Workshops help kids play the roll

WHILE Dungeons and Dragons was once considered a board game for select subcultures, in recent years, its popularity in the mainstream has grown considerably. 

Alan Dannett has been playing the game for 10 years or so and created a Dungeons and Dragons, or DnD, group for younger people in Bendigo with his friend, Josh Purchase. 

The idea came to Mr Dannett after he saw an ad for an adults’ group in Melbourne.  

He said he knew that a lot of kids would be interested in learning and playing DnD and wanted to provide an opportunity for them. 

Since early 2023 the pair have been running the workshops each Tuesday evening, and there are four or five workshops per program. 

“It’s been great, parents have been thrilled,” said Mr Dannett. “Because we’re volunteering, they’ve wanted to give us money [which] we can’t accept.” 

While many of the kids who have been through the program so far were interested in returning for another round, Mr Dannett said they simply did not have the resources. 

“They learn how to play in the first session and all the mechanics of the game and then the following four weeks is spent actually playing through the start of the story.” 

DnD is a narrative-based fantasy role-playing game involving story-building and character creation.  

“The mechanics in Dungeons and Dragons are really guided by their imagination, so it’s whatever they want to do,” said Mr Dannett. 

“If there’s an objective in place and a dragon’s doing something at the top of the mountain it’s entirely up to them how they want to approach the situation. 

“There’s no set rules or set paths, it’s all their decision on where they want to go and what they want to do in the game. 

“Some of the backstories that they’ve created are so imaginative.” 

The program will be starting up again in February next year, and each child will receive a free starter set donated by the Bendigo Hub. 

The group is for children aged 10- to 16-year-olds.