D&D, short for Dungeons and Dragons, is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game where players are encouraged to tap into their creative sides. Participants create their own worlds from scratch, and take the role of their own original characters as they go on imaginary adventures.

To make a D&D character, players first choose a class, a background, and a species. The rest of the game is up to the dungeon master, or DM, who creates the world and story. DMs run the campaign, which is a connected series of adventures featuring one group.

D&D was first introduced in 1974, and attained great popularity in the 1980s. The Satanic panic throughout the 1980s and 1990s brought greater attention to the game, as it was often accused of promoting witchcraft and Satanism. However, in the 2000s and 2010s, as Satanic panic faded and increasingly accessible editions of D&D were released, the game reached its peak of popularity. With this growth came more young players than ever, and students started bringing D&D culture to their schools, creating clubs that seconded as safe spaces. 

Students at Oviedo High School created the D&D Club 10 years ago. Sponsored by physics teacher Christopher Capp and almost fully student run, the D&D Club has been going strong since then, and has seen a surge in popularity this year.

“I had some students ask me about ten years [ago] to sponsor the club since they knew I had played in my past,” Capp said. “I really enjoy hearing the great scenes, stories, and originality that comes out with their campaigns and character developments. I am very happy that I have a space for these kids to think outside the box and be creative.”

Most clubs at Oviedo are student run, so it is up to students to show their leadership skills and take action. Juniors Em Martinez and Cal Culhane stepped up this year, becoming club president and vice president, respectively.

“It’s my first year running the club, and in all honesty, it’s been the best thing to happen to me. Getting to work with Mr. Capp and my lovely vice president Cal [Culhane] brought us together,” Martinez said. “Dungeons and Dragons bonded us, and has been the reason I’ve gotten to meet so many incredible people.”

The Oviedo D&D Club’s logo, used in forms of communication for the club, drawn by former president of the club, Eli Dominguez. Image courtesy of Eli Dominguez.

Being a DM is a vital, important role in the campaign. The DM is the person who controls the storyline, as well as crafting the very world the story takes place in, and enforcing rules among the players. They are the storyteller, the referee, and world-builder all in one.

Mak Perri, a freshman, is the DM of two campaigns. Perri has been playing D&D for around three years now and creating characters for four.

“Outside of D&D, I’ve been making characters since I was in fifth grade. I have always been a very active person when it comes to making things,” Perri said. “As for D&D, I’ve been actively participating in campaigns, character making, and DMing since sixth grade.”

Being a DM isn’t just about being a game leader, it is about balancing responsibilities and maintaining relationships within the campaign, which can be difficult for one person to handle.

“Being a DM isn’t for everybody. There were definitely points where I couldn’t mentally handle doing it,” Perri said. “It can be a draining process DMing for a group of people, but… if you’re with a group you’re comfortable with, it’s an extremely rewarding experience.”

One of the campaigns Perri is a DM for is “The Eltingville Society.” “The Eltingville Club” is a comic book series created by Evan Dorkin that follows the story of 4 teens that are very into geek culture, such as D&D. This campaign follows the original characters created by Perri, Martinez, freshman Charlie Boyd, Culhane and junior Shrinidhi Raghavan, and the students adapted the world created by Dorkin to create their own storyline.

One of these characters is Garret Cox, Martinez’s character. 

“Garrett Cox is my most recent D&D character. He’s a 17 year old human bard, meaning he’s an extremely charismatic character. The campaign takes place in the same world as ‘The Eltingville Club,’ a 1994 comic that encapsulates the teenage experience and the poor side of fandom, the losers of society,” Martinez said. “It is an entirely roleplay based campaign. Our characters are Garrett Cox, Theodore Sullivan, Shaggy, Gunther Wright, and Kenny Anderson. They all range in age from 15 to 17.”

An “entirely roleplay based campaign” is where the players take on the role of the character and focus more on relationships with other characters and collaborative storytelling rather than mechanics and combat. In D&D, rolling dice often determines the outcome of a situation, but as opposed to combat, where dice determine damage, in roleplay dice often influence a character’s success in social interactions.

Another character from this campaign is Kenny Anderson, Perri’s character.

“[Kenny Anderson] is an NPC important to the story. He’s known as ‘Evil Kenny’ or just a joking alter ego of mine, so he’s based on myself in a lot of ways,” Perri said. “He’s Garret Cox’s best friend, but he doesn’t like to call it that. He’s definitely a stereotypical edge lord, typing to purposefully be a ‘lone wolf,’ but he comes off more pathetic and rude.”

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Garrett Cox is a character created by Em Martinez, the president of Oviedo's D&D Club. Image courtesy of Em Martinez.

All of these characters were individually designed and thought out, and it shows through the various artworks made of these characters, and especially in their game of D&D. The more the players take on the role of their characters and interact with one another, the better it gets.

D&D campaigns can go in any direction, based on already existing universes, new worlds, or absolutely anything the DM wants, which makes this game so special to its players. You can play it any which way you want and choose your own story.

The Oviedo High School D&D Club has created a community and a safe, supportive space for the members, who are much more than just players. They are team builders, character creators, inventors of new worlds, artists and so much more, creating the immersive experience of the club and the game itself.