Dungeons & Dragons & Friends
Why I love D&D and role playing games
I had played a lot of different role-playing games when I was growing up, but Dungeons and Dragons was the one I kept coming back to. The fantasy setting was always one of my favourites and fighting through monsters for that lovely XP gave you something to aim for. Then when you reached the next level you could see your character becoming more skilled. In the next session, you could then unleash the new spells or powers you had gained.
The main thing about it, and other RPGs, is the social side. Depending on the system used, you and some friends create a story that saw you saving kingdoms, investigating eldritch mysteries, flying around distant galaxies, opening a tea shop, fighting dragons and defeating hideous villains. Your imagination is unleashed and the sense of camaraderie is incredible.
Of course, there were always some people who just did not get it. It was either too nerdy or a form of devil-worshipping!
I once had a letter published in a newspaper in response to some idiotic Council who would not let Dungeons and Dragons be played by a local Scout group due to it being unnatural!
However, D&D and tabletop gaming in general is now cool and bigger than ever. Actors, musicians, and writers such as Matthew Lillard, Felicia Day, Patrick Rothfuss, Vin Diesel, Deborah Ann Woll, Pendleton Ward and Joe Manganiello play it. Dan Harmon (Community, Rick and Morty) plays it and talks about it a lot on Harmontown. Critical Role and others play it on YouTube and Twitch. Stranger Things brought it back into the public eye.
The recent Dungeons & Dragons movie was also a great watch. You do not need to have played the game to enjoy it.
At some point, I must also get hold of the Baldur’s Gate 3 video game as that looks amazing.
Even with some of the bad decisions made by Hasbro regarding the game, it is still going strong. Plus the OGL controversy just inspired people to check out other games and develop their own which just makes the hobby stronger.
With this in mind, I decided to get back into it. I had tried to get a Call of Cthulhu and Star Wars sessions going and while my friends enjoyed them, we just played a couple of times and it never really caught on with the group. Then I heard about the Fifth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons and thought I would try.
The Starter Set cost £14.00 (this was back in 2016) and had some pre-made characters, the basic rules and an adventure.
That was back in October 2016 and we have played it almost every week since then - during lockdown we went online and played using the Foundry Virtual Tabletop which is amazing - Every Wednesday is D&D night and all involved are always so excited to play. We get together, drink some beer, eat some snacks and travel through the realm of Faerûn. Oh yeah, we are all in our Forties and Fifties and digging the Nine Hells out of it.
Three of us had played the game before, but three had not, so it was a good mix. The premade characters were great and the character sheets had all the information each player and lots of hooks for future adventures, although we ended up with a couple of Rangers not included as a couple of the players wanted to be Rangers. The rule book gave everything I needed to be the Dungeon Master and the module included was more than I could have hoped for.
So it came to pass that Bow, Darrak, Perrin, Phann and Varris headed off to adventure, fame and riches.
I had thought it would have just been a quick adventure into a dungeon, but it ended up being a huge journey from the city of Neverwinter to the sleepy village of Phandalin. On the way, they fought Gobline and Bugbears. In the town, they had to clean out a gang who were making life hell for the townsfolk. This led on to encounters with Banshees, Nothics, Orcs and a Green Dragon. Not all of the encounters went the way the players expected, but the Heroes of Phandalin were born.
The adventure that comes with the starter set is huge. It features villages, dungeons, castles, woodlands and more. There are a wide range of monsters and characters, some great magic items and everything is tied together wonderfully. It sows the seeds for more adventures, but you will get weeks of play out of it.
It was recently updated and expanded in the Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk sourcebook which I am now running through with a group of my friends from Comedy Improv. It is interesting to see the differences with how the new group deals with encounters and events compared to the original adventurers.
I did change a few things purely to make it work for what I had planned after the module was finished, or if one of the players mentioned something about their characters past. I also added a few mini-adventures I got from Dungeon Masters Guild. It all combined to bring everything to life.
You could just use one of the Starter Sets or Essentials and stick with that. Within that beautiful box is the potential for weeks and weeks of high adventure, dungeons crawling and so much more. It does have everything you need to get things going and all you need is a group of friends and your imagination to keep things going.
However, we couldn’t resist getting the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Players Handbook, Monster Manual and the various campaign books that have been released. We didn’t need to get them, but they just add so much flavour and reference for the game. You can also now get everything digitally on D&D Beyond.
Looking through the Monster Manual took me back to being a kid again and my daughter also enjoyed looking through it. So much so that she wanted her own character and now has a Half-Elf Druid who wanders the woods on a Dire Wolf.
Once we finished the adventure from the Starter Set the Heroes of Phandalin wanted to carry on. This led to us playing through the Storm King’s Thunder campaign involving Giants causing trouble for everyone. It all kicked off at my parent’s caravan in Wales when the Heroes protected the city of Triboar from Fire Giants.
The adventure took the group all over Faerun and more friends joined the party as they loved what they heard about the adventure.
It has been a way of staying connected to friends and a big help through some tough times. We recently bid farewell to characters played by our good friend Derek who sadly passed away much too soon. That evening was a beautiful way to be there for each other and share memories of our friend. There were tears and laughter.
When you are sitting round that table, the worries and problems of the real world fade away as you are focussed of the events unfolding around you as decisions made by your friends and various dice rolls lead you down weird and wonderful paths of delicious, chaotic adventure.
All tabletop roleplaying games help with your creative thinking, mental health, social skills and so much more. I took up Comedy Improv Classes to help my Dungeon Master skills. In doing that, I made new friends, some of whom now go on adventures with me.
Thinking back to the events that take place, I often find myself remembering them not as a group of people sat around a kitchen table, but rather as the events happened in-game. Something I always find remarkable and so precious.
At the end of the last campaign, some players left while new ones jumped on board. New characters were rolled and new memories have been made.
Most recently the new group, known as The Guardians, made a glorious mess of getting on board a Cloud Giant’s Flying Castle. Meanwhile, the Comedy Improv group encountered their first Dragon last night and managed to talk it down from killing them, but they now have to get treasure for it.
I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Some of the players have also become Dungeon Masters and Game Masters in other games, while I have finally been able to take part as a player in a few adventures.
There are many other role-playing games out there (you can see some of the ones I own below - I must dig out the rest) and I will be talking about them in future posts.
I cannot recommend enough that you go out there and find someone to play them.
What RPGs have you played? What are your favourites? What amazing events happened with your group?
The basis for this post was previously published on Get To The Table.
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