In this week’s class, we started playing Dungeons and Dragons. I have a bit of background in this game, but not nearly as much as some of my other friends. Dungeon and Dragons is a storytelling game. In this game, the players and the Dungeon Master tell a story together. Players roll dice to determine whether their attacks hit or miss and if they succeed or fail in what they wish to do. I had never used the software Roll player before. Usually, when I am playing Dungeon and Dragons with my friends, we tend to not use a map.
During our session, I played as a pink tiefling druid. Now don’t tell me tieflings have to be the same colors as humans. If I want to be a bright pink tiefling, I am going to be a bright pink tiefling. We were ambushed by goblins, but were able to capture one of them. My character fed the goblin berries while another player wanted to kill him. My character, Iniki, wouldn’t let our barbarian kill her new friend, and the party ended up putting the goblin on a baby leash. The session ended with us having our goblin ‘friend’ start leading us to a cave.
I really had a blast trying to bounce ideas off of my classmates. I ended up making my character slowly seem more and more crazy as the session progressed. For example, when a horse was killed, my character would pet the horse to make it have “nice dreams.” Another time I made it so that the goblin we kidnapped knew it was my “friend” and that “friends never leave one another.” I think the most difficult part of this game was setting up the Roll Player software. At times it was slightly confusing to use, but after a while we finally got it working for everyone.
Dungeons and Dragons relate to leadership in how we work together in a group. One person may try and control the narrative at times, but when the timing is right you can completely change where the story is going. You need to be able to listen to what others are talking about and then make a decision based on it. Sometimes it’s better to be the quiet character who then springs up a crazy idea. Other times you want to make sure that the story leads to a specific area and have to make a way for the session to run in that direction.
I am not sure who I would recommend to play Dungeon and Dragons, at least from the people that I know of. I would say my friends, but all of my close friends already play Dungeons and Dragons. After a year of not seeing each other in person, we are planning to start a new campaign once the school semester is over. Honestly, I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to tell and be part of a fun story.