Dice

Have you ever seen a die that has more than six sides? The most common dice that almost everyone knows about is the six-sided die. Shaped as a cube, each side represents a number from one to six, and it’s a multi-functional game accessory. There are so many board games that use a six-sided die – Monopoly, Yahtzee, Craps, and many more. The six-sided die is a well-known symbol for games or gaming in general – whether you’re playing on Friday night with your family or high-rolling in Las Vegas.

There are other kinds of dice, however, that are used more often in table-top role-playing games (TTRPG). As the name suggests, TTRPG (or pen-and-paper role-playing game) is a gaming system in which players narrate their characters’ decisions, actions, and thoughts. Under the umbrella of TTRPG are many kinds of role-playing games based on specific rules and systems that determine how events are carried out and decisions are made. The one system that has achieved a renaissance in popularity in popular culture is Dungeons and Dragons (DND).

Within DND, there are also many editions of the system that show an evolution of the game over decades. Some are more detailed than others, but the most recent edition, 5th edition, is considered the least complicated of its predecessors, which makes it a perfect introduction into the DND universe for new players. DND is unique in that it utilizes all the weird dice that you see in this picture.

Each dice has a particular function and rules attached to it. The twenty-sided die (d20) determines every action that your character makes or wants to make. For example, if your character wants to persuade a non-player-character (NPC), you need to roll a d20 and add the related modifiers (in this case, it would be a Charisma-based modifier).

Now, combat is the best way to showcase the use of every die. If your character wants to attack an enemy, you need to roll a d20 to “hit”, which is a number that is equal to or higher than the enemy’s armor class (a number that determines how difficult a character is to attack). Let’s say you surpass the enemy’s armor class (AC). Then, you need to roll to determine the amount of damage you cause. Damage dice differ depending on the weapons or the spell that your character uses. A dagger, for example, deals a four-sided die (d4) for damage; a short bow deals a six-sided die (d6); a rapier deals an eight-sided die (d8); a glaive deals a ten-sided die (d10), and a great axe deals a twelve-sided die (d12). Essentially, you would roll the weapon’s associated damage die and add any modifiers, which are determined by your character’s stats (physical and skill attributes). As for the “hundred-sided” die (which is just a ten-sided die with multiples of tens on each side – the real d100 is just a sphere), a character only rolls a d100 with a d10 for percentile rolls, such as determining whether a deity will aid their follower once in combat or whether the party teleports to their exact location or what kind of effects are caused by a certain spell or feature. It is much more complicated, which is why it is rarely used in DND, but in systems based on the d10 instead of the d20, percentile rolls are much more common.

DND, like many other TTRPG, has a “paper” portion to it, which is the character sheet. When you begin creating your character, usually dice rolls determine a character’s attributes, such as their strength score or their constitution score. This is the first page of a character sheet featuring one of my favorite characters to role-play, Mellawyn Galanodel, an Elven ranger:

I was only introduced to DND when I first arrived in college. My first experience with DND was at a friend’s birthday party, where we played through an episode narrated by another friend. To be honest, I was not very interested in it after that, but my boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed it, and slowly I was exposed to the world of DND. My group of friends continued to play weekly games (though with our schedules, it was rather on-and-off), and soon, I began to see why people loved DND so much. I think I fell in love with the game even more after becoming a fan of Critical Role, a group of voice actors who live-streamed their DND sessions.

DND was never as popular as it is now. In the 1980s, its elements of fantastical lore and inclusion of monsters such as devils, demons, and dragons caused it to be accused of satanic worship and witchcraft by some Christian groups. Furthermore, most of the game’s players were ostracized for being “nerds”, a social label that had a bad reputation in academic settings.[1]

Recently, however, the “nerd” has made a comeback. As a result of changing values in modern society, nerds are reclaiming their identity. It is no longer weird to know the most obscure facts about Star Wars or Star Trek or to dress up as characters from the Lord of the Rings or from video games. TTRPG is in the midst of a popular revival, appearing in multiple forms of media: podcasts, live-streamed videos, art, comic books, novels, video games, movies, and TV shows. Why is nerd culture making a comeback, and why is TTRPG so popular now? It certainly helps that actors considered “hot” by social standards like Joe Manganiello and Henry Cavill are proud, self-proclaimed nerds, giving a new image to the typically bespectacled and boring stereotype. I believe that nerd culture and TTRPG offers individuals, who were ostracized for their non-mainstream interests, a sense of community and healing. Conventions and online forums become safe spaces for these individuals to express their creativity and passions, while TTRPG has truly become a form of coping and healing for many players struggling with mental health and social anxiety.

That’s not to say that these places are completely free from judgment; often the most judgmental are those belonging to the fandom as well. However, based on my experience, DND has truly helped me with my social anxiety and has allowed me to be more introspective. I never thought of how I’d deal with heavy topics such as death and trauma, but my characters have to experience these emotions, and I have to rightly emulate them. It has helped me understand myself as a person, especially at a time when I’m starting to realize what I like and don’t like. It is odd to say that DND has helped me “grow up” and has aided my transition into adulthood, but it is true. It has helped me deal with loss and failure, especially when all your decisions are based on the roll of a die. It has taught me that when life deals you the wrong cards, like when the die doesn’t succeed the skill check, you just have to adapt and accept and carry on.

If you want to start playing DND but don’t know where to start, there are many resources online to aid you from D&D Beyond’s online character builder that walks you through the whole process to YouTube videos on how to play DND. Join a DND club and don’t be afraid – everyone’s always excited to play with a newcomer. And the best way to learn in my opinion is to keep watching and listening to DND live streams or podcasts. My favorite will always be Critical Role, and you can watch their third brand new campaign every Thursday night on their YouTube channel or on Twitch. Dimension20, while a little less serious that Critical Role, is a good way to discover the crazy side of DND. TTRPG has also become a safe space for queer and people of color, and many live stream and record their sessions, bringing a unique perspective to DND. Queens of Adventure and Rivals of Waterdeep are both exceptional examples of queer-run and POC-run DND live-sessions. With all the TTRPG content out there, I hope that you fall in love with the game just as much as I did

 Bibliography

[1] Clyde Haberman, “When Dungeons & Dragons Set Off a ‘Moral Panic’,” New York Times, April 17, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/us/when-dungeons-dragons-set-off-a-moral-panic.html.