Dungeons and Dragons, such a wonderful game! What is it? Why should I play it? Where can I find people who play the game? Well, you’re in luck, my friend, because if you’ve found this article, I can answer those questions for you right here, right now (I hope)!

Dungeons and Dragons, or DnD for short, is a tabletop roleplaying game that was founded in 1974. This game can be really anything you want it to be depending on how the storyline goes. It can be realistic, completely made up, or you could just improvise the whole thing as you go because you just started it out of nowhere with no plan in mind! All you need to start off is a group of friends that would be interested, and find one to DM.

While the term ‘DM’ may make your mind go to the little space where you can message your friends about god knows what, Discord, I am here to assure you that this is something completely different. A DM, or Dungeon Master, is the person who narrates the storyline for your campaign. You may also hear the term GM or Game Master. These two terms can be used interchangeably depending on the situation.

A traditional party consists of around 4 to 6 people, them being the players or party members. Your party members are the people who will come to the sessions that are scheduled and be by your side throughout the campaign, however long it lasts. There are a plethora of things you can be in this game, as well as several different alignments and classes for you to play. However, depending on what your DM allows, there may be some restrictions. Now, onto breaking down what I mean by this.

There are several different races you can play, all of them with their pros and cons. No, I am not talking about skin color, or what state or country you come from. I am talking about species. Yes, you read this right, you are not limited to being a boring ol’ sack of flesh and bones forever, you get some freedom. You can be human, dwarfen, elven, a halfling, dragonborn, tiefling, the list goes on. I’ll break down the basic ones for you, though.

Humans! Our lovely, or not so lovely, selves! We are a variety of beautiful tones ranging from a deep brown to a pale whitish complexion. We can be tall, medium, small, extra small, or extra tall! Either way, you’re still a simple old pile of bones and flesh that has very few differences (unless you choose for there to be).

Next, we have the Dwarf. Pretty much a smaller version of a human, except you guys live for around 350 years. Dwarves are experts in anything stone-related and can see in the dark for up to 30 feet as well as have a resistance to poison. Just a quick thing for any of you who want your character to be a drunkard, poison resistance does not mean you are immune to getting your little self drunk! Onto the Elves.

For this race, you are pretty much a tall, sharp-eared, hotter version of a human with better morals (if you choose to have better morals). Typical height is around the same as a human’s, the max being six feet. This does not mean you cannot still be fun-sized! You also get dark vision, but, it is much better than your shorter friend, the dwarf. You gain 60 feet of dark vision. There are three main subraces of elves, the Drow, the High Elf, and the Wood Elf. Go to D&D Beyond if you want to read about the subclasses.

Dragonborn are humanoid creatures that look very much like dragons, except for the fact that you guys do not have wings, so, no flying for you! Your height can be well over six feet tall, although I would recommend you stop at around ten feet to make it easier for yourself. Reds, greens, highlighter pinks and yellows, browns, greys, albino, white, if it’s a color, you can be it.

Lastly, we have the Tiefling. Tieflings are, simply put, half human, half devil. With curving horns, and pupilless eyes that seem to stare into your soul, you can get why many are uncomfortable around them. Much like the Dragonborn, your skin tone can be whatever you desire. The same applies to your horns. Give yourself ram horns, deer antlers, broken horns, spiral or mismatched horns, you go for it. Get creative with your designs!

Moving on from the races and onto alignments and classes. There are nine alignments whose names speak for themselves. There are three of each alignment, good, neutral, and evil. The good alignments you can play are Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Chaotic Good. Neutral and Evil alignments follow the same layout. The rest of the alignments are Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, and Chaotic Evil. No need to explain those at all, right?

Classes, or professions, are what you will obtain certain skills from. The main classes are as follows: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rouge, Sorcerer (One of my personal favorites), Warlock, Wizard, and Artificer. I will only give a brief description of each, about a sentence long, so you can have the fun of figuring out some things yourself if you decide to play DnD.

Barbarians have a lot of HP (Hit points, AKA health) and can pack a massive punch in battle. Bards are masters of the instrumental arts and like to give out inspiration (and insults). Clerics, please, heal your party, you don’t want them to die. Druids, or, plant whisperers as I like to call them, harness the power of nature to give them otherworldly powers like shapeshifting. Fighters can learn the basics of almost every fighting style, making your attacks quite spontaneous if you decide to use that to your advantage. Monks are martial artists that can unleash a flurry of attacks that can leave you immobilized.

Paladins are, put in simple terms, a species bound to a pact with a god that can give them the ability to smite you if they feel like it. Rangers are excellent bow wielders, and hunters, and are masters of a specific terrain of their choosing. Rouges, the assassins of the world of DnD, rely on dexterity and stealth to get by when stealing or doing whatever it is you do when you play this class. Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards are all some of the more known spellcasting classes that you will hear about, as well as see several memes about Wizards taking 1d4 of damage and dying. Lastly, the Artificer is crafty and machinery-based, infusing spells into their work to have wonderful outcomes.

Now, onto the main questions, why should you play DnD and where can I find people who want to play the game? I introduce you to: the BBDDAA club! The BBDDAA club is all about DnD! Here, you can meet new people who are interested in playing the game or meet people who have already played and have joined to teach and just join in on the fun. The club meets every Tuesday and Thursday in room 204A at lunch.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of this article and have successfully made it through my hopefully helpful rant! If you are a Boise High student reading this and are interested in playing DnD, go to room 204A during lunch on a Tuesday or Thursday to take a dive into the world of DnD.