Dungeons & Dragons Club welcomes new members

“I am really glad that the club is still running, given that all the clubs were shut down in January,” said freshman Charles Boase who worked with the activities director, Mrs. Stiff, in order to get the club up and running again. “I would hate to see it go down, especially because I helped it get back up.”

His favorite thing about the club is the people in it.

“Everyone there is super nice and welcoming, and are always willing to help out with new players who don't know how to play,” said Boase.

There are around 7 people participating in the campaign Boase is currently DMing for. He is almost always a DM, mainly because it can be difficult to juggle a character and the world the character is in at the same time. Boase does enjoy DMing, but he also enjoys being a player.

Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson created Dungeons & Dragons or D&D in 1974 and published that year by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. D&D is a fantasy role-playing game. The best D&D parties tend to consist of around four to six players, and the dungeon master or DM. The DM is the game organizer and player in charge of creating the details and events the party has to go through throughout their journey.

Each individual person, other than the DM (most of the time), picks a character to be. There are four basic human classes: cleric, fighter, magic-user and thief, there are three basic demi-human classes: dwarf, elf, and halfling. There are six Advanced classes: bard, cleric, monk, thief, fighter, magic-user. The Advanced, second edition D&D made the classes into groups. Warrior: fighter, paladin and ranger, wizard: mage and specialist wizard, priest: cleric, druid and priest of specific mythos, rogue: thief and bard. The fourth edition player’s first handbook has eight classes: cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, warlock, warlord, and wizard. The fourth edition player’s second handbook has eight classes: Avenger, barbarian, bard, druid, invoker, shaman, sorcerer, and warden. The fourth edition player’s third handbook has six classes: ardent, battlemind, monk, psion, runepriest, seeker. The Eberron player’s guide adds artificer. Forgotten Realms player’s guide adds swardmage. Dragon magazine adds assassin. Heroes of Shadow adds vampires. There are 13 base characters for the fifth edition: artificer, wizard, warlock, sorcerer, rogue, ranger, paladin, monk, fighter, druid, bard, barbarian and cleric.

In the original first edition D&D there were three books: Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. The supplementary rule books are Greyhalk, Blackmore, Eldritch Wizardry, Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes, Swords & Spells.

Basic first edition has one individual book and a bunch of sets. The individual book is Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia. The sets are: Basic (1977), Basic (1981), Basic (1983), Expert, Companion, Master, Immortals, The New Easy-to-Master Dungeons & Dragons Game, Wrath of the Immortals, and The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game. Some of the supplementary books are, Dungeon Master’s Screen, The Shady Dragon Inn, Combat Shield and Mini Adventure, and The Book of Marvelous Magic. There are also a bunch of campaign setting books, such as The Western Countries Trail Map and The Grand Duchy of Karameikos.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition has several books, such as Monster Manual, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Deities & Demigods. The first edition also has accessories, such as Dungeon Masters Adventure Log, and Permanent Character Folder & Adventure Records.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition contains Core rulebooks, such as Book of Artifacts, Ravenloft: Domains of Dread, and Dark Sun: Dragon Kings. There are a bunch of starter sets as well, such as First Quest: The Introduction to Roleplaying Games, and The Complete Starter Set: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game. Monstrous Compendium Series consists of 27 books that all start with Monstrous Compendium. Then there are Reference series optional Complete Handbook: for Fighter’s, Thief’s, Priest’s, Wizard’s, and Psionics. There are other Reference books as well. The next book collections are Spell Compendium series, such as Priest's Spell Compendium (Volume 1-3) and Wizard's Spell Compendium (Volume 1-4). Then there is the Magic Item Series, such as The Magic Encyclopedia (Volume 1-2), Encyclopedia Magica (Volume 1-4), and Deck of Magical Items. The last group is Miscellaneous, it has 8 different books in it, such as Bastion of Fail and College of Wizardry.

Dungeons & Dragons third edition contains Core rulebooks: Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Player's Handbook. Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition contains Core rulebooks: Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5, Monster Manual v.3.5, and Player's Handbook v.3.5. Some Alternate ruleset books are Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, and Dragon Magic. There are Players' option books, such as Complete Adventurer, Complete Champion, Player's Handbook II, and Complete Divine. There is an Environment series that consists of Cityscape, Dungeonscape, Frostburn, Ghostwalk, Manual of the Planes, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack. Monsters, NPCs, and Equipment books consist of books, such as Fiend Folio, Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes, and Enemies and Allies. The Compendia books consist of Magic Item Compendium, Rules Compendium, and Spell Compendium. There are also some Guidebooks: Dungeon Survival Guide, Dungeon Master's Guide II, Hero Builder's Guidebook, and Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. Lastly they have Starter sets: Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game, Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game (2004 and 2006), and Dungeons & Dragons Player's Kit.

Dungeons & Dragons fourth edition has two preview releases: Wizards Presents: Races and Classes and Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters. The edition contains Core rulebooks: Player’s Handbook 1, 2, and 3, Dungeon Master’s guide 1 and 2, and Monster Manual 1, 2, and 3. There are Essentials products: Dungeon Master's Kit, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, Monster Vault, and Rules Compendium. The two Starter sets are Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set and Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game Starter Set. There are a ton of Supplement books, such as Adventurer's Vault 1 and 2, Book of Vile Darkness, Demonomicon, and Dungeon Delve. Some Campaign setting books are Eberron Player’s Guide and Campaign Guide, Forgotten Realms Player Guide and Campaign Guide, and Halls of Undermountain. The Accessories consist of Character Record Sheets, Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen, and Dungeon Master's Screen.

Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition contains Core and supplemental rulebooks, such as Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, Volo's Guide to Monsters, and Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The fifth edition also includes Campaign guides, such as Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, and Eberron: Rising from the Last War. Then there are the Adventure books, such as The Rise of Tiamat, Princes of the Apocalypse, and Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The boxed sets consist of Starter Set, Dungeons & Dragons Core Rules Gift Set, Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set, Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit, Dungeons & Dragons vs. Rick and Morty Tabletop Roleplaying Game Adventure, Curse of Strahd: Revamped, and Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set. The Accessories consist of Dungeon Master's Screen, Dungeon Master's Screen: Reincarnated, and Dungeon Master's Screen: Dungeon and Wilderness Kits.

It hasn’t been confirmed, but Dungeons & Dragons sixth edition is expected to be launched in early 2024.

Some well known people who play D&D are Stephen Colbert, Anderson Cooper, Vin Diesel, Joe Manganiello, Tom Morello, Felicia Day, Dwayne Johnson, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughan.