It may seem shocking to some people to know that the popular game known as Dungeons and Dragons is not played by blood thirsty teenagers, dressed in black robes that listen to only heavy metal. The game has attracted many kinds of people from across the world. It would be no surprise to find instead around that table an astrologist, programmer, jeweller, chef, and a drag queen. Ordinary people from ordinary walks of live enjoying a fantasy world.
The fantasy world that we get to read about in books like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or watch in movies like ‘The Dark Crystal’ has attracted us for many years. This is evident in the fact that movies and books in that very genre is produced and written every year. Humanity has long since longed for a world where the fantastical is an everyday thing and we get to be the heroes that saves the day from an evil force that threatens us all.
From Real Life To Linmill
The game is played by people sitting around a table and telling stories. Well, that is the short, very condensed explanation. One of the players, called a Dungeon Master or DM, is in charge of creating a fantastical world. He is in charge of writing a skeleton script for the players and setting the stage in which they will play. This can be a made-up town, let’s call it Linmill, or a prebought setting that has already been written out.
The players then get to create their heroes. This can be anything from a noble fighter to a magnanimous cleric of the people. Some players might choose to create fantastical illusionist wizards while other wizards could be genius alchemists and inventors. With the characters created they will now go on a mission to defeat the evil that the DM created for them.
A Roll of The Dice
Once the players encounter the evil snake like creature Jadu, they destroy it by rolling a series of many-sided dice. These in themselves look like fantastical jewels and certainly adds to the feel of the fantasy game playing. The players then break for lunch, where they discuss their next adventure. There is nothing sinister or even weird about it.
In fact, the game has become so popular that you can watch, on various online networks, how players take part in their latest adventure. Some of these players have included major action stars like ‘The Rock’. Everyone is playing it, and everyone is recommending it. But why is it so popular? What makes people flock to this game?
Benefits of Dungeons and Dragons
Who doesn’t want to be a hero that lives in a world where you are celebrated because you have powers that allows you to save a poor paladin, that was turned to stone hundreds of years ago? Social studies have also shown that the game boosts confidence, creates social skills, builds imagination and helps to improve the memory. It’s as good as the Bingo Australia offers, and as rewarding too. How can you then not want to pick up a set of dice and to try and defeat the mysterious Red Lady?