What: For the uninitiated, Dungeons & Dragons is a role-playing game with few requirements; all you need is a polyhedral dice set, some sheets of paper with each player’s character information, and your imagination. Every game session, also known as a campaign, is hosted by a Dungeon Master (DM), who creates and monitors the plot and setting. Players tell the DM what they want to do, then roll the die to determine whether they have succeeded at their task or not. The plot, setting, and actions can be anything that the group decides on and the game itself is open to an endless amount of possibilities, making each campaign a unique and creative gaming experience.
Who: The student-run club that organizes and plays D&D is currently headed up by Oliver Maupin ’18, who plans to hand leadership over to Jay Colon ’18 next year. Maupin founded the club because he wanted to get more people involved and spread his love for the game on campus. “Getting a private group of friends together is pretty easy, but I also wanted to encourage and organize other students to play as well,” he said. “Dungeons and Dragons is escapism at its finest. All you really need are some friends, dice, a pencil, and paper.”
This semester, Maupin hopes to host larger introductory events to attract more new players. In the hopes of getting the word out he is planning to launch a Facebook group for the club, which currently has 17 members spread across four different D&D subgroups.
When: Meetings of the various groups are determined by each group’s DM and consist of playing through a campaign.
Did you know: Colon has a job writing for a third-party publisher for a D&D spin-off called Pathfinder. He spends his time working on new settings, characters, and monsters to be compiled in books and sold to other DMs for use in their campaigns.
Get involved: If the recent success of Netflix’s Stranger Things made you curious about D&D, you can email either Maupin or Colon to get involved in the club. However, due to the ratio of DMs to players, it may take a while to join a new group. There are not always enough DMs to start new groups, but the club still welcomes anyone interested in playing and would like to act as a resource for all of your D&D needs.
Nerd House will be hosting a D&D and Trading Card Game (TCG) Night this weekend (Feb. 4, at 8 p.m.), which will provide opportunities for newcomers to connect with other player and get involved in campaigns.
-Jenny Ahn ’17
Photo of (from left) Ian Brastow ’17, Oliver Maupin ’18, and MaryKate Cavanaugh ’18 listening to Dungeon Master Antonio Gil 19 by Caleb Eckert ’17.