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Dungeons & Dragons for Beginners

Miniatures and polyhedral dice for Dungeons and Dragons

Remember the days when your imagination ran free and you relished in creative exercises like writing stories and creating characters? As you get older, the opportunity to do so may decrease, especially if you start working or going to school full-time. In this week’s Driscoll Place Blog, we’ve got a good pastime that incorporates the joys of creativity and storytelling: Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game that focuses on collaborative storytelling, so we hope you enjoy this short list of reasons why you should get into the game!

Role Playing

The game is labeled as a roleplaying game, as such, the game allows you to create and embody a character. Though there are many interpretations of this type of game, many choose to adopt the idea that you act as your character, speaking in first-person and acting as their character would according to their backstory. This aspect of the game can make people feel hesitant to start, as it would require a certain level of trust between friends and a willingness to get out of the comfort zone, but it can be one of the most rewarding parts of the game. 

Game Mechanics

Aside from role playing, the game does have its own mechanics that involve a set of polyhedral dice. The dice are used to determine successes and failures in and out of battle. Though these dice rolls can mean some failures, it can be part of the fun! Learning how to lean into failures and enjoy the game as it happens can be rewarding and give you some great stories.

 

Dungeons & Dragons is generally played using the theater of the mind, with the dungeon master narrating the game, however it’s not uncommon to have game miniatures and maps to help the players visualize battle settings.  

 

Role Distinctions

The only roles in this game are dungeon master and player. The dungeon master is the one who narrates the game and creates a world in which the player resides. Players exist in the world and their actions have the potential to alter the landscape around them, either propelling the story forward or hitting a standstill. 

 

Invite some friends over to your Houston, TX apartment to play this game! Think about whether you’re going to be the one to dungeon master or find someone who could.