Dinguses and Dragons: The end of the beginning

My column is over, but the fun has just begun
By Jacey Gibb, Distribution Manager

Welcome to Dinguses and Dragons, a weekly column aiming at demystifying and introducing the game of D&D to new and potential players

A few months ago, I reached out to your fearless Life & Style editor, Morgan Hannah, about writing a column on another topic, Dungeons & Dragons. I wanted to demystify parts of the game and make it more accessible for interested or casual players. It also gave me a platform to yammer about D&D, which is a topic always lurking at the back of my mind these days.

This is the tenth installment of “Dinguses and Dragons,” and it also seems like a good place to end the column. But I also hope it’s the beginning of your own relationship with this game. In the eternal words of ’90s alternative heartthrobs Semisonic, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

I’ve written a lot about D&D the past 10 weeks. From how to orchestrate a successful D&D night to which races and classes to play, to which D&D-related podcasts and shows are a good introduction. This column could honestly go on indefinitely with how constantly changing the world of D&D is, but 10 seemed like a nice number to cap things off on. This many articles in, I’ve either sparked an interest in you or you’ve learned to just skip over any “Dinguses and Dragons” articles.

I’d like to end this column by talking about what D&D has meant for me, as someone who previously made fun of my friends who played before me.

Pre-COVID, D&D was a bi-weekly event where new and old friends came to my place, brought delicious snacks and drinks, and we spent hours bothering my neighbours with how loud we were laughing. During COVID, we shifted to weekly Zoom sessions, which has been a saving grace in this pandemic. It’s social, it’s safe, and it even gives a bit of structure to my week, where I know that every Thursday is spent with my crew. I can’t stress how much D&D has benefited these relationships and how folks who were once only acquaintances I now consider to be some of my closest friends.

As the DM and an occasional writer, D&D also provided a great platform to write characters and storylines for the players to interact with, it’s also taught me to be flexible with my writing; if my players aren’t responding positively to a story or event, being okay with shifting the tone and direction or even scrapping things entirely. When playing D&D, there’s no you and me; it’s us and we.

The days of D&D being a gated-community where only diehards are welcome are over. In fact, since appearing in the show Stranger Things every year has seen record growth from the game’s publisher, Wizards of the Coast. There’s never been a better time to get into D&D, so what are you waiting for?