Evercleer is in danger.
There is not even an ounce of blue in the sky; it’s overgrown with blankets of depressing gray clouds. Rain pounds mercilessly onto the ruins of what used to be a thriving town, debris drifting through the low floods of water. Every so often, thunder ripples through the sky, followed by frequent flashes of lightning. And the cherry on top? Winged humanoids, harpies, dance through the storm, relishing in the chaos; and elementals descend from above in drones, clashing against people of the Temple of the Open Sky: monks who have come here to quell the mayhem.
This devastating storm is the work of Crastain, a monstrous entity also known as the Neverending Storm. The situation is dire; if these monks do not defeat it in time, Crastain will fully awaken from his slumber, causing the end of the world. Almost everyone from the Temple of the Open Sky has arrived in Evercleer to fight against Crastain, but with just their strength alone, it won’t be enough…
Fortunately, they aren’t alone in this battle.
Near the walls of Evercleer, a trio of female adventurers stands valiantly in front of a mob of elementals. Two are infused with the world’s elements--genasi, as this world calls them. The water genasi readies a spell of fire, flames alighting her oil-stained arms. The air genasi spins her staff around, eyeing her opponents with fearless eyes. And their dwarven companion brandishes her legendary mace, its metal head glowing with the embers of a powerful god.
Behind the identities of these adventurers, however, three ordinary humans sit anxiously in a voice call on Discord, accompanied by their Dungeon Master: the man who had skillfully orchestrated the entire situation. After describing the scene laid out before them, he finally says, in a calm and collected voice…
“I’d like everyone to roll initiative.”
What you’ve just read isn’t a scene from a movie nor an excerpt from a novel; it’s a scene I’ve experienced first-hand in a game called Dungeons & Dragons, D&D for short. Many of you may have heard an overview of the game and just assumed that it was a game for weird nerds--and you’re not exactly wrong, but take it from me: D&D can be so much more than just a “game for weird nerds”. It’s a game where creativity is boundless, where you can create any sort of character and--with the help of the Dungeon Master (DM for short)--integrate them into the world. The DM’s storytelling helps players get really immersed into the world and its events, and roleplaying the characters you’ve created--although it may be awkward at first--allows you to say and do practically anything you can think of (with a few ground rules, of course).
Basically? The sky’s the limit when it comes to D&D, and I think that’s what makes it stand out against regular RPGs and other tabletop games. Of course, the rules and combat system may seem a bit complicated to newbies, but after learning the basics, you’d want to keep coming back every week for another campaign session. D&D players know the thrill of their characters coming to a close call in battle, finding out plot twists that make you question your entire knowledge on the campaign--and of course, rolling that signature 20-sided dice when doing an ability check and hoping you don’t land on a 1.
With quarantine in place for almost a whole year now, time has felt a bit more meaningless. During summer vacation especially, every day felt monotonous, with my daily routines not varying much other than occasional calls with friends on Discord. Even Animal Crossing: New Horizons--a game that I was absolutely invested in during the first half of quarantine--became boring to play. I couldn’t live like this; how was I supposed to survive being cooped up at home for an indefinite amount of time if my everyday life felt blander and blander?
D&D was the answer. Honestly, I’d give this tabletop game a good amount of credit for me continuing to push through this pandemic. The first campaign I ever joined--a Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign--was resurrected during quarantine after being inactive for a while. Suddenly, my Wednesdays became a lot more eventful, and I absolutely loved it. I was immersed in the rapidly-progressing plot, the characters being developed, and how nerve-wracking some of the battles were. This campaign gave me a reason to continue pushing through the weeks, no matter how dry the non-Wednesdays seemed, all because I was excited about every next session.
But don’t just take it from me; other D&D players have definitely felt the same way. Jevin Olano, ACHS alumnus of the class of 2018 and a fellow DM, credits the game in giving him something to look forward to at the end of the week. “It's very comforting to know that no matter how many hours I have to work or how hard I have to study, I've got this ‘sacred’ time waiting for me on my Saturday night to just unwind and be me for a while. It's definitely been an important element of my routine for a while now.”
As a DM, Olano also had to adjust the way he hosted sessions to make them more quarantine-friendly. In the pre-COVID world, many DMs would have in-person sessions with their players, especially if they all live relatively close to each other. Nowadays, DMs have to host virtual sessions--usually on Zoom, Discord, or other messaging platforms. “I play with my college friends who are from all over California, so we were already sort of used to long-distance sessions,” Olano said, “but transitioning into that full-time definitely took some getting used to. I definitely miss person-to-person, face-to-face interaction, but facecams help with that issue a little bit, I'd say.”
On the bright side, there are some benefits to virtual sessions, as Olano points out: “Boards are much easier to display on a screen, and set-up time is minimal. You don't need to invest as much money into the product. We have online PDFs and websites we can use in place of $50+ books, and we have digital maps and grids to use instead of trying (and failing, in my case) to draw my own maps by hand.”
In the present-day, the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign has long-ended, but I’ve joined a homebrew voice campaign called The Painted Lands--which, fun fact, is the campaign from which the beginning anecdote originated from. I play a character named Gwen Strongheart: a dwarven cleric with a legendary mace forged by the god of Moradin. Playing her in every session is always loads of fun, with her energetic demeanor, British accent, and her love for craftsmanship… and biscuits. Sundays are now no longer full of dread for Mondays; now, I’m excitedly looking over past session notes and waiting to cause more chaos as my fellow D&D character.
In uncertain times like this, Olano wants to leave everyone with this encouraging advice:
“If you're reading this, I could not recommend finding a hobby more strongly. Whether it's D&D or something completely unrelated, it'll do you a world of good to have something in your life besides work and school that you enjoy and want to invest time into.”
So, there you have it! D&D has become an essential part of my life, as well as many others. With the current state I’m in right now, as well as how much fun I’ve had in the past few months playing in my campaign, it’s safe to say that D&D has and will keep me sane during the rest of quarantine.
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