There was a time, not long ago when Dungeons & Dragons specifically, and tabletop roleplaying in general were fragile, fringe things. Back then you had to be careful who you trusted, lest the shameful secret of your favorite pastime ruin whatever tenuous grasp on social standing you still clung to. D&D was for freaks and geeks. It was the domain of the outcast. It was the province of nerds. Talking about playing it was social suicide. The only people who were open about their participation in it were either blissfully unaware of its accompanying ostracization, or so embittered by their lack of social clout that they just couldn’t bring themselves care. They leaned into the stigma, perhaps out of spite. Those days existed; I lived them, and I’m ashamed to say that I was not as open about my hobbies as I should have been. Then again, maybe that was just middle school.
While my lived experiences around pen and paper roleplaying games are more than likely atypical, I wonder to what extreme and in which direction. There is no denying that not long ago, D&D and its accompanying multitude of role playing games was anything but mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, the mainstream was certainly aware of us, but only to the degree that we could be used as the butt of a joke. As a punch line. Playing D&D was many things, but cool was not one of them.
The Stigma is Gone
“We’ve become legitimized. We’ve become Mainstream.”
So, imagine my surprise when I wake up in midsummer of 2021 to discover that Dungeons & Dragons is suddenly cool. I’m sorry, not suddenly. Dungeons & Dragons has BEEN cool. For years. Somehow, I managed to miss the memo. My girlfriend contends that I’ve been living under a rock. I contend saying that is hurtful to someone who spends as much time on the internet as I do.
I probably should have seen the writing on the wall some time ago. In the last few years I’ve had friends, cool friends, ask in passing if I had ever played Dungeons and Dragons, and whether I’d like to join their campaign. Of course I would gush, accept, and then gush more. Then they would smile knowingly with an accompanying nod and say ‘I figured you were the type.’ Not the condescending ‘what a nerd’ smile and nod, but a ‘heck yeah, my guy’ smile and nod. You know the one.
The first place I saw an inkling of what was to come was in the television show Freaks & Geeks (1999-2000), and to my mind that’s where the process started. It reached a critical mass in Stranger Things (2016). Gone were the days when the ‘nerd’ characters played these games, as a tool the writers used to ‘other’ them, to denote them as less-than, or pitiable. Now it’s the main characters, a thing they do designed to win us over, to show us that they are fun, and relatable; they’re like us. Now, role playing podcasts and live streams abound, drawing in millions of viewers and listeners. People accept it. People embrace it. We’ve become legitimized. We’ve become mainstream.
Look to the Streams and Podcasts
“New players have a plethora of resources from which to steal ideas and learn the ropes.”
Beyond the reduction of judgement from our fellow humans, there are other forces on the move. The overwhelming presence of podcasts, live streams, and even television shows (HarmonQuest comes to mind) about Dungeons & Dragons means that new players have a plethora of resources from which to steal ideas and learn the ropes. Now to pick up the rules of the game, I don’t need to spend hours poring over the rule book, trying to stay focused. I can take them in through osmosis while riding the bus to work, or relaxing in front of a screen at the end of the day. The pressure is off. We can prepare ourselves for game day by spending time with our favorite content creators, rather than by doing homework.
Dungeons & Dragons is more New User Friendly than Ever
“New players no longer need to worry about making a bad character”
Next, entry level play has been baked into the design of the game. Wizards of the Coast, perhaps best known as the monolith responsible for Magic the Gathering, purchased Dungeons & Dragons back in 1997. In the late 2000s they began a process of simplifying the game. D&D 4.0 was released, and it trimmed a massive amount of the complicated rules out of the old system, 3.5 (which was a work of near perfection that sprang off into the roleplaying game Pathfinder, but that’s the subject of another article). In fourth edition your choices became simple, and straightforward, designed so that a brand new player could easily get the hang of them. Fifth edition continues in that vein, streamlining character creation and the rules to encourage new players to participate.
Not only is character creation easier, but new players no longer need to worry about making a bad character (“bad” in this context means underperforming, not evil). The different classes have been balanced in the new versions of the game to prevent any one player from dominating combat. New characters don’t need to fear being wildly outgunned by their more experienced counterparts because the system has been balanced with them in mind.
The Pandemic didn’t Slow Us Down
“The Sorcerer move to San Francisco? The Barbarian is on vacation? The Bard has the flu? No problem. See you online”
Lastly, the pandemic. Among other things too numerous to account here, Covid-19 has canceled nearly all in person meetings for well over a year. This didn’t kill tabletop roleplaying games, however. It merely moved them online. Sites like Roll20 and D&D Beyond created platforms where gamers could continue to meet. Discord, Google Meets, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams allowed players to get together in video chat rooms, connecting with their friends from the comfort of their own homes. Games like Tabletop Simulator created spaces where you could sit around a virtual table, playing any board game you could download the mod for. The Sorcerer moved to San Francisco? The Barbarian is on vacation? The Bard has the flu? No problem. We still meet up Thursdays at 8. See you online.
So what are You Waiting for?
All in all, I contend that there has never been a better time to pick up the hobby. The stigma of the game is a shadow of its former self. There are a hundred different places you can go to watch professional entertainers play the game to learn the ropes. The newest editions of Dungeons & Dragons were forged with new players in mind. Don’t have anyone you can play with in your vicinity? Get online and check out the forums. There are more people playing than ever before. Talk to your friends. Make a post on Facebook. Check out Roll20. The games are out there. Go find them. Honestly, there’s enough of them, one might just find you.