DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS

Wait, don’t click away yet! I promise this has something to do me as author.

Before I was published, I was part of a small creative writing group. Most of the time, we would focus on writing short stories using writing prompts. If you don’t know what I mean by that, you are given a few words (for example; moon, water and phone) and you are to write a short story with these words in mind. Simple I know but it does get the creative juices flowing and it helps you get out of your comfort zone.

Now you might by asking ‘Zoe, what does this have to do with Dungeons and Dragons?’ Well this may not be a big revelation to those who play Dungeons and Dragons (let’s just call it DnD), but I believe that DnD is both a very fun and a great creative exercise in storytelling.

If you don’t know what DnD is, it basically a pen and paper role playing in which you create a fantasy based character and, guided by a ‘dungeon master’, you explore a fantasy world. The Dungeon Master (or DM) knows everything about the world your character travels around and they tend to steer your group into adventures. These adventures can range from recusing a damsel in distress to slaying a warlock and as well as working out all this, the DM also has to work in the backstories of the other players into the game…DM are typically great storytellers themselves.

Since I have only been playing DnD for a few months, I am simply a normal player, not a DM…though I am guilty of writing a detailed background for my dwarven bard. My background forced the DM to squeeze in a whole city into her world map as well as inserting random encounters with NPCs (Non-player characters) because my bard was on the run. Damn my need to elaborate my characters, but my DM is a good sport and managed this onslaught of information like a boss, hats off to her!

Now the reason I say that this is a good creative exercise is because of the one random factor of this game…dice rolls! Every decision you make, from how well you fight to persuading a crowd relies on the rolls of the dice and even though you do have stats that can help those rolls be in your favour, it still makes everything random.

It’s this randomness that forces you to flex your creative muscles to get you out of the sticky situations that bad rolls tend to get you in. Accidently broke a table at a bar, invoking the wrath of the bartender? Try to talk your way out of the situation. Dice roll not letting that happen? Swing your axe to try and intimidate them leaving you alone.

The only thing that limits you in DnD is your imagination, I recommend giving it a try and who knows, it may give you some ideas.

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