As seen in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

One day, if you're a big enough nerd, apparently you will be interviewed by a journalist from a big news organisation about running Dungeons & Dragons, it seems.

It's a great article and the journalist, Nell Geraets, spoke to some great DMs who run the game around Australia.

It also gave me the chance to speak about one of my favourite topics in relation to D&D: encouraging other people to join the hobby.

Of course, being a newspaper, there was only so much room for Nell to quote me (especially when she interviewed a cast of thousands).

But for what I did get to say as part of the report, it's reflective of the conversation we had and I'm really happy with the message that made it in:

Shows such as Critical Role, a massively successful web-series in which voice actors play D&D, have played a significant role in shifting these attitudes, encouraging a growing number of people to try it. This has subsequently lifted the barrier of entry, Jones says – even if it didn’t intend to.

“Critical Role’s popularity puts some of the people who run the games on such a pedestal that it can actually dissuade others from wanting to try running a game themselves,” he says.

“You have that added pressure to live up to those who are famous for doing it, especially because you have an audience when doing it. Even if it’s just your friends, you always have an audience … That’s why I take the opportunity whenever I can to tell people that anyone can run a game.”

So, if you are thinking of running a game (or even joining one as a player), don't be intimidated by the people who do it professionally.

It's fun and no-one is going to care if you're not Matt Mercer.