The Griffs Roll for Initiative at D&D Club

MoWest trades pen and paper for sword and shield in the newly formed Dungeons & Dragons club. The RSO aims to build a community for both new and experienced players to try their hand at the role-playing game.

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop role-playing game where players create characters to embark on a campaign guided by a Dungeon Master. The game blends storytelling with turn-based combat determined by the rolls of dice. President Dallas Mitchell has seen how welcoming D&D can be and wanted to share that experience with the students.

“I’m a strong believer that it kind of fosters creativity, inclusivity and just like a general space for people to be able to be themselves,” said Mitchell. “It was really important to me to create a space for other students so that they could.”

At club meetings, students can expect to participate in D&D sessions. Workshops will be held regularly so inexperienced members can learn the best practices when playing. There are also plans for socials and events like the collaboration with the Pop Culture club.

A big part of the D&D club mission is to give back to the community. The club plans to hold service events and fundraisers to strengthen that connection.

“I think it needs to be a give and take between us and the community and so finding ways to implement that type of outreach through D&D,” said Mitchell. “I think it’s both fun and a great way to do that and accomplish that.”

Last week, the D&D club collaborated with the Pop Culture club for an exhibition session. The officers and members of the club played a short campaign while a panel of experienced players would explain to the audience what was going on. Mitchell did not expect such a large turnout.

“I was very, very pleased, very happy,” said Mitchell. “I was not anticipating this many people today … There was such good energy in the room. I felt like people walked away with a better understanding than they came in with, and that was really our main goal.”

The oneshot campaign played during the exhibition was Nadine and the Ostentatious Owl. The goal was to escort a princess to a kingdom while preventing her antics of escape. Senior Em Kretzer attended the exhibition session and saw it as a great way to be introduced to D&D.

“I thought it was a very sweet idea to help people get introduced to D&D,” said Kretzer. “This made it look very approachable, if that makes sense. It made it look digestible, like it was very fun.”

D&D sessions never go as planned. Players only made it halfway through the campaign before the allotted time was up. Freshman Gracie Goscha participated in the campaign as a barbarian and enjoyed playing, despite it being her first time playing in front of a crowd.

“Little bit nerve wracking at first, but thankfully, my character is very loud, very proud, and she loves bread particularly,” said Goscha. “So it was a lot of fun.”

The club will meet bi-weekly. For more information, contact the president through her email at dmitchell24@missouriwestnern.edu.