Photo by Aidan McGuire
Dungeons & Dragons Club sponsor Kipp Cozad explains the game during a special session in the library.
By Lily Ligeska, Features Editor
Yelling about death and giggling amongst each other, muttering phrases such as “Survival isn’t for everyone,” they crowded over a large table in the Moraine Valley library on Friday, rolling the dice.
The first gaming session of the Dungeons & Dragons Club, held as part of the library’s comic book week, was a hit.
Moraine Valley isn’t the only place D&D is popular. As it has become more mainstream, making appearances in shows like “Stranger Things” and on YouTube, the role-playing game has taken off all across the world. But the game has not always been this accepted into society, as it’s had its misconceptions.
“My friends and I wouldn’t talk about it publicly in high school,” says D&D Club sponsor Kipp Cozad, who has been playing since the 1980s. “It was our secret, more hush-hush.”
The game back then was seen as “taboo” and “demonic,” which scared people off.
“Now, even church groups are seen playing it, since you can infuse the game with a good moral code,” said Cozad, who is manager of Tutoring & Literacy for Moraine Valley.
Sophomore Tyree King grabbed at the chance to play almost immediately.
“It’s the first thing I did when I signed up freshman year,” said King, who became president of the D&D club.
This year, the club had more participants and members than ever. Their Fall Fest signup sheet was filled to the maximum capacity on its first page, and they struggled to squeeze in more on the back.
Moraine Valley’s D&D club has been up and running since summer of 2021. Cozad wanted to get students more involved with Student Life, Moraine’s club organization, after COVID put a limit on socialization amongst college students.
Cozad is proud to be leading the D&D club, as he’s now witnessing friendships being made in person.
“It’s interesting because D&D was always for nerds; now it’s more mainstream,” Cozad said.
While the game used to have a very specific target demographic, the audience has become more diverse in recent years.
“It used to only be played by white people, but now it has gained more multi-cultured, gender diverse, and LGBTQ+ attraction,” said Cozad.
Today, more than 50 million players around the world are logging onto their computers or opening their game books to visit a new realm of imagination, according to FictionHorizon.com.
“The biggest misconception is that it’s complicated,” MV geography professor Jason King said. “Once you sit down, it’s really easy.”
Players rely on the game master, who makes the decisions towards what direction the game will head next.
“There’s a lot of imagination involved,” King said. “Yeah, there are a lot of rules, but they don’t limit your creativity.”
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