By JIM RASBERRY/Staff Writer
Editor’s Note: Jim Rasberry is an avid D&D player.
You enter the lord’s chamber of Waterdeep, a massive room of painted stone that once was the seat of the great city’s governance before being converted into the throne room of the terrible Demon Prince Graz’zt.
His tall, lean form is alien and imposing as he rises from his chair, ashen gray skin stretched over a muscular frame, a set of crown-like horns sweeping back from his skull, and burning, coal-like eyes, are fixed on you.
The demon readies his blade to greet you, and your party answers in-kind, faces full of fury, dread and excitement as you finally confront your greatest foe.
WELCOME TO THE TABLE
I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons for 10 years, a long time by many people’s standards, especially those who joined the hobby more recently.
The above scene was the final confrontation of a campaign carried out by me, my brother, and our close college friends from Tyler Junior College.
As the story played out during long nights of epic D&D battles, the six of us sat around two folding plastic tables, cramped together in a small apartment living room. To set the scene for the final battle, mood lights strung along the ceiling cast a dim red glow.
My involvement with D&D began long before this campaign. I started playing shortly after the launch of the game’s fifth edition. Back in high school, I didn’t want to be the dungeon master. Nobody – including myself – wanted to create the immersive stories and learn the rules.
“You’re the most creative with this stuff, and I have a really good character idea,” my friend Jordan insisted, promising to help pay for the rulebooks I’d need.
THE RISE OF D&D
After its 1974 debut, D&D became a niche hobby for die-hard fantasy role-play fans and those commonly dubbed as “nerds.”
It didn’t enter the mainstream until the 1980s and the release of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). This edition offered more in-depth and better-understood mechanics, more classes, and richer lore, allowing players to truly immerse themselves in the worlds of D&D.
This era also brought controversy. During the “satanic panic,” some concerned parents believed the game encouraged devil worship. Despite the uproar, its communities of players grew stronger.
A D&D animated series brought the game to an even wider audience, and Dragon Magazine kept fans updated with new content, lore, and a platform to share stories from their own campaigns.
Attention spiked with the launch of the fifth edition in 2014. After the fourth edition was criticized for feeling too “video game-like, the fifth edition streamlined narrative systems and mechanics, creating a balance of simplicity and depth.
The digital era amplified this success. Podcasts and livestreams, like “The Adventure Zone” and “Critical Role,” spread the game across platforms at unprecedented speed.
Today, D&D holds a strong place in pop culture, no longer viewed as a game for “nerds” alone.
IMAGINATIVE PLAY AND CREATIVE OUTLETS
At Geek World in Tyler, colorful books, dice and miniatures fill store shelves. Posters and maps cover the walls. The store hums with the murmur of voices, the rhythmic clatter of dice being rolled and the scent of new paper from books and freshly opened card packs.
Walking through the store, Lance Lewis greets customers like they are old friends. He knows exactly where to direct them if they are seeking their next tabletop game and he always has a story or two to share from his own gaming adventures.
Lance has been playing tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) since he was a kid. He began imaginative play by making up stories and games for his friends when they were sent outside to burn off energy. Those make-believe adventures evolved during college, just as D&D’s popularity rose.
“I decided to take this leap of faith,” Lance recalls. “I approached everyone with the idea to play Dungeons & Dragons and two months later it became this creative outlet for anything I was desiring from pop culture.”
Lance uses pop-culture as inspiration in his story campaigns.
“There was a drought in ‘Star Wars’ media? I’d take it and make my own in D&D,” he says with a grin. “Not a lot of good vampire or werewolf content? I’d make that too.”
For Lance, TTRPG wasn’t just a hobby — it was a way to create stories, connect with others and bring entire worlds to life.
PROMOTING COMMUNICATION THROUGH PLAY
Dungeons & Dragons, and games like it, offer a unique way to tell and experience collaborative storytelling. Just as an author may spend years writing an epic story, you might spend years with friends weaving your own narrative.
The strongest friendships I’ve formed are with people I’ve spent hours and days building stories and adventures.
“We notice these sorts of interactions when there’s some medium that allows people to be people alongside one another,” Matthew Gayetsky, manager of Boards and Bites, a local game café, says. “You and I don’t have to have an in-depth conversation about something personal. There’s a tangible intermediary, like the rules for a board game, that can allow people to be better people with one another.”
FROM PARTY MEMBERS TO FRIENDS
Making new friends through TTRGP play was not easy for Lance.
“It was literally just me and my closest friends,” he says. “Getting to know new people is intimidating. That didn’t really change until I started hosting games at Geek World.”
He found ways to group players who would mesh well.
“Once I started that and had my own control and restrictions, basically no toxic people, I started to form friendships,” he explains. “And those games began creating other friendships.”
Those early campaigns at the store grew into a thriving local D&D community with interconnected friend groups and multiple tables.
“Now I have so many games I don’t even know what to do with them,” Lance laughs. “I’ve taken so many people from the store games to the home games.”
FROM HOBBY TO CAREER
Lance’s passion for crafting stories eventually merged with his business background.
“They (Geek World) happened to have a help-wanted ad online,” he says. “I had a résumé in running businesses, and I was known as the D&D guy.”
With support from coworkers and a passion for storytelling, Lance began running games and teaching TTRPGs to others.
“Once I started doing that,” he says, “I thought, this is something I could see myself doing for a long time.”
Brak Ish, a manager at Geek World, credits Lance’s energy for helping jump-start in-house games.
Brak had played similar games at other shops.
“I first got into TTRPGs at a game shop in Longview in high school,” Brak says. “So here, I was happy that Lance was able to make the big push for successful in-house games.”
Coworker Alex Heath has a similar history with love for the game.
“I used to manage Boards and Bites next door,” Heath says. “Through BattleTech, I met Lance and the others and got the opportunity to start working here. Working with Lance and Brak has been great.”
FINDING YOUR TABLE
Lance’s passion doesn’t stop at Dungeons & Dragons. He’s equally excited about helping people find the type of game that fits them best.
For him, the magic of TTRPGs comes from tailoring each experience to one’s interests, whether it be story-driven or something more tactical.
“You don’t know what you like, or maybe you like both?” Lance says. “We have DMs who run more crunchy and some more loose. Players drift to those dungeon masters and then realize everyone at their table has the same interests.”
Shared interests and a common story — camaraderie, creativity, and adventure — are the spark at the heart of a good TTRPG table, Lance says.
“It’s just a positive environment. As long as you have people who want to hang out together, be friends, and tell a good story — be passionate or at least similarly committed to playing — I think you’ll have a good outcome.”
Be the first to comment