Finding Fantasy Friday: Dungeons & Dragons

Image courtesy of Nomadic Lass on Flickr
When I first walk into any big chain bookstore, my feet automatically turn toward whatever coffee shop is in there. I can't help it; it's out of my control. 

While waiting to feed my coffee addiction, it seems there is always a Dungeons & Dragons game in pursuit.

I've never really understood the game, mostly because I didn't know anyone who played it. *lowers head* In high school, it wasn't considered the cool thing to do. As an adult, I wish I could tell my younger self to say, "To Hell with social parameters!" But my younger self would probably say, "Um. Go take a long walk off a short pier." *shaking head* Teenagers!


I realized just how big this is when I found a new business opened in my town. It had the word game in the title. Having a brother-in-law who's big into gaming, I checked it out.

Come to find out. It's a place for games like Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) to be played. It consists of a big room with two long tables where groups can play their game, and from what I saw, it was usually a packed house. How neat! (Of course, they also had computers for gaming and gaming systems.)

Because I have the curiosity of a cat, I decided to learn more about D&D.

Do you know what I found out?

It's a game based on STORYTELLING!

This is taken from the Dungeons & Dragons website:

"The first Dungeons & Dragons game was played back when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson chose to personalize the massive battles of their fantasy wargames with the exploits of individual heroes. This inspiration became the first fantasy roleplaying game, in which players are characters in an ongoing fantasy story. This new kind of game has become immensely popular over the years, and D&D has grown to include many new ways to vividly experience worlds of heroic fantasy.

The core of D&D is storytelling. You and your friends may tell a story together, guiding your heroes through quests for treasure, battles with deadly foes, daring rescues, courtly intrigue, and much more. You can also explore the many worlds of D&D through any of the hundreds of novels written by today's hottest fantasy authors, as well as engaging board games and immersive video games. All of these stories are part of D&D."

What a great way to practice your storytelling techniques. I imagine you could learn a lot about creating tensions, battle scenes, adventures, etc. Who knows? Maybe you'll even write a book about your group's story.

How to get started?

You should probably read this first. The blurb:


Everything a Dungeon Master needs to weave legendary stories for the world’s greatest roleplaying game

The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the inspiration and the guidance you need to spark your imagination and create worlds of adventure for your players to explore and enjoy.

Inside you’ll find world-building tools, tips and tricks for creating memorable dungeons and adventures, optional game rules, hundreds of classic D&D magic items, and much more!


• The third of three core rulebooks, this book contains tools a Dungeon Master needs to provide captivating stories and game play. 
• An excellent resource for new and existing Dungeons Masters to engage in both adventure and world creation, with rules, guidelines, and sage advice from the game’s experts. 


• Created as part of a massive public playtest involving more than 170,000 fans of the game.

This is what you need to start a game of your own. The blurb:


Explore subterranean labyrinths! Plunder hoards of treasure! Battle legendary monsters!

The Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is your gateway to action-packed stories of the imagination. This box contains the essential rules of the game plus everything you need to play heroic characters on perilous adventures in worlds of fantasy.

Ideal for a group of 4 – 6, the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set includes a 64-page adventure book with everything the Dungeon Master needs to get started, a 32-page rulebook for playing characters level 1 – 5, 5 pregenerated characters, each with a character sheet and supporting reference material, and 6 dice.

Check out THIS from the D&D website for more information.

If you would rather join in on another game, the D&D website also has a place to do that. Go HERE.

Let me know if you play this or started to. I would love to hear more information. I love all things fantasy, and I adore storytelling, so I think I'd like this. 

But I do have to ask: Dragons in my world are like people in the sense that they have good ones and bad ones. Can dragons be good? It could be a deal breaker if I can't have dragons in my arsenal. hehe

Lots of <3,
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