In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, more commonly known as DnD, one player’s dice roll opens a whole realm of possibilities with imagination on the characters’ journeys. The rolling for initiative is what makes a DnD game change and unique, but the perspective of the players’ shifts when they enter into a game of DnD.
At Edmond Memorial High School, there is a DnD club called Adventurer’s Guild that meets every two weeks after school in the lower commons. They play DnD together with multiple fantasy-based games occurring throughout the meetings.
For Dylan Baskett, a senior at EMHS, this game has turned into a new life. Baskett sets up the game board at the front as a Dungeon Master. The role of the Dungeon Master is to lead the storytelling by narrating the whole game. Baskett takes pride in this role while being involved with EMHS’s Adventurer’s Guild club.
¨I love fantasy,¨ Baskett said. “I love storytelling. I love to create my own characters. [The club] also just an overly accepting place.”
Baskett officiated everyone that was a part of the game. All DnD games are set up differently, and each storyline is unique. The creativity blossoms from the fantastic character choices and adventuristic stories.
Throughout Baskett’s game, the other players acted out their fictional characters and rolled the dice to determine their next moves or gain needs such as strength, charisma and other attributes. The whole storyline is based on the rolls from the seven-dice set, but it only takes one person’s turn for it to become a completely different narrative.
One of the players who experienced this dramatic change at the roll of the dice was freshman Jasper Sypien. Sypien’s character changed throughout the game. Sypien only knew a little about DnD before joining the club earlier this year. Sypien has learned about the school’s unseen and hidden, but supportive environment from being able to participate in Adventurer’s Guild.
“I feel very welcomed with the club,” Sypien said. “I do not feel judged at all, and it’s very nice to have something to look forward to it every other week.”
For some Adventurer’s Guild members, DnD shows them that they can make friends and feel included, even if they feel like they are not as involved outside of the club. The reason behind the club’s launch was to allow students to find common interests and become friends, which included creating an open space for girls to be able to play even if they had not been encouraged to in the past.
“They made lots of friends through it,” Melanie Stephens, Adventurer’s Guild sponsor and English teacher at EMHS, said. “That is a big deal for me because DnD, historically, has not been a very girl-friendly space for someone.”
Due to the friendly nature of the club, more people have joined since the five years that it has been established. Stephens started the club because she felt interested in DnD and believed it should be shared throughout the school.
“I have always wanted to play DnD, but I did not have the network of friends who wanted to play in high school,” Stephens said. ”By the time I found a group that was playing DnD and by the time I created a character sheet, they had already moved onto another platform.”
Many students joined Adventurer’s Guild because they wanted to play DnD, make new friends and have fun. The next meeting is Thursday, Oct. 3. and the overall atmosphere of the club is inclusive and welcoming, making it accessible for everyone to join.
Contact Anna Vitiello at [email protected]
