Back in 1974, Richard Nixon was resigning, and only four billion people crawled the Earth, and somewhere in a basement Dungeons and Dragons was being born. Now, 45 years later, it’s still thriving in the depths of Park High School. A group following has started off in recent years and has grown in popularity ever since attracting people from all walks of the school. The larger group consists of about 10 boys who meet just about every weekend and play from anywhere around 10 p.m. until the wee hours of the morning. The group gathers to sail on magical boats, slay beasts, and chop of each other’s hands, well at least in their minds. Senior River Nichols says that he enjoys the game because “it’s so open.” You create your own character based on race, classes, background, equipment, and stats based on a dice roll.
One person, known as the Dungeon Master, conducts the story. While they all enjoy playing, the smell of 10 teenage boys in one house has been described as “boy fungus” by senior Kaleb Irish. Part of this might be due to their diet of popcorn, Airheads, and “more soda then you can imagine.” Junior Chase Petrulis estimates around three 12-packs of soda are consumed in one sitting. I had hoped to sit in one of these trans-clique gatherings, but I knew better than to ask. Though one can see the house where they gather from the outside, it’s much harder to understand what happens on the inside. To be allowed entrance, your name is thrown into a chat and voted on. It’s increasingly hard to get the approval of the group as it grows. What started as four or five people sitting around in the afternoons has become an empire of D&D conquests.