This past semester at Piedmont College, a small roleplaying community has been forming on Facebook to fight the weekend blues.
A junior arts administration major, Kadence Cole, is the founder of the local Dungeons & Dragons group called “Demorest and Dragons.” If you do not know about Dungeons and Dragons, Cole describes it as “a really big choose-your-own adventure book.” You can create your own character with strengths, flaws and an elaborate backstory. The leader of the game, known as the Dungeon Master (or DM for short) lays out the story and adventure also called the campaign. Decisions would often be made in the game with different kinds of dice, such as 10-sided or 20-sided.
Cole first started playing D&D with her brother when she was in second grade. Her older brother introduced it to her and would create campaigns for her and her friends. She would later start DM-ing herself when she was a junior in high school, setting up simple dungeons her and her friends would go through. “I did not really do stories or anything. It was just game-play based dungeons.” Cole has always had a love for tabletop games, and when she heard that some people would be interested in a D&D Piedmont group, she decided to create one. That is how Demorest & Dragons was born.
Demorest and Dragons is a community full of Piedmont College students to organize tabletop games and all kinds of D&D role-playing campaigns. It started at the beginning of the Spring 2018 semester and has been steadily growing ever since. It currently has 21 members that usually get together on Saturdays and play different role-playing dice games together. The group has veteran D&D players and new people, who are interested in the infamous role-playing game. “We have had some really good games,” Cole said. “We did some starter stuff and had a night dedicated to making characters. We have even had a basic board game night, which was really fun too.”
Junior Toni Atoa is new to D&D and has had fun learning the rules. “Though I do not have much experience in D&D, I have already learned so much from Kadence and the others about the mechanics and logistics with how the game works as well as battle mechanics and special abilities,” said Atoa. “The group itself has made the experience so far very welcoming and fun!”
While attendance has been spotty, many people have joined the group and are all interested in the game. “I played a similar tabletop [role playing game] in high school with a group of friends,” Junior Cheyenne Turner, said. “Later on my friends and I gave D&D a spin, and I have been hooked ever since. Kadence started the group around the same time my friends wanted to start one so we joined forces. It is very casual, low commitment, which is nice when you are a busy college student.”
Cheyenne shadowed Cole during the first campaign, wanting to learn how to become a DM herself. “That was a nice new experience for me personally.” Turner said.
Kadence not only wants to continue doing D&D campaigns, but also other RPG games. “I would like to try War Hammer, which is a D-10 system. I do not have any experience with it though. I would like to do more one on one board game style. I would also like to try Dagger Gear, which is more live action and you create foam weaponry to fight with. It is a nationwide organization.”
However, Cole is a junior and will be graduating early. She hopes that when she leaves, the community will continue. “There are a lot of underclassmen in the Facebook group so if they keep it going, that’ll be neat to see.”
