Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy role-playing tabletop game where you can be almost anything you want. 

As a shy person, role-playing always seemed scary, but I wanted to try it as I love fantasy. I was first introduced to it around twelve. At fourteen, I was briefly taught how to make a character. After completing my character, I watched their session and was hooked. I wanted to learn more about it and leave my comfort zone to play.

I was unable to until October 6, 2022, when I played my first one-shot with my roommate's group. After that, I automatically wanted to play more, even though I barely spoke throughout the session. I had just been so nervous and excited at the same time that when it came to playing and meeting her friends, I could not go as full out as I had thought I might or  wanted to. They were mid-campaign, and that one shot was a little break from it, so if I wanted to learn and play more, I had to find another way.

When I heard that Tragically Dipped Donuts cafe hosts D&D nights, I essentially forced one of my friends to come with me for one of their one-shots on October 26, 2022. I taught her what I knew, which was not much, but I explained how to create a character. After our mini-lesson, I went home and made our characters. On the night off, after a little kerfuffle of not realizing we were playing Humblewood instead of just the regular game, I was more into the game. Having my friend there helped as I wanted to help her, and I could only do that if I left my comfort zone. Aside from her dwarf becoming a fox called a "Vulpin" and my elf turning into a crow/raven called a "Corvum," it went pretty well. Of course, we made mistakes, but the D&D community thus far seems welcoming.

After that, one of my friends who plays Dungeons and Dragons regularly was so excited when I told him I was finally playing that he signed me up for an online group through the StartPlaying platform. It is a campaign instead of a one-shot, specifically, an "Exandria Adventures: Call of the Netherdeep” campaign. I started playing with that group on October 29, 2022, and have been playing with them since. Almost every Saturday, I play for about four hours, which is excellent. I get to escape reality and explore different ways of being my character, Vesper, an Arcane Trickster Rogue Tiefling, which is pretty cool to me. This past Saturday was our eleventh session; I still barely know what I am doing and need to come out of my shell more, but my party is such a welcoming and patient group of people who help each other, specifically me, in any way they can. 

I have experienced and heard that most D&D groups are similar unless they specifically say that beginners are not welcome. It is like any other passion; people want to share their knowledge on their passions, they want to involve more people, and they want people to have fun just like they do. I am glad I started playing when I did because I have had such great experiences with it, but it is a little unfortunate that I was not able to have fun like this before now, simply because I was too scared or too shy to find a group.