I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons since my freshman year in high school and have loved almost every moment I've spent exploring deep fantasy worlds, slaying evil, and diving into creative character concepts and story arcs. Despite the name, there is much more to the game than just exploring dungeons in search of gold and conquering dragons for glory. Over my time as both a player and a dungeon master, I have learned more than just the rules of the game, but I have learned about myself, about interaction with others, and about the real world around me. While the traditional D&D game of dungeon delving and dragon slaying may only appeal to a niche audience, I am a firm believer that anybody can tailor the rules of the game to fit what they are looking for, and, in the right game of D&D, anybody can have a good time.
Why is D&D different than other games? The players are in charge. Sure, in a video game you can control your character, but you are not in charge of the game. You did not build the world, you did not write the story, and often, you don't even choose where you go or what you say. "Sandbox" role playing games like Fallout or Skyrim often put your character in an open world, but the story is largely on rails. The video games play like a choose your own adventure novel. You feel like you are in the driver's seat, but there are a limited number of endings. After completing the game, it feels like the story was handed to you. The player merely discovers how it ends. But in a game of D&D, or a good one anyways, You write the story as you go. You build a world together, you create life-like characters to inhabit the world, and you write a story about those characters saving the world. You shape the game to fit what you want. After all, it is a fantasy game, and it lets you live out your own personal fantasies. You can be a wizard, weak in body but strong in mind, outsmarting your foes and using your knowledge of the arcane arts to defeat any enemy. Or a sneaky rogue, using the shadows to your advantage to surprise your opponents and take them out one by one, striking suddenly and quickly before disappearing again. Or perhaps you a smooth-talking, quick-witted bard, more clever than anyone else in the land, talking your way out of the tightest of jams, and using your skill with words to magically inspire your allies, helping them complete seemingly impossible tasks. Your imagination is the only limit. Unlike a preprogrammed video game, a game of D&D lives and breathes, adapting in real time to suit the needs of the players and dungeon master to tell a great story.
Because of how versatile D&D can be, anyone can have fun in the right game. Some games are focused on combat, strategy, and military tactics. The characters might fight large hordes of goblins, crawl through dark underground passageways vanquishing evil creatures of the dark, or command entire armies in large scale combat. Or perhaps you play in a political intrigue campaign, where you accomplish your goals not with the sword, but through with the pen. Getting the right people in the right place at the right time is enough to influence the course of an entire realm. persuasion skills, detective work, and possibly the occasional assassination can be core elements at certain D&D tables. Games can be high fantasy, where magic is commonplace. They can be low fantasy, where you start with nothing and your first rusty sword is a big deal. They can include species created by the players, or maybe you play in a historical world where magic doesn't exist, and you take the role of an ancient Greek hoplite. A game can focus on the battle between evil and good, or maybe the lines aren't as clear cut and it isn't so obvious which side is the "good guys." There are as many ideal D&D games as there are D&D players. Every group plays by their own variation of the rules, and if the game does not come fit with a way to play you like, changing the rules to make the game fit your needs is encouraged. Anybody will enjoy the right game of D&D, and its up to you to make a game you will love.
Far more important than all the fun I've had, D&D has taught me important lessons about who I am and who I want to be. I have learned so much about who I am in real life by pretending to be a fictional character. In roleplaying, you learn to understand who your character is. Where did they come from? What are their goals? Why do they put themselves in dangerous situations, what is it all for? Sometimes the answer is that your character wants gold, or power, but far more fun are the characters with complex backstories full of not just success, but also tragedy, failure, resulting in a character with flaws. These flaws are the most important part of a character and they are what make it fun to roleplay. They make your character relatable, as nobody is perfect. I have come to realize that many people's first character is an exaggerated version of themselves. This teaches the player how to role play. But you learn much more from characters that are different from who you are in real life. Characters like Dolovan Hex, the orphaned prince gunslinger who taught me that there are alternatives to revenge. Sir Enalius the 18th, a noble elf with absolutely no common sense taught me patience. Han Tzu-Li was a paladin turned warlock who was serving a devil when he thought he was serving a god. He taught me to challenge what I believe and to seek understanding with people who have conflicting beliefs with my own. Kaku, the kobold con man, thief, and gambler taught me to find good in people where seemingly none exists. Crumb thief, the abandoned, orphaned, street urchin turned who studied to become a mage taught me the value of generosity. D&D is great because it allows for personal growth and learning in a controlled environment. In D&D actions have consequences for better or for worse, but those consequences only extend to the limits of the game. I have learned more about myself and about interacting with people by playing D&D than I ever could learn in a classroom.
There is something special about the unique experience of a table with a group of nerds rolling dice and pretending to throw fireballs that can't compare to anything else, and I wouldn't trade that experience for the world.
