There’s a skeleton in Hunter Gairland’s closet, and he will happily tell you about it, but only if you strap in and brace for the dramatic unveiling of an adventure months in the making. “Rollard came shambling in, a bit of crick to his joints as they articulated along the throne room floor, a visible crack on the frontal plate of his skull,” Gairland starts. “He almost got killed for being a skeleton. ‘Necro,’ as these reanimated skeletons were called, were
seen as beings of evil by the echelons of the crown.”
This is the story of a non-verbal skeleton named Rollard. Once a living being who was shot in the skull with a crossbow, now a private for the royal army, he communicates through simple gestures, almost like a primitive form of sign language. His most notable achievement was his role in busting an illegal drug ring in a large city known for its imports.
However, Rollard only exists inside the mind of Gairland, a 24-year-old English major at Miami University. Gairland regularly plays the popular tabletop role-playing game “Dungeons and Dragons,” also known as “DnD.” Rollard, along with a plethora of other original characters, are simply an extension of Gairland’s creativity and decision-making in collaboration with his friends that allows him to go on adventures outside of his normal day-to-day. To get a better understanding of why people role play, you first need to know what role-playing is. According to the Oxford Dictionary, role play is to “act out or perform the part of a person or character, for example, as a technique in training or psychotherapy.” Gairland, when asked for his definition, described it as, “the concept of acting as another person, putting your shoes into another life, so to speak.”
Role-playing can take on many forms. Common ways in which people role play are as follows: live action role play (LARP), tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), virtual or video role-playing game (RPG), and role-playing through conversations or messages (RP). DnD is a TTRPG that is one of the most recognizable forms of role play, with more than 50 million players as of 2020.
Why is role-playing so popular? What is the appeal? “It's an escape,” said Gairland, who began role-playing over a decade ago. “It's been there for me in my darkest hours.” He went on to add, “It's made me a better person, I'd like to say. Years ago, I was an ass, but ever since I picked up RPing, I've slowly begun to formulate who I am, as a more selfless type.”
John Gulledge, an English professor at
Wittenberg University and role-play hobbyist, also spoke to this idea of role-play as a form of self-bettering.
“Role play is a kind of authorized ‘identity play,’ which all humans engage in when they’re younger,” Gulledge said. “We often lose the urge to play with our identities as we get older, and I think that comes at a high cost to our sense of self, not to mention our capacity for joy.”
Gulledge is also an example of how role play can influence a person’s career. “I have been using role-playing games in my courses for several years now.” He described his method of teaching historical figures in literature by encouraging students to embody the roles themselves. “After engaging in historical role-playing, students begin to ground what they learned and performed in their present lives.” That, he added, is wonderful to watch.
While some people, like Gulledge, find ways to incorporate role-play into their jobs, others make role-play itself their job. One such person is Tracie Long, 36, who works as a character actress for the Ohio Renaissance Festival (ORF). Every weekend from Memorial Day to New Year’s Eve, Long dons her signature teal dress and becomes Lady Cumberland, a respected member of the queen’s court. The character is based on a real woman, Countess Margaret Clifford, who was alive during the 1500s
Long first auditioned when her husband, another character actor at ORF, convinced her to do so. While reflecting on her character, Long said, “Knowing I may be the fun, pretty, cool, or smart lady that inspires some child the way I was inspired by Disney princess actors and cartoon tough girls is an amazing feeling.”
This is Long’s second year with ORF. Her favorite part of the job is connecting and interacting with patrons, merchants, premium fans, and other actors.
The idea that role play sparks connections between people happens across all forms and mediums, not just in a professional capacity. Cole Hoste, another Miami University student who plays DnD and attends events like the Ohio Ren Faire, said that he believes that role-playing brings people together through a shared interest, fostering lifelong friendships. Even so, “Don't take roleplaying too seriously. It's all in good fun. If drama in game or in roleplay gets dragged out[side] of it; then it will bring down the fun everyone else has.”
Gairland also offered his word of recommendation: “If you can jump into it, and it won't take away from your time too much, do it. Doesn't matter how; it doesn't hurt to take a step to the other side of normalcy.”
