In a world filled with magical creatures, one powerful man and many species, one club’s mission is to defeat all evil thrown their way and not die on the adventure.

“Dungeon and Dragons is a role playing game played on a board with tiny pieces and an overall ruler called the Dungeon Master, or as the club calls him DM,” student Ethan Nester explained.

Meeting every Monday, a group of teens meet outside the Writer’s Studio to play Dungeon and Dragons. Students of all grades gather to play and have a good time.  When the group first started, it only had merely five players; however, they gained ten more players who came weekly. This year, the club almost doubled in size yet again, gaining eight more players. 2013-2014 is destined to be the best year yet for the club.

Many would ask, “Why would anyone want to play Dungeon and Dragons?” Some of the players have been attending the club from sophomore year, when it officially started up.

“At first nobody was here, and then all of a sudden the next year we just exploded with people. Seeing that it’s tripled these last two years, it’s a pretty big group,” member Logan Wilson said.

Many new faces decided to join the club this year. Ryan LaChance is one out of the many that attended this year’s first meeting.

“I was here a lot last year because Kyle, my brother, was in the club, so I had to come to find him so my mom could just pick us both up. I had played before as well, and it was fun so I was really interested in playing when I became a freshman,” LaChance said.

The first couple meetings consisted of the members making characters, and not really playing. But, after those first couple weeks they jump right into what they call a campaign.

“The first couple of weeks always give me the biggest headaches. There’s so much noise, and everyone is scrambling to get their characters finished so we can hurry up and play. It’s rough,” Dennis Dao said.

Within a campaign players have a major goal or mission that they have to accomplish together as a team. Being that everyone has different experience when playing this game, everyone had different opinions on what their favorite or hardest campaign was. Being that no campaign is really the same, it was hard to take a vote, but student Alex Gillard tells us a little bit about his favorite.

“Last years’ campaign was really the first one I played, so this question doesn’t really apply to me much; however, if I picked a favorite character out of that campaign it would’ve been the Celestial Tiffling. Which is just a type of angel demon cross breed. It was really cool! ” Gillard said.

Finding a teacher sponsor was difficult for the club, and with desire to start it up, the officers were determined. Starting with three different sponsors, they finally got one teacher to stay permanently for the club. Mrs. Urban decided to sponsor the group because she thought that the group deserved to be sponsored.

“They were a very respectful group when asking. They were very welcoming to new players, and I’ve always been interested in the game,” Urban said.

With problem solving and having to work together, the group tends to form strong bonds with one another. With everyone being and feeling equal, it gives many teens a way to be expressive without the fear of being judged by others in the group.

“It gives them a place for their own interests and a chance to socialize with people they didn’t think had the same interests. It helps many high school students learn problem solving and interacting with others,” Urban said.

Along with problem solving and team work, many find themselves playing Dungeon and Dragons for many other reasons. Some have been playing for years, and others heard about it from a friend. Student Kyle LaChance explains why he plays Dungeon and Dragons.

“I play to let my inner nerd out. When growing up, I found it hard to really come out of my shell. When I heard about Dungeon and Dragons from my mom, I thought it would be a great way to break out of my inner shell. I just like the fact that in D&D I was able to be something, a hero maybe, that I wasn’t tin real life. It gave me the opportunity to be something else every time I play,” LaChance said.

Many said the same thing when being asked this question. They say that this club helped them make new friends and build connections and bonds that they didn’t think would’ve happened in any other clubs. Others said that it gave them a chance to socialize and meet people with the same interests, but one thing that everyone said to this question was , no matter how you act or what “clique” they’re in that everyone works towards a common ground. They are all on the same team and that to them is why others should join Dungeon and Dragons Club.