“You approach two 10-foot tall metal doors, with the crest of a raging bull emblazoned in between them. This is reminiscent of the evil lord’s, Zercult, symbol and you feel a sense of dread come over you. The door flies open before you have a chance to think and you see him: the tall, domineering figure dressed in the red and black robes that only add to the malevolent atmosphere. He stands on a lone pillar in the middle of a large abyss. He removes his hood and you see the puppet face of Kermit the Frog and in a dark, nasally sing-like voice, he says, “Come at me, bitch.”

* * *

Dungeons and Dragons cannot be described easily by those who play it. For those not familiar with the activity, words like “nerdy,” “lame,” and “a-waste-of-time,” are thrown around a lot and most assume it is not for them from that. Let me preface this article by saying that D&D is for everybody. I can guarantee it. I cannot express how much everyone needs to play this game just because for me, this is where some of my greatest memories are found. It is a life-changing experience.

Let me try to describe D&D in the simplest way I can. You and a group of friends get together to create fake characters that you would be in the mood to be the voice and personality of. One of your friends takes the role of a Dungeon Master who comes up with a world and story for the other players, while the other players decide what to do in the universe. There are other factors, but I cannot describe it all here or that would be the whole article. Most of the learning is organic and like riding a bike, it is better to try it yourself and once you learn, you never forget.

1. It’s something easy and cheap to do with your friends

Besides the printing out of character sheets and the buying of some D&D books and dice, there is not much money needing to spend. In fact, once you get all the necessary books, to begin with, you never need to buy anything if you don’t want to. If you start getting into it more, some players enjoy using character models to represent their characters or investing in fancier dice. The rest relies on your imagination.

2. Snacks are necessary

If a D&D table is not filled with some sort of Cheetos or chips of some sort as well as Mountain Dew or Coca-Cola, then you aren’t playing D&D. Also, for dinner, pizza is a common option for when dinner rolls around because D&D is not a one-hour activity. This lasts all day, so you need to stay satisfied with your hunger desires.

3. You see the true side of your friends

There are different categories of alignment that can be chosen. They range from Lawful to Chaotic and Good to Evil, and a mixture of those choices. For example, a thief is never lawful but can be neutral if he steals for a good cause, so they would be chaotic neutral. If you were a member of the law, you would most likely be lawful but if you plan on getting everyone arrested because you don’t want them to be happy, then your title would be lawful evil. Your character’s morals never have to align with yours. Go wild!

4. There is a chance to get revenge on your friends

Let’s say Jimmy stole still owes you $5 in real life but you don’t want to bring it up to your friends so you, in-game, steal all Jimmy’s gold without him noticing. Then proceed to use said gold to buy a new weapon to kill Jimmy’s character. Because nobody likes Jimmy. Even better, if you happen to be the Dungeon Master, you can do whatever you want to whoever you want and be a cruel and evil God.

5. Role-playing

I am a scrawny, nerdy, introverted person but my favorite types of characters to play are one-handed, hammer-wielding buff warriors whoseonly goal is to hit bad guys… hard. However, sometimes people also play who you expect them to play too, like I have a very charismatic and outgoing friend who plays bards and tricksters and whose goal is to mess with people using his high charisma stats. It’s really up to you who you want to be.

6. A lot of bonding time

D&D is like a board game without a board. Just like with any other board game, it is never a bad option to spend time with friends because while you are playing the game, you still talk with them about things that are happening in their lives and vice-versa. There are a lot of memories that can be made playing D&D, in-game and out of it.

7. Creative Imaginations

If you have creative muscles needing to get worked on, D&D is the best option for that. There is nothing more creative than trying to think of entirely new worlds and characters doing crazy adventures. You feel like you are your character sometimes and, if everyone is on board, it feels so great when you obliterate an enemy with a fireball and all your friends cheer you on.

8. Problem-Solving

Like being creative, problem-solving puzzles relies on the Dungeon Master. Sometimes, Dungeon Masters set up an entire maze for you or have riddles to solve to try and open a door. It allows the players to solve fun riddles when fighting is not happening, or when fighting is happening, to try and figure out the best order to kill your enemies. There is also problem-solving from the Dungeon Master’s perspective wondering why his/her players are making such stupid decisions

9. You can work on your people skills

The Dungeon Master plays all the other characters in the game that interact with your players. He/she plays a lord of a city but also the wise wizard in the tower and the humble merchant on the street. All the bad guys are also a requirement. So as the player, you can get used to talking to different people and understanding consequences based on who you are talking to. You may be able to call your friend an idiot but saying the same thing to evil ruler of the universe is probably not the best idea.

10. You can be a nerd!

A nerd has evolved into a personality type nowadays and less of an insult. People are proud to be nerds and honestly, some people even try to be nerds just to fit in (trust me, it’s real). You don’t even have to know anything about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Game of Thrones if you take part in D&D. Just playing it is an easy way to get into the community. And hey, in the world of D&D, nobody knows who you are so be who you want to be without any consequences. Except maybe your Dungeon Master killing off your character but that’s going to happen anyway so, why worry?