Tuesday is D&D Night

It is 10 p.m on a Tuesday night and a group of friends are gathered in the living room slaying dragons; not with a video game controller - as one would expect - but pens, paper, a multitude of colorful, multi-sided dice, and a whiteboard.
Contrary to what someone might think the players are not playing the newest video game, they are playing Dungeon’s and Dragon’s (D&D) - a fantasy role-playing game that is played entirely with pen, paper, dice, and the imagination. In D&D players create a specific character and venture out on imaginary adventures in a fantasy setting. The setting, story, and rules are overseen by a Dungeon Master (DM), who acts as referee for the players.
"D&D is a table top role playing game in which you are basically all collectively sitting around and creating a story together”, said Hank White, an avid D&D player, Dungeon Master (DM), and part of a development team of a new D&D system called Tephra.
White was introduced to D&D by his father who had been playing for years. White immediately fell in love with the game and has been playing ever since, constantly bringing in and teaching friends and new people the game.
“I am probably single handedly responsible for about 40 people playing the game, if not more,” said White.
When White came to Texas State he encountered a lot of fellow D&D players, and in particular, a lot more DMs. One of these DMs, Daniel Burrow, hired White to work as a developer for his company, Cracked Monocle, that was creating an entirely new D&D system called Tephra.
"I met Hank through mutual gaming friends and coincidentally Hank became my resident when I was an RA on campus,” said Burrow. “Following that I hired Hank for Cracked Monocle and then when he decided to start running a weekly game he asked me if I would join."
“It became a lot more convenient to have a weekly time so there are not conflicting games and fights over players,” said White.
“You very quickly learn in D&D that people want to play, but not a lot of people are good."
 This weekly session has continued ever since bringing in new and old players, but always growing. One of the older players, Kevin Walkup, met White through Burrow and the two quickly became fast friends.
“Since then we became roommates and I have been playing in almost every campaign he has run," said Walkup.
The weekly sessions attract other players as well, Jonathan Ellis is one such player. While not new to the game of D&D, Ellis is a new player to join in on the weekly event. He grew up over seas and started playing D&D with his brother.
“I lived where there wasn't a whole lot to do, but we had access to a lot of bookstores, and I started D&D when I was like nine,” said Ellis.
“It was an interesting world where you could change all the things about yourself you didn't like."
Given the constantly growing player base, and White’s natural talent for DMing sessions, the weekly Tuesday event shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
"Longest running campaign I have run has been 2.5 year and it is still on going,” said White.