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What fan of pen-and-paper games doesn’t dream of experiencing an epic story that spans years in real life and centuries in a homebrew game world. The immersion and story couldn’t be more detailed: For 42 years, Robert Wardhaugh has been playing the same Dungeons & Dragons game in Canada. Starting in 1982, it could be the longest continuously running Dungeons & Dragons adventure ever. At least the longest I’ve ever heard of.
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The Game: Robert Wardhaugh and His Players
For Wardhaugh, his campaign has long been more than just a hobby. He has a dedicated room in his house for his campaign, has battle maps and terrain to accompany the game, and has collected and painted over 30,000 miniatures. It has become his life.
Wardhaugh started playing when a friend introduced him to the game and accidentally left some rulebooks at his house. He was hooked, and as he went from high school through college to working life, he gathered more and more friends who wanted to participate in his epic campaign. What started with just four players has now grown to a campaign with nearly 60.
And not all players play at Wardhaugh’s house – many travel from all across Canada or fly there to participate. And many others join via video chat, some flying in from other countries like the United Kingdom.
The Never-Ending Game in Dungeons & Dragons
Wardhaugh has developed his own rules for the game: Over the past 42 years, many things have changed. Players came and went, The Game grew larger, and Wardhaugh adapted to play by his own rules.
„My game is very different from the official 🛒Dungeons & Dragons rules„, says Wardhaugh. „It’s a ruleset that has evolved and continues to evolve, constantly changing and constantly improving.“
One of the special features of Wardhaugh’s game is the integration of real world history. As a history professor at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Wardhaugh can draw from a rich knowledge base.
„As a history professor and someone who has always loved history, I wanted to create a world where I could use the history of our world. My world is an alternative Earth, so you can be Roman, you can be Greek, you can be Sumerian, you can be Babylonian, you can be indigenous“, explains Wardhaugh. But all players ultimately work toward the same goal, namely the story that Wardhaugh tells as Dungeon Master.
„What fascinates me and draws me to history is the ability to put yourself in another space, another place with other people, at another time, where there are all these different cultures“, says Wardhaugh. Incorporating facts and details from history into Dungeons & Dragons felt like a way to strengthen the game.
„From a fantasy aspect, it brings me into this world where they didn’t know if there were dragons and whether they believed in monsters and thought there were elves in the forest“, says Wardhaugh. „And so it puts you in an age where all these things seem possible.“
An important rule that maintains tension in the campaign: Permadeath! „I don’t want it to be like a video game where you just press the reset button. […] If your character dies and you don’t have another character, you’re out. The game is over for you.“
It’s important that players feel like something can really happen to them and they could lose a character they’ve already invested so much time in.
Fun Among Friends: The Core of Every D&D Campaign
Above all, the game has allowed him to fulfill its original purpose: spending time with his friends. „One of the greatest successes of my game was the fact that it fulfilled its ultimate goal, which was to keep my friend group together“, says Wardhaugh. „I knew from the beginning that if I could create a good enough game, they would keep coming back. And that they would play with me no matter where I was.“ Hopefully this game will continue for many more decades.
„One of the things that sets my game apart from all other games is that the only thing that will limit it will probably be my lifespan“, says Wardhaugh. But his game has certainly created a legacy. His teenage daughter has been involved in the game since she was eight years old. And his students have also begun to show interest.
„Now in every class I teach, students come up to me, and they seem a little shy, and I know exactly what they want to say and what they want to ask me“, says Wardhaugh. „In a strange way, it has opened me up in the classroom to my students, to a different conversation.“ Wardhaugh notes that his storytelling skills have helped him not only as a Dungeon Master, but also as a historian and professor.
„It makes me happy to know that my players still want to play, that they’re excited to play and that they constantly want to play“, says Wardhaugh. And so we hope that Dungeons and Dragons will continue for many years to bring Robert and his friends together in their campaign, but also people all over the world in their own roleplaying groups to come together, have fun, and tell stories.
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