10 of 11

Write now Article Tools

Dungeons & Dragons is the grandfather of roleplaying games (RPGs), and enjoys a place in the consciousness of pop culture. However, for all its notoriety, D&D has yet to become a staple during family game nights. Anybody could tell you how to play Monopoly, but you would be hard-pressed to get as coherent a response from the general public when it came to D&D. If you're a RPG player, here are three great ways explain Dungeons & Dragons to people who don't play.

1. D&D IS COOPERATIVE STORYTELLING.
I remember a game I used to play around the campfire in Boy Scouts where one person would start a story. When the storyteller uttered the phrase "and then," the story passed to the next person in line, who could say whatever they wanted as long as they continued the story. Until they said "and then."

In D&D, the person who starts the story is the Dungeon Master (DM). He describes a scene, and then passes it to a player who describes what their character does. This continues until all the players have had their turn. Then the DM starts all over again.

2. D&D IS A BOARD GAME, BUT YOUR IMAGINATION IS THE BOARD.
Each player has a game piece, called their character. They take turns rolling dice and "moving" their characters around the game board, called a dungeon, but the dungeon is described by the DM, rather than being laid out on the table where everyone can see it. Likewise, the character's "move" is described by player. All the action takes place in the minds of the players.

In more recent editions of D&D, accessories like plastic or lead miniatures and tiles that can be put together to form a board have moved the game closer to traditional board games in this respect.

3. D&D IS LIKE COWBOYS & INDIANS
Remember when you were a kid and you and your friends would pretend half of you were cowboys and the other half were indians. You would chase each other around the neighborhood and shoot each other with your imaginary (or toy) guns and bows.

D&D takes the same concept of pretending to be a cowboy or indian, transplants it into a world of fighters, wizards, elves and dwarves, and wraps it in a set of rules that quantify what you can and can't do.

Explaining Dungeons & Dragons to people who don't play doesn't require a detailed recitation of the rules. That kind of information dump would cause most people's eyes to glaze over. By breaking down D&D to basic concepts, it's easy to find experiences we're all familiar with, making the game that much simpler to understand.

Learn more about this author, Kameron M. Franklin.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about How to explain Dungeons and Dragons to people who don't play?
We want to hear your view. Write now!