By Abigail Vannatta, Staff Writer
Between classwork and busy schedules, a group of Newman’s busiest students have been meeting once a month for a game of Dungeons & Dragons in the Student Success Center.
“It's funny: The party is some of the busiest people on campus. I think they enjoy it because it lets them blow off some steam,” said junior Deqlan Mitchell, a sports media and promotion major who’s a familiar face in Newman’s Campus Activities Board and the bowling team.
Mitchell began the D&D group during his freshman year with just four of his friends, and it has since turned into a group of eight consistent players — some of whom are brand new to the world of D&D.
“Eventually, I had to limit the party to eight, which is already larger than the average D&D party,” Mitchell said. “A lot of our party is people that have never played before, so I don't want to overwhelm them.”
They play following the official rule book to keep things simple, but the world they play in is made up by Mitchell, who acts as Dungeon Master for each game.
“I had a few limited chances to do it before online,” he said of his role, “but nothing beats doing it in person. It's also fun to lightly terrorize my friends, stressing them out with crazy problems and making them laugh with silly characters.”
In D&D, each player guides a single character throughout the story, while the Dungeon Master controls and describes the surrounding world and its events. Both the characters and Dungeon Master roll dice to determine the outcome of actions or situations.
“We reset the campaign, meaning we started a new story with new characters this year, but we've already got up to silly stuff,” he said, then added a prime example: “They blew up a town.”
In the Student Success Center, where they meet, they push tables and chairs together and get rolling.
“We try to meet around once a month, but with such a big party, we meet as often as we can, whenever everyone is free, which is infrequently,” he said.
In the group is senior Anna Corbett-Neal, an elementary education major, who joined the group in 2025 alongside her husband, Jett.
“I have been really good friends with my campaign group for some time now and was interested in getting involved with D&D,” she said. “Deqlan does an incredible job of creating fun campaigns with a perfect twist that always leaves us in awe.”
The rest of the group includes Newman students Gabriel Trevino, Faith Crabb, Nathan Galicia, Victor Dixon, Caleb Papsdorf and an incoming first-year student, Will Erickson.
“I love to collaborate with my friends to solve problems, but I love the connection I gain from it,” Corbett-NeaI said. “I feel like I have become closer with all my friends because of this shared interest.”
PHOTO: Anna Corbett-Neal, Co-Editor-In-Chief
