A magical game exists where you and your friends can create and do anything that your imagination desires. Whether you wish to slay a dragon or take over a corrupt government with guile and charm, all is possible in this unlimited realm.
Thank you for joining me, fellow adventurers, we are about to take our first step into a world of possibility and intrigue. We are about to set foot on a journey that may change you forever. We are about to plunge into Dungeons and Dragons. Today, I would like to convey the magic found within the experience of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) and begin a primer that perhaps starts people thinking, “Why should I play D&D?”
Around a half a year ago, a good friend from high school and I started talking again on social media and catching up. We both admitted that one of our fondest memories was playing tabletop roleplaying games, or more specifically Dungeons and Dragons, in our good friend’s basement. This game had been a catalyst for us to learn so many lessons that I continue to use to this day… team work, perseverance, and creativity to name just a few. So, how do you get started? I’ll tell you.
Skill Checks
Attribute Scores
Armor Class
Hit Points
Saving Throws
…let’s be honest, these terms to the lay person are obscure at most, and vague at the very least. If I am being completely truthful, knowing that if I wanted to play D&D again I would have to learn the game and embrace the role as Dungeon Master (because none of my friends knew how) I would say that thought produced one emotion in me; PURE ANXIETY! There was absolutely so much to learn!
D&D is a game of imagination where anything and everything can and absolutely should happen. However, all of the probabilities of said things happening have rules that are dictated by dice rolls. My dear reader, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Hey Aaron, not a great way to start an article on the magics of Dungeons and Dragons,”. Please stay the course with me for a while because the dividends of this game are beyond anything you could ever imagine and I am here to tell you why.
The first thing that you absolutely should know about Dungeons and Dragons is that although the game can be extremely rule based, it absolutely does NOT have to be! Think of D&D as a game of make believe in which:
- The Dungeon Master (DM from here on out) tells a story that they can either make up themselves or purchase.
- You as players or adventurers within the story get to choose how to react to the story unfolding all around you.
At this moment you may have had a flashback to our choose your path adventure story that we shared on our site here at Wheel of Cheese Adventures, ah-hah! Our clever, churning little halfling minds already tricked you into playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons with us! Congratulations, you are all full-fledged, axe wielding, spell slinging adventurers!
Jokes aside, a game of D&D can be that simple. It’s strange, I know, the contrasting idea of having all of those strange acronyms and words I stated before compared to a simple A or B choice in which you choose the path you want your character to take. Let me explain further…
When I look at the joy that the game D&D has brought me I think of two core concepts, Experiences and Agency. If you are trying to hook anyone into playing the game with you, these are the two selling points that will appeal to almost everyone.
We all like to have fun right? These are the experiences you will have with your friends while playing the game. The very name Wheel of Cheese Adventures comes from an extremely unhinged and zainy game session with a mutual friend of the company named Luke.
Luke always wanted to have his character be slightly “off” to put it mildly. When it was time to buy equipment before an adventure Luke’s character found it a necessity to travel into dark twisting dungeons with a giant war gong (yes, it’s a thing in D&D!). I’m not sure if he planned to annoy the dragons to death by bashing his gong wildly outside their cave or if he thought a certain frequency of the gong would make all the enemies run in fear soiling themselves. But no matter how silly the concept was, Luke’s character stuck to it!
This same character eventually thought it would be wise to grab a giant 20lb wheel of cheese to take into battle. Not exactly a primary equipment need when battling raging orcs if you ask me. But hey… war gong… wheel of cheese, why not? Eventually our Dungeon Master got so fed up with Luke’s character trying to use his wheel of cheese in every scenario, he allowed his precious wheel of cheese to set off a fire ball trap by rolling it down a hallway before us. We cheered and laughed as Luke’s character finally found his place in the adventuring world; renewed with strength and hope that his insane thought processes may have saved the party! The grilled cheese sandwiches in which the scenario created were just a bonus.
This story is silly, bombastic, ridiculous, and I’ll fully admit, a little stupid. But, that’s why it’s so fun!
The countless hours of absolute garbage we piled on Luke for believing he could fight his way through hoards of enemies with just a wheel of cheese and a gong was all alleviated with the simple roll of a dice… and a roll of a cheese wheel down a hall.
At the time I was frustrated and annoyed with Luke for not taking the game seriously but now I look back with a smile. I think to myself that this single asinine experience may very well be the epitome of Dungeons and Dragons personified. I mentioned earlier the concepts of Experience and Agency. This story highlights that perfectly.
Yes, dice were rolled and Hit Points, Saving Throws, and Skill Checks were made. But, at the end of the day… it came down to our Dungeon Master allowing Luke to have the Agency to make a fun choice and the wheel of cheese to have the effect that would create such a memorable Experience. One of so many.
As players of the game, you think abstractly and creatively to solve a problem outside the normal structured confines of analysis while creating an epic experience throughout the process. Talking about Luke and his entertaining characters still makes my group of friends and I laugh. We shared something unique in our friend’s basement; rolling the dice and hoping that whatever certain death loomed before us would be mitigated by a single bouncing, rolling, completely out of place, wheel of cheese.
Thank you so much for joining me on this tale of delight and experience. We have just chipped the tip of the iceberg fellow adventurers. It is a joy and pleasure to share with you some of our experiences with this great game.
If you are a new player or a new DM who would like assistance with resources, please drop us a line and let us know. We will do our very best to provide an epic experience for you.
You will be hearing from me, your DM Coach Ski, quite often as I also plan to release a YouTube tutorial guide on this very topic and perhaps branch off in other Dungeons and Dragons directions. Please be sure to give us a like and a follow and let us know how we can help serve your roleplaying needs. We are just getting back into the game as well, and although we don’t know everything, we definitely want to help you have as much fun as we have!
Tune in next time when we cover the power of agency and autonomy of Dungeons and Dragons. Go forth, give others inspiration, and never forget your Wheel of Cheese!
-DM Coach Ski