Dungeons and Dragons role playing game launched at Forres Town Hall

AROUND 10 people attended the first fortnightly ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ games night at Forres Town Hall.

The bi-weekly event, organised by ‘Forres Online’ support assistant at Forres Area Community Trust (FACT), Euan Kershaw, is aimed at attracting a younger demographic to enjoy the facilities on offer at the venue.

Euan explained: “One of the main goals is to encourage a broader section of the community to attend activities here and to join a regular community event, especially those who might not be interested in the other activities offered.

“Many current activities are geared towards the older generations - we hope that Dungeons and Dragons will attract a broader section, encouraging young adults to join in.”

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) first published in 1974. It is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, and also deeply influenced video games.

D&D allows each player to create their own character for adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master (DM) is the game’s referee and storyteller who plays the role of the inhabitants of the game world. The characters form a party and interact with the setting’s inhabitants and each other. They earn experience points to rise in levels, and increase power over gaming sessions.

Euan said: “Players can be anything from fighters and rangers to wizards or warlocks. As a group, we tell a story with those characters, fighting monsters, solving puzzles and rolling dice to see how effectively people are able to complete the tasks.

“Traditionally D&D was played with pencil, paper and dice, however, since this a part of the Forres Online initiative, we are looking to expand our games to include laptops and digital tabletop tools to help keep track of things as they happen.”

Euan was happy with the turnout for the first games session.

He said: “It was deemed that these sessions should be for over-18s because different procedures would be required to work with younger people. We had no idea what the turnout would be like and thought it best to gauge interest before looking into further funding and options.

“However, we’re aware there are several people under 18 who are interested in joining so we may look to start a group for them in the future.”

The next game is on Saturday, April 15 from 2.30-6.30pm.

“Players of all experience are welcome,” finished Euan. “We provide dice, paper, laptops and refreshments. Just bring your imagination!”

Email euan@forresarea.org or call 01309 674388 for more information.