“I'd fight a Dragon over a Global Pandemic any day”
Outside my home in Cork, the Covid-19 pandemic continues. As of writing this there have been over 69000 cases in Ireland alone since the breakout back in February. The streets are empty, businesses have shut their doors, and friends have had to stay apart. Covid has altered the world we live in, so my friends and I have escaped into a safer world: into the world of Dungeons and Dragons.
When my world was collapsing around me, and I felt I had no control, it was my weekly D&D sessions that kept me grounded. It was my escape. As my own universe became confined to my house, this game expanded whole worlds. I forget about the coronavirus, I was too busy fighting off a goblin hoard alongside my party members. It provided a welcomed distraction from the bleak world outside.
Dungeons and Dragons has been around since 1974, when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published the first rule set - one that sparked the dawn of almost all other tabletop role-playing games and is one of the most popular games in all of geekdom. Despite the ‘geek’ stereotype that accompanies the game, Dungeons and Dragons has evolved quite substantially since its inception. According to Wizards of the Coast, the company that has published D&D since the late ‘90s, over 40 Million people are estimated to have played Dungeons & Dragons.
The rise in popularity can be attributed to multiple factors: such as the likes of D&D web shows, such as Critical Role: “Where a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons”. The show has grown so much in popularity that when the Critical Role company announced their Kickstarter for a 'The Legend Of Vox Machina' animated series - based off their own Dungeon and Dragons game - it raised more than $1 million in funding within an hour of its launch. By the close of the campaign Thursday, “Critical Role” fans had shelled out more than $11.3 million, making the fundraiser the most successful film or television project in Kickstarter history. Other Dungeon and Dragon shows include the likes of College Humour’s Dimension 20 and the McElroy’s D&D podcast “The Adventure Zone”. By 2017, over nine million people watched groups play D&D on Twitch.
The beauty of these shows is that even though they all play Dungeons and Dragons, they are all playing a unique story, with their own world and characters. Dungeons and Dragons lends itself to stimulating storytelling, which makes it very interesting to listen to. People of different campaigns can excitedly recall their own adventures to others. How they accidentally burned a village down, or how they defeated the evil wizard by turning him into a goldfish. The only limits of D&D is your imagination. You create a character that is all your own; you can be the half-elf rogue who is the long lost princess, or the travelling dwarf bard who is in search of his purpose in the world. The world of Dungeons and Dragons is your clay, and you as the player get to shape it through your character and their actions.
It is thanks to people sharing these stories, and to shows like Critical Role who have amassed a large audience that the transition to digital Dungeons and Dragons began, and with quarantine now kicking that shift into overdrive, many find themselves turning to online communication to continue the adventure. Before the pandemic, it was a meme that players could never agree on a time to meet. Now, that barrier has vanished. My own adventuring group would meet up online over Discord every Saturday evening to play, and it was the only thing that kept me sane over the course of Quarantine. I am not the only one who feels that way, as many other D&D players, including my own party members, have expressed their thoughts and feelings regarding Dungeons and Dragons over Quarantine.
“D&D has helped me a lot during Covid. If I did not have D&D during the lockdown I would have become much more reclusive when lockdown (eventually) ends, I would have lost most of my social circle as I find it hard to keep in contact with people that I don't see for long periods of time. I could have been a very different person if I didn’t have D&D and I am not sure how I could have coped without it.” said Chris McConnell, our D&D party’s Warlock.
Everything about Dungeon and Dragons requires communication, which is something that we desperately crave during the pandemic. While there are other online activities you can do with your friends, none are as sociable as D&D. I have played online games with friends and not said a word for hours, but with Dungeons and Dragons, you have to
be involved. You are at the table, digital or otherwise, and you and your friends drive the story forward. I have learned more about my friends at D&D sessions than I have anywhere else.
Imagination is a powerful tool. Dungeon and Dragons not only cultivates creativity but requires it, and it is recognized as a viable treatment for mental health. One of the biggest concerns during the Pandemic is the mental strain it has put us under. We are more anxious, more stressed, and for most people, they are without their primary support system, their friends. We have had to put extra effort into looking after our mental health, and for many Dungeons and Dragons has been that tool. We need something to latch onto, to actually accomplish. That is so important for mental health. Maybe we can’t go out for coffee today, but we can fight that dragon.
Playing the game online, D&D gave me space to be imaginative, connect with friends and escape into fantasy when my own world became too much. Playing D&D with my friends is the highlight of my week, it brings me the joy that I feared I had lost during lockdown.
I felt helpless. We are bombarded by an invisible adversary and the only thing we can do is literally nothing. More than ever, to be able to say, ‘I cast fireball’ is a very needed outlet. It may not be the same as sitting around a table and rolling dice with your friends in person, playing with them online still feels magical. You can save the day.
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