A roll of dice, a group of people and the fifth edition player’s handbook.
These are just the requirements you need in order to play the widely popular Dungeons and Dragons game with a group of friends or with fellow American River College students.
Dungeons and Dragons is a phenomenon that dates back to 1974. The role-playing game has had more than 50 million people playing since its release according to GameRant, a gaming news website. This classic allows players to imagine themselves with friends or strangers in a world of medieval adventure.
American River College’s D&D Club is an opportunity for ARC students to experience and enjoy the game with fellow students.
D&D Club President Eddie Stepp was responsible for starting the club at ARC earlier this school year.
“A bunch of players get together with one dungeon master or ‘DM’ and they create a world, and the characters play through the world,” said Stepp, when explaining the fundamentals of Dungeons and Dragons.
Stepp also talked about the different characters and roles that you can be.
“Basically, [players] create a character, there’s a lot of different races and classes you can be. Like a human with special abilities, or you can be like part dragon or part elf,” Stepp said. “There’s a lot of stuff that you see in fantasy—could be pretty much anything.”
A dungeon master is the organizer and creator of the world that players have access to in their sessions. A dungeon master also creates monsters for players to battle and encounter along their journey.
Phineas Smith is the vice president and a dungeon master of the D&D Club. Smith says there is no prior knowledge needed before joining the club.
“Personally, I love playing with players who don’t have any prior knowledge because they will come in never seeing all the mechanics bits. They are coming in and they are like “I want to do this thing,” Smith said. “It allows me to work with them and keep that joy of just being able to do whatever in the story.”
Smith’s offers a pitch to ARC students keen on joining the D&D Club.
“If you like telling stories and you like hanging out with people and talking…. Dungeons and Dragons is the place for you,” Smith said.
The D&D Club meets every Monday from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Student Center on campus.
Link tree for the D&D Club can be found here.
