Donald's Random Blog Thoughts

Why Dungeons and Dragons is actually relevant to real life.

Okay, so let's get a couple of things out of the way by first of all pointing out what Dungeons and Dragons (also known as D&D) is NOT about. First, D&D is not about demon worship, witchcraft, devil worship or subverting the minds of kids (or any other bogeymen that the fundamentally religious like to claim.) On the contrary, in D&D (as in many religions) devils and demons are portrayed as evil as are most witches/hags/warlocks etc. Is there magic in D&D? Yes, just as there is magic in LOTR (written by devout Roman Catholic: J.R.R. Tolkien) and Chronicles of Narnia (written by devout Anglican and Christian apologist: C.S. Lewis). Magic in of itself is not inherently evil. You will encounter clerics and paladins who are empowered by a specific deity. You will encounter druids who rely on the power of nature and you will encounter wizards who focus on magic as an academic study as well as other types of magic users. In D&D (as in real life) a character is not defined as good or evil based on what they are but rather on what they do. Just because a character practices magic does not in itself make them evil. Neither does the idea of their character being a goblin, orc etc. Neither does the fact of a character being a dwarf, elf, human etc automatically make them good. In D&D (as in real life) every individual has the potential to do either great good or great evil. Many characters (even the most devout paladin) must occasionally walk the grey areas of life (as I will discuss later). Yes, certain races/species such as goblins tend toward the majority of that race being "chaotic evil" i.e. their culture/race lives outside of the bounds of human civilization and law and is antithetical to humans and human religions (which are portrayed as good for the majority). But that is what makes the goblin or orc or kobold character so special. What is it that has caused your character to abandon the rampaging horde to try and make a life for himself or herself in a human dominated city. Why abandon the goblin gods that demand blood and death and chaos to instead fight for the benefit of others and to try and preserve life rather than take it? D&D (as in real life) will confront the player with a multitude of religions and cultures with the reality of their choices affecting the path their character takes. Good and evil is not simply a one time choice made when filling out a character sheet. It is a choice made in every encounter. Just as it is made in every day of real life. 

Secondly, as in real life, D&D is not about fighting or combat. That does not mean that your character will not encounter combat and fighting in various encounters. And indeed, the fact that your character is an adventurer in a world with few organized armies (if any) means that your character is someone skilled at combat and someone that society asks to fight societies battles. But combat and fighting are not the only things that your character will or should be skilled at. IF all you want is a game primarily focused on bashing things or shooting them with guns, I would recommend Call of Duty or World of Warcraft or other video games. As hard as it may be to believe, combat is only about 10% of D&D. (Or should be. I have had D&D groups where all the majority of the players could focus on was killing stuff and moving on to the next mission etc. The subtlety of the story etc didn't seem to matter to them.) 

So, at this point you probably ask, if combat is only about 10% of D&D, what is the other 90%? The answer, is role play. Now this doesn't imply the evils of magic, devil worshiping etc as I was lead to believe growing up. After all, being in the high school play involves role play. The reality is that whether your character is attacking a bloodthirsty goblin horde, bartering with a merchant to purchase food, or perhaps trying to make a specialized weapon. All of that is role play. And the majority of that role play, indeed the majority of the game, is about conflict resolution and problem solving. The reality is that you will regularly encounter conflicts in D&D that cannot be dealt with using combat. And some where combat will seem like the easy choice but will not necessarily be the right one. As in real life, your character will have to learn to resolve his/her differences with other players and creatures. Often with creatures that would normally hate the race/species you represent. Whether it is convincing your adventuring party to follow your lead and go down the left fork rather than the right (splitting the party is almost always a bad idea) or convincing a stubborn merchant that it is in his best interests to sell you the barrel of ale for only 5 gold coins rather than ten, or convincing a stubborn librarian that you really need that magic tome to banish a demon and she should trust you to take it out of the library (despite it being 5,000 years old); all of this will require conflict resolution. And it isn't simply a matter of rolling the dice and getting a successful roll. You are going to need to use your imagination to not only put yourself in the person of your character but to understand the POV of the character you are having a conflict with. Likewise, your character may be confronted with a difficult trap, the need for a magical hammer etc. All problems that will require problem solving and not just combat. And that means that your character will need to learn how to act as part of the team. The fighter needs clerics to heal him and rogues to disarm traps. The wizard cannot safely cast spells if the fighter doesn't protect him from attack etc. A dwarf may be skilled at metal working but need the leather working skills of the elf etc. Ultimately, D&D is effectively practice for life. Ultimately your character will often come from a disadvantaged background and have to over come those difficulties. Just as you will have to confront the fears and anger that your character feels, so D&D can help you confront the fears and anger of real life. So the next time someone invites you to a D&D session, take it as an opportunity to stretch the boundaries of your imagination and to test just how good you are as a part of a team.