Explore Limitless Boundaries While Sheltering In place

by Brooke Clifford Role playing games are a great way to pass stay-at-home time while presenting opportunities to learn, be creative, work together and problem solve, all while ultimately having fun. So if you’re wondering how to spend your time social distancing during the last month of summer break, let me share a game with you that you and your family or friends may not have tried yet. You’ve probably heard of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). You may even know someone who’s currently playing, as this role playing game has been seeing unprecedented growth in mainstream popularity over the last couple of years. Drawing a diverse group of new players to the game has helped D&D become much more progressive, fostering an eager and welcoming new community. Today you’re likely to see D&D used as a tool in schools and in therapy, acting as a safe space for players to develop social skills, foster critical and creative thinking, and explore their own identity where they have agency over their narrative. At its core, D&D is a communal experience about playing out a story of your creation together. D&D is whatever you and your group of players want to make it. It can be created for younger players to finish in a shorter time period, or for more mature players where the game can go longer and be sustained through weeks of play. To begin, you simply need one person to be the DM, or dungeon master, who will take

the role of story narrator. The DM creates the setting, plot, and non-player characters (NPCs) that the rest of the players may encounter. The rest of the group will choose what characters they will be playing throughout the game. These could be precreated by the DM or from websites or other guides that have characters already builtout with basic backstories, or completely original. There are many resources available online to help you get started with basic guides on how to set these up. The beauty of it is that the guides are exactly that – guides. When it comes to races (elf, goblin, gnome, etc.), classes (wizard, ranger, cleric,…), and backgrounds (merchant, folk hero, pirate,…), and settings (you name it!), the pre-existing materials are there to help act as a basis for mechanics in the game and your group can take that base and run with it to suit your group’s interests and needs. The traditional view of D&D, of course, is the Tolkien-esque fantasy setting but if you want to play in a futuristic setting in space, or a Victorian era mystery, or on the frontier of the Old West, you can absolutely do that. If you’d rather plan an epic heist than fight a dragon, no problem! You can run a short game with a story contained within one session of playing, or a longform narrative that builds up like a novel that the DM & players are writing together that lasts for many sessions. With simple gameplay that essentially only

relies on the varying degrees of success of a character’s dice roles in relation to their skills, the rules of the game can be adjusted and applied to just about anything you can imagine. Ex. Your group has been sent to investigate the local haunted house, but the doors are locked so, naturally, you decide to knock and politely ask whatever specter inhabiting the manor to kindly let you in as you’d simply like to have a chat.

You would say your piece and then roll your 20-sided dice (a d20) and add whatever modifier fits the situation, persuasion in this instance, based on how charismatic your character is. As a table top role playing game (TTRPG), role playing is another aspect of D&D that some players may hesitate at upon first glance. Again, this can be as involved or as minor as your group is comfortable with. Personally, I think role playing is one of

FREE RESOURCES: https://www.dndbeyond.com/

Digital one-stop shop for D&D where you can create digital character sheets for easy player management, access information on basic rules/races/classes/backgrounds/spells/etc.

https://dungeonmaster.academy/articles/dming-for-young-kids

Tips on running a game for younger kids

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7atuZxmT9570U87GhK_20NcbxM43vkom Series of videos detailing how to create & play a fun game for all players of your game

https://www.thedmlair.com/free-dd-adventurers/

Resources for new & experienced dungeon masters including story modules, villains, NPCs, puzzles, and more

http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder

Helpful DM tool for creating potential combat encounters for your players that will challenge them without overwhelming them (unless, of course, their series of choices and actions have lead them to an overwhelming situation)

http://donjon.bin.sh/

For all your random generator needs (town or character names, random rewards, spells, monster lists, etc.) the most fun aspects of D&D, transporting yourself into a story and improvising incharacter with your fellow players to figure out what you’re doing and how you’re going to do it. Role playing in D&D can teach you a lot about developing a character and often times can touch on real-world subjects about identity and relationships as your characters work to achieve a common goal whilst navigating obstacles that can be both tangible and intangible. Creativity is encouraged in finding solutions. In this vein, role play can lead to many rewarding moments for everyone playing the game. (Mixed with the improvisational nature of D&D, it also tends to lead to many, many shenanigans.) I would encourage you to give D&D a try as we continue to practice social distancing. If I’ve piqued your interest in the game, be sure to check out the resources listed. With the help of technology, the game is more readily available and the newest edition (5e) focuses more heavily on storytelling. Most everything you need is available for free online, such as digital dice, information on the basics for characters, and video group chat platforms to play with friends or family not in your household. There’s nothing stopping you from a new source of fun and entertainment. In fact, there’s a whole new world out there.