By Darrel Helm —
Every Friday at 2:30 in ROSA, the Dungeons and Dragons (D &D) Club meets. When you walk
in the doors, you’ll see a large set of tables put together and many Miami University students
yelling and laughing, with an assortment of roleplaying game accessories spread out in front of
them.
Dramatic theme music starts playing on a Bluetooth speaker; Hunter Gairland opens the game
with an exciting narrative. Gairland explained that “the most rewarding aspect about leading a D
& D party is providing a good experience,” and his personal philosophy goes something like
this: “If I don’t make someone smile, then I call it a day wasted”. Gairland’s enthusiasm fuels the
games as the players/characters gather in excitement and anticipation. Eager hands take turns
rolling the dice, and one can hear utterances in the voices of each player’s character. You can
feel the magic that the Dungeons and Dragons Club brings to campus.
For those unfamiliar with D & D, it works a bit like this: The game’s host sits at the top of the
table and players gather around. The host fills the players in on a fantasy world they can interact
with and navigate. Each player creates a unique character, and everyone operates in this
fantasy world together, rolling dice and referencing a character sheet to define actions and their
success. The host acts as a real-time storyteller in the game who creates the environment
around each player’s actions and decides how each move affects the world around them.
Gairland initially worked on a campaign or base story, and then fine-tuned experiential elements
as the players interact with it. During games, players have many opportunities to interact with
one another. When a game is in full swing, you can see the dynamics of the group in action:
spells are cast, while characters avoid nightmarish voids and monsters. After half an hour in the
game, you start to feel at home.
During an event, it becomes increasingly apparent how large of an impact ROSA is making by
providing space for students—and, how vital the space is to many around campus.
ROSA is the Miami Regional Office of Student Activities and Orientation. Here, students are
encouraged to work on programs that focus on community, and it operates as a resource center
for many programs that students run on campus. Riely Benouit, a ROSA student ambassador,
explains what they observe this way: “They are having a blast. There is always at least one
person screaming at the top of their lungs.” Benoit has worked with the D & D club in the past
and was a part of a collaboration that helped to raise awareness for ADHD paralyses. Benoit
helped create a dice game for students. Those who participated received a set of rules and a
game that accompanied daily tasks using a dice-based system.
Benoit also mentioned The Hub at Miami, encouraging students to visit the site and see what’s
happening. For those unfamiliar with The Hub, it is a link on the Miami Clubs and Organizations
site; here, you can search for and read about various clubs currently active at Miami University.
If you have ever had the desire to enter into a world and interact with a group of characters that
are created from the loom of imagination and magic, or engage in battle while dodging wild
mischief and unknown realms, then remember Fridays at 2:30. On that date and time, you can
very likely find the members of the D & D Club, led by Hunter Gairland, partaking in an epic
journey in ROSA where the constantly-evolving story is jumping off of the table.
Before joining, log into the Miami Clubs and Organizations Hub, pull up the Dungeons and
Dragons page, and email [email protected] for more information.