Dungeons & Dragons is a game that is quintessential to the genre known as tabletop-role-playing-games (TTRPG). It can be played in long-form over weeks or years (campaign), or in short-form in a single evening (one-shot). One unique trait of this game is that it requires someone to facilitate the game (a Dungeon Master), to set the scene, direct the game world, and create the adventure. Gameplay consists of communal-story-telling, in which each player at the table embodies a hero in the story, free to explore and affect the world however they wish.

Typically a short-form game of Dungeons & Dragons, a one-shot adventure, will start with the dungeon master setting the scene in a fantastic location, on a pirate ship or in the bustling streets of a medieval city and pit the table of players against monsters, puzzles, and political intrigue. And, with each obstacle overcome the group grows closer and closer to completion, saving the city from a dragon's attack, or perishing in the attempt.

Materials used in this game include:

• Dice (The weirdly shaped ones)

• Paper & Pencil (The normal shaped ones)

And that's about it, sometimes there are miniatures and maps for visual aid, but they are not necessary.

The quintessential nerdy pastime of Dungeons & Dragons (also called D&D) can actually be the secret to life success. How? Ethan Gilsdorf shows us how this groundbreaking game involving communal storytelling, dice-rolling, and imaginary adventures in lands filled with dragons, quests, elves and evil wizards actually gives us powerful tools to combat the perils and challenges of reality.

Journalist, memoirist, essayist, critic, poet, teacher and geek Ethan Gilsdorf is the author of the award-winning travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. A former Paris-based food and film critic and travel writer, and now based in Providence, Rhode Island, Gilsdorf covers and comments on pop culture, geek culture, the arts, travel, media and technology, and writes essays for The New York Times, New York Times Book Review, Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Salon, Wired, Art New England, and WBUR, among dozens of other magazines, newspapers, and websites worldwide.

A prize-winning poet, Gilsdorf is also co-founder of Grub Street's Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP), and teaches creative writing at Grub Street, where he serves on the Board of Directors. Follow Ethan’s adventures at ethangilsdorf.com or Twitter @ethanfreak.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Let's begin with free resources:

Getting Started

Learning D&D (Video List)

D&D Beyond's Essentials Guide

D&D Basic Rules (Free)

Free Virtual Material

Okay, I've decided I want to buy some books. What do I buy first?

The Starter Set and Essentials Kit provide light versions of the rules, introductory adventures, and everything else you need to play your first game right out of the box!

D&D Starter Set

D&D Essentials Kit

For more comprehensive rules, the Player's Handbook covers the complete core rules. Many players also recommend getting the Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual to start your collection.

Player's Handbook (PHB)

Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG)

Monster Manual (MM)

If you live on the Central Coast, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, or Paso Robles, then it's as simple as joining our Discord server and introducing yourself! There you can find enthusiastic roleplayers all over the Central Coast, as well as invitations to other Central Coast discord servers. We have a thriving D&D community on the Central Coast approaching 1000 active members in total.

Once you join you'll be prompted with our community rules, and a quick survey where we ask where on the Central Coast you are located, what sorts notifications you would like to recieve, and what your experience with D&D is.