Kevin Wetherell (12) said he wasn’t exactly the most popular kid as a sixth grader at Mesa Verde. He didn’t have many friends, and he had a hard time making them because he didn’t know what friends did together. The sixth grade social scene could be a hostile environment, filled with people firing off rude comments like “weird” and “nerd” at him. It wasn’t until a supervisor at his ACES program brought in some handbooks for a game called Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) that Wetherell’s eyes were opened to a community where weirdness was celebrated, and where his imagination wasn’t bound by social stigmas. That following Christmas, he asked for DnD guidebooks and material, and thus, his passion began. 

Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game where participants, commonly in groups of four to 12—or even alone—trek, battle, and puzzle-solve their way through mythical worlds on wild adventures called campaigns, guided by an omniscient narrator known as a Dungeon Master (DM). Gameplay varies from lighthearted quests to apocalyptic battles against gods, all using only the imagination and simple materials like the 20-sided die. The die, called a d20, determines how well players and their opponents perform certain tasks, and in combat, rolling a 20 is a guaranteed hit, despite armour class, and allows players to roll double the dice when calculating damage. 

Wetherell officially brought DnD to Westview with the creation of Westview Dungeons and Dragons Club in the fourth quarter of the 2021-2022 school year with fellow enthusiast Emily Halim (12). The two of them had come up with the idea simultaneously years before, in 2019, when they played together at a birthday party. However, the  COVID-19 pandemic cut both of their plans short and left both of them, especially Wetherell, isolated. 

“All I could do, aside from sit at home alone, was play DnD online,” Wetherell recalled. “DnD was a saving grace for me [during this time], but I couldn’t help but think of how much social interaction and crucial skills were being lost on young kids, kids who didn’t have any way to connect with their friends.” 

Wetherell, when discussing the club with Halim, pitched the idea of the club holding outreach events. Halim was fully on board with the idea of using the club to also reach out to the younger community. 

“From the very beginning, we both knew that DnD could help others,” Halim said. “The teamwork, math, and problem-solving, not to mention imagination, are crucial skills, especially for kids. I wanted every kid to experience the fun and joy I did, playing with Kevin that first time, and all of the times since. 2020 especially was a bit of a lost year, and we believed DnD would give those experiences back.”

After the club was approved, Wetherell and Halim met with a small group in E103, chemistry teacher Scott Hallander’s classroom. They chatted about characters, campaign writing, and enjoyed each other’s company, but both had bigger plans for the following year. When the club began meeting the following school year, Wetherell and Halim advertised more aggressively, brandishing flyers at freshmen during their orientations and beckoning towards a posterboard festooned with information about the club. Soon, E103 bustled with activity every Tuesday.

“A lot of our new members this year are freshmen and underclassmen, and tons of them were interested in being DMs,” Halim said. “We dedicate periods of every club meeting to presentations where we teach everyone the basics of play, and we started planning a way to bring DnD to kids and these new DMs simultaneously really early on.”

The club decided to use the Rancho Peñasquitos Library community and event room to host an open DnD intro event for children ages 10-18, and Wetherell contacted the PUSD superintendent, resulting in a district-wide announcement being sent to elementary and middle schools advertising the event. The club spent weeks writing a simplified campaign, referred to as a module, where the young players would enter a standard dungeon, sneak their way around, battle some monsters, and face off against a dragon in the end to win. When Dec. 17 rolled around, close to 30 children packed into the room and were sectioned off into tables, where eager DMs awaited them.

“We were hoping for a good turnout, but the number of kids was better than we could’ve dreamed of,” Halim said. 

Wetherell recalled that the number of character sheets the club needed ran the library’s printer dry, and some children ended up tracking their characters on sheets of legal paper. 

One DM was Aren Dizon (9). At the time of the event, they’d never played DnD at all before, let alone DMed. 

“I don’t want to say that the only reason I had any interest in it was because of Stranger Things, but that’s where I was first introduced to the idea, and when I heard about the club it only seemed right to give it a try,” they said. 

The same day the event was advertised to club members, Dizon decided to join. They signed up to be a DM and began preparing as best they could to teach children with roughly their same experience level. Overseeing a table armed with dice, paper, their phone and their mind, Dizon began spinning a tale of guts, gold and glory for the wide-eyed children surrounding them. 

A few adrenaline-filled hours later, after not-so-controlled chaos and some harrowing moments, the players stood, battered, in the main room of a dank dungeon, staring death itself in the eye: a hulking, scaled dragon who seemed hellbent on frying them to a crisp. One small boy stepped forward and announced, unafraid, that he was going to challenge the dragon head on. Should his blow land, and land well, it could be the critical hit that defeated the beast. Should it miss, the party’s hopes, dreams, and even their very bodies would go up in smoke and flames. 

“He’d been getting lower rolls, things like D3s, D4s, and D5s,” Dizon said. “When he made that important roll, though, he spun the die in a beyblade-style way. It was epic.”

The table craned their necks to watch the die as it swiveled for what felt like at least two minutes, according to Dizon. As gravity got the better of it, the die’s momentum began to falter. Slower, slower, and a few more tumbles, then the die stood still. A natural 20. 

“The table absolutely exploded,” Dizon said. “We were all on our feet, cheering and screaming. It was so intense that the librarian actually had to ask us to quiet ourselves down. It was magic and the look on his face was so, so happy.”

 Eldin Occhicone (5) and Oliver Occhione (3), brothers who attended the event, and were witness to the dragon’s defeat, recalled the campaign with exhilaration. They’d played a few times with friends, but when they played in the library, they played with strangers. The party quickly became familiar with each other and bonded over their adventure. 

“Everyone has a different approach to challenges and a unique fighting style, and so when we fought the dragon we had to figure out how to help each other, even though we hadn’t played together before,” Eldin said. “[Oliver] cast a fireball and collapsed the roof of the cave over the dragon, and then everyone took turns attacking it.”

After the event had ended, and they’d said goodbye to their new friends, Eldin and Oliver left the library resoundingly triumphant. “The number one feeling I always have after finishing a campaign is a thought that’s just ‘wow, we did it. There was a dragon, or a monster, and we actually beat it,’” Oliver said. “It makes me feel really proud of us. DnD doesn’t have many rules telling you how to move or what to do, and so when you do well you feel even prouder because you’re using your own ideas.”

Both brothers greatly enjoyed the event, and plan to attend its second meeting at the library in the spring, hopefully with some of their friends.  

Wetherell and Halim were both overjoyed with the event’s success. Walking around the room, chatting with children, and listening to their excitement, Wetherell’s heart warmed. DnD had provided to the children what he and Halim had hoped it would: fun, community and confidence. 

“I want these kids to know what I wish I knew before DnD,” Wetherell said. “Don’t worry about being weird. You’ll realize people who dislike you for that don’t matter, and the people that love you for being you will be your friends for the rest of your life.”