role, Relics and Rarities and CelebriD&D, feature celebrities like Joe Manganiello, Deborah Ann Woll, and Vin Diesel, who are all massive D&D fanatics. And thanks to Paramount, Hasbro and eOne, we might finally be getting a blockbuster D&D movie. It appears the first actor in negotiations to star in the movie is Chris Pine. I wonder what he’ll play? Probably the generic human hero of the story. Maybe a ranger? Personally, I’d love to see Joe Manganiello cast as a fun-loving, ale drinking, brutish, half-orc barbarian. Deborah Ann Woll as a trickster, elf sorceress. And Vin Diesel as a roguish tinkerer gnome. As excited as I am for a movie, I think D&D could really play well as a series. Game of Thrones was very popular. A Lord of the Rings prequel series is currently in the works. D&D is built for long-term storytelling.

A night of dungeons and dragons is on average about 4 hours per session. It may seem like a lot, but you’d be surprised how little a story you can get through sometimes. You could have this really cool fort raid all planned out, spent weeks making the characters and planning the battle, and the characters decide they want to go drinking and performing at the local inn. Finally, after a couple of hours, the adventurers finally decide to hit the road, except now they decide to take time to go hunting and foraging, or searching for potential pets. I remember when a buddy of mine received a donkey as an animal companion. Waffles the Donkey, he named him. I think I still have the ballad that was written for him somewhere. Since characters can do whatever they want, they often take the time to do so, and it’s up to the DM to make their hijinks have consequences. The point is, it can take time to get through just one adventure, let alone an entire campaign. Especially if the players haven’t seen each other in a while; “Have you seen the latest episode of…?”, “Did you watch the game last night?”, Oh man, this guy came it and work and…”.

A story doesn’t need to be continuous either. It could be a single evening. A one-shot adventure if you will.

There are no winners or losers in D&D, you’re just playing, having fun, escaping and destressing. If you die, there’s usually the possibility of a resurrection spell or simply creating a brand new fun character to play. I love it when players give their characters' accents or mannerisms they play out. I provided bonuses for those who dress up in characters. Costumes add even more immersion to the story.

Personally, I love playing. It’s a great social game to play with friends and family. Combining the best of board games, video games, storytelling and improv. It’s certainly my favourite pastime activity.