Once upon a time, in a land not–so far away, a local Writer stepped out of an elevator and into the lobby of a shopping mall in Vancouver. Frantically running through the labyrinth of cell phone shops and food stalls, they desperately sought out their destination. For some reason unbeknownst to the Writer, the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky from The Nutcracker was playing through the mall’s audio system.
And where were they heading, you might ask, dear Reader?
To play a game of Dungeons and Dragons, of course.
Andrea Robertson, one of the owners of Rain City Games, was at International Village Mall to greet the weary Writer as she finally approached the shoppe. Peter Davoust, the Writer’s dear acquaintance, is also waiting upon her arrival. He was to be the Dungeon Master for the evening’s affair, having written the campaign himself.
There has been much chatter about the legend of this long-standing mall over the years. Is it haunted? Why isn’t it fully leased? The food court slaps, at least. Nevertheless, Robertson is content with their allotted parcel of commercial retail.
“So the first tenants for this space were a bridal salon, which is why the walls are pink”, she recalls.
But with a determined heart, Robertson and her partner transformed the retail space from the fantasy of a dream wedding to the fantasy of… fantasy.
Dungeons and Dragons, first invented in 1974, has a much larger dedicated fanbase than one might imagine. Davoust, a long-time devotee of this beloved tabletop fantasy game and owner of Shrimp Cult Press, has seen mortals from all walks of life participate in this gameplay.
“I think that shows like Community and Stranger Things that have come out have sort of normalized D&D a little bit more”, he says. “I think people are realizing that like okay, first of all, it’s not about summoning Satan. And second, it’s actually quite fun, and anyone can play.”
Who has time to play though?
While there is still magic in living in this city, Vancouver, with all of its cost of living perils, has more than its fair share of citizens who work more than one job to make ends meet. A report from Statistics Canada indicates that as of August 2023, more than one million people in the country were working multiple jobs.
So when one does have time to relax and unwind, one of the great appeals of Dungeons and Dragons finally starts making sense to the Writer: for just a few hours, one can transport themselves into a world completely their own. One without interest rates or development permits. One where the meadows are lush and the fields abundant.
It matters not who the other players in Davoust’s campaign are in the outside world. The Writer did not ask the others what they did for a living—for all they needed to know was that they were in the company of a Charlatan, a Goblin, and a Bard that evening.
In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, the Writer, who has since become a Wizard, can fall in love with the village schoolteacher and marry her.
In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, the Wizard and the village schoolteacher can afford a single detached home with a white picket fence where mortgages, fixed or variable, don’t exist.
In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, they can all live happily ever after.
***
