The Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) club at the U of C is a community of students finding connection through roleplaying games. 23-year-old Ashley Auger, the president of the club, spoke with the Gauntlet to talk about her experience in leading the club and its events.
D&D is a tabletop roleplaying game that “introduces collaborative storytelling, open-ended worldbuilding, and dice-driven fantasy adventure.” The university’s club hosts sessions where individuals come together and play with others who are equally passionate about the game.
In Auger's discussion with the Gauntlet, she spoke about the personal relationship she has with the game. The game has been a very important part of Auger’s life since high school. When asked how D&D had changed/shaped her life, she was quick to reminisce about her high school years and her online introduction to the roleplaying game through a friend. Since then, she has met some of her closest friends through the game and its community and makes efforts to play it with long-distance friends.
“It's nice to see the boundaries [one] can overcome with games like D&D,” said Auger.
Ashley stepped into the role of co-presidency in the 2025-26 school year. When asked about her biggest challenges in taking on the mantle of leadership, she mentioned how the transition period between leaders was “awkward.” However, she adds that between having to learn certain things on her own and maneuvering the changes caused by the transition, she “had people [she] could fall back on if needed.” She emphasizes that despite being the same age as most on the leadership board of the club, she feels very proud of each one of them and affirms that the team itself is one of the things she believes to be one of the many accomplishments the D&D club has achieved.
“Dungeons and Dragons is all about the people behind it,” said Auger, “[D&D] doesn’t exist without the people”.
Ashley mentions that “the collaboration from players around the table in telling a story is what drove her to the game in the first place.” She describes how this feeling of community is exemplified by funny interactions and dramatic battlefield moments where “all of a sudden someone rolls a twenty and [the players] are winning everything.” For many, this feeling of a community is what drives individuals to play Dungeons and Dragons. The club’s leadership is aware of this and makes prioritizing and preserving these tight-knit relationships one of the club's goals.
Getting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a university club is a momentous milestone, with Auger describing that for the next 10 years she hopes the club keeps growing. One of Ashley’s many aspirations as co-president is to expand the club’s reach to other clubs at U of C and even to other communities beyond the university walls, making the club “more than a university club” by creating open and accessible events, such as crossover events with other clubs in the city. At the time of our talk, the university’s D&D club sat at an average of 120-130 people in physical attendance and counted with an online presence of 1200 people on Discord.
The D&D club is flexible when it comes to the types of events that it offers. The club does not require a person to be experienced in the game to become an active member of the community. For new players, pre-made character sheets are available for those not able to make their own. The club hosts one to two events a month, usually on Friday nights, with the option of alternate days available. It is a noncommittal experience with no consistent storyline to accommodate players’ schedules and availability.
The club’s goals of expanding into citywide events and making it more than a university program promise a more immersive experience for anyone interested in joining and expanding the game grounds to any Calgarian looking for a community of individuals who are passionate about D&D.
