What Is Dungeons & Dragons And Why Should You Play It?

If you’re even remotely interested in the world of nerdy things that are out there then you’ve no doubt heard of Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D. While it has a bit of a reputation as being for nerds, it’s actually one of the most entertaining ways to spend an evening with friends. Thanks to the mix of improvisation and luck, each session ends up being a law unto itself and what happens is usually anyone’s guess. It makes the game just as good for a one-off session as it is for a year-long campaign, but you have to be open to actually playing it. Well, in order to help you ease into it, we thought we would answer the question of what is Dungeons & Dragons? 

What is Dungeons & Dragons?

So, in technical terms, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game that casts the players as, well, whoever they want to be. While there are rules to follow and pay attention to, the best games often come when you’re being a bit more flexible with things. You can pick up a copy of the rulebook and then follow it along stringently if you want to, but you can also just get the gist of things and then go with what makes things the most fun for you and your group. Generally speaking, there will be one game master (GM, sometimes DM for dungeon master) who sets the scenario, the world and plays as the enemies and NPCs that the players will encounter. It is up to the other players to become the character they want to play as and then make decisions as they go.

If you wanted a real-world comparison, it could best be described as being improv for your mind. Each game can be as different or as similar as you want and the GM may have a story planned that you don’t manage to get through in a single session, this means you can pick it up again whenever you can next play. Most interactions with the world are solved via dice roll, which is where a lot of the carnage can come from, but if you don’t like that then the GM can always have it based on something else. The essence of D&D is freedom and ingenuity, it’s about having fun, so never feel too restricted by the rules if you don’t want to be. 

Now that you know the answer to the question what is Dungeons & Dragons you can start planning your own adventures. Keep an eye on our D&D Hub for all kinds of guides to help you get started as we add more and more content to it. Make sure to follow Prima Games on Twitter too if you like to be up to date with everything in gaming in general.