Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game that was introduced in 1974 by designers Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. The game celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024.
Over the last 50 years, D&D players have ventured into fantasy worlds with characters they’ve created from pencil to paper or on a web browser.
Saint Francis’ Dungeons & Dragons Club will be celebrating the game’s milestone anniversary with various events and fundraising activities during the 2024 spring and fall semesters.
I am a junior Business Management major at Saint Francis and also serve as president of our D&D Club. When I first joined the club in the spring of 2022, only myself and the four officers of the club attended our monthly meetings. In the fall of 2022, I became an officer and 10 new members joined. All of them were new to the game.
In the spring of 2023, I was elected club president and our team of officers began developing activities to help educate people on Dungeons & Dragons. We broke down game play into three categories: building a character; understanding the usage of dice through the character sheet; and role playing to engage with other players.
In addition to our regular meetings, we are currently hosting “Once-A-Month One-Shots” during which a game is completed in one sitting. These “one-shots” accommodate people who are interested in the D&D, but who are unable to fit a campaign into their weekly schedule.
On Feb. 24 at 1 p.m., we are hosting our first one-shot event in the library and one-shots are scheduled for the last weekends in March and April as well. To attend one of these events, RSVP through Engage. Our one-shots are open to all students, as well as faculty and staff.
The D&D Club will also be hosting “MAGIC! The Gathering” – a card-trading combat game – once a month, with prizes being awarded to the top finishers. The first “Magic” night took place on Feb. 21. Participants should bring their own cards to these games and spectators are welcome to all of our events.
We will also be sponsoring a T-shirt fundraiser. The shirts will feature a special Dungeons & Dragons 50th anniversary design.
We want to be a place for people to express creative rest – a place where anyone can express their geekiness to their heart’s content. And our group is not reserved for D&D fans. We welcome anyone who is interested in MAGIC! The Gathering, Pokémon card trading and other tabletop role-playing games.
“Wizards of the Coast” – publisher of Dungeons & Dragons and MAGIC! The Gathering content – is planning to release a new edition of the game later this year.
Our club’s faculty advisor is Associate Professor of Management Eric Ecklund.
“As we celebrate 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons, I’m excited to see what the next half-century holds for this game that has given so much joy over the decades,” said Ecklund.
“With the success of ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ on the silver screen and Larian Studios’ ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ on TVs and monitors around the world, it seems that this old tabletop classic has more hit points than an ancient gold dragon and enough new content to fill a bag of holding to overflowing!”
For more information about any of our upcoming events or to order a T-shirt, follow us on Instagram – @sfu.dnd – or find us through our Engage page.
