Dungeons, dragons and a fantastic voyage: Why a D&D fan made a pilgrimage to Wisconsin

For Dungeons & Dragons fans, an epic journey involves warriors, wizards and dwarves traipsing across vast continents and venturing deep into underground lairs, battling monsters and looting treasure along the way.

But for Mike Bannister of St. John's, the most fantastic trek he's been on was a plane ride to Wisconsin in March.

2024 marks 50 years since the creation of the fantasy role-playing game, and hundreds of people who grew up playing the game in the 1970s and '80s converged on Lake Geneva in mid-March for a special convention to celebrate half a century of D&D in the place where it all began.

Bannister flew down to volunteer at the three-day Founders and Legends convention alongside some of the contributors and original artists who helped create not only the game but the entire tabletop fantasy role-playing game genre.

For Bannister, being part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations was "a dream come true" — and it recreated the magic he experienced when he began playing the game. 

"We played D&D every night until 12 or so. In the morning, my ribs hurt because I had been laughing so much. It was exactly like when we were kids," said Bannister, who also runs several different gaming sessions with friends in St. John's.

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. Both men have since died, but their legacy looms large. 

During the convention, Bannister and his friend Theo Kabisios met and chatted with his favourite game designer, David (Zeb) Cook, and also met Gygax's son Luke.

Not only did Bannister and Kabisios get to meet some of their gaming and art heroes, they also got to visit the house at 330 Center St. in Lake Geneva where Gygax and his family lived in the 1970s and where he wrote the very first version of D&D. The house is now attached to a bed and breakfast, whose owner let them in to see the basement where Gygax and his friends played.

"She kept the old unpainted exterior door to the basement with 'Entrance War Games Room' written on it," said Bannister. "Apparently, Mrs. Gygax was tired of Gary's friends trooping through her kitchen so they had to come in through the basement."

At the conference, Bannister also got to play plenty of classic D&D games, including one in which he was the first character to die in the Tower of Gygax. For that, Erol Otus, an iconic D&D artist and game designer signed Bannister's game sheet — and also presented him with an original signed piece of his highly recognizable art.

"Volunteering at the conference was the best choice I could've made," he said. "Not only did I contribute, but I got to meet a ton of people, learn more about the history of the game and make some additions to my ever-expanding dice collection."

D&D tourism

Gary Con immediately followed the Founders and Legends Convention, but where Founders and Legends had up to 400 participants, Gary Con was expected to host 4,000.

Bannister was happy he decided to attend Founders and Legends, rather than the bigger Gary Con. "Founders and Legends is more intimate. We didn't have to beat our way through crowds. But when we left, virtually every hotel in Lake Geneva was blocked," said Bannister, who still got to meet D&D aficionados from every walk of life and from as far away as Japan. 

In a classic game of D&D, each player takes on a character who goes on adventures in search of fame and fortune. Players have to roll the dice for the characters' abilities (e.g, strength, wisdom, etc.), work up a background, and pick up some starting equipment, such as a sword and shield.

Then they are placed in situations involving dragons, magic and wizards where they have to make decisions based on the dice rolls that help them escape certain situations or advance in the adventure. 

"An adventure is like a situation, for example, you rescue a princess or survive a shipwreck on a foreign shore. It could also be set in a particular setting such as a medieval-themed village or a dungeon," he said. Scenarios often come from various rule books, but "best of all, gamers can make up their own."

Bannister first became interested in D&D in 1981 after his older brother brought the game home.

"Great stories come out of a night of D&D," he said. 

Like others, he was drawn to the artwork, and the same dragons and monsters that captured the minds of youth 50 years ago continue to do so today.

"Much of the fantasy artworks we see today with dragons, adventurers, and monsters were born out of the early days of D&D. You can see their influence in films, cartoons, and video games," said Bannister.

"Today's video games are totally influenced by D&D. You can see it in games like the Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, and EverQuest."

The charm of the game

Then there are the famous polyhedral dice.

"Role-playing games are like improv with funny-looking dice," said Bannister. "Players hone their skills and react to whatever unfolds with the roll of the dice. Whether a character lives or dies is a combination of skill and chance."

Players learn a roll can be favourable, or the opposite. 

"I believe that the space in between skill and chance is where creativity thrives," he said. 

Bannister explained that during the pandemic, you could play online but what people missed the most was sitting around and rolling real dice.

"The dice are such a cornerstone of the game. My understanding is D&D was the first time polyhedral dice were used in a board game," said Bannister, who still has the original dice he bought in the 1980s.

"I really appreciated how the dice helped tell the story. You might have an amazing character like Conan the Barbarian who is super-strong but if he rolls a one, he might slip on a banana peel," he said. 

"It's the element of luck or chance that people love about the game."

Shortly after Bannister began playing, he took on the role of dungeon master — or DM — which is sort of like a referee and game master rolled into one, and began teaching his friends who had heard of D&D but didn't know how to play.

It largely involved reading the rule books ahead of time to know what will happen in a particular adventure — or campaign — and familiarizing yourself with the rules.

"Reflecting on my early days, I believe that D&D helped me gain creative confidence and overall literacy skills," said Bannister.

"Part of the science and art of being a dungeon master is letting the dice tell the story, but at the same time, you have to prepare the adventure, use your judgment during the game to make rulings, all the while making sure everyone has a good time."

Even though the DM facilitates how the story unfolds, it's the players who really determine what happens in the adventure. Each player takes on the persona of one character and often has a miniature figure to represent them. 

Bannister remembers asking a Grade 4 teacher to help create his first character. 

"Ever since then, I was hooked," he said.

Benefits of D&D

At an early age, Bannister was diagnosed with a learning disability that is commonly known as dyslexia. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he said there wasn't as much understanding or as many supports for learning disabilities, but Bannister found relief in role-playing games like D&D. 

"When I was young, I didn't enjoy reading because I found it really hard," he said. "However, with D&D, I had a deal with my mom that she would buy any book I wanted because it was something she knew I would read."

By looking at one image in handbooks and manuals, players can instantly understand their character and the circumstances they find themselves in, including the scale of the monster they are fighting. These books of gaming art are described in a 2019 documentary, The Eye of The Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons, as "visual guides to an imaginary world."

"Virtually all the early D&D books were filled with art. I found it helped players enjoy and get into the game," says Bannister, explaining that Dungeons & Dragons not only helps young people with literacy skills but also with storytelling, problem-solving, critical thinking, and team building as players improvise in their role-playing in order to complete an adventure. 

Role-playing game conventions are held year round all over the world. The largest convention in North America involving D&D is called Gen Con, which comes from the words Geneva Convention after the location of the first one hosted in Lake Geneva, Wis. Today, Gen Con is hosted in Indianapolis. Last year, Gen Con broke all previous records with more than 70,000 attendees. 

Bannister plans to continue to play D&D weekly, and is in several different groups. He also hosts gaming sessions, and they are not always D&D. For instance, a favourite game is Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. 

"One of the great things I've enjoyed seeing over the years is how role-playing games or RPGs have branched into a wide variety of genres. They run the gamut of sci-fi, westerns, horror or medieval," he said.

"Basically, if you can think of a setting, there's probably an RPG for it."

Bannister is also interested in helping grow the local role-playing game community and content for games like D&D. "When I started playing D&D, there weren't a lot of published adventures out there to buy," said Bannister.

Bannister hopes that, in the not-too-distant future, local stores will carry "Made in N.L." adventures or even an entire stand-alone role-playing game that showcases the province's special places and talent.

"Creating homegrown adventures is a great way to flex your creative muscle and tailor the game to what your players will enjoy," he said. 

"Role-playing adventures doesn't mean you have to write 100,000 words. Just break down your adventure into smaller chunks and have fun."

If you'd like to meet Mike Bannister and hear more about role-playing games, he will be hosting a gaming workshop for players 14 and up titled Let the Good Times Roll: How to Create Your Own Adventure, at the A.C. Hunter Library in the St. John's Arts & Culture Centre on April 17.

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