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Tonight I will attend the largest Dungeons & Dragons actual play show in the U.S. at Madison Square Garden. The “Gauntlet at the Garden,” features the cast of Dimension 20, a popular D&D show with a rabid fanbase that streams on Dropout. They won’t be singing or dancing—they’ll be sitting around a table and playing through an entire adventure from start to finish.
Years ago, I’d never imagine this is something I’d actually pay money to see. But now, after having played D&D and other tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) for more than a decade, I’ll be there… and even dressing up as a character!
It turns out that playing D&D and similar TTRPGs is worth the time it takes to learn and a great thing to do with friends, and something you need to try.
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If I have to convince you of this, let me reassure you—I too was dubious about D&D. Growing up in the South, the game was always described as a dangerous and anti-social activity relegated to outcasts and social rejects. If you don’t know about the “Satanic Panic,” Google it and enjoy the wild ride down the rabbit hole. As much of a band geek as I was in high school, I still never found my way into any groups that played.
It’s nerdy, right? When I talk to my co-workers about our bi-weekly game night, they are either completely disinterested or find it funny.
But nowadays, even if someone hasn’t played it, they’re aware of D&D and its elements—the 20-sided die and the typical character classes like wizard, paladin, ranger, bard and barbarian—in some form or fashion, usually by cultural osmosis.
The game has exploded in popularity thanks to live shows like Dimension 20 and Critical Role, where professional improv comedians and actors crack jokes and pull at your heartstrings. And it’s been featured in the hit TV show Stranger Things.
Like in Will Byers’ basement, players create custom characters with complete backstories, personalities and skillsets to work together using magic and the power of friendship to (usually) defeat a malevolent force (or Big Bad Evil Guy) or solve a mystery set by the Game or Dungeon Master. It’s playing pretend with friends, where you solve problems as your character around a table full of snacks.
Frank Szelwach, the owner of Brooklyn Game Knight, calls it “a writer’s room influenced by dice rolls, fueled by Mountain Dew and Doritos … at a table filled with friends.”
“It’s actively constructing your own fantastic adventures in a theater of the mind versus passively watching someone else’s story on a screen,” he explains. “It’s a safe space in an accepting community where small voices can express their big ideas. It’s the best type of escapism and well … just fucking awesome!”
“D&D is a writer’s room influenced by dice rolls, fueled by Mountain Dew and Doritos … at a table filled with friends.”
Brennan Lee Mulligan, the dungeon master for Dimension 20 and our January cover star, tells me that because we live in a time where profit drives so much of our entertainment, getting together “where you make a community with the people you love most, and you make art and story just for yourselves to find meaning and be together is a completely awesome, natural, moral response.”
I’ve played TTRPGs since 2014, when my now-husband introduced me to Pathfinder (a Dungeons & Dragons competitor) but during the years following the pandemic, my game nights have become a huge source of comfort and creativity for me. My friends allow me the space and time to express myself away from the pressure and artifice of social media and without judgment.
During my group’s Star Wars role-playing session this month, my character, Krugan—a 6-foot-7, dog-man alien—helped defeat an evil gangster and free hundreds of trapped people, including his cousin whom the evil Empire ripped away from him years before. It was the climax of Krugan’s story of overcoming his horrible past that had led him to a life of crime and violence. As our DM described my character’s embrace with his long-lost family, I’ll admit it: I cried!
For the two hours we play every other week, I am Krugan. His furry form doesn’t just let me goof around in fantasy outer space … it lets me explore my own self. The chance to be creative in the moment with my friends and touch emotions that often lay dormant is a special thing indeed.
This is something D&D and TTRPGs have done for people for decades.
“This is the spot, the table, where they get to go on their missions full of imagination and creativity, but they also experience emotions that they can't get all the time in their day-to-day life,” says Andrew Panos, the owner of Chaotic Good Cafe on the Upper West Side, says about TTRPG players. “I think people want to have those moments and experiences, and share them with others, and they can be hard to find amidst the stress and mundane.”
“They connect with themselves and these characters they created—ones that they invented backstories and loves and enemies for—they connect with the other party members, their DM who put their heart and soul into creating an unbelievable word, and we're lucky enough to have a cafe where the players can also connect with the space they're playing in,” he adds.
Even more, D&D games are often a safe space for people in an otherwise critical and violent world. Dungeons & Dragons, the official gaming system, has gone through a number of updates and iterations over the years—its most recent being 2014’s 5th Edition, which has brought about more inclusivity and accessibility through its new mechanics and a rules revamp last year.
“All those kids who’ve had to keep it a dark secret in the basement … can finally emerge from the subterranean like morlocks up to the ground floor.”
But the welcoming and inclusive nature of D&D (and unrelated TTRPGs like our Star Wars game, Fate, Pathfinder and Kids on Bikes) is what has forged so many connections and kept people coming back to the table for decades. Ultimately, it’s about creating an epic story with your friends who let you be whoever or whatever you want to be.
“It’s actually all about the reality of what this has always been and how it’s progressively been overcoming the stigmas and stereotypes that have kept it subcultured for so long,” Szelwach says. “All those kids who’ve had to keep it a dark secret in the basement because it was considered nerdy or geeky (or satanic even) can finally emerge from the subterranean like morlocks up to the ground floor.”
D&D, much like New York City, allows you to fly your freak flag proudly, make connections and explore yourself. So don’t be like me and wait so long to roll the dice.
If you’re looking to get into D&D or play with new folks, check out my list of NYC’s board game cafes, where you can play a TTRPG and games like Catan. And if you ever want to soar the stars with Krugan and the gang, just ask!