Student Blog: Rolling a Performance Check: My experience with DnD and other TTRPGs

Something I have found heavily important for me, especially while studying musical theatre, is to find some hobbies and things that aren’t theatre to help recharge and fill my cup up so I don’t get burnt out. One hobby that I discovered while in college that a lot of folks are often surprised to find out about me is that I love playing dungeons and dragons as well as other various tabletop role playing games. I love these silly little games quite a lot, you can find me some weekend evenings around a table with my pals, dice in hand, character sheet at the ready, settling in for a nice evening of games. I wanted to talk a bit about my experience with DND and such, what it is exactly, and how it actually helps strengthen some theatre skills as well.

First, what is Dungeons and Dragons you ask? I also had no idea what it was exactly until I started playing it. Dungeons and Dragons, DND is a fantasy role playing game, where players create characters and then get to play those characters in a storyline created by the game master or dungeon master who runs and plans the game. Characters are given certain focuses skills, and abilities to help them throughout the game. It is kind of like one of those choose-your-own-adventure books, but you get to be apart of the story in person and also fight things. Players as their characters, then work together to complete certain tasks and things like that. Characters encounter role-playing situations where you can improv and have scenes with other players in character and also encounter combat situations where you see a lot of spellcasting and usage of weapons and things like that. In situations where you try to fight something or are attempting a task, a lot of times players are asked to roll a d20, which is a 20-sided die, and whatever number they roll tells them how well they complete the task or if they do damage to the thing they are trying to fight or not. There is a lot of math involved, that the game master does-the players don’t do that much math, I would be struggling hard core-and there are also more numbers and rules and such, but that is the basic gist of the game. Other tabletop role playing games follow a similar format as well. The game is a lot easier and makes more sense when you start playing it and as you go along! The game operates in campaigns and sessions. So a game master, GM, will set up a storyline or adventure and that is what a game of dnd is called. Then, the game normally takes place through sessions and each session hits different points in the story. Each session is usually 2+ hours long and whenever I have played we try to have them once a week, but with folks busy schedules it is normally every other week. And that’s DND!

I got started playing DND my freshman year of college. My Best Friend who has loved the game for years asked me if I would be interested in being in his DND campaign, I of course had no idea what that meant, so he explained to me what it was and it sounded really complicated and I was really scared, but I was eager to try it, so I said yes! From there, we made my character. I chose to be a gnome, and that is how my love for gnomes began. I named her Breena and we set up her character traits and stats, and the rest is history! The first session we ever played, I was terrified. I was really nervous that I was going to say something stupid or embarrass myself, but it was actually so much fun. We got to laugh, and play and be silly, and I loved it. It was truly so much fun and such a blast. My first DND experience was a great one.

Currently, I am in three different campaigns, two are DND and the other one is a different table top role playing game. In one of the DND ones, I play a little Kobold, which is a dragon, named Marvin and in the other one I play a Raccoon named Iris. The other TTRPG I am in is called Old Gods of Appalachia. This is my favorite TTRPG I have ever played in my life. It is a horror anthology game based off of the podcast Old Gods of Appalachia. In this game, everyone plays humans who have different focuses and backgrounds. My character, her name is Sloane Cannon, has a sage focus and has a magic background and uses the darkness within her to channel her magic and use it. I love this game, I love the horror genre, I never know what is going to happen next and it brings me so much joy. We all play and talk in southern accents and it makes me so happy. All of it takes place in West Virginia in 1919 so it is very much a time period game and I love it. I look forward to every session and I always end up wanting more and more. 

As silly as it sounds, these games help fill my cup. When I have had a long week or an especially stressful week, getting to go play these games with some of my favorite people is so much fun. Getting to play pretend in a way that isn’t theatre and laugh with my friends is so nice. We laugh and joke around but we also get to act out meaningful things as well, it is a little bit of everything and I love it a lot. I get to play pretend like I did as a kid. There is also a lot of improv involved, so it definitely helps sharpen those skills. I’ve noticed it helps me a lot in shows, especially when doing exploration. In the game, I get to enact scenes with other characters and think about what my character would do, not necessarily what me, Grace, would do, and I have been able to transfer that skill over into my performance and my process as an actor. Also for my character in the game, we often have to create backstories that then come up later in game play, and then I take those skills and use it when creating a backstory for my character in a play as well and seeing what information will be useful for me and my performance. I have noticed that since playing TTRPGs, I have been more free and more playful in rehearsal spaces and less afraid of embarrassing myself. So not only has playing these games been fun, but it’s been extremely beneficial as well. All in all, if you ever get the opportunity to play one of these games, I recommend trying it out just once for kicks and gigs. You might end up loving it. Happy adventuring. As always, go do great things.