Would-be adult adventurers can strap on their (imaginary) sword, grab a handful of dice and prepare for a fight at the Banks Public Library.
For the first time, the library is offering an introductory Dungeons & Dragons campaign geared toward adults.
Teens have been able to play the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons through a Banks Public Library program, and now for the first time, the program will expand to interested adults in the Banks area.
Dungeons & Dragons, usually abbreviated to D&D, celebrated 50 years of existence this year; the game’s first version was published in 1974.
The game has enjoyed a renaissance for years, driven by a more user-friendly 5th edition ruleset published in 2014, a popular set of actual play campaigns streamed online like Critical Role, popular video games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and the TV show Stranger Things.
“Over the last year, we’ve had quite a few requests for an adult version of our D & D program,” the Banks Public Library said in an email. As of Thursday, there were two slots available for a campaign that begins Wednesday, August 7 and has sessions scheduled for August 14 and 21, all from 6 to 8 p.m.
Interested adults must register by emailing or calling the library at 503-324-1382 or [email protected].
D&D is often played in a campaign style, where individual sessions are played and connected into an overarching story. A group of players form an adventuring party and are guided by a Dungeon Master, who controls the nonplayer characters like monsters, villagers, and guards, and builds the worlds around the players and their actions.
“The program will start with pre-made characters so participants can learn basic game play in three sessions,” said Susan Cackler, supervisor and program coordinator at the Banks Public Library. “The sessions will be run by a young adult who has been DMing for his friends,” Cackler added in an email to the Banks Post. “The ideal goal would be to end up with a cohort of players who want to continue to campaign together.”
The group will play with the game’s 5th edition ruleset and start a prewritten adventure designed to start new players on their D&D adventure called Dragons of Stormwreck Isle.
In general, players use a set of dice ranging from four to 20 sides and a character sheet that defines the traits of their character, like their strength, intelligence, and special abilities. The game combines change, tactics and strategy and storytelling, and can use more elaborate tools like a battle map laid over a grid, miniature figures and props to create a more immersive gameplay.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
