Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) is a game in which one molds the world around oneself, one in which imagination and creativity thrives. In a way, it is almost an anomaly that the game can attract people of such different backgrounds all around a single board.
In Dungeons and Dragons, there is a Dungeon Master who looks over the session and makes a story for the players to explore. Stories are often vast and mysterious with monsters around every corner. Players roleplay as a character that they create. This character can be of a special race such as dragon born barbarian or elvish druids, and when the players are doing something from fighting a dragon to haggling down a price, it is determined by a twenty sided dice, the higher the roll the better the outcome. All of these aspects make DnD a truly special game of imagination and luck.
In Revere High school DnD club, there are different groups for each grade level with around 6 people in each. Within each of these smaller groups a different story from the rest occurs like a chaotic symphony.
Nick Kos, an English teacher at Revere and the adviser of DnD club, gives the credit to a group of girls who are the reason why the club was made.
“I had a group of four girls come and talk to me [about starting DnD club], two of whom I’ve had in class. I had Reese Patton and Rosa Parsons in class… and it’s Molly and Marianne,” Kos said.
It was not just this group of girls who started the club, they have also sustained and led it.
“They asked me to just do it because they saw that I was here after school a lot, so they just needed an advisor or someone to overwatch and they would take it from there,” Kos said.
From the passion of just a few students, a community of unique individuals grew, all having a passion for DnD.
“They’re very unique, like all casts of characters coming in. I think it’s kinda neat when they’re designing their characters and the different things that they go through. There’s just certain people that I see that are in there, and I’m like, wow, I wouldn’t have expected them to be a dungeon and dragoner,” Kos said.
Lewis Diulus, the Dungeon Master for the freshman group, loves DnD and has ample experience with the game.
“I have been playing DnD all through middle school, mainly as a player, but I did run a campaign as dungeon master once, and I saw there was a DnD club through my cousin and I joined and ended up running the campaign for one of the two freshman groups,” Diulus said.
Diulus also connected with the diverse community around DnD club. Dozens of people from different backgrounds and cliques all unified by a common interest.
“Everyone I have met outside of my group is very nice and within my group everyone is already my friend. They’re all new to the game so it’s a little chaotic but it’s really fun,” Diulus said.
Diulus also loves art and other creative things, so with dungeons and dragons being a game of imagination and creativity, it pulled him in.
“I’m doing a premade campaign so I don’t have to do much, but I am taking a lot of liberties with it, so it is just helpful for making assets for the campaign,” Diulus said.
Kyle Cunningham, one of the players in Diulus’s campaign, joined so he could play with his friends.
“My friend Lewis asked me to join and we ran a campaign over the summer, so then we thought it would be fun to join the DnD club,” Cunningham said
As a result of playing with his friends, Cunningham often has chaotic experiences with them.
“One person in our group is a door, a custom race we made. It is pretty weird at times because it’s a literal door,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham also has had many close calls with death and more due to in-game combat’s reliance on luck.
“One time we were facing just some random goblins when we all for some reason had horrible luck with our rolls and ended on the brink of death. Luckily for us we had just entered a combat area and Lewis let us leave and set up camp to rest and regenerate our health,” Cunningham said.
The game of DnD attracts many people with one thing in common, imagination. The desire of just four students to start the DnD club has let so many people express themselves and let their imagination run loose. DnD club is a hub of creative people who all share one interest, turning the game of DnD to something so much more.