BY
Low Lexuan
Editor-In-Chief
Hype Issue #55

Published on

July 19, 2022

If you’ve watched Stranger Things on Netflix, you would’ve probably seen the characters in the show playing a game called Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Seated at a table, the characters take turns to roll different types of dice that determine what happens in the game.

D&D is a tabletop role-playing game (RPG) played with a group of people. A story narrative unfolds and whatever happens in the story, be it adventures, quests, or battles, depends on the players’ decisions and actions.

I got to know about D&D after watching seasons one to three of Stranger Things about two years ago. However, it was only after watching the latest season, that I started to become curious about D&D. After doing some research, I came across Dungeoneers Rest, which provides a three hour “Learn To Play Dungeons & Dragons” session for $20 per person. Since several of my friends were interested to try as well, we decided to sign up for a session together.

Mr Ong Cheng Hsin Gerry, 33, Tavern Owner of Dungeoneers Rest says that D&D has been gaining popularity in Singapore for many reasons. One of these is that shows such as Stranger Things “directly show D&D being played and that [has] made it a lot more accessible to a lot of people”. 

Gerry also shares his thoughts about the growing geek culture. 

“There’s a lot of geek culture floating out there and nowadays it’s not uncommon for people to take pride in being a nerd – which is not something that used to happen,” Gerry says.

As for the other aspects, he mentioned that the current 5th edition of D&D is also “more social and role-playing friendly”.

“People used to think of D&D as a very combat heavy game… nowadays we don’t really focus so much on that, but we focus a lot more on social and role play, and because it’s so much easier to play, it’s a lot easier for people to get into the hobby… because of that, more and more people find [that] the barrier to entry is lower so they can come in,” Gerry says.

Dungeoneers Rest is located at level three of Peninsula Shopping Centre and it’s quite easy to find since it stands out amongst the other stores.

At first glance, it looks like the store isn’t open. But in order to be let in, you have to press the doorbell. Photo by Low Lexuan.

Gerry was the one who opened the door for us and we were greeted with a wide shelf filled to the brim with board games, D&D miniatures (minis) – three dimensional figurines, as well as D&D books. We were then led to a room where a whole D&D set-up for our session was waiting for us.

There were a few cool looking dragon minis on top of the shelf. Photo by Low Lexuan.

The square boxes on the tables are dice trays which players use to prevent dice falling on the floor. Photo by Low Lexuan.

Once settled, my friends and I were given different character sheets from which we chose a character we wanted to play. Afterwards, we picked from an array of painted minis inside the room, one which we felt represented our character best. A pack of dice was given to each of us, which we could bring home after the session.

Each mini is hand-painted, with each taking two to three hours to complete. Photo by Low Lexuan.

Gerry then introduced himself as our Dungeon Master, the person that organises the whole D&D game. We began by each taking turns to introduce characters. It was really interesting how we were able to freely let out our creative juices and come up with different characteristics for our characters.

Shortly after, Gerry explained the game’s mechanics. At first, it seemed rather overwhelming for me since I had no prior knowledge of D&D and some of the terms were foreign to me. However,  Gerry helped to break everything down slowly for us, which made the mechanics more digestible and easier to understand. Our character sheets also had different sections which showed us what our characters could do, along with the amount of health and shield we had. Some of us could even “cast” magic spells.

When Gerry was explaining the mechanics, I wondered why there were seven types of dice in D&D, some of which I had never seen before. Gerry then explained that the dice are actually used throughout the game to decide the outcome of an action taken. For example, whether or not your attack was successful.

The die that most of us commonly use is called d6. Photo by Low Lexuan.

The biggest problem I faced during the session was identifying the different types of dice as I often forgot which die was which. However, some of my friends faced no issue in this area and were able to differentiate the dice easily, so I guess it all depends on the individual.

Throughout the game, Gerry roleplayed the different characters that interacted with our party, which really set the mood. As adventurers embarking on a quest, we were free to decide how things would unfold. Some examples would be deciding who to talk to and whether or not we wanted to run or attack. All of this helped lead the story forward. There are no right or wrong answers and every action we took led to different outcomes and consequences.

During our first battle, it really felt like I was in a fantasy novel or movie. It was exciting as we got to take turns in playing different actions and moving around on the board. What was cool was that ambient music was played in the background and the lights would change colours according to different scenarios during the game. The ambience created by the music and lights helped to immerse me into the experience, making it all the more enjoyable.

Our characters after the first battle in our adventure. Photo by Low Lexuan.

The lights in the room were set to blue when it was night time in the game. Photo by Low Lexuan.

Another refreshing aspect I noted was that, D&D is not like many video games where you are out of the game once your health bar hits zero. We learnt that once your health turns zero in D&D, you get a chance to roll death saving throws which can help get you back in the game. 

As we started to interact with different characters in the story, my team and I quickly realised the merits of sticking together and taking collective decisions. Through this, I got to see my friends’ perspectives and thought processes in different scenarios. I found this to be rather interesting as everyone had a different perspective towards things, such as whether to talk to the characters in the game in order to obtain more information, or move on to a different location. This led to us taking quite some time to make some decisions during the game.

“Any fan of D&D should really learn that there are always more than two options,” says Gerry. “The world tends to present itself in very binary ways, like people tend to look at things as yes or no. But the grey area in between is huge.” One of the things he hopes people will take away from playing D&D at Dungeoneers Rest, is that they will realise how “there are more choices than you can actually perceive”.

Alas, all too soon we came to the finale of our game, the final battle. If you have watched the intense scenes of slow motion dice rolling and characters shouting during their D&D game in Stranger Things, I can say that it’s not an exaggeration. With our party only having a few survivors left and the enemy at the brink of death, some of us were on the edge of our seats when rolling for an attack. Every time one of us rolled the dice, everyone else, including myself, waited in anticipation. Finally, Gerry announced that the enemy was vanquished and we joyously clapped our hands in celebration.

The aftermath of our D&D session. Photo by Low Lexuan.

While it was just a tabletop RPG, it felt like we actually had an intense battle and finally managed to return home safe and sound. The three hours didn’t feel like three hours at all due to how engrossed I was in the whole storyline and the fact that there were breaks along the way where we could rest and eat and drink some of the refreshments on sale. 

To sum up my overall thoughts about my first D&D experience, I feel that D&D is a game that allows you to bond with your friends and understand them more. Additionally, you get to hear and be open to different perspectives. This interestingly relates to our daily lives where we often benefit from hearing out the ideas and opinions of the people around us.

Dungeoneers Rest is a great place to dip your toes into the world of D&D. Through their “Learn To Play Dungeons & Dragons” session, you’ll get to learn about what D&D is all about, as well as the basics of the game. If you are still interested in D&D after the session, they do offer other activities, such as learning how to paint minis or hosting your own D&D games with your friends.

“D&D is a very personal game because it’s a social game at its heart. In that sense, it speaks  to something very human that we need each other and we want to spend time with each other and to me I think that’s the biggest reason why people play D&D,” Gerry says.

Information:

Information taken from Dungeoneers Rest Website:

Name of session: Learn To Play Dungeons & Dragons

Address: 3 Coleman St, #03-22 Peninsula Shopping Centre

Price: $20/pax 

Opening Hours: Open by request

Verdict: