Experts share ways to enhance your Dungeons & Dragons gatherings — online and in-person

Playing Dungeons & Dragons has always been about connecting with people to share in the creation of an immersive story. When the pandemic distanced us from friends and loved ones and forced us to find new ways to band together — from online games to virtual watch parties — it's no surprise that D&D and other tabletop role-playing games saw a resurgence.

Shows like Stranger Things introduced D&D to new and younger audiences, as did streaming series like Dimension 20, High Rollers DnD and Critical Role, the latter of which spawned the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina. On the big screen, the recently released Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, has been described as "an absolute lark, a fun fleeted-footed adventure that will amuse D&D diehards and those who don't know their mimics from their mind flayers."

For the completely uninitiated, D&D was first published in 1974 and allowed players to create their own characters, complete with backstories, goals, strengths and weaknesses. The game is led by a dungeon master, whose job is to guide the players through a fantasy world filled with challenges, mysteries and combat. Players' decisions — and the roll of the dice — help shape the direction of the story.

My introduction to Dungeons & Dragons came in the early '80s, thanks to a Saturday morning cartoon of the same name. I didn't know it was based on a game — it was a colourful fantasy world where kids just like me battled dragons and other mythical monsters. It wasn't until 2017 when I came across Critical Role that I saw how much fun could be had playing the game. Still, while D&D was always being played by people in my immediate nerd culture circle, it took me another five years to finally start on my own adventure. 

Now that I have, I can't stop talking about it and wanting to learn more.

I spoke with Jeremy Johnston from Unite the Factions, a D&D community organization in southern Ontario, and Bret Rikheim, a professional dungeon master — or DM, as they're known —  who runs a D&D camp for kids at Roseneath Theatre in Toronto. These seasoned D&D experts not only stoked my newfound passion for the game, but they also shared tips to enhance all of our D&D adventures.

Dungeons, dragons … and dice

D&D takes place in a fantasy world but there are a few real-world things that can heighten the experience for the players. 

For Johnston, it starts with a table that people can sit around comfortably. If you're hosting and DMing your first in-person game, he also suggested keeping the fifth edition player's handbook nearby for quick references to stats and other world-building information. 

And despite the availability of digital D&D dice rollers, "that tactile feeling of rolling dice is a lot of the fun of the game," Johnston said. 

"It doesn't have to be expensive to get into D&D," Johnston added. "There's so much free content, even the basic rules are free."

There are a few other things that can enhance the role-playing experience — both before and during the game, whether in-person or virtual.

"Music is essential," Rikheim said, "just for creating that ambience, that atmosphere." This can easily be done through any music or video streaming service, he added. 

Rikheim also recommended images, maps and "minis," or small, three-dimensional plastic or metal figures of the characters and monsters. 

"Your power of description can only do so much," he said. "Some people require visual stimuli in order to understand exactly what it is you're talking about, or the monster or dungeon that you're describing."

Johnston had a very creative and inexpensive way to substitute your monster minis and make your combats even more satisfying. 

"I've seen just as much fun where people use candy for their minis. If you kill a monster, you eat it."

The importance of 'session zero'

Session zero is a mini walk-through between the dungeon master and players to establish everyone's comfort level. Johnston says this step shouldn't be overlooked. 

"I think a session zero is a great way for a group of people that are going to get into a campaign together to just set the ground rules, come up with some character ideas, potentially some shared back stories," he said. "And it's an opportunity also to ask the dungeon master about some things that might be coming into their campaign."

While a session zero might not be required for every campaign or one-shot, a discussion about the lines and veils can ensure a comfortable and safe space for everyone. "Lines" refers to the triggering topics or scenarios they'd rather not explore and "veils" are scenes and moments that happen but don't need to be role-played, such as sex scenes or recapping something to another player.

When DMing at one of the many in-person events hosted by Unite the Factions, Johnston uses an "X-card" system that allows anyone in the game to edit out content that makes anyone uncomfortable. "If there's anything about the game that is not fun for you, whether it's something a player does or a character says, if there's some sort of creature type that you don't like, like spiders, or if it's something in the game, like a family member recently died and you just don't want to go there. You touch that card and you let people know."

Virtual tabletops

If you're looking to keep your D&D nights virtual, there are many options available that will give you the same interactive experience and provide all the resources and assets for your adventure. 

For integrated video conferencing, digital dice rollers, interactive character sheets, inventories and maps, Johnston suggested using Roll20 while Rikheim recommended Fantasy Grounds, both of which were designed for virtual tabletop role-playing games, including D&D, Pathfinder and Call of Cthulhu.

But many other third-party developers have created their own versions of these virtual tabletops, each with unique capabilities and features and all with the goal to enhance your D&D game experience. 

Then there's D&D Beyond, the official tool set originally developed by Curse and acquired by [D&D publisher] Wizards of the Coast's parent company, Hasbro, in 2022. It's an excellent source for your character sheets, spells and rules, and has character builders if you don't know where to start.

Find your moment

The game and its players have survived updates to the handbook, the "satanic panic" controversy of the 1980s, a pandemic and, more recently, threats from Wizards of the Coast to change the open game licence that would have affected the content creators and third-party developers who helped expand the game all these years. But despite all challenges, the enjoyment derived from creating stories together has continued to draw new devotees, like me, to the game for nearly 50 years now. 

"Dungeons & Dragons is ultimately a tool to figure out what type of person you want to [be] in the world," Rikheim said. "It just takes one moment … and then you're hooked forever."

Corrections

• An earlier version of this article credited the development of D&D Beyond to Wizards of the Coast, but it was originally developed by Curse and acquired by Wizards of the Coast's parent company, Hasbro, in 2022.
  APR 21, 2023 2:56 PM ET