Dungeons & Dragons, and 4 reasons why I like it so much

Some years ago, for me, D&D was just a weird game that nerds in movies played, mainly because the books were (still are, even more so nowadays) extremely difficult to find, but also because of the many prejudices about that kind of hobby, which in turn got worse because of how latinos tend to be more “physical” or “spectacle” oriented (sports, “useful” things and being a folk singer, for example).

If you couple that with the fact that I was a very unsociable child, and that I used internet for finding more about stuff that I already knew rather than some novelty, and you get why I didn’t even played D&D until early 2012. It was almost an accident, and it happened because of people I met because of other interests. I’ll try to summarize so I can finish this introduction:

Literature has always been my greatest passion (or at least the closest I have to one), and because of my first foray in formal publishing, having won a national poetry contest in my last year of highschool (2009), I became part of a small group of like-minded youths directed by one of the wisest women I’ve ever met. We wrote stories, we practiced, we all became friends.

But college time came and by 2012 I was almost the only one that stayed in town (studying in the local college). Our mentor brought new blood, and I also became friends with them, even more so than before. It was with one guy from that new group that I was contacted by an older girl who was looking for people to make a group cosplay of the “akatsuki” (from the anime NARUTO), the guy and I accepted, and guess what?, I had already met that girl in a summer camp many years before. So the two literary young ones met the other friends of that girl, and they invited us to play D&D for the first time. So...

1.- We started with 4th edition, and it was awesome!, my first character was a Tiefling Rogue, and I can’t describe how epic I felt when I knocked down a Green Dragon in mid flight with a crossbow bolt!. It made me feel like Legolas from The Lord of The Rings, and as a matter of fact, it won me the nickname “Diegolas” (Diego is my name), which endures until today. That was the first of many adventures, and the first reason why I like D&D so much: being able to “do” really epic stuff (usually impossible in real life), adrenaline for quiet storytellers and boardgamers.

2.- The second reason was something that I realized long after it had started: friends from college (both from my first failed career and my second, successful one) distanced themselves, the same as the old literary group and almost everyone from the new; a girlfriend came and went, some friends married, and so on. Only the people from the D&D group (some of them, a couple moved away or got into a fight with others) stayed true and present in my life, and as such, our gaming sessions became an extension of a growing friendship. Fun things are even more fun when done alongside friends.

3.- The third reason is more formal, and required a lot of analysis and me going through the process of a thesis that dealt with how literary language can help get a message across: D&D (and any TTRPG) is more than just a game. Leaving aside the fun and friendship aspects, I thought about it in an academic and philosophical way, and which was the conclusion I came up with?, well… as much as I like literature, books are pretty much “dead” stories.

But hear me out!, I’m not saying they are invalid, or bad in any way. Is just that no matter what tricks and techniques you use, no matter what how a book is made and presented, it is self-contained, what happens there is decided from the moment the words are written. That allows for deepness, for adjusting to the utmost perfection. But as wide as the horizon is, it can still be seen looming.

On the other hand we have the “living stories” from D&D sessions. And they are living because those players are a literal part of it, because it is trough them that things move forward (or backwards in some cases). While normal literature gives you the possibilities of some well thought plan, the stories from TTRPG give you the feeling of being part of something big, of doing something with consequences. Those who read are those who watch an spectacle, those who play are spectators and actors at the same time. And that, for an aspiring writer, is powerful.

4.- On the final reason, I would have to say something particular about D&D and Fantasy RPG’s: at least for me, the current “real” world, while still interesting, is so full of bad experiences and things so impossible to change, that playing in an imaginary world that is pretty much the same, it just isn’t fun. Sure, some people may like that, and they may argue that some things can still be done in “realistic” RPG, but I don’t see it that way.

I play as a distraction from the real world, therefore, I want my adventures to be in a world different from mine. D&D is by default a fantasy world, and the literal magic of it opens so many possibilities and shenanigans that I can’t help but be fascinated. At some point, that fascination mixed with my writing aspirations and because of it D&D is now a fountain of inspiration for organic storytelling and quick improvisation.

I started as a Player Character, and that is good, because you can concentrate on developing the details of one character and its interactions with the world. Nowadays I’m more of a Dungeon Master, the only one of the group that has read ALL the official books (and a lot of fan works), and that gives me a different POV. As a DM I can watch everyone’s stories unfold from a VIP seat, I can move things in their environment, ask the questions and put the puzzles, I can be a creator, a worldbuilder just as Tolkien was. And that is powerful.

So… why do I like D&D so much?, because it’s a fun game, but then again, it can help with my aspirations, it can be so much more.