“Dungeons and Dragons,” the tabletop fantasy role-playing game originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, turned 50 in 2024, and the tradition of rolling dice and wielding imaginary swords continues to be strong with local groups.
The game has gone from being a fringe activity conducted in basements and at kitchen tables to a worldwide phenomenon played by 20 million people. It has deeply influenced gaming in general and has even inspired an entire genre of video games.
Roughly 1,000 copies of the game were sold in the first year, followed by 3,000 in 1975. The game had more than three million players around the world by 1981. By 1992, the game had been translated into 14 languages and had sold over 2 million copies in 44 countries worldwide.
At its core, the game is simple: The dungeon master, or DM, who tells the story and manages outcomes, describes a scenario, and players then make decisions and choices that affect the outcome of the scenario. Next, the DM describes what has happened, and the players continue to make decisions to move the action forward until resolution. Dice are sometimes used to calculate the strength of an attack or spell. The game encourages problem solving, imagination, teamwork and leadership skills.
The welcoming, inclusive atmosphere of is particularly appealing to teens, who are able to explore their own identity while creating and playing a character. Since the only items required to play the game are the rulebooks, a character sheet for each player, and a number of polyhedral dice, the layout to get started is minimal and thus beginner-friendly. The biggest investment is taken on by the Dungeon Master, who takes the time to plan the events of the game, also known as a campaign.
Local libraries are leading the charge when it comes to introducing new players to the game. These library campaigns give teens a safe place where they can spend time and make like-minded friends. Southold Free Library has one of the oldest and most well-established programs on the North Fork.
“I started this whole thing around 12 years ago when a parent approached me and told me about Dungeons and Dragons,” said Penny Kelly, teen services librarian. “I’m a fantasy nerd, so I was surprised I didn’t know anything about it. [The parent] helped lead it with her son at that time. And then it evolved into a student-run program, because more and more kids caught on and became engaged in it and wanted to lead.”
Kristi Korade, head teen librarian at Cutchogue New Suffolk Library, also runs a Dungeons and Dragons program that takes place once for every issue of the library’s newsletter, published several times a year. “It’s a one-shot Dungeons and Dragons [campaign],” she explained. “They go through their story, they answer questions, they roll their dice, and they score points based on their creativity and how they fight with their spells and different objects of the game. It’s a really creative and fun program for the kids. I like the different stories for each session because that encourages someone who’s never played Dungeons and Dragons to have a go at it.”
While many library programs were shuttered during the pandemic, Dungeons and Dragons transitioned almost seamlessly to web-based meetings. These campaigns became a lifeline for children trapped at home on lockdown.
“Once we shut down, I reached out to my dungeon master … we just said, ‘Let’s do it on Zoom, and let’s see how it works.’ It was just as smooth as could be,” said Ms. Kelly. “I think it gave the kids something to do, because they were bored out of their minds and needed something that would keep them going. It was probably the easiest transition of all the things that were happening during that really difficult time. [The only problem was] I couldn’t get them off. I’d be like, ‘You know, it’s been three or four hours. Maybe you want to take a walk.’ They didn’t want it to end.”
Justin Gaffney, founder of Quest Master’s Guild, a paid Dungeon Master company serving libraries throughout Suffolk County, experienced a surge in bookings as soon as lockdown was announced. “Once everything shut down, I had a number of libraries reach out to me and say, ‘Can you do this program online? We’d like to still offer programs for teens. Can you do it?’” he said. “A lot of times, it was the only program teens would attend on a monthly basis.”
It takes a special person to jump in and run a campaign, whether it’s a sequential game over many meetings or a self-contained, one-off adventure. Some DMs spend hours crafting intricate, detailed experiences. Most are volunteers, giving their time and energy to make an engaging campaign, but paid DMs are gaining traction as well.
Ellie Alloway, a junior at Dartmouth College and former DM for Southold Free Library, has deep connections to Dungeons and Dragons.
“I played with my mother and my uncle first. I was trained up from the age of 8 to be a dungeon master,” said Ms. Alloway. “I’ve had people come up to me and ask to join my D&D campaign here at college who I’ve never even met before. These are footballers, seniors, and they’re like, ‘Hey, I’ve always wanted to play, but I’ve always been scared. Can you introduce me to it?’” Jennifer Patuke, a DM at Cutchogue New Suffolk Library, aims to make her campaigns accessible.
“I really try to make it as welcoming as possible,” she said. “It’s familyfriendly, but it still has some twists and turns in it. It definitely still has the spooky stuff that you expect — there are dragons, there are monsters, there are creatures and evil to fight, and stuff like that.”
Dungeons and Dragons has a reputation as a welcoming space for all. Many people who might not fit into other, more traditional activities find a place for themselves among the rogues and wizards of D&D.
“It’s such a great space for the LGBTQ community specifically. I’ve met a lot of my friends, and I do identify as queer, who are able to really express that through their various characters or through their actions,” said Ms. Alloway.
Mr. Gaffney believes that guiding teens through a campaign allows them to discover new skills. “I love seeing teens who are growing in their confidence and getting comfortable in their own skin,” he said. “I like to let them say their thoughts and give their ideas, and then encourage them. I think the inclusion is very important. I’ll say that for the stewards of the current D&D, they do a good job of creating content that is inclusive.”
Ms. Patuke added: “You get to be someone that you’ve always wanted to be or could never be, you know, like a sorcerer or ‘Dragonborn,’ you know, to escape into this fantasy world when maybe the real world has not been so kind lately … especially [to] marginalized people. You get to escape to a fantasy world where you could be whatever you want.”
The skills honed on a D&D campaign go beyond the roll of the dice. Both Ms. Alloway and Ms. Patuke have taken their roles as DMs away from the game and into real life, harnessing their skills to express themselves creatively.
Ms. Alloway is studying creative writing in her English program at Dartmouth and is writing a fantasy novel. “The ability to be a dungeon master in a battle, to lead people into an adventure, is so similar to how you write a novel and you lead your readers,” she said. “If you’re with a really good group, that can definitely inform you of how people are supposed to react to certain details. Something amazing happens where I’m able to describe something in such vivid detail that I can see their minds like working and visualizing [the scenario] themselves. And I think that relates to my work as a fiction writer, it relates to my work as a poet.”
Ms. Patuke and some of her regular players have expanded a campaign they started in 2017 into a full-cast radio play they plan to turn into a podcast. “We absolutely fell in love with our characters and the world. And I was a player in that one. I had two friends, we co-DM’ed it together and we fell so in love with the characters in the world that ever since then, we’ve been developing it into a radio podcast drama. We’ve been writing based on the campaign. We’re voice acting our own characters and putting them through the story that they went through in that campaign, plus new ones that we just keep writing.”
Dungeons and Dragons occupies a solid place in pop culture and continues to engage fans of all ages. Ms. Alloway expresses both gratitude for its history and enthusiasm for what’s to come.
“I’m really glad about the program now,” she said. “We’re approaching 50 years of experience, from these boys in their mothers’ basements in the ᾽80s
to now, it’s turned into this worldwide phenomenon where people can express their individuality.”
To get involved, contact Cutchogue New Suffolk Library at 631-734-6360 or Southold Free Library at 631-765-2077. To book the Quest Master’s Guild, call 631-627-5041.