The streaming site Twitch has more than 100 channels dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons. Critical Role, a live campaign run by voice actors, has become a YouTube hit that recently raised more than $ 11 million for an animation special. RPGs have also inspired dozens of podcasts, both fictional and live, such as “The Adventure Zone” and “You Meet in a Tavern”. The Netflix show “Stranger Things” made Dungeons & Dragons a central theme: the boys’ characters play the game and use their vocabulary to understand the bizarre events in their city. (You can even buy an initial D&D set inspired by “Strange Things”.)
From basement to Zoom.
Before the pandemic, when people already seemed to live mainly online, desktop RPGs were seen as a truce of life on multiple screens, a more artisanal and analog way of connecting. “The ability to get together with friends and put on a show is an incredible experience,” said Sell. During the blockade, when the ability to reunite was gone, the RPGs remained. Many of the most popular games have already found a home online. Sites and apps like Roll20, Role Gate, World Anvil, Astral, Fantasy Grounds and D&D Beyond have created platforms to make online gaming possible. Many have tools – such as character generators – that simplify a campaign.
RPGs do not require tactile experience (apologies to those who paint miniatures for their characters), so they adapt well to the online game. “Almost everything that happens in Dungeons & Dragons happens in your imagination,” said Winninger. “It makes the transition to virtual gaming easier.”
If you have Wi-Fi, you’re in and don’t even need data: Wizards of the Coast has a page that rolls the data for you virtually. Other sites feature game enhancements, such as virtual maps, and the ability to sync your game to a selection of scary music. Want to run your own game? Gather a group on Zoom, Skype or Discord. Don’t you have friends who think like you? Wizards of the Coast launched the Yawning Portal, a website that combines players with virtual games. Other sites run message boards and markets that connect individuals with groups and groups with game masters. Beginners can easily find experienced players to show them dimensional ropes, chains and shackles. After-school programs and local libraries offer games for children and teenagers.
Building a bridge to social division.
And yet, we miss something when we can’t play in person or share Cheetos. As RPGs depend on the narrative, the experience diminishes when we are no longer face to face with our fellow accountants. “It is a matter of looking people in the eye and acting with the body,” said Fortugno. “When you lose all of that, the game becomes more affected.”
But searching for dark forests or dangerous caves from the comfort of your couch can still be exciting. And since RPGs have an inherent structure and shifts, they can offer a more natural involvement than the average Zoom cocktail. Having a mutual goal – rescuing maidens, acquiring treasures, avoiding the sphere of annihilation – makes the conversation flow. And players can now meet across the country and on all continents.
Avery Alder, a game designer (Monsterhearts 2, Dream Askew) who lives in rural British Columbia, used to host weekly face-to-face RPG games at a nearby city hall. The pandemic ended this, but she still plays when work and childcare allow, which is not often. She argues that we may need RPGs now more than ever.