What is Dungeons and Dragons?

Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop fantasy role-playing game that’s been around since the 70s in one form or another. It has inspired shows like Adventure Time and the T.V. adaptation of Game of Thrones, made appearances in episodes of Community and Stranger Things, and has influenced fantasy games like Skyrim. It has been played by everyone from high school and college-age gamers to actors like Vin Diesel and Drew Barrymore. But what exactly is it?

Stories and Possibility D&D is, put simply, a game of stories. Players listen to a story and world described to them by another player tasked with running the game (usually called a Game Master or Dungeon Master, depending on how fancy they want to sound), and react to events and the actions of other players as they (or their characters) choose to. At its core, it is a juiced-up version of “make-believe,” with an established ruleset acting as a backbone to give the story some structure. D&D is a game of near-infinite possibility, and you can accomplish (or at least attempt to) damn near anything you put your mind to. Many of those possibilities come with realistic risks and consequences, but the decision to go through with those actions is up to you.

Different DMs take different approaches to telling the overall story of a game. Some meticulously plot out the story from start to finish, leading players with subtle hints in-game and an out-of-game understanding that a main storyline exists (and occasional direct explanations of the next step when subtlety fails). Others make things up as they go, reacting to their player’s decisions and building the world around them as they adventure. Regardless, every adventure from a onetime game to a campaign spanning years is unique, the combination of the DM’s vision, the actions of the players, and the unique blend of personalities that meet in a particular gaming group.

Roleplaying I mentioned characters above, and that’s another important subject worth understanding if you want to get into D&D. Most video game players put some distance between themselves and their game character; they’re aware they’re playing a game after all. If you’re anything like me though, you have, at one time or another, created a character with a specific story in mind, and stuck with it through the game.

It’s easier to do with more open-world games like Fallout and Skyrim, especially due to character customizability, but is generally as simple as committing to an image of a certain character type or goal. Maybe you commit to being a kind, selfless helper, or instead as a heartless mercenary who will do anything for money. The point is that you in some way limit your own options by only choosing those that apply to your image, playing the game as your character instead of yourself. That’s called role-playing.

D&D is a lot like that, except that you flip on that role-playing switch and leave it on permanently. D&D is a game, but it’s also a story, and it’s hard to tell a convincing, believable (for a fantasy game) story when Joe Blow the sticky-fingered klepto is alternating between acting like a functioning member of society and someone who runs over and kicks a random passerby “because it would be funny.” Not that you can’t play someone as psychotic as that (though the town guards might put a quick stop to Ol’ sticky-finger’s antics.)

D&D requires some investment in a character: a backstory, a set of morals, a reason for your character to act the way they do, and a commitment to acting in your character's interests, even when you know something they do not. You don’t need a Tolkien-quality backstory (but go for it if you want) or a witty voice (I can’t do voices; the last time I tried it took my players 10 minutes to stop laughing). What you need is a person, one that might act contrary to what you, the player, might do, but that you commit to playing anyways to give the story some backbone. Character building is a topic we’ll go into another time, but for now, just understand that D&D lives and dies on the back of the players’ commitment to and meaningfulness of their characters.

Scenes and Reactions Let’s take a minute to look at an example of your average D&D scene.

You’ve recently arrived in a new town and are looking for work. You go to a marketplace and see a shopkeeper being harassed by a couple of thugs who are demanding a share of the shopkeeper’s profits. Other shopkeepers and citizens seem to notice, but no one is acting. Your Dungeon Master asks what you want to do.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. The DM’s role is to create situations, and the role of the players is to react to those situations as they see fit. Sounds like your average game right? Clearly, the DM intends for you to help the shopkeeper, and that is certainly one of the options you can take. If this was your average video or board game, that might even be your only option. But D&D is a little different. Remember above all else, this is a game of infinite choices and possibilities.

You can certainly walk over and take the shopkeeper’s side, either reasoning with the thugs or escalating straight to violence. The shopkeeper might feel grateful, offering you a place to stay or work, or might just brush off your help. But maybe you want to take a different approach. Maybe you are more interested in working outside the law and see this as an opportunity to schmooze the members of a local crime organization. Maybe you alert some nearby guards and see how they handle the situation. Or perhaps you just turn and walk away.

This is a topic that I intend to discuss in-depth in a later post, but for now, it serves as an example of how D&D functions a little differently than other games that you may have played. Get out of your Skyrim and fantasy novel understandings of rights and wrongs, and don’t ever assume that you have to take an action simply because your DM intends for you to take it (but do take pity on the DM sometimes; some of us spend a lot of time planning encounters for our players).

Not Just for Nerds As long as we’re throwing out preconceived ideas, go ahead and do yourself a favor; throw out all the stereotypes of D&D players that you’ve heard over the years. You know the ones: the fat, nerdy guys huddled in their mom’s basement and living out their sex and power fantasies through the game.

Throw those ideas out, or at least push them out of your mind for the moment, and listen to someone who has played entirely more than I probably should have in the past three years. I’ve played with football players (good battle tacticians) and theater majors (excellent role-players), extroverts and introverts, military members and artists, and everyone in between. I’ve seen shy guys become group leaders, and outgoing, high energy socialites take a moment to make careful plans with other players. I’ve seen girls (yes, shocking though it is, many do play) get just as invested as any guy; in point of fact, my girlfriend was one of my first DMs, and is almost as big of a fan as I am (she's arguably a better DM than me anyway, so it balances out).

I’m not saying that the stereotypical, antisocial D&D edgelord doesn’t exist; a brief look through any one of a half-dozen different subreddits and 4chan discussions can reveal a healthy number of horror stories (pretty entertaining reads to be honest). What I’m saying is that D&D is a game, nothing more and nothing less, and that it is one that anyone, regardless of age, gender, and social circle, can get into. It’s why I’ve had so much success in getting people to play at my campus; everyone loves a good story, and once they’ve heard a few they start wanting to create their own.

What it is There are a lot of different pieces I’ve mentioned here that will need their own posts (or two, or three) to fully explain, but there is one important element of the game that I have barely touched on: fun. D&D is, without exaggeration, the single most entertaining and attention consuming game I have ever played. I love it for its infinite choices, huge community, and the ability to keep a single game expanding endlessly.

It is an enormously fun game, and that love for it is why I decided to create this blog. I want to help other people teetering on the fence about it to fall over and get into the game, and to do that I feel it is necessary to look at the game itself and explain how to play it the way I have done for dozens of my own friends.

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