Dungeons and Dragons: Suddenly Mainstream?

Anyone else feel like Dungeons and Dragons keeps popping up everywhere? At first, I thought it was a coincidence. Whenever you get into something, whether it’s a TV show, book series or a new hobby, you always feel like you notice it more, mainly because you pay attention to it more. (And maybe internet cookies. They definitely have a role to play.) But generally, it’s because you just end up noticing it more. But now I’m starting to feel like maybe it’s a little more than that.

I got into playing Dungeons and Dragons in the later part of 2018. A few close friends of mine had shown great interest in trying to start a campaign, and were eager to recruit me to their ranks, and they knew I would be totally hooked, because they know me far too well. It didn’t take long for them to convince me to start thinking of a character to create, whilst our soon-to-be Dungeon-Master began crafting a world for us to venture, filling it with various characters, locations, as well as giving it a lore and history. And voicing goblins to a point where beer would almost shoot out my nose.

Creating my character wasn’t that hard. I cheated a little bit, and I used a character template that I had created years ago from my World of Warcraft Roleplaying days. Although there were some slight differences to make her fit into the Dungeons and Dragons setting, but overall the character was practically no different. The created character Shaavra Ragescar, a female half-orc fighter, formerly a Kingsguard of the soon-to-be King in the soon-to-be created world. Our Dungeon-Master was nice and asked us to give him our character backstories, and he would see where they could fit into the world he made.

I recommend trying to get your hands on a copy of the 7th Edition of the player rules if you’re serious. Even just one person having it in your group is enough!

After getting past some of the initially confusing character creation details, involving choosing stats and such, it wasn’t long before we all got stuck in, rolling dice like our fictional character lives really did depend on it (which they did), and occasionally trying out awkward voice acting, and trying to get more comfortable in roleplaying. It isn’t easy unless you’re used to it, and it takes a lot of practice. But we’re not all sat around a table in full-on cosplay of our characters, taking everything super-duper seriously. No. More often than not, I’ve usually got a mild buzz on after two pints due to me being a lightweight, and there’s some snacks going around, baked goods as our host loves to bake something new for us every week, and there’s plenty, and I mean plenty, of laughs.

I’m getting off track. This isn’t about my first time playing and getting to grips with Dungeons and Dragons, that can be another post for another day. This is about noticing how popular it seems to be. I mean, to some degree it’s always been popular. It’s always had a fierce and loyal following. And it isn’t a single aspect or reason as to why it suddenly seems a bit more popular in the mainstream now. My friends and I were talking about the popular Youtube series, “Critical Role” which they had gotten me hooked on, despite being four hours long at a time. They thought that maybe this was a reason as to why it’s grown in popularity. These are voice actors famous in their fields for video games such as Overwatch and the likes, that get together once a week and play Dungeons and Dragons for everyone to watch and enjoy, as they get fully immersed into their characters, and obviously give amazing voices to them, and adventure in a world that’s oh-so-carefully crafted and thought about.

There’s zero doubt that these loveable nerds have helped to grow the fanbase of Dungeons and Dragons. But I don’t know if they’re the sole reason. In my personal opinion, I feel as though the level of escapism that D&D brings is tantalizing. Maybe it’s to do with the rise of social media in the last decade, and how gathering around a table with your friends for hours and playing pretend in a world with uncanny consequences is just too tempting. Maybe it’s because, generally speaking, it’s very cheap to enjoy playing D&D, and as long as someone has access to some of the books needed and can afford some dice for the many rolls required, it’s not hard to assemble a team and get started. Maybe it’s because it offers an experience that no video game can truly offer. Maybe it’s because Matt Mercer is that good. (It probably is, He’s such a gifted Dungeon-Master!)

Like most things, I think it’s a culmination of all of the above and more. There’s no single source for what seems to be a rise in Dungeons and Dragons. Although, I feel as thought Critical Role has certainly helped to open to the idea to people who may no have even heard of it before, but they’re now completely hooked and like dressing up as High Elves for every game session. If you’ve ever been curious, or perhaps know someone who plays, or even if you’re just after something new to watch on Youtube, no harm in checking it out. Dice are cheaper than Diamonds.


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