Dungeon Master Arthur Benson, left, leads a campaign in Kress Gallery with two families of players who just met during the game.
On Third Thursday evenings, the Art Museum invites gamers of all ages and experience levels into the galleries to enjoy a free evening of fun and community during Game Night. Classic board games like Scrabble and checkers and new ones like Catan are available for anyone to play, in addition to action-packed Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaigns to play or learn how to play.
While the D&D campaigns begin in the galleries at 6 p.m., Game Night begins at 5 p.m. upstairs in Art Ways Interactive Family Gallery, where you can print on free-to-use 3D printers your own set of D&D dice and mini-model game pieces, which you can paint and take home.
Free Admission for All, Always. Share your Game Night photos by following and tagging the Museum on social media @AtownArtMuseum! #ThirdThursday
A visitor painted this custom game piece to look like the Grim Reaper!
D&D players sitting down to play in the galleries will find custom campaigns created by several different DM’s, including AAM visitor services associate Sean O’Leary.
O’Leary explains what appeals to him about D&D: “I like role-playing games in general because they allow you to step outside yourself. You get to explore other personalities. Who might I have been if I had been born in some fantasy world and decided to take up archery, or perhaps play the lute? By the same token, if you are the Dungeon Master, you get a chance to build worlds, you get a chance to throw challenges at people and watch your friends rise to the occasion. It’s a game that’s all about community and communication and imagination.”
This adventure takes place in the Waterdeep Metropolitan Museum of Art. So the story begins…
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- Waterdeep MMOA Vault room and vault. A–Servant’s Quarters; B–Exterior Entrance to servant’s quarters; C–Vault Room Entrance; D–Vault
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- Sean O’Leary, left, participates in a D&D session.
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- Zarchanix is an adult male Dragonborn. Art by Catbatart.
Jay M. Bickford and Arthur Louis Benson II lead the campaign as Dungeon Masters (DMs), acting as a sort of referee to maintain gameplay. Bickford is a gaming streamer and professional DM, known as the Zero Hour Hero online. He often leads campaigns for charity, having raised money for the Trevor Project and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“I love Dungeons & Dragons because I like telling a story with friends,” says Bickford. “In real life you may be an accountant or a struggling artist or anything else, but for one night you can be a bard throwing fireballs or a champion of justice and do all the things you couldn’t normally do in your life.”
Find out more about what community members think of Game Night in the Galleries here: ‘Game Night’ at Allentown Art Museum brings community together” on 69 News
69 News interviews two families in the galleries while playing D&D