Indra Aziz

Dedicated to the Dungeon
Marcel Thee | November 17, 2011

They may be hard to spot without their long beards and shining swords, but Indonesia does have its fair share of warlocks, elves and warriors.

Most days, these mythical characters appear as ordinary students, office workers and business owners. But in their free time, they live in the world of “Dungeons & Dragons,” the legendary board game of the 1970s that still has legions of dedicated fans across the country.

While “Dungeons & Dragons” has never managed to reach the mass popularity in Indonesia of similar role-playing games (often abbreviated as RPG) such as “Magic: The Gathering” or “Warhammer 40000,” it is still revered by gamers as the pioneering model. Its influences can be seen in modern games — both computer and board-based — in terms of its fantasy elements and gaming techniques.

The original “Dungeons & Dragons” board game was created in 1974 by designers Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, which has undergone four complete revisions over the years — not including a variety of versions on the market with different sets of rules. Its multi-sided dice have become something of a gaming icon, as has its lengthy playing time.

A visit to any of Jakarta’s numerous hobby shops, usually found in the malls, will show you just how committed fantasy board-game players can be when they really get into the game — including getting into character and costume.

Any game of “Dungeons & Dragons” requires the presence of a Dungeon Master to lead the game. The Master must be well-versed in the game’s hefty rule book, the “Dungeon Master’s Guide.”

Indra Aziz, who runs the Dungeons & Dragons Jakarta Web site, has been a fan of the board game ever since his days as a college student in the late 1990s.

The gaming field for “Dungeons & Dragons” was even smaller then, with Indra and a few of his friends and fellow enthusiasts routinely gathering in the Citraland mall in West Jakarta. Indra’s obsession with the board game stretches back to his childhood days as an avid video-gamer.

“I went crazy for ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ because I’ve always been a fan of RPG video games,” Indra says. “After I learned that all of it originated from the board game and that the game’s limit was only one’s imagination, I studied everything I could about it.”

Mario Himawan, a high-school teacher and another Jakarta-based fan of “Dungeons &Dragons,” says he first fell for the game during his days as a high-school student in Australia. Like Indra, he points to the game’s infinite universe as its major strength.

“You can play video games which are immediately more viscerally entertaining, but because of the nature of video games, there are always going to be limitations, even in so-called ‘open world’ games. But with ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ you can do the craziest stuff in the craziest settings you could think would happen to these characters and creatures,” he says.

Indra, whose favorite character to play as is a Half-Elf Ranger, says the game’s boundless quality makes for the perfect setting for even the most bizarre scenarios — something the most sophisticated video gaming consoles can never match.

“I could, for instance, want to tie up the hands and feet of a goblin and hang him upside down on a tree to interrogate him. You could do that in ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ even though you are still dependent on the Dungeon Master and dice,” he says.

Ans Andi, a property consultant and owner of the Duelist Battle Zone hobby shop in West Jakarta, says he was “crazy” about the game in the early 1990s as a computer student. For Ans, “Dungeons & Dragons” is a game where the players’ personalities translate through their gameplay.

“The most interesting part about playing the game — and the reason I’m obsessed with it — is that you can play with your own style. There are no limitations to what you can do. You can bash a chest, burn paintings, become a bridge that your friends can cross over and many other things. For me, it is the most fun you can have with just miniatures, paper and pen,” Ans says.

Ans says the appeal of the game is just as limitless, reaching beyond the stereotypical gaming “nerd” fanbase. He tells the story of how his years as student in New Zealand in the early 2000s shaped this opinion of the game.

“I remember that I was invited to play by one of the senior lecturers from my college at the University of Otago. He was so into ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ that we played a regular game almost every weekend. This lecturer mostly played as a Dungeon Master. He even prepared sound effects for different scenarios in the game,” Ans says.

Ans’s friend Utama Putranto, a chief executive at a helicopter rental company, is another example of the board game’s wide net. “Some of our closest playing friends include an executive at an oil company, a gym owner and an IT consultant,” Ans says. Utama is also fascinated by the game’s character-driven nature.

“Each of us can have an alter-ego in the game,” Utama says. “You can create your own characters; whether it is an Elf, Dwarf or anything based on a fantasy world — like creatures from the Lord of The Rings [series].”

Utama likens playing “Dungeons & Dragons” to playing endless “pre-made stories. But guess what? You are also in the story. All you need is your imagination and a Dungeon Master. Everything else is just about how you roll the 20-sided dice.”

Still, “Dungeons & Dragons” aficionados like Indra, Mario, Ans and Utama are relatively few and far between. As much as they would like to boast about it as a large-scale hobby, the truth is that the “Dungeons & Dragons” fanbase here does not match up to those found elsewhere in the world. Indra suggests it’s the lengthy gaming time that has kept “Dungeons & Dragons” from reaching the heights of popularity that games like “Magic: The Gathering” have experienced.

“‘Dungeons & Dragons’ requires a routine commitment. It takes three to four hours to play a single campaign, and months to complete a full campaign — although there is now the more compact ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Encounters’ game. It’s definitely different to ‘Magic’ or ‘Warhammer,’ which are more flexible, time-wise,” Indra says.

Mario concurs, saying it would be a hard game to play if you didn’t have a large community or similarly dedicated friends to routinely play it with.

“It takes a certain amount of dedication to gather, say, once a week to play the game — especially when everybody has a job to go to,” he says.

As a result, most hobby stores do not carry much “Dungeons & Dragons” material, preferring to stick with more profitable series. Indra says he and others like him purchase most of their gaming needs on the Internet.

Although Indra has not managed to stir up a “Dungeons & Dragons” revolution in the country, he has managed to meet quite a few hobbyists with the same fervor for the game. He says he is happy he’s still able to play his favorite board game — even if only with a few others.

“I still remember the first time I saw people play the game. I could not leave my chair from beginning to end,” Indra said. “I’ll always remember that excitement.”

Original article: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifestyle/dedicated-to-the-dungeon/479185

Salah satu alasan saya membuat blog ini adalah karena saya kesulitan menemukan komunitas pemain D&D di Indonesia khususnya di Jakarta. Tempat pertama saya mencari adalah tentunya lewat Google. Saya coba berbagai keyword dan hasilnya hampir nihil. Bahkan di Kaskus.us saja yang notabene bisa menemukan barang apapun, saya hanya menemukan satu thread yang isinya menjual miniatur D&D bekas dan isinya random.

Kebetulan saya memiliki seorang teman yang memiliki hobi bermain Warhammer di toko board game di Pondok Indah. Toko itu sendiri hanya menjual satu item buku D&D dan dua box miniatur, dan sudah. Sisanya adalah produk war games. Tapi beruntung, di toko itu saya menemukan satu grup pemain D&D, mereka telah cukup lama bermain bersama hingga menciptakan empire sendiri. Hanya saja mereka sudah hampir menghilangkan keaslian dunia D&D dan permainannya sangat customized. Selain itu mereka tidak banyak menggunakan maps dan minis, sekalinya ada encounter, bahkan miniatur Star Wars ikut ada di dalamnya. Jadi saya sejujurnya kurang tertarik untuk join grup tsb. Saya coba cari di toko lain di Taman Anggrek, dan nihil, toko hobi di sana tidak menyediakan D&D.

Jika anda kebetulan memiliki informasi mengenai komunitas D&D di Indonesia, saya mohon untuk bisa berbagi di blog ini.