Imagine that you and other adventurers journey through the land of the Fey with an adventuring party and your campfire walks away from you when you set up camp. Imagine you and your friends go up a large mountain and you all get wiped out by a troll. Imagine fighting an evil wizard when suddenly, you’re turned into an iguana and you’re smart enough to turn yourself back and have a magic duel with him. That is the Dungeons and Dragons experience.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game with more than 50 million players worldwide. It’s a popular game that can be picked up by many people. Every week, about two dozen students gather at MHS to play the game. The club is run by Mr. Joseph Metz, MHS’s graphic arts teacher.
The club also has four student leaders who act as Dungeon Masters, running the actual games. The jobs of the Dungeon Masters include finding campaigns to run and teaching club members about the games, figuring out the rules, making characters, and much more.
“When I first got into Dungeons and Dragons it was really fun just watching videos and finding out more about it and making my own character,” Senior Bryson White said. “Although at first, it’s hard to find a group to actually play the game so I was just learning about it for a while before I actually played. I have enjoyed Dungeon and Dragons because I can play Dungeons and Dragons more regularly with the club, it’s also one of my leadership roles where I feel like I thrive at helping others.”
The club meets on Wednesdays, where two different Dungeon Masters run different campaigns and divide the players amongst each other. Meetings are in CTE123.
The club provides dice, character sheets, pencils, and much more. Many sourcebooks that are supplied by the students and teachers are brought to the clubs and shared in the google classroom.
“Originally, I didn’t want to start it at all. I saw an ad for a D&D Club through another teacher during our last school year (2023-2024). Based on the printing of the flyer, I thought maybe I should offer my help. I forget the specific teacher who was leading the club at the time, but he was incredibly thankful for the help.” Mr. Metz, Graphic Arts teacher, said. “I showed up for the first meeting, and sort of took over for him since he didn’t know what it was. After the first meeting, he ended the club.”
It had a rough start in its beginnings in the 2023-2024 school year from when the club seemingly shut down. Then, Mr. Metz stepped up to resuscitate the club. “I didn’t think too much about it, but then I heard from many students and teachers, surprisingly, asking about what happened to the club, and if I would take over instead.” Mr. Metz said “I saw the demand for such a club from the first meeting and thought to myself that perhaps I should take over. Every meeting since, there has been a large turnout for the Dungeons and Dragons club, and I have found great joy in watching students participate in a game I have loved for two decades.”
Dungeons and Dragons club is also a safe space for newcomers as well as experienced players.
“The club was casual and chill for the most part, and they were very welcoming. I like being in it so far. The club also made for a great place for me to share my art,” first-time player Lailah Martin said.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game loved by many people; it has more than 50 million players worldwide.
“I would say it’s a tabletop roleplay game where you just use creativity to make a person and do whatever you want,” White said. “D&D is about freedom and creativity. You want to act as your character in the story that your Dungeon master sets up. You use dice to determine what happens in the game and it’s not super-complicated when you first start. You can make a character and hop into a story and see if you like it.”
The game itself can be played in many ways, the primary website for it is D&D Beyond and its supporting website Roll20. These websites let you make character sheets, buy Dungeons and Dragons books, and are recommended for newer players to help ease into the game.
There are also many unofficial sites in which you can find the books, and you can even create your own races and classes for the game and label them as “Homebrew” so long as you consult with the person running the game. You can also make “Homebrew” campaigns if you know enough about the game, and you can let your imagination run wild.
Supporters of the game believe people underestimate the impact it can have on young people.
“I could go over how this game is a fantastic tool to sharpen reading skills as well as math skills,” Mr. Metz said. “I could go into how this game helps build social skills and public speaking talent. I could even go into how it helps develop key critical thinking skills. At the end of the day, I think kids these days have a hard time finding a sort of ‘third space’ where they can hang out with friends, socialize with new people they never knew they wanted to meet, and escape from school/work life for just a couple of hours to have fun collaboratively telling a fun story.”
