A hobby I can roll with

Roll Initiative!

A while back it was my intention to create a series of blog posts each focusing on a specific literary genre. After publishing my post on the mystery genre I put up a poll on my personal Instagram account for my friends and followers to vote on which genre they would be interested in reading my opinions on next. The final results were close but the clear winner was one that is particularly close to my heart: fantasy. Unfortunately this was also around the time that work on my MA thesis really picked up steam and it understandably took up most of my writing time. Thus, I had to shelf the genre blog series for a while. However, recently I have had the opportunity to become more involved in a hobby of mine that I am truly passionate about and since it just so happens to fit with the chosen genre I thought this blog post would be the perfect opportunity to revive the idea. The hobby I am referring to is the world famous roleplaying game “Dungeons and Dragons”.

I have been playing D&D for just about 3 years now. The game appealed to me both as a out and proud fantasy nerd but also as someone who adores character creation. Ever since I first became interested in writing my own stories way back when I was a little kid I always begin by imagining the characters who are going to populate this world I am building; from the heroes to the villains and then the side characters. D&D takes this even further by having players interact with an entire fictional world, with the Dungeon Master (or DM/GM) taking the part of NPCs and other characters outside the adventuring party. Speaking as someone who has been a DM for just over a year it is quite the experience to have to change from voicing a tough tavern brawler one minute to a refined noblewoman the next.

Recently I was playing with a friend of mine who is training to become a teacher and she noted the game’s potential for introducing young people to such artistic skills as character creation, story plotting, improvised performance and of course its capacity for teambuilding. I could not agree more, as someone who has been involved in many areas of the arts throughout my life; from stage acting to drawing, D&D provides not only an outlet for exploring these interests but a platform for practicing them. As it is also such a global phenomenon there are countless opportunities for meeting like-minded individuals and forging new friendships. Of course this universality also means that you do not have to be someone with experience in the arts to get involved; it is more than likely there are people who enjoy roleplaying games who have never acted in their lives. Often the prospect of performing in front of strangers can be one of the most intimidating things in the world, but to be able to sit down with your character sheet and dice and play the part of this fictional character with a table of maybe half-a-dozen people you may have never met before shows the passion this hobby can inspire and has inspired in people since the 1970s.

With the only limits being your own imagination thanks to the majesty of the fantasy genre I would encourage anyone to try this great game at least once in their lives. Just borrow or buy a set of dice and fill in a character sheet with the powerful sword-wielding fighter or wizard of vast arcane knowledge you have dreamed of being since you picked up a fallen stick as a sword or wand when you were a kid (we all did it) and set off on your adventure.

Featured image: A drawing of one of the first characters I ever played-a wizard.