General News
1 July, 2025
Friendships made at tabletop
Looting treasure, playing as orcs and elves, is fool’s gold for the Mill House’s tabletop role-playing group — instead they seek community and friendship.
Every Tuesday a diverse group of locals, arguably with more differences than similarities, come together for adventure in the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).
Each game plays out like an improv episode of a fantasy story. An adventuring party of humans, elves and orcs come together for fame and glory — fighting skeletal minotaurs and living to tell the tale.
Like how a football brings the local community together, a handful of dice did that for these former strangers.
Allan King is the oldest player by far, by several decades, but found an unlikely community in the game after moving from Melbourne.
“One of the few things I knew I would have to do moving from a big city into a small town is find something to keep my mind occupied. If there wasn’t already a D&D group I was going to put it up at the IGA,” he said.
Mr King said if you’re not into sport, in a small community like Maryborough, it can be isolating — especially for young people.
“It’s allowed [us] to have some sort of social interaction even if we are nerding out or something like that,” he said.
When Donnie Brown, another player, graduated she didn’t just lose her school D&D game — she lost an opportunity to connect.
“It’s a good way to just socialise and make new friends and meet people,” she said.
“It’s something I know that’s going to be there, something to look forward to.”
Her character, a “weird” teenage human, is a reflection of her own experience growing up.
“I grew up not feeling like I fitted in so making a character that purposefully doesn’t fit in is kind of fun,” she said.
“There’s always a little bit of you in every D&D character you make.”
Jesse Cash’s character then, a half-orc named Dave, takes him from shy to making the whole table fill with laughter.
“I like to make people laugh and I like to make the most stupid decisions possible,” he said.
The whole group agreed they wouldn’t have this social circle without the game.
Together the group found an infectious energy that brought them together as they explore Charlotte McAdam’s story and world.
“I feel like I’m getting to create my own piece of fantasy or life that other people seem to enjoy,” she said.
Over multiple hours every week the group talk, laugh, and explore a shared story together — but most importantly they bond despite their superficial differences.
“I work in a very interesting space where I meet a lot of people but you won’t connect with them unless you have something to connect over,” Ms McAdam said.
The group encourage anyone interested to join, after all there’s many games to play, by contacting Maryborough’s Mill House Neighbourhood House.
