By KAYDON DUCHEMIN
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abigayle Williams.
A tabletop game that is extremely well-known and beloved both by nerds and geeks alike is the game known as “Dungeons & Dragons.”
We saw the first ever version of the game back in January 1974, designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and published by Tactical Studies Rules. Throughout the years of the game’s existence, we’ve gotten to see about six different kinds of editions to the game, including the original version. The game itself is comprised of roughly five to seven people (this is more of my personal preference); one person is the infamous Dungeon Master while the others are the group of players, who are referred to as the Party. Now, there are multiple ways to play this tabletop game as well as many perspectives as to how you should play the game.
Before I get into that, I should probably share my first ever experience with the game. Winding up say about three years, the idea of playing the game was first brought up in an after-school club I went to every Monday, known as “Nerd Herd.” I can’t get an exact date, however, it’s just important to know that a couple of buddies and I were grouped together at my friend Gabe’s house. Gabe decided to try his hand at being our Dungeon Master while Carter, Micheal, Griffin, Alexia and I were the party of prophecy.
Let’s be straight here, we had absolutely NO idea what we were doing. We could barely figure out how to make characters (a thing I’d become an expert in later on). I played a character who was classified as a Paladin, a holy knight on his conquest to vanquish any evil that stood before him. A paladin who threw Bibles at people. Yeah. You heard me. This became one of the biggest inside/running jokes my pal Carter and I carry on to this day.
At first, I figured the game was exactly what everyone who hasn’t played thought it would be: A game comprised of a few people who rolled dice for a couple of hours for a day each or every other week. And to a certain extent that is exactly what it is. On paper, D&D is a game that requires players to roll dice that determines certain actions by a player, while the DM (Dungeon Master) runs them through a story, known as a Campaign.
Who knew a game like this would eventually change my life? In the years I have been playing, D&D has shown me that the game is so much more than what I just said. In my eyes, D&D is… more of a story book than an actual game, if that makes any sense. The DM is the author, housing several ideas as well as the overall base of the Campaign, while the players are the DM’s utensils. The players go and actually help write out the story as the game goes on. Weird perspective, I know. And not every group who plays D&D sees it that way.
The game, though, allows for every creative mind out there to flourish in a pretty much infinite space of ideas. Whoever is DM’ing really has no limit when it comes to crafting a world and a story set in that world, regardless if it’s their own original ideas or taken from the lore of D&D. The same goes with creating a character to play, as the only limit really is the rules to the game, which are also very forgiving and allow certain freedom for the players.
A big thing that’s helped teach me this is the extremely popular D&D podcast, known as Critical Role. It’s basically a group comprised of nerdy voice actors playing Dungeon and Dragons, DM’d by the widely renowned Matthew Mercer and played by Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Sam Rigel, Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey, with the addition of a few guest stars, of course.
This group helped teach me the ways I view D&D and understand what you all can do with it. Not only does Matthew Mercer show us the worlds he creates and his breathtaking ability of improvisation and roleplaying as the characters he makes, but the party shows us what it’s like to create and embody a character. Just by watching an hour of an episode (an episode lasting two to six hours apiece each Thursday), you can just see how much they love and enjoy the game.
I find it pretty breathtaking that, in a world fully enveloped by the internet when it comes to entertainment, a simple tabletop game like this is still breathing and being enjoyed by people around the globe. But it also saddens me too, because a game that brings so much out of simple game mechanics and people who play is still a world that will only be enjoyed by some and shunned by many.