From Stranger Things to the 2023 film, Dungeons & Dragons, commonly abbreviated to D&D, has become more popular and well-known over the past few years. Azle has its own D&D club, and a new game store, Nat20, which just opened. Recently, the D&D sponsor and ASL teacher Nikki Self and the owners of Nat20 have discussed a potential partnership between the game store and the club. But, what exactly is Dungeons & Dragons?
“It’s a board game, using your imagination, where you can do whatever you want and you can make your own story,” freshman Benjamin Andrews said. “I like being able to do whatever I want in the game without consequence. Well, not without consequences, but without anybody telling you no.”
There are two roles in the game: player and the Dungeon Master (DM). The DM sets up the world, guides the players and makes sure everyone follows the rules. Players create their own characters to interact with the world and progress through the DM’s story. Both the DM and players use dice to determine the outcome of their decisions. The games commonly take place in medieval, fantasy settings but can be about anything and set anywhere.
“When I was younger, if you played D&D, you were a nerd,” Self said. “You lived in your mom’s basement and ate Cheetos. That’s not necessarily the case now. It’s acceptable. There’s movies about it. It’s something that’s not just for nerds, but it’s kind of a creative outlet equivalent to playing disc golf.”
People can choose to incorporate other physical items to help imagine the story — miniatures of monsters, playable character figures and maps to visualize their location — but these items can be expensive. Self and Nat20 are thinking about using the potential sponsorship to provide the students with these extra items and broaden their connections.
“[This partnership] is going to allow these students to see that it’s okay to just be who you are,” Self said. “There are adult people, who meet once a week at Nat20 [or the] ladies D&D club in Burleson where they have 30 women that play every Wednesday night, and that [it’s] OK. That they can make connections and be successful and still enjoy ‘kid games.’”
While the D&D club has been around for two years, it picked up in membership this year garnering 42 students at the start of the first semester and now sitting around 25. One of the new students, freshman Penelope Sanford, said she found the group through the Club Rush back in September.
“I love D&D,” Sanford said. “I’ve played D&D with my mom and dad before and it’s been really fun, and I wanted to play D&D with people more my age. So far, it’s going really well. I really like how you can explore, you can fight, you can roleplay, you can do all these fun things.”
For junior Olen Allcock, he said it’s more about the people.
“What I like most about D&D is how everybody comes together to just have fun with it,” Allkock said. “ If you ever watch some of the sessions that we have, we get loud, we noticeably have fun with it.”
Whether you want to be a war-axe-wielding dwarf, laser-shooting robot, a magical alien, or just a normal dude, Dungeons & Dragons has a place for you.
“Those interested in joining or being a part [of it can] just come on down, even if you know nothing about it,” Self said. “We are open and welcome to absolutely everybody.”
