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Dungeons and Dragons is one of those games all the high school geeks used to play. They gathered together in an empty classroom at lunch, or over at a friend's place after school and on weekends. You'd see sheets of paper lying around everywhere and book piled high at the elbow of one of the players. If you looked closely, you'd see the kids playing were the opposite of those kids on the football team. Cheerleaders were manlier than these kids.

But, once these kids got Dungeons and Dragons stuck in their craw, they were hooked. I used to be one of those kids back in high school. And I always got the same questions, didn't I? What's this game all about? How do you play? What are all those different dice for? Since today's youth are probably getting the same questions, I'll try to explain the game for you.

First of all, if you're over the age of eighteen, you should have outgrown the game by now. Dungeons and Dragons is a game that tends to be the most popular with the thirteen to eighteen year old crowd. You take these sheets of paper and jot down the vital statistics of a person who exists only in your head.

Maybe you want to be a fighter, or an elf or a wizard or something. You and your friends go on all these adventures, fighting monsters and stealing treasure and what not. Maybe once in a while you save a princess or a maiden or something. Your characters advance in rank by gaining experience points. The higher in rank you are, the more experience points it takes to advance. Plus, the only way to earn experience is by getting lots of treasure and killing lots of monsters. Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty violent game.

Hard core fans will tell you that violence isn't all there is to Dungeons and Dragons. They'll tell you it's all about cooperative game play and that it's a better alternative to watching television every night. Okay, the last part I'll give you. And Dungeons and Dragons does give you and your friends a chance to sit around the campfire telling stories. Metaphorically speaking, anyway.

For those of you wondering about the tone of the game, Dungeons and Dragons is strictly fantasy all the way. It's not unlike playing your way through an adventure inspired by the movie "Lord of the Rings." I'm not oversimplifying as much as you thing. Dungeons and Dragons is set in a medieval Europe inspired world full of orcs, trolls, dragons, elves and wizards. All in all, I'd recommend everyone have a chance to go through this phase, geek or no.

Learn more about this author, David Masterston.
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