A Sparked Interest in Dungeons and Dragons
Ever since I was a youngster, I have always had an interest in Dungeons and Dragons, the tabletop game that pretty much started the RPG genre in gaming. I remember going into bookstores and collecting the old rule books about the game, but I unfortunately never had the chance to play because my friend groups were not into it. Flash forward to 2026, and I now am taking a renewed interest in the game. I went to a local comic bookstore yesterday and purchased three books that I plan to read, The Players Handbook, The Monster Manual, and The Dungeon Master's Guide.
The reason I am now interested in getting started on a more sincere basis is because technology over the years has made it possible to find groups of people playing Dungeons and Dragons much easier. There are websites that are dedicated to creating virtual tabletops where people can group up and play the game together. One of these sites is called Roll 20 and its resources are amazing. There are also dedicated discord servers out there for D&D players to find others to play with, along with paid alternatives with professional Dungeon Masters who are running games for a service fee on sites like Start Playing Games.
Where I personally plan to start my learning is through the hard cover books I bought, YouTube video tutorials, and playing Dungeons and Dragons Online, an MMORPG based on the Dungeons and Dragons ruleset. I have already downloaded and played the game a little last night after having a bit of a reading / YouTube watching session and it is remarkably similar to playing a D&D campaign but in an MMORPG format. This gives me some added appreciation for the game, being that most people would just brush over it because of its age and dated graphics.
There have been a few community members recently who have wanted to get into Dungeons and Dragons with me as well. In fact, a chat member named FireDogForge was the one who invited me to join him when he gets a Dungeons and Dragons group going and is partially responsible for my spending spree on buying the books recently. I will have to link up with him again and see where he stands on getting a D&D campaign started with him as the Dungeon Master. For my first experience, I want to focus on being a player and learning from the interactions as they unfold with an experienced Dungeon Master at the helm. Eventually, I would love to become a Dungeon Master myself.
As I have an affinity to melee characters, I think I will try to focus in on the mechanics of a Barbarian in terms of my first playthrough in Dungeons and Dragons the tabletop and Dungeons and Dragons Online. I have already created a Dragonborn Barbarian in Dungeons and Dragons Online named "Blackboa Dragonborn," so I plan to work with that character and build a back story for my eventual barbarian I create in the tabletop version. Dungeons and Dragons online even have a location to create a Biography or back story right in game, so it is the perfect practice simulation for when I get to play the actual game. I will couple this learning in game with reading the players handbook first and focusing in on the Barbarian section as I believe there is a section for all classes that goes into a deep dive.
I am excited to share more insights into Dungeons and Dragons and Dungeons and Dragons Online as I continue on this journey to ignite my imagination through this fantasy role playing game. Looking forward to potentially having some adventures with all of you who continue to read the blog, visit me on twitter, or catch me live on twitch.
Until next time,
Blackboa