The last time I hung out with my friends, one of them got me to try out Dungeons and Dragons (DND), a role-playing game which involves imaginative storytelling and probability to determine how events happen. While I have always been interested in fantasy settings, I had never gotten around to trying out DND. Frankly, the idea had always intimidated me; there are many moving parts and it looked like a lot of work for a game. One of my best friends has been into it for years and has tried to rope me and another friend into a session for some time now. During a recent trip with them, we finally humored the DND fan and gave the game a try.
Actions within a game session are governed with several dice. For example, if my character tried to deceive someone, I would have to do a “deception roll,” which means I must roll the dice to determine if the deception attempt worked or not. The number range needed to succeed in a dice check like this can vary depending on my character’s strengths and weaknesses. This randomization can change the outlook of the entire story itself which keeps players and the Dungeon Master constantly on their toes. The amount of choice and creativity in how to approach a situation keeps the game fresh and interesting.
What surprised me about DND is the amount of work the Dungeon Master, the creator and impartial moderator of a session, puts into a game: they write the story, establish scenarios, and improvise when the players do something unexpected. My friend, who served as the Dungeon Master, spent about four hours writing the story and setting up each scenario. When he was finished drafting, he helped the two of us create characters within the game’s parameters and then set us loose in the fantasy world.
That said, as new players, we ended up having too much fun (my character is currently in jail), derailing the story without understanding that DND is a collaborative effort between the Dungeon Master and the other players to go through a story. The Dungeon Master sets the stage, but the players give the story life. Without the players buying into the story, everything falls apart.
The experience got me thinking about how that type of world building is no different than any other type of creative venture reliant on teamwork. Ultimately, DND is about roleplaying and collaborative storytelling. It is about generating ideas and working together on those ideas. I can see this type of collaborative storytelling serving as a potential writing and teamwork exercise for the classroom.
I want to try out DND again. After all, I need to figure out how to get my character out of jail somehow.