DUNGEONS and Dragons; the game that everyone has heard about, but nobody actually plays. Or so you thought.

Personally, I knew absolutely nothing about Dungeons and Dragons up until a few months ago. I didn’t know anyone who played, I didn’t ever hear about it, and I honestly forgot that it was even a thing.

As I said, this changed a few months ago. As I began making more friends this year, I started hearing about it more and more. The experience has been like when you discover something new that previously you knew nothing about, but all of a sudden now, you see it everywhere.

I decided, after being ranted to about it and hearing how popular it was, to give it a go. The first time I played, it was completely new to me, and apparently it wasn’t a set campaign, so it was hard to determine whether I was a fan or not.

I then decided to join some of my friends in a game on the bus during my choir tour. This time we had a very experienced DM (Dungeon Master), a set campaign, and quite a few players. Some of them, like me, had never played before, while others were more experienced.

It was pretty hard playing on the bus, and a few people dropped from exhaustion, but what we did play was still enough for me to get reeled in.

There are so many aspects of this game that are no less than interesting. It’s not online generally, though you can play online if you prefer. It uses a series of 7 different dice, each with a different purpose, and your roles and decisions alter the path of the game.

One thing that I found very interesting was the character selection. I’m used to basic online games like Halo, COD, and Skyrim (the latter being my favorite), so the character use was a very cool part in the game. I needed to make a background, pick a race (gnome), appearance (literal lawn gnome), alignment, and many different things that also swayed the storyline.

As far as the storytelling went, I thought it was super cool. I never really thought of a game working like that, despite the fact that basically every game has a storyline. I suppose I just never thought of it being like that, where there was almost a planned spontaneity as the game went on.

It was a pretty new experience but I liked being able to see how each little thing affected the storyline.

Along those same lines ran the actual playing of the game. You had to make decisions and choices, and from them the story was altered. The battles were changed based on how you reacted, and whatever happened next was changed as well, according to what the DM chose to change or keep the same.

The drawn maps that we got to use during the gameplay were a really nice addition, and it helped me visualize what was happening and how I could connect it to what choices I had to make. It eliminated any sort of confusion someone might have about what was happening, especially during battles.

Though it was strange starting out, eventually we all fell into the swing of things. The more we played, the more fun it got, even though it was a fairly small game.

By far my favorite thing about the game was the logic that you need in order to play it. One wrong decision can end with you dead, and good ones can help you gain XP and other bonuses to your stats. Just the entirety of how this game runs is such an interesting concept that makes it more entertaining to play.

This game has so many in-depth things and there are so many different aspect that it has, not to mention the depth and variety of it. It is a very fun game to play and as I said before, the game’s overall community is so much bigger than I thought, and I’m not very surprised as to why.