I don't do drugs, I do DnD.

It is a dark and stormy night, 3 in the morning. You raise your long sword to strike down the severely injured Orc. You swing. You miss. Why did you miss?! You start raging and yelling at the Dungeon Master. The die you just threw for the attack hit the corner of the book and it accidentally stopped on 1, but you are certain it would be enough to kill the Orc. Whatever, not like that it could kill your level 14 Cleric. Critical hit?! You cheating piece of …

The lore of Dungeons and Dragons is a fascinating one. Never has a board game been so complicatedly easy to play. Also, never has a board game needed so much off-board gaming play. Dungeons and Dragons, or DnD for short, is considered as a really controversial game. On one hand it is a great way to gather friends, get soda intoxication and snack overdose, and spend half of the night adventuring in the lands of Y’oore slaying dragons and looting corpses for a few extra coins. On the other hand it is considered the Devil’s game, for the same reasons mentioned previously.

I for one, cannot see the connection between DnD and the Devil. Does he spend his evenings with his fellow DnD demons as well? Do they also stay up all night discussing how a Wemic™ sleeps? Seems so. I mean, how else would all of us be good players if not for the mystical powers of the Devil flowing through us when we play. Yeah, for sure, not like the game requires a certain level of intelligence to comprehend what is going on and how to appropriately react to certain situations. Must be an outer-plane being possessing me and commanding me. The dice and sheets of information are just there for the show.

We could say DnD is now old-school. It requires pen and paper and good mood. No electronics to rot your eyes or mind. Plus, you get to hang with your friends and embark on journeys that would make mere mortals shake in their garments. And another interesting fact is that the game is always unpredictable. You never know how your fellow adventurers will react and that is also part of the excitement.

Contrary to popular belief you do not need any substances, besides a whole bunch of fizzy drinks and snacks that could feed a small army, to enjoy yourself. But you do need to learn Voodoo so that you can convince your dice to always roll what you need. Honest. I train mine.

Let’s consider another fact, I would go out on a limb and say that DnD is more than just a game, it is educational. Yup. Just look at what kind of information you need, as the Dungeon Master, you need to do calculations all the time, taking into consideration this and that. You need to fabricate an elaborate and entwining story that will immerse your players in it. You need to do research for everything that is plausible in the DnD world from quite a number of books. But most importantly you need to have fun. It all boils down to that, having fun. You see this crazy scientists? DnD is about fun. F-U-N. Not worshiping some crazy deity or performing sacrificial rituals.

Now then, shall we pack our things, put the fire out and continue our journey? Liches aren’t going to destroy themselves you know.

By Dejan Vicai