Special Event Lets You Live Out a Real-Life Dungeons and Dragons Experience

An upcoming event will let gamers live out their Dungeons and Dragons questing dreams. The real-life Dungeons and Dragons experience will be held in May, and will take players on a multi-day adventure, complete with a quest to solve, horses to ride, and camping.

Dungeons and Dragons has made an indelible mark on pop culture, growing from relatively humble beginnings as a tabletop game to one of the most renowned fantasy games in history. Even outside video games like Baldur’s Gate 3, which is set in the Forbidden Realms, the gameplay mechanics, storytelling, and character tropes of Dungeons and Dragons have impacted all kinds of games, tabletop or otherwise. For big fans of the series, this might be the best way to take a game of D&D to the next level.

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Dungeons and Dragons Real-Life Experience Sends Players Questing

A new Dungeons and Dragons experience has been unveiled called Millbrooke Realmquest. The event will be held over the course of the May 1-3 weekend in Newark, IL, near Chicago. The unique event will blend LARP and Dungeons and Dragons storytelling, mechanics, and questing on a real-world ranch. Players will build a full-fledged D&D character beforehand via 5E character sheets, and will be tasked with solving a mystery that unfurls during a wedding tournament. Players will be able to do everything from riding on horseback to participating in an archery competition, complete with overnight camping. Participants will even have access to a themed tavern, and a hog roast will be held, with vegetarian options for those who are so inclined.

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In a chat with Polygon, Carol Cronin, director of the event, revealed that the ranch is no stranger to themed events. A Renaissance Fair was held at the site last September, but the ranch has also held game-themed events in the past, including one inspired by Red Dead Redemption. At that event, players were split into two groups, namely Dutch’s gang or the Pinkertons, with a blend of scavenger hunt and tag-style gameplay. The end of the event ended in a shootout, as is appropriate for Red Dead Redemption and meetings between the Van Der Linde gang and the Pinkertons, but with water guns.

The Dungeons and Dragons event sounds like it has a lot of expertise that went into it, with four separate Dungeon Masters leading the event. Cronin reportedly reached out to Dungeons and Dragons DM and content creator Michael Chun, aka Mizzko, and the two developed the event over the course of a few months. Chun notes that their focus is ensuring that everything that happens during the event is done with intention, with urgency in the story.

For the Dungeons and Dragons event, three groups will be included, with their own camps, bonfire, and story. Interested gamers should be aware that this is a legitimate off-grid experience with no electricity. All players will be sleeping in tents, but those who don’t have access to one can rent one for the event. Participation costs $500 for those who want to ride horses, which includes two horseback-specific quests, while those who would prefer to stay on-foot can instead spend $400.

If the D&D event is successful, the team plans on holding it annually, so anyone who misses their chance this time around may get another shot in the future. In the meantime, the Red Dead Redemption-themed event is already scheduled for a few more runs, including in May and June, for those who would prefer an old west-styled theme over the sword and magic fantasy of Dungeons and Dragons. In either case, it sounds like fans of both games who want to get the closest thing to living in either the Forbidden Realms or the old west possible will have a good time at the events.