D u NG e ONS & DISTILL er S

exploring Peer Support and unorthodox forms of Therapy

In a not-too-dissimilar story, we found ourselves in 2020 with a scourge affecting all of us — COVID-19. Work stopped, our industry stopped, and the world basically stopped. The collective of all humanity watched as people died every day. Desolation and fear took over as we all ran to the stores for way too much toilet paper, the toxic political climate, and hand sanitizer … the damn hand sanitizer … I was being crushed by the world and I didn’t really have an effective coping mechanism. The D&D game idea came about on May 4th, 2020, when a post went up on a community distilling group, checking in on everyone. The idea was put forth by one of my best friends, colleagues, and mentors for many things, John Wilcox, who a couple years prior had moved to Ireland to distill at Blackwater Distilling. He had seen the rise in online D&D pickup games (at the same time we all as a society figured out how to use Zoom for the first time) and we wondered if there were enough distilling industry professionals interested to play a game.

We posed the question to the group and found some interested players, people I didn’t know that well at the time. I mean, we knew each other, at least professionally, we might have even had some drunken shenanigans at a conference or two — but I didn’t really know them. I would soon learn far more. Like their hopes and dreams, their fears, their insecurities, their humor, and their dark (dark) (so very dark) sides. We also talked about distilling, and business, and the industry as a whole. We posed questions about equipment problems, shared articles discussing TTB enforcement, and marveled at the rise of RTD’s. However, the work stuff was just the tip of the iceberg. We also talked about our personal lives. We talked about depression, we talked about our families, loneliness, the failures, and the triumphs. We talked, and we listened.

Our ragtag crew consisted of John Wilcox, our Dungeon Master (DM), controller of the game and story. I’ve known him since 2015 when I took over a distilling job from him in Oregon. He is a nerd’s nerd. Knowledgeable about all things in the nerdom. Then there was Brian Christensen, an editor of a popular distilling magazine (you’ve probably never heard of it). Brian and I have known each other since 2012 and I’ve always admired him. If you’ve never met him in person, he beams straight rays of empathy and warmth wherever he goes. Brian played (brilliantly) the lovable warlock to the Great Old Ones, Ordo the Ordinary, (definitely nothing suspicious about that name). Then there is Timo Marshall, co-founder of Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol, California. He is such an enigma of a human, he truly is a compelling person who has seen the world several times over (by boat, blimp, and submarine, I shit you not). You always end up learning about some new crazy story he has every time you BS with him. Timo played the swashbuckling cleric Tali Holsworth, and of course his trusty sidekick Polly the parrot. Then there is Reade Huddleson (f’ing READE as we called him). Reade is a spirits geek beyond our comprehension, he’s forgotten more than some people will ever know. He loves to play difficult to get along with characters, and yet wonders why we give him such a hard time. Reade played the Oedipean sorcerer, Durge the Successor, of the House Redscale. Then there was Jeff Rasmussen. A still salesman out of Florida, who manages his hectic personal and professional life so well he always seems to have enough time to forget to do his D&D homework. Jeff played the indomitable Grogthander the Barbarian, who through terrible influences from Ordo took several levels in warlock too. As for me, I started the campaign as a monk named Jacobi, but through circumstances outside of his control he spiraled into a hole I couldn’t roleplay out of (he may have accidentally murdered a child, allegedly). So with some help from our DM, I pivoted and created Carrick Amikir the half elf bard of House Redscale. Our party was complete.

I’m fully aware that a lot, and I mean a lot, of those names, terms, and D&D phrases will be absolutely foreign to many of the distillers and assorted industry professionals reading this right now. Yet, for a small intimate peer group the above paragraph carries more weight than all the prose of Tolkien. Those characters were proxies for pushing past disappointing profit and loss statements, managing double shifts, producing yet another damn tanker of sanitizer, or missing a loved one’s birthday. We were those characters, and they became our peer support system. Their story became our therapy.

Our first game was set in the module (a pre-build collection of questions and plot hooks), The Lost Mine of Phandelver. This beginners adventure is set a short distance from the city of Neverwinter in the Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms. From our initial encounter with a goblin raiding party, to the Triboar Trail, to the Old Owl Well, our party set forth to find the location of the mysterious Spellforge.

One of the big things I learned early on is you need zero experience to play, just a willingness to learn and be receptive to the story. Dice will always fall where they may, so just roleplay a character you enjoy playing and go with it! The early days of this campaign were pure bliss; it was fun and light-hearted. We made fools out of ourselves, made deals with powerful wizards, and even planned to franchise a cider orchard across the magical lands of Faerûn (much to Timo’s chagrin).

After successfully completing the Lost Mines of Phandelver over the course of many real world months we took our characters to the Underdark, in an adventure named “Out of the Abyss.” The Underdark is a series of caverns, caves, wyrm holes, vast cities, and kingdoms ruled by creatures who have never seen the light of day. A place where demon lords vie for supremacy, where fungus is the only thing that grows wild, and a place where darkvision is helpful but still does not guarantee you can see what is right in front of you.

Through this adventure we literally altered the timeline of existence, saw characters die, watched friends betray each other, lies, suspicions, and drama abound. After two years of perseverance, we completed the quest. Even our epilogue of the adventure had some epic conclusions. Life-changing, planar-shifting, time-altering conclusions. We had become Heroes of the Spellforge, Honorary Sons of the High King Bruener, Privateers and Helmsmen of the Indigo Cormorant, Bloodletters of the Demogorgon, Guerilla Marketing Team for Edermath Orchards, Landholding Barons of the Duchy of Phandalin, and Banishers of the Demon Lord Yeenoghu from the Material Plane!

These days we are on to our next adventure, with new characters, but the lasting impression of the more than two-year game revealed much to me about myself and my friends. While we did spend a ton of time playing this game together, we spent even more time talking and interacting outside of the game on a Discord channel. It was in those moments that we opened up to each other about how we were handling the pandemic, and our own collective mental health. Perhaps the villain that brought us together (COVID-19) could be defeated, and the support and community I so longed for was right in front of me, making the real treasure the friendships formed along the way. We experienced a microcosm of life together, which gave me the tools to fight our own scourge.

Now, I implore every reader to go on your own quest. While I admit D&D isn’t for everyone, it is now more accessible than ever for first-time users. The Dungeon’s and Distillers group is expanding. We have a Discord server and DMs willing to take anyone on their first adventure. Whether it is a one-shot that can be completed in an afternoon, or a years-long struggle against the forces of good and evil, adventure waits for those who are willing to accept the challenge!

Mark

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