FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Players are turning to Dungeons and Dragons for the first time amid the pandemic, searching for fun, camaraderie and an escape from the coronavirus. (Micah Fluellen/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
People turning to Dungeons & Dragons to escape a real life monster – Covid-19
For a few hours each week, Kevin Benedicto inhabits an otherworldly realm: Icewind Dale, a perilous land of tundra and frost, wizards and orcs, white dragons and crag cats. His domain is the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, the addictive tabletop role-playing game that made its debut more than four decades ago.
As dungeon master – for the uninitiated, that’s the game’s organizer and leader of the adventure – Benedicto steers his group of friends across a world conceived in their minds and limited only by their creativity and the roll of the dice. Here, they can do something they can’t in real life: defeat a monster.
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For a few hours each week, Kevin Benedicto inhabits an otherworldly realm: Icewind Dale, a perilous land of tundra and frost, wizards and orcs, white dragons and crag cats. His domain is the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, the addictive tabletop role-playing game that made its debut more than four decades ago.
As dungeon master for the uninitiated, that’s the game’s organizer and leader of the adventure Benedicto steers his group of friends across a world conceived in their minds and limited only by their creativity and the roll of the dice. Here, they can do something they can’t in real life: defeat a monster.