Dungeons and Dragons, also known as D&D, hasn’t been hindered by the pandemic but has rather progressed in popularity.
D&D is a tabletop role-playing game where players can make their own characters and explore fantasy worlds. Games also feature Dungeon Masters or DMs that help guide the players through the worlds they explore but also play against them.
Over the years, D&D has definitely been more open and many people have gotten into the role-playing atmosphere. Because of the game’s audience mostly consisting of younger adults, D&D’s online presence was already very prominent.
D&D campaigns were usually ran in-person, but with the pandemic, meeting in-person wasn’t an option anymore. So, many campaigns had to move online.
However, this didn’t stop or slow down campaigns from running in any way. Rather, it helped people get into D&D more because now it was easier to contact DMs and get into different campaigns.
Amber Edmonson is a very active member in the D&D space. She’s both a DM and a player in campaigns. Edmonson highlights that a reason as to why D&D is more accessible for everyone is because it’s easier for people to organize the campaign sessions online.
“I find it easier to schedule because everyone could not just get up and log into the their computer rather than going to someone’s house,” says Edmondson.
D&D online also really helps DMs because all their resources like players’ notes and maps are stored virtually rather than in-hand. Edmonson says, “It’s easier to handle all your documents [online]. Even when we were in-person, I’d store all my notes online and I’d just transport everything to my TV.”
Kyle McGregor has been a DM for ten years and has made his own original campaign. “It was only a matter of getting people to switch and transition into [online play],” McGregor said.
As a DM, McGregor has not had any issues with his campaigns moving into the online space. “I didn’t have any players that were really affected by the change. The biggest difference was that some players just wanted to roll actual dice,” says McGregor.
Both McGregor and Edmonson didn’t notice any differences between in-person and online campaigns.
Edmonson said, “it doesn’t really matter to me. The only thing is that in-person, you have more of a connection to the other players.”
“There really wasn’t that much of a difference between my standard way of playing versus any other way. Players would probably get the realization that it’s basically the same thing,” says McGregor.
The online presence of D&D is very strong and has a passionate community behind that tabletop game.
“The online community for D&D will always be strong. There are websites devoted to DMs looking for players, map creators, quest creators, and you can find all of this online. A lot of DMs operate online and even Twitch streams that operate online,” says Edmonson.
McGregor says, “The only possibility [D&D] has to go is up. There are things like Critical Roll, which is a D&D game ran by voice actors, that have assured that the game will have very popular resonance with people at this point.”
