A father, son and stepson walked into a casino on the Nine Hells plane, their goal to steal an item. By the time they left, the father had joined a circus. This is second-year psychology student Ada Hylton’s favorite Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
Dungeons & Dragons is a collaborative storytelling game where players work together to live out a quest set up by the Dungeon Master, whose job is to come up with the storyline. The players make choices that lead their characters through the Dungeon Master’s plot, with dice rolls to show how successful those choices are.
"Dungeons & Dragons sounds kind of scary because it seems like there's a lot to get into," said second-year risk management insurance student Alice Rose. "It seems like a huge time commitment, but it does not have to be."
Rose and Hylton founded a Dungeons & Dragons club — the Gamecock Guild — at USC. The founders bonded over their love of the game, Hylton said.
“You can get crazy with it,” Rose said. “You can read all the books. You can find a bunch of niche sub-classes, feats, all of that. Or if you're a beginner, if you don't want to do all of that, you can just make a character and be like, 'Oh, I'm a fighter,' or 'I'm a wizard,' and then you just make up whatever you're doing.”
Hylton serves as club president, and Rose serves as the club’s treasurer. The club meets every month to learn about Dungeons & Dragons. At the meetings, club leaders often present a powerpoint lesson such as how to make a character.
Club members can organize individual campaigns, which club leaders will sponsor but not schedule, Hylton said.
The Gamecock Guild hosts campaign fairs for prospective Dungeon Masters to share their campaigns with members who are interested in joining a new game. They keep track of all campaign meetings and can book rooms in case players need a space to meet.
Club leaders also keep in contact with the Dungeon Masters in case they need anything, Hylton said.
“In general, we kind of let them do their own thing,” Hylton said. “But we're also there to mediate if something goes wrong or if people are having problems with a player or with their (Dungeon Master).”
Rose’s favorite Dungeons & Dragons character she’s made is an elf called Tiadiyx Sigrufaufry, who is a rogue. Rose generated his name by modifying keyboard smashes, she said. Her character was known for being quick and using daggers, before something unexpected happened.
“He died,” Rose said. “Yes, he died in battle. And I was so torn up about it.”
A character can die in a campaign when they run out of health points, Rose said. Those points are diminished by how much damage an opponent dealt them — which is decided by a dice roll.
In this scenario, she was allowed to bring her character back to life.
“The agreement is Tiadiyx has to go worship this God who brought him back to life,” Rose said. “So now he is a cleric.”
A cleric is a different character class, which defines a character's strengths and uses.
Hylton usually plays the role of Dungeon Master, she said. Dungeon Masters don’t play characters; instead, they control the game’s narrative and the world the players interact with.
The role of Dungeon Master can feel more pressured, Hylton said, but a lesson all Dungeon Masters must learn is how to go with the flow.
“You have to realize that the characters and the players are really in control of their own narrative, and they will do things that might mess you up,” Hylton said. “So you just have to unleash some of that control, but also find a steady spot where you're also putting boundaries on them.”
Something Hylton likes about Dungeons & Dragons is the openness of the community, she said.
“If you find a campaign you're interested in, you don't even have to know the people you're joining,” Hylton said. “You just go in because you're united by your love of the game.”
Rose said common Dungeons & Dragons stereotypes can portray the game as satanic and the players as men sitting in their parents' basements, but these depictions aren’t accurate.
“We have all these people from all these different backgrounds,” Rose said. “It's a very diverse atmosphere, and I don't think there's any campaign that conforms to that stereotype.”