The 1980’s high school phenomena of the board game of Dungeons & Dragons has made its way to campus through the D&D club. Hosted by Mr. Fouts in room 915 on Mondays from 12:46 until 2:30, members will have the opportunity to complete outlandish quests, and build relationships. The club incorporates rules and rulebooks from years past, including some of the first edition books published almost 30 years ago. Mr. Fouts is the advisor and he has had much experience with playing the game, with many of the game materials being his.
For the uninitiated, D&D, commonly known as Dungeons and Dragons, is a role playing board game from 1974, created by Ernest Gary Gygax. The game is extremely flexible in its outline as any adventure that the game / dungeon master (DM) can think of, can be played. The game became popular throughout the 1980s and is considered a cultural phenomena, with its appearance in famous shows and movies such as Stranger Things. The club has complimentary soda and chip bags every meeting graciously provided by the club, and the members are free to play as soon as the club begins.
“The perks include lots of creative members who are friendly and helpful, encourages statistical thinking, lots of rolling dice to see what happens, and a great way to relieve stress one day a week, I also provide snacks most if not all days,” said D&D Club Advisors Mr. Fouts. Mr. Fouts has been playing the game since the early 1980s, and has gone on such adventures as high level, pre-made campaigns which encompassed several levels and challenges.
“We work in an effective manner, with the 15 or so people in the club, mainly by splitting campaigns or games up amongst groups created by the members so that they can all play what they want to play, with who they want to play with,” said Dungeons and Dragons Club President Blake Davison. “It is just a great way to nerd out with people who have similar interests as you and also to develop skills that help with narrative writing.” The main point of the club is to get together with friends and play the game however the players want to play. The game can be simple such as a one-shot, a session in which the campaign is completed by the end of the gathering, or can be extremely detailed, taking several club meetings to complete.
“Seeing that is mainly made up of juniors at the moment, and we have a senior leading it, continuing the club in the future is a slight issue for now as we have not discussed which underclassmen or juniors will take responsibility of the club once the senior leader graduates. Money is also a concern raised for the near future not due to the fact that it is necessary for the club to continue, but it would be nice for the students to receive all proper resources such as books, maps, etc,” said Club Member Chantry Harris. Dungeons and Dragons club is stable for the time being but concerns over a leader of the club have arisen, but besides this, the club is running smooth and adventures are still proceeding.
