Episode 2 - Dungeons and Dragons from Adult Player Perspective

In this episode of 'Grandpa is Him', host Lynn Dimick explores the world of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) with guests Daniel and Brandon. They discuss the evolution of the game, their personal experiences as players, and the dynamics of character creation and group interactions. The conversation highlights the importance of camaraderie, creativity, and the joy of playing D&D as a family activity. The guests share valuable advice for newcomers to the game, emphasizing the need for patience and openness in the learning process.

takeaways

• Dungeons and Dragons has evolved significantly over the years.
• The game fosters creativity and imagination among players.
• Character creation offers endless possibilities with trillions of combinations.
• Group dynamics can greatly affect gameplay and character interactions.
• New players should not be afraid to ask questions and learn at their own pace.
• D&D can be a fun family activity that creates lasting memories.
• It's important to balance combat and exploration in gameplay.
• Players often develop deep connections with their characters and the story.
• Feedback from players can enhance the overall gaming experience.
• D&D is accessible to everyone, not just niche groups.

Sound Bites

• "We were there to play Dungeons and Dragons."
• "You have to give D&D a chance."
• "The game is complex."
• "Don't be embarrassed."
• "It's not just a game for weirdos."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Dungeons and Dragons

03:03 Evolution of Dungeons and Dragons

05:51 Player Perspectives on D&D

11:57 Character Creation and Development

17:58 Navigating Group Dynamics in D&D

24:12 Advice for New Players

Transcript

Lynn Dimick (00:09.836)
Welcome to Grandpa is Him, a fun microcast about everything and nothing in ordinary life. I am your host, Lynn Dimick, and if I'm your host, then you're my guest, and I hope that you will enjoy this time that you spend with me. In 1974, I was a freshman in high school, and being a freshman in high school, I was exposed to a lot of new people and I made a lot of new friends. Two of those friends were Ricky and Tim. And one morning before school,

I saw them playing with some dice and some little figurines. Well, I thought those were kind of cute. So I asked them what they were doing and they introduced me to a brand new game that had just been published called Dungeons and Dragons. This was a fun game because just that last summer I had finished reading The Hobbit as well as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now in that original box that we got, there was a rule book, which was, if I remember correctly, I think about 16 pages long, some dice and some characters.

And the idea was, is that there was one person who was assigned as a dungeon master. It was his job to design a dungeon with all of the nooks and crannies, monsters, adventure, and loot that his mind could come up with. It was a game entirely based on fantasy and imagination. Well, it seemed like we spent more time making maps and scrounging graph paper to map out the current adventure we were on. We spent much more time mapping than we did playing. One thing that added to this interest

was that in UC Irvine, they had some on-campus dorms, which are more like apartments, and they had one area that was called Middle Earth. And each one of the different dorms or buildings was assigned a name that came from the Tolkien world. So there were a lot of people there that had the same similar interest. I can remember on more than one occasion going over to the dorms on a Friday night with a bag of chips and a two liter of Mountain Dew and...

hanging out until late Saturday night. There was no thought of sleep or anything else. We were there to play Dungeons and Dragons. Just like everything else in life, nothing stays the same. And over the past 50 years, Dungeons and Dragons has changed and evolved as well. In the original game, there were six races and I think six classes. So there were a combination of about 36 different characteristics your player could have. And now that number is up to, well, let's just wait and see.

Lynn Dimick (02:34.51)
In addition to expanding the number of players and the options, the game has been expanded to include more than just combat. It also has a directed attempt to balance with exploration and have other things happening other than just always trying to kill monsters. To support that refocus, there are now published books that have adventures in there for the players. It is no longer just graph paper, pencils and dice. But in 2021, when COVID hit, we were looking for an activity

that we could do as a family remote. Our oldest son Ben had been playing Dungeons and Dragons for quite a while and he was now hosting his own parties. So we thought it might be a neat idea for all three generations to join together and play some Dungeons and Dragons online. Ben has expanded his skills as a Dungeon Master and now he's playing every week or more often with some of the friends that they grew up with. In this episode, we're going to talk to Daniel

and Brandon, friends from my sons who are still playing Dungeons and Dragons with Ben. We'll get their perspective as players, we'll get Ben's perspective as a dungeon master in a future episode, and in another future episode, we'll talk to the grandkids about their experiences playing Dungeons and Dragons. And now we'll get started as I roll for initiative.

Lynn Dimick (04:00.632)
First of all, Daniel and Brandon, I want to thank you for joining me on this podcast. Just for your information, you guys are going to be given the player's perspective and for the DM perspective, I'm going to be interviewing Ben later on and get his perspective as a DM. So if there's any questions you want to ask him, go ahead and pop him in now. I have questions. Do you really? Why does he hate my character? It's a valid question.

He tries to kill me every, my, my character is the only one left since we started the campaign from the original group. Everyone else has died or something. So, so what happens? How do you guys handle the character deaths? What do do? I mean, it's pretty straightforward. Yeah. Yeah. But you gotta find a way to bring him back. Which is usually my job, but sometimes we don't get a chance to do it because of certain situations, like a boss fight.

Or an avalanche happening because we were dumb. Well, you remember, you remember that time that, that me and about four or five other people joined. Yeah, of course we do. I will never forget that time. I felt so bad for you guys. That stupid druid, man. I've never seen somebody roll the way she did that night. Right. And I tried to stay out of her range, but I got one square too close to them. So I got caught up in the mess of it all too.

I who I banished. didn't even get to play one single turn. No, it was, it was the rogue. it was the rogue. How's the thing that drew it? The reason he did that was, that he thought you guys were out of control and you were really kind of going off in your own direction and didn't take the hint that you needed to be nice to people. So he wanted us to come in there and clean up on you. Well, those guys were, that group was our rival since the beginning. huh.

And they kicked our butts in like the very first thing, but we just found out recently they were higher level than us. Yeah. So, was like literal episode one. We were just in this pit fight with people and we didn't know each other. We were just grouped together. and then we were given this battle and we were just like whooped. And so that was the group that you guys played, which was like from our session one.

Lynn Dimick (06:21.642)
So to us, it was like revenge. And then we ended up like murdering everyone except for one person that got away. Well, if I remember Brent, yeah, well, nope. I don't, I don't think anybody got away in our group, but, the rogue did. Yeah. I think that was, was that me? I don't remember. No, you were, were you a hunter? Yeah. I remember you were like shooting your crossbone rolling terribly and we were all rolling like not twenties. Yeah. You guys were rolling the net twenties and I was rolling net ones and then it was bad.

That was a great session to be there in person for, sure. We were laughing so hard. had to mute the mic a couple of times. How did you guys start playing with Ben? How did that group form? Good question. Was it Ben that reached out to us? No, it was me. I reached out to Ben cause me and you were talking about DND cause Joel and Matt and Mikey. And so once a year I have all my friends come in from California.

And we wanted to try DND. So we tried it. I DM the, the minds of Fandelier, something like that. lost minds of Fandelier. That kind of got us started. And so we talked to Ben and he said he'd be down to do a group. then, so we talked to Daniel and originally, Ben was going to be the DM, but Daniel said he wanted to try it. So me, Ben, Heidi, and Daniel all played in a little group was calling with us on the very first one. Cause I'm the same as you. I, I am really bad at creating my own backstory.

So I usually have one of my friends, Jenica, who's in our group help me out. So let's talk about my character, my main character, because I had a very similar, if not the same character in my previous DM or I'm sorry. Yeah. DND group, female, dark origin, mysterious kind of assassin. And so I played a fallen ASMR and then

Okay. Hang on. Hang on one second. Okay. I want to know how you came up with that character. Do you guys know how many combinations there are in D and D for characters? gosh. Not as many as pathfinder. Okay. Probably millions though. Okay. D and D there's 1.95 trillion combinations. What? Holy trillions. And trillion, two trillion character combinations. Now pathfinder two.

Lynn Dimick (08:43.202)
has 540 trillion combinations. So how did you come up with yours, Daniel? And so tell us about the rest of that experience. Maybe I should look into other builds now, but, so I don't know. I just love villains when it comes to films. And I also love anti-heroes as well.

And so like the Mandalorian, for example, like he's not a good guy. He's also not a bad guy, but he does what he wants. love that. the Joker is a huge, I'm a huge fan of the Joker and the dark night. I just love a good villain. so my character, right off the bat, I was like, I want to be an evil character. and for some reason, like I'm usually drawn to playing females.

But if it's someone like big and bulky and strong, I'm usually playing males. I don't know. That's just my preference. So I chose a female fallen ASMR. Did your parents give you Barbies for Christmas when you were a kid? let's move on. All right, go ahead and finish your story. And, I don't know. just like really wanted to be as dark as possible, but

to the eyes of my group and to the eyes of the people around us, I wanted to look like a good person. and so a lot of, like even, even to this day, literally we're still in the same campaign. There's stuff that Brandon doesn't even know about my character that Ben and I discussed and have discussed in like one-on-one sessions between us, just to make sure that we are both clear on certain things about my character.

Is that just to try and keep it within the character definition or, or what's the purpose of that? so the purpose of that is like, for example, if there, if, if our group is going after something or going to try and meet with someone, but I have, a personal purpose or a personal thing that I need to do. I don't want the group to know what I'm trying to.

Lynn Dimick (10:59.948)
the moves that I'm trying to make within, you know, want them to keep thinking I'm part of the group. I'm still doing everything the same as everyone else, but whoops, wait, where'd that item go? Or why did this person die? Who killed him? And then my character just goes, I don't know. I have no idea. And stuff like that. Brandon, Brandon, you talked about, what was it? The minds of Fandelver. Yeah. Okay. Now when I started playing with this.

this back in the 1970s, literally the original box set, we had to create our own dungeons and it was just about monsters. It wasn't necessarily about the adventure. The idea of using a pre-printed adventure. How do you keep from getting lost in the metagame? In other words, how do you keep from reading up on the book about the adventure? Because it sounds like they're kind of fascinating and fun to follow. so for me, it was easy. I was the DM when we did it. So I needed to read the book.

But the other guys, just like we play games, we like everything to kind of be a surprise. nobody really met a games or cheats or looks into it and kind of makes it a lot easier to play too, because I could throw in my own twists as well. Yeah, that's pretty much it. guess you could met a game if you wanted basically like.

Look on ahead and see what's coming, but it would just ruin the fun for you. Really. It's like reading a book and then reading the book together in a group. And it's like, well, I already read all this, so it's not fun right now. know, so it's kind of like one of those create your own adventure type things where you're creating it live as you go. a hundred percent. What is it? Yeah. Go ahead. The, books I grew up on as well. The choose your own adventure books. Yeah. and so that's.

It's been a huge part of why I think I enjoy D and D so much. Cause I loved those books so much, just being able to decide where we're going. Yeah. So which that's kind of where I struggled with DMing wise is I don't have the imagination that like Ben or Daniel does. So, I'm really good at thinking on my feet, but when it comes to like these, pre-built adventures, that really helped me out because I don't have to.

Lynn Dimick (13:13.966)
create that world. It's kind of there and I can kind of tinker with it as I please. So, do you find that the pre-built adventures kind of force you into a particular pattern or is there enough room there to do what you really want to do? there's definitely enough room to do what we want to do. Like I added my own little encounters to it, changed up. we've, I've actually ran this three times with the same group. it's kind of been different every time. So it definitely lays the groundwork for you, but you just kind of can make it your own. They make it really easy to do that.

Like from the NPCs to the dungeons or layout to the land or the encounters everybody deals with. My entire campaign in the beginning was a mix of my imagination and I was taking stuff from one or two adventures that I, that I just liked. And I was like, that'd be cool. So how do you balance the role playing within the game between combat and exploration? Is the exploration worth even pursuing or is it just combat based?

That would depend on your DM. I would say as like what I like is I like a good amount of exploration and dialogue. But we love our combat. Like our group is full of murder hobos though. So I kind of have to keep them in check. But as you saw in that one game, but in that, in that one game, you were the first one that was before we got into the battle. This is what I'm saying.

You were going to, you were going to be the one that was going to capitulate and basically say, okay, we'll follow the rules. And everyone else is now we want to kill you guys. No, no, that's not how it It went like this. There was even my character was like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. This person is like giving up. has his hands up. He was at the end of Brandon's character was like, him. And then the guy, the guy on our team was like, okay. And chopped his head off or something. And I was like, what? said, don't kill him.

okay. Right. So when you're in the group and you're starting to talk about exploring versus combat versus, rolling for loot, who gets what, how do you resolve those conflicts? That's a good question. Our, group flows pretty well. for loot, we kind of know who kind of deserves the loot.

Lynn Dimick (15:36.802)
based on what it is, but if it's something like two people want, we kind of just let them duke it out for it. Nobody gets mad that everyone kind of understands. I don't think we've ever had an issue. think Ben's at the same time, it's like, again, the DM has like so much to do and think about, but I think he's been really good at kind of like giving things that are very specific.

So it's like, this clearly, you know, this healing totem should probably go to our healer, you know. It's actually 100 % random, said, for his items. Really? Yeah, he does a loot table roll on what drops. So yeah, it's not specific at all. I've talked to him about that. Well, that's how it feels. Exploration wise. So my character is kind of like the group leader just because I think he's been around the longest, which he doesn't like the roll.

So I usually try to stay quiet and make other people make the decisions for little things like what should we do in town and stuff like that. But I kind of like take a little bit more over once we're in like the boss fights, stuff like that. Everybody has their role based on how their character is. And some of the characters will go off and do their own thing like when we're in town or whatever. There's a, but yeah, it's kind of interesting Brandon's character.

Is the last of the first team of characters. So we pretty much have the same people playing, but everyone's character has either died, died or left the group. When you say they left the group, what does that mean? They, they just quit playing. So the, the evil character that I, that I played, that I mentioned previously, she's not actually dead. the group was just against her.

against her because she's so evil. and it was hard. It was actually hard for me to play her and it was hard for me to come up with reasons why she has a character would even stay in the group. And so realistically I was like, Ben, like the, can't play her. Like she would leave. Like there's no doubt about it. And he agreed. So we made a new character for me, which she's still in the world. She's just an NPC basically now controlled by Ben. So she stayed within the group or she just roaming around wild.

Lynn Dimick (17:58.798)
She's roaming around controlled by our DM God. kind of like is my protector in a way. Cause my character and his character are backstories where like we grew up as children together and I'm trying to hear her of the evil. So she just recently like rescued me from a, demon that actually possessed her before. So, all right. You talked about bringing some new characters into the game or rolling new ones or things like that. Do you have new players that join in the game or join in the group?

Yeah, we do. How do you handle new players or new characters? So our group's pretty tough on them when they first start out. So we actually will be adding a new member to our group because one of our members had to step away. So usually how we handle it is as a new people to the group, we'll have a one shot with them before we do the actual campaign, just so they could like meet us and kind of see our play styles. And then from there, they'll create a backstory with Ben on how

kind of why they're joining our group now or why they're in that area and why we should bring them along. And. Yeah, just depending on how their character is, like if they're very standoffish, they have our groups very close knit. So if they're standoffish, we're like, do we want this person to travel with us? But, know, usually we we kind of met a game a little where like we know this person is going to obviously be traveling with us. So it's always a bit awkward.

Cause yeah, especially when you have a group that's so like close and tight and then a weary traveler passes by and we don't murder them and you're like, that's true. And Brandon's over there in the corner saying, keep moving. There's nothing to see here. Nothing to see here. Yeah. It's just kind of like, that's the one part about it. I think at least one of the few parts about it that are uncontrollable. It's just like.

It's not the, you know, even if your group wouldn't be accepting of new people, you still have to accept them. Eventually though, they become part of the group and everything's good, but it's always that first session or two where it's like, there's this new character and this new person. And they're trying to figure out their character and why they would join our group and how they kind of interact with us. How they would fit and what, what they would contribute. Yeah, it's a little clunky at first, but every single person we've had has like.

Lynn Dimick (20:25.282)
fit in amazingly by like session three. Yeah. A hundred percent. Why do you think that is? Is that because you guys are giving or is that just the general social group? I think it's a little bit about like with DND, you kind of have to like break down your walls. yeah. Open yourself up to crazy ideas and crazy people. Yeah. Just kind of being vulnerable because of that role playing aspect is definitely kind of weird. at first, but yeah, once you,

kind of get past that and kind of get into the game. like kind of, it's like when the spark of D and D ignites and you finally understand it and you're in a group that understands it. Like I had to go through that myself when I first started, I was like, I do not get any of this. But then the moment where like everything connects, you're like, Whoa, this is amazing. Best game ever. Way better than wow. Well, I agree. So how do you get to that point?

to where the, where the spark takes off and you say, okay, I get it. It sounds to me almost like you're taking off the shell of who you are and putting on a mask and becoming this character. of, would say like, if you've ever, if someone has ever recommended a TV show to you and they're like, push through the first three episodes, Stranger things. Yeah. Or whatever it might be. I've had them say the same thing for Game of Thrones, for example.

They're like push through X amount of episodes and then it'll be magic. It's kind of the same thing. Like you have to give D &D a chance and give it a time, but ultimately you will like it and you'll understand it and that spark will happen. And maybe you might not even realize it till like a year in you're like, holy crap, I love this game and I'm still playing it. know, that sounds to me like you're offering some really good advice for newbies.

Is there anything else you want to add to that? Anything else they should be aware of? Brandon? Newbies? newbies. I got one. Yeah, go ahead. Cause I still feel like a newbie. There's definitely, my brain does not work like Brandon's where you understand everything right off the bat. And so there's still stuff that I don't understand or that come up. the game is complex.

Lynn Dimick (22:48.95)
The game is huge and there's a lot to think about. Just take a breather. You don't have to understand it all. And when you hit those, don't, don't be embarrassed. That's another thing. When you hit a point where you don't know what to do, it's totally fine. I hit those things. We hit those things throughout our sessions every single time where we're like, what is this again? How much damage does this do? Is it what, what dice do we roll? Like that comes up.

All the time still, and all of us have played for multiple years. So don't be embarrassed. Don't worry if it seems like a lot again, get through the first couple episodes, if it were a TV show and it's going to get really, really good. there too many rules in D and D that is too detailed? that's why you need a good DM. the game, the rules definitely provide like the structure to the game.

But again, like they're more guidelines. you're just kind of creating a story together with the group. So, your DM obviously probably needs to read up a little, but for the most part, they could wing it too. And kind of up to the DM, how the rules work in that world. So. Yeah, it can, it can be a little bit homebrewed as well. You can kind of do whatever you want. And if the group likes something or dislikes something, Ben, like he always talks to us, like, how was that session? How was this? How do you guys like, how are you feeling?

Yeah. And what, what did you like? What did you not like? And it's always good to get feedback as well. Cause he's throwing out things that he thinks are a good idea. And for the most part, luckily Ben is incredible. And so for the most part, it's always good. but for things like picking on Brandon's character constantly in the game, like that's the type of stuff. love it. All right guys, Daniel and Brandon, thank you so much for your time. I see that we're up against the clock cause it's time for you guys to go raiding elsewhere.

But I would like to leave the, the, option open to do this again another time, because I think there's a lot more to talk about. we could talk for hours on this. yeah. You could. Yes. You're more than welcome to call me anytime. I I'm happy to talk about it.

Lynn Dimick (24:58.924)
I hope you noticed the passion that Daniel and Brandon spoke with for the camaraderie, for the enjoyment they have. I was impressed with the level of detail and the memory they have of different parts of the game. They had some great advice for noobs and I think that it's important to remember that this is not just a game for weirdos. This is something that families play. I played it with my children and my grandchildren and I can tell you now that it's a lot of fun. It's something they remember.

and it's something that they enjoy doing frequently.

Lynn Dimick (25:43.064)
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Grandpa is Him. We hope you enjoyed our discussion and stories and maybe even found some inspiration for your own family adventures. Now, we want to hear from you. What questions do you have or what topics would you like us to explore in future episodes? What stories can you share? Share your ideas. Simply visit our website at grandpaishim.com and fill out the submission form.

You can also reach out to us on email at grandpaishim.com at gmail.com. We're always looking for your thoughts and experiences, so don't be shy. Join the conversation and help us create the content that matters to you and your family. Until next time, keep laughing, keep sharing, and keep those ideas coming.