Dungeons and Dragons, a tabletop roleplaying game where players assume the roles of fantasy-based characters to complete quests and gain treasure, has grown from being a quiet, basement-relegated activity to a worldwide phenomenon.

So why have it in your schools and libraries? There are dozens of reasons why the game should be, in my opinion, played in every school in the country. In my opinion, one of the main reasons is because it creates a strong sense of community and safety for the youth that engage with it.

I started it at the high school library I manage in 2018 with five students and since then it has grown so much that I’ve held Saturday events with over 150 people in attendance.

It’s a game that relies entirely on the players’ imaginations, and, when run thoughtfully, benefits mental health and wellbeing, self-confidence, public speaking skills, puzzle solving and team-building skills, creativity, time-management and managerial skills.

It creates a huge boost in regards to reading for pleasure. Whether they realise it or not, the students are, through the game, doing a huge amount of reading. Not only that, they are doing a lot of creative writing as they create back stories for their characters, make their own monsters, treasure, dungeons and evil villains.

Dungeons and Dragons is also, on a base level, something great to look forward to. This is something professional therapists call Behavioural Activation and is a very important aspect of the therapeutic process. No matter how bad a week our student players are having, they know that they’re going to come to the library for an hour or two after school and laugh hysterically, be themselves without any judgement or worry and create amazing memories with their friends.

That’s another important aspect of Dungeons and Dragons: It creates two very important things, strong friendship groups and memories. The players that I started with played twice a week from when they were in year 8 until they finished their school career in year 13.

I’ve been running programmes for youth in libraries for over fifteen years and I’ve never seen a game have this kind of impact. I hope you’re able to start a Dungeons and Dragons programme in your school or library as a fresh year approaches!

Lucas Maxwell is the author of two books about Dungeons and Dragons in schools, Let's Roll and Roll for Adventure, both available directly from Facet Publishing.

Follow Lucas on Instagram @lucasjmaxwell and X @lucasjmaxwell