'Of Dice and Men': 6 stories from the world of Dungeons & Dragons

In his new book 'Of Dice and Men,' David M. Ewalt explores the world of fantasy role-playing games and the people who love them. Here are some of his stories.

2. Two styles of playing

Phil and Alex, two of the men who play D&D with Ewalt, approach the game differently, explains Ewalt. Phil has worked as a performer on a cruise ship and at a Disney store and now he's creating his own stage show, so he loves the parts of the game where he gets to act things out – like trying to convince a guard to let him go free or negotiating prices with a merchant. "For players like Phil, this is the best part of the game," Ewalt writes. Alex, on the other hand, is a graphic designer who prefers the combat parts of the game. When Phil's attempts to distract enemies take too long, Alex loses patience. "I draw my swords," he declares.

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Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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