Sinclair students find community through Dungeons and Dragons

Deep within the bottom floor of Building 8 on Sinclair’s Dayton Campus, monsters are slain, foes are vanquished and legends are told.

**The cover of the Dungeons and Dragons board game.** GEEKYGOREVAN.COM.

The Dungeons and Dragons Enthusiasts club has resided in the halls of Building 8 for nearly three years. The club hosts sessions of the famous role-playing game and has multiple tables concurrently playing.

Dungeons and Dragons, or for short, DND, is a role-playing game in which characters are created through a set of guidelines and dice rolls. The characters are then put into an adventure, overseen by another player known as the Game Master.

The player acting as their created character then plays throughout the adventure, where their character performs tasks such as defeating monsters. The outcome of any task is decided by the roll of a speciality 20-sided die, added to a modifier specific to one’s character.

While Dungeons and Dragons is usually set in a fantasy setting similar to “Lord of the Rings” or “A Game of Thrones.” Dungeons and Dragons can be modified to fit any setting or world.

**Luis Sánchez Alacazar. Assistant psychology professor and the club’s founder.** CONTRIBUTED.

In an interview with the club’s founder, Luis Sanchez Alacazar, who is also an assistant professor of Psychology at Sinclair Community College, reflects on the club’s creation.

“Essentially… there was a need” said Alacazar. “I had a student who was in my psychology class. They were curious if there was a [Dungeons and Dragons] club on campus. I did some research and there wasn’t.”

“[The student] then asked if I would support the creation of a club” said Alacazar. “I asked them to write a paper on how psychology and Dungeons and Dragons go together. In the paper [the student] wrote for me, it was interesting to see the benefits for mental health that [Dungeons and Dragons] could do.”

When asked to provide further details on the benefits of DND, Alcazar said, “There is a huge benefit getting like-minded people together.”

“Through socialization and creating strong social circles really impacts our ability to cope…with the stresses of life,” said Alcazar. “[Dungeons and Dragons] is more so about being able to find a social group, meet on a weekly basis and you’re able to escape from real life’s demands and escape for a few hours.”

When asked how the Dungeons and Dragons Enthusiasts foster a sense of community, Alcazar says, “Once [a person] becomes a formal member of the club, they get added to a group chat.”

“[Members] can be able to find games happening outside of the club,” said Alcazar, “being able to have…that sense of connection, I think, further fosters that sense of community.”

The Dungeons and Dragons Enthusiasts meet every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. located at Sinclair Campus Building 8, at 444 W. Third St., Dayton, OH.

Carter Cousino, reporter

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