Mustangs Meet Monsters in Dungeons & Dragons
Club allows students to escape everyday stresses of life through a popular role-playing game
By Emily Guerra
Club allows students to escape everyday stresses of life through a popular role-playing game
By Emily Guerra
In the quiet halls of Pioneer, one small classroom is being transformed into a world of monsters, mystery and dangerous lairs with the help of a new club.
The Dungeons & Dragons club debuted last year, now filling a classroom with 50 members eager to join before their first meeting. Every Monday and Wednesday since then, they gather to play the popular dice game, which has been enjoyed by millions of people since its creation in 1974.
Club leader Ethan Percival, 10, started playing the game three years ago and made the club to express his love for the game to his friends and peers on campus.
“Dungeons & Dragons is a role-playing game where players get to create their own character and those players go on an adventure and have fun as a group,” said Percival. “I think my favorite part is the community aspects it brings, that you get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise and you get to have fun with these people in a way that you don’t really get to in so many other parts of your day.”
In order to spread the enjoyment of the game to as many people as possible, the club was designed to accommodate both newcomers and experienced players.
“We intentionally designed the club to make it accessible to all players, veterans and new players alike. So we wanted to make sure that even if you had no idea what Dungeons & Dragons was, but you were curious about it, we would be able to show you how to make a character and help ease you into the game.”
The dice game gained global traction for its customizable nature, encouraging players to invent creative scenes to role-play. Vice president Andrew Newton, 10, plays Dungeons & Dragons as a favorable alternative activity to gaming on electronic devices.
“It became a really fun thing to do with friends other than just playing games on a computer, something more in-depth. Currently we’re playing an extension of an old campaign we’d run last year called Burning Goblins, that the president of the club has been running,” said Newton.
Elisa Hull, 9, finds the character-creation and role-playing aspect of the game most entertaining. In Dungeons & Dragons, each player fills out a sheet describing their character with aspects like character attributes, descriptions and backstories.
“I like the character creation because there are so many options. I also like role-playing, because it’s like acting but much simpler,” said Hull.
At the end of a stressful day, a role-playing game can help students unwind and enter a worry-free universe. Hull joined the club to escape from the real world and encourages others to give the game a try.
“It’s a fantasy world, so it’s a good way to ignore everything that is going on in your real life and go into a separate world with a different character that you made yourself,” said Hull. “It’s kind of nice to forget what you were doing beforehand and go do something else.”
The Dungeons & Dragons club debuted last year, now filling a classroom with 50 members eager to join before their first meeting. Every Monday and Wednesday since then, they gather to play the popular dice game, which has been enjoyed by millions of people since its creation in 1974.
Club leader Ethan Percival, 10, started playing the game three years ago and made the club to express his love for the game to his friends and peers on campus.
“Dungeons & Dragons is a role-playing game where players get to create their own character and those players go on an adventure and have fun as a group,” said Percival. “I think my favorite part is the community aspects it brings, that you get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise and you get to have fun with these people in a way that you don’t really get to in so many other parts of your day.”
In order to spread the enjoyment of the game to as many people as possible, the club was designed to accommodate both newcomers and experienced players.
“We intentionally designed the club to make it accessible to all players, veterans and new players alike. So we wanted to make sure that even if you had no idea what Dungeons & Dragons was, but you were curious about it, we would be able to show you how to make a character and help ease you into the game.”
The dice game gained global traction for its customizable nature, encouraging players to invent creative scenes to role-play. Vice president Andrew Newton, 10, plays Dungeons & Dragons as a favorable alternative activity to gaming on electronic devices.
“It became a really fun thing to do with friends other than just playing games on a computer, something more in-depth. Currently we’re playing an extension of an old campaign we’d run last year called Burning Goblins, that the president of the club has been running,” said Newton.
Elisa Hull, 9, finds the character-creation and role-playing aspect of the game most entertaining. In Dungeons & Dragons, each player fills out a sheet describing their character with aspects like character attributes, descriptions and backstories.
“I like the character creation because there are so many options. I also like role-playing, because it’s like acting but much simpler,” said Hull.
At the end of a stressful day, a role-playing game can help students unwind and enter a worry-free universe. Hull joined the club to escape from the real world and encourages others to give the game a try.
“It’s a fantasy world, so it’s a good way to ignore everything that is going on in your real life and go into a separate world with a different character that you made yourself,” said Hull. “It’s kind of nice to forget what you were doing beforehand and go do something else.”