Roll for initiative. Make a dexterity check. Make a wisdom saving throw. What do these phrases make you think of? I’m sure plenty of readers will be completely perplexed, while others may recognize a connection to the tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). I hope by the end of this piece, you’ll understand a little more about D&D and why so many dedicated gamers carve hours out of their weekends to sit down, roll some dice and make up stories with their friends. For me, D&D has been a critical part of my life as far back as I can remember.
Dungeons & Dragons has evolved significantly since the first edition came out in 1974. The revised fifth edition, released in 2024, focuses on three main pillars: combat, exploration and roleplaying social interactions. Critically, the game centers the emotional journey of the player’s characters — their stories, their fears, their hopes and dreams and their successes and failures.
A D&D group is composed of any number of players — usually between three and six — playing characters they create, along with a Dungeon Master (DM), who plays all of the other characters in the world — known as non-playable characters (NPCs) — and describes the environment and happenings of the world around them. Players get to choose from 12 different classes and numerous fantasy races and backgrounds to create their character.
Maybe you want to be a sneaky rogue, who’s good at lock-picking, thievery and sneak attacks. Or maybe you want to be a fighter, a master of martial combat, who’s always good in a fight along with some other versatile skills. Or maybe you want to be a wizard, a master of arcane magic, who has a spell for every situation. In combining a class with a race and a background, you can become almost anything. For example, you could be a noble elven wizard traversing through a fantasy world on a quest to save your kingdom. The options are almost endless.
The beautiful thing about D&D is the way it is completely open-ended. Unlike other games, there’s no specific goal or way to “win.” The goal of the game is to come up with a fun character who wants to do something in the fantasy world put in front of you by the DM, and then to take that character on an adventure with your friends’ characters. Nobody knows or has full control over where the world will take you.
Once the DM has described the situation, you and the other player characters get to decide what action you’re going to take. Most actions have both a chance of success and failure, and that’s where the dice come in. When your character attempts an action, you roll a d20 — a die with sides numbered one through 20. To succeed, you must roll higher than the difficulty class (DC), which is higher for more difficult actions. If you’re attempting an action that your character is skilled at, you get to add a bonus to your roll. Once you determine whether you have succeeded or failed, the DM will describe the results of your action on the environment and how the NPCs react. The chance of failure adds stakes to the game and makes it real; you never know where the dice will take you.
My dad grew up playing D&D as a kid and, when my brothers and I were old enough, he taught us how to play. Many of my favorite memories as a kid come from being clustered around a table with my brothers, pretending to be dwarves, elves, wizards, fighters, clerics and rogues. We got to be heroes in a fantastical world where it felt like anything was possible. In high school, I drifted away from the game, focusing more on school and other hobbies. But now in my later years of college, I’ve come back, inspired, like many others, by the many entertaining D&D actual play shows that have popped up in the last few years, including Dimension 20, Critical Role and Not Another D&D Podcast. And every time I return home, my brothers, my dad and I try our best to fit in a session of D&D, and it’s always a blast.
For me, D&D was my first introduction to the many wonderful stories and emotional journeys that are possible when you let yourself get carried away by fantasy. Funnily enough, pretending to be a made-up character lets many players discover sides of themselves they never knew existed, explore the depths of their emotions and form lifelong bonds with their friends. I credit D&D in large part with my love of creative writing and high fantasy, along with the love of reading that my parents instilled in me. All you need to get started is the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, some dice, some pens and paper and a group of friends willing to go on an adventure with you. There are many stories yet to be told, and you could be the one to tell them.
