Non-Tech Hobbies: Tabletop Roleplaying

I’m on a train again. This time, just my normal commute. Today, I’m rushing back in order to attend a session of Dungeons and Dragons.

For the uninitiated, tabletop roleplaying involves a group of people, each having a character (often but not always represented by a little model) that exists inside a fantasy world or other setting. One person in the group is the Dungeon Master, whose job it is to play all the other people or creatures that the players encounter in the world, and to look after the plot. Combat (and other actions with varying chance of success) is simulated by rolling dice. 

The players describe what their character is doing, usually in the first person but with plenty of breaking the fourth wall. When having a conversation with another character, the player might speak their character’s dialog directly. It’s not scripted, of course — players have to make decisions on the fly. If a character decides to (for example) jump over a chasm, the DM might require a dice roll to see if the leap is successful — if not, the DM narrates what happens instead (which might involve the character taking a nasty fall).

Different systems have a different balance between narrative and strategy. Dungeons and Dragons tends to be more light on the roleplaying front, but require more tactics and thought in the fight sequences, compared to some systems. Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing (another system I play) is the opposite, favouring very gritty and intricate storylines but without much strategy in the combat.

It’s not a competitive sport. While the DM controls the bad guys, the reward for the DM is that the story gets told. So it’s important that the players are presented with a sufficient challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Watching your players overcome the challenges in a completely unexpected way is an awesome feeling for a DM.

Is it a nerdy hobby, as the stereotype suggests? Quite possibly. But it’s not just rolling dice to see who’s best. You get attached to your character, you don’t want them to die… and then you end up in a fight that you’re not sure if you can win, and there’s genuine tension. And you can have some very emotionally charged scenes. Everything is more powerful than in a book or a film, because you’re in the story. Make a mistake, fail to stop the evil guys murdering a child? It’s not just like a book where you’re reading about a traumatic event, you feel the guilt because you could have prevented it. So when you vow revenge, it’s personal…