by CADY MAAS and LORELAI BURKE
Dungeons and Dragons has been beloved by millions of fans since its release in 1974, and it has inspired the start of a club celebrating the game at Chadwick.
Dungeons and Dragons/Tabletop Role Play Game Club, founded last year by junior Calvin Chen, senior Renny Flanigan, and two others, has led dozens of students to discover new interests and communities.
Flanigan was introduced to D&D by her older sister, who started an online game with her friends in 2020. Chen, on the other hand, found himself drawn to the game in fifth grade through a series of webcomics.
“I grew up reading The Hobbit; I love Lord of the Rings. I love the movies and books, and I see that D&D is like an avenue to access that sort of stuff,” he said. “D&D started as an individual interest for myself. But then eventually, it grew to this thing where I could share with my friends.”
Inspired by their love for Dungeons and Dragons, Chen and Flanigan decided separately to form a D&D club last year–Chen with his brother, junior Jonathan Chen, and Flanigan with senior Sara Campbell.
Both were surprised to see another D&D club on the club list, but they soon met up and decided to join forces.
“We were really like, ‘Why don’t we just all co-lead and form the club and just work together to do stuff?’ And then it turned out great,” Flanigan said.
Although both Chen and Flanigan greatly enjoyed running the club last year, both noted some organizational problems.
“I do know that last year, I felt a little bit disorganized because we hadn’t had people playing fast enough,” Flanigan said.
Fortunately, the club, which meets every Friday during lunch and seventh period in room 106, has gained more structure in its second year.
“I think this year we’re finally getting to a place where people are organizing on their own, and people are actually getting to play the game, which I’m really excited about,” Flanigan added.
This semester, Chen strives to provide non-members with an opportunity to play Dungeons and Dragons.
“People can come in, sit down …. no experience needed. We’ll give you a character and start playing a game, just in case anyone wants to play. Right now, the club feels like closed membership, but I want to open up to the whole school.”
Flanigan shares this interest and also expressed a desire to expand the D&D club to younger grades.
“We wanted to have these younger Middle Schoolers or elementary schoolers come in and have some Upper Schoolers teach them the game or help them run a campaign.”
Chen and Flanigan’s goals to gather more players led them to recognize the misconceptions surrounding the game. “I feel like a lot of people have this idea of, ‘Oh no, it’s a bunch of big numbers. This is a complicated character. I need to buy all these books,’” Flanigan said. “And that really isn’t true. At its heart, it’s just you and your friends telling a story together.”
For prospective players, Chen offers, “Find some sort of medium that really gets you interested in storytelling.”
The two recommended podcasts, webcomics and videos to further a new player’s understanding of the game.
As more students join and Chadwick’s D&D community continues to grow, the Dungeons and Dragons Club aims to help students discover new interests, tell new stories and think outside the box.
Added Chen: “Everyone has their own way of playing, and everyone has their own way of approaching it. I think that’s what makes the game beautiful.”
The Mainsheet 