Daniel Knox-Hewson, Community Organiser for the Nottingham Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League, tells us all about the city's increasingly diverse D&D scene...
Dungeons & Dragons - just some complicated game for a very specific type of nerd, right? Well, no, as it turns out.
“Role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons attract all sorts of people,” explains Daniel Knox-Hewson, Community Organiser for the Nottingham Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League. “There are office workers, we've got personal trainers. There's a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community that come and play, people from all different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It’s definitely moving away from that idea of being exclusively for fedora-wearing white guys living in their mum's basement.”
Sure, a small number of these fedora-wearing white guys may still try to act as bastions of the hobby - “There are instances of gatekeeping in a really negative way,” as Daniel puts it - but for the most part, the city’s D&D community is growing in both size and diversity. “Everyone is working really hard to include as many people as possible now,” Daniel says. “I personally started playing in Sheffield in 2018 and then moved to Melbourne for a year. I then tried to bring the same inclusive vibe that they had over there to Nottingham when I moved, and since then I’d like to think things have improved a lot.”
There are so few things these days that encourage you to just sit around a table and play games and interact face-to-face. That's why I love D&D
Improved things undoubtedly have. Since setting up the Adventurers League following his move to Nottingham, the group now has over 400 members on Facebook, bringing together players of all backgrounds and skill levels at venues including 7th City Collectables, Underworld Games and The Dice Cup. While the League may have been created for “selfish” reasons (“I basically wanted somewhere to go and play D&D, and Nottingham didn't have many places to do that,” Daniel admits), the Community Organiser has helped to build exactly that - a community.
This has proven vastly important for many over the past few years, especially as more of us have started to move out of isolation as COVID restrictions ease. By allowing people to gather in the same room, joining in on the same activity, there is a sense of togetherness that was snatched away for so long. “There are so few things these days that encourage you to just sit around a table and play games and interact face-to-face,” Daniel muses. “That's why I, and so many people, love D&D. No one’s sitting on their phone or looking at a screen. It's just very organic and natural and personal.”
So how can those interested in joining this community get involved? “You can find links to our Discord, which is where a lot of the conversation goes on, on our Facebook page,” Daniel explains. “We currently run three nights a week, and we're looking at setting up a fourth event over the next few months, which will be based in Sneinton. Everyone’s welcome to join in and stop by.”
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