The world of Dungeons and Dragons is experiencing something of a renaissance, naturally leading creators to use the world's most famous roleplaying game as a basis for new stories, and nowhere has that been done better than Image Comics' Die. Though Dungeons and Dragons is no stranger to comic books, few comics understand roleplaying games better than this modern masterpiece.

Beginning in December 2018 and ending in September of 2021, Die comes from the creative team of Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. The comic follows six friends who, in the 1990s, became trapped in a fantasy world named Die inspired by their roleplaying game. After three years, the group managed to find their way back to Earth... all except for their game master, Sol. In the present, the friend group has mostly split up, forbidden by magic from ever openly discussing their experiences in Die. As each of their individual lives crumbles around them, the five friends are called back together and sent once more into the world of Die.

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Though Die uses D&D as a base, one of the series' most interesting elements are all of the original things it brings to roleplaying. Far from classic Dungeons and Dragons classes like fighter or wizard, each of the five friends has a unique class that informs their character. The series' narrator, Dominic Ash, is a dictator in the world of Die, able to force anyone who hears their voice to follow one specific command. Instead of a cleric, the party has Isabelle the Godbinder, who can convince gods to perform miraculous feats at her behest... but always at a nasty price. Die's version of a paladin is Matt the Grief Knight, whose power and fighting ability are directly tied to his depression. These classes are a perfect marriage of form and function. Not only does each class possess genuinely interesting game mechanics, but they also inform readers about the characters and their conflicts.

Die Comic Party

The world of Die might be fantastic, but it really is the characters who make the book as compelling as it is. Much like any real-life friend group, the five main characters are rarely a united front, even when it comes to something as simple as whether they want to go home at all. Die is often dark and depressing, but for characters dealing with divorce, terminal illness, and gender-identity issues, it's still preferable to the real world. These interpersonal conflicts are further fueled by decades of repressed feelings as all of the characters were literally unable to speak of any of the awful things that happened to them during their original stay in Die.

Roleplaying games can be a great way to escape tough times by connecting with others, however, Die points out that games like these can never be true escapism. Even when playing another character, it's impossible to escape from the self. Whether intentionally or not, people bring their emotional baggage into games like Dungeons and Dragons. But that's what makes them so important to so many. Through its dark world and complex characters, Die shows that Dungeons and Dragons can be just as much about processing emotions as it is about slaying goblins.

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