ERIEVE

SORCERESS ISABELLA, 8TH GRADE

The Character: Erieve (below) casts spells to help her adventuring companions in combat, but sometimes she’ll leave an opponent dangling out of reach of the melee fighters with her use of the Levitate spell. (What else do you expect from an Air Genasi?)

The Player: Isabella, like many of her peers, first heard of D&D from the Netflix show Stranger Things . When she isn’t playing D&D, Isabella enjoys playing soccer.

Like that of any recently slain monster or NPC in-game, the body of D&D work has been picked over and relieved of anything valuable time and time again. While not every D&D adaptation has been successful at bringing new players to the game (take the 1983 animated series or the 2000 liveaction movie, for instance), some of the magic of D&D has been milked and bottled and sold by a handful of popular media adaptations that have helped fuel the growth of the game.

Many of the students of NDPA’s gaming club had never heard of Dungeons & Dragons until they watched a little show called Stranger Things. In the first season of the Netflix show, the young heroes find their humdrum suburban lives upturned by events, not unlike the adventures in their weekly D&D game. Together as a party, they take down a monster dubbed the Demogorgon, after a Demon Lord from D&D lore. In the most recent season, the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) gets a name from another top-tier D&D baddie—the uber-powerful undead wizard Vecna. During many of their reallife adventures, one main character often implores, “why couldn’t we just play D&D?” The chance to play a game that creates larger-than-life adventures inspired students to join the school club and start D&D games of their own.

Stranger Thing s is not the first nor the most recent popular television show to depict the magic of D&D. Some members of an older generation first started playing D&D after an episode of NBC’s Community that aired in 2011 (now hard-to-find thanks to a Drow—dark elf—cosplay that did not age well). In 2015, a crew of talented voice actors created a show called Critical Role and started live-streaming their house D&D game on Youtube and Twitch.tv. Now on their third campaign, the group is live-streaming weekly to an audience of more than one million viewers. launched can be found at these local shops that cater to the tabletop gamer.

Critical Role also successfully launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce an animated TV series based on its first campaign, The Legend of Vox Machina , which is now in its second season on Prime Video. They have also announced the upcoming animated series adaptation of their second campaign, The Mighty Nein NDPA teacher Cameron Pingree also points to the pandemic and lockdown for the resurgence of tabletop roleplaying. People who used to play “back in the day” picked up the hobby again in lockdown, supported by ZOOM and online tools like “D&D Beyond” that provide a digital alternative to the old-school pen-and-paper method. “D&D lets people use their imagination, like reading a book,” he says, but with some important distinctions. “Reading about a character is not as fun as being a character.” And, with D&D, unlike reading a book, you don’t do it alone. Virtual D&D sessions over video calls became one way to escape the isolation of lockdown, and, even when the world started to reopen, people kept playing, and word got out.

That brings us to the Hollywood film adaptation released in March 2023, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The film is not so much a cause of the recent surge in popularity as it is a result. Only time will tell if the movie will push the game to even higher heights of popularity.

Endzone Hobby Center: Purveyor of games, LEGO and comics, Clearfi eld, 801-774-5050

Game Grid: Multiple locations, but the Lehi shop is one of the best places for minis, gglehi.com

Game Haven: Multiple locations statewide that host tabletop games, yourgamehaven.com

Game Night Games: A game shop with weekly open game nights, Salt Lake City, gamenightgames.com

Hastur Games: A source for tabletop, card and board games, Midvale, hasturgames.com

Legendarium Books: A fantasy/sci-fi /horror bookstore and RPG cafe, Salt Lake City, legendariumbooks.com

The Nerd Store: The name says it all. A shop for comics, games, toys, etc., and home to Wasatch Comic Con, Valley Fair Mall, West Valley City, nerdstoreutah.com