Critical Hits and Epic Quests: How ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Unites New And Old Fans
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Since its release in 1974, Dungeons & Dragons has become a cornerstone of pop culture. Originally designed as a tabletop role-playing game, it has evolved to comfortably and confidently preside over the online gaming community. How and why has D&D continued to capture the hearts of new and old fans in the 50 years since its creation? Let’s find out.
For those new to it, D&D is a collaborative role-playing game (RPG) where players create their own characters and embark on a quest guided by a Dungeon Master (DM). Your character has specific traits, abilities, and skills that affect your gameplay, and all actions, interactions, and encounters are governed by the roll of a die. Anyone who has played before will agree that there is nothing more satisfying than rolling a natural 20 – or more demoralizing than rolling a natural 1.
With D&D’s extensive history and lore, getting started for the first time can feel daunting. In the past, D&D was less popular and less mainstream, typically played by sci-fi and fantasy enthusiasts. Thankfully, that has all changed. Sci-fi and fantasy movies, TV shows, books, and video games now make up the bulk of new releases each year. D&D has grown with this change in attitudes, helped by the popularity of shows like Stranger Things, where the main characters share an almost contagious love for the game. The recent D&D movie, Honor Among Thieves, has brought forth a new generation of fans all of its own, through its embodiment of all the action, fun, and camaraderie of a good campaign.
The joy of D&D is that, beyond the basic rules, the game is what you make it. Campaigns can take place in any number of pre-made settings, from The Forgotten Realms to Ravenloft to The Underdark, or in a homebrewed world created by the DM. Many a campaign has been based on movies and TV shows, including The Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride – even Die Hard! Campaigns can be one-off plays or epic quests spanning weeks, months, or years.
With character creation, you have your choice of race, class, traits, abilities, fighting style, and spells, as well as the appearance, personality, and alignment of your character. Even those who have never played D&D are probably familiar with the alignment chart – and may have enjoyed the endless entertainment of assigning the appropriate alignment to your favorite characters (or family members). When it comes to D&D, you can be any character you want, as near to or as far from your real self as you wish. Are you a hard-headed human fighter who believes the ends always justify the means? Or a charming halfling rogue who prefers flirting to fighting? Or a wise elven wizard intent on keeping your party on the path of good?
Your DM will guide you but you choose where to go and how to get there. Just don’t forget that the die will have something to say about it. That room of sleeping bugbears you really needed to sneak through? You rolled a 1 for stealth, so good luck with that. The decisions you make may lead you to victory – or the brink of death. And your DM will most likely sit there and smile as you go. Being a DM is often a natural progression for those who have played the game for some time. It gives you the opportunity to be the puppet master for once, and the best DMs are those who come up with original (and often terrifying) approaches to gameplay. The golden rule of D&D is don’t make your DM angry.
Probably one of the main reasons why D&D remains one of the most popular games around is its migration from the physical to the digital space. Friends old and new gather on video calls and Discord channels to play, across any number of time zones and many thousands of miles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, weekly D&D sessions kept many of us sane (well, relatively sane). It’s a great way to spend time with family and friends. And if no one in your immediate circle is into D&D? There are groups upon groups looking for new members to join their quests, such as on the D&D Beyond forum.
Beyond the actual game, you can get your D&D fix with the many movies, TV shows, and video games it has inspired. Baldur’s Gate 3 was released just last year and has ranked as the best D&D video game so far. As for movies and TV shows, Honor Among Thieves was popular among fans old and new, and there are hopes for a sequel.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that D&D has something for everyone. It’s an opportunity to gather with friends, family, or like-minded people and explore characters and worlds different from our everyday lives. You choose your own adventure; you choose how you play the game. Then you roll the die and see what happens.
Are you a regular D&D player? Or a newcomer, ready to try your hand at an epic quest? Let us know in the comments section below! And don’t forget to sign up to our email list to get Finds of the Week and our free newsletter, PopPulse Digest, delivered straight to your inbox each and every week.
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