Oct. 13, 2025 – Walk into Beems Auditorium at the Downtown Library on any given Wednesday evening and you’ll encounter epic battles, mythical creatures, and magic spells. This is the library’s Dungeons & Dragons club, where people of all ages gather each week for campaigns and camaraderie.
Programming Specialist John Zbanek-Hill started the club in 2022, with just a handful of participants. It has since grown to an average of 27 players each week.
“It’s for everybody. There really is a spot for you around the table, regardless of your age or ability,” he said. “A lot of people who have been looking for a place of welcome have found that here.”
Lexi Bolin, 21, has been participating since the club’s early days. She’s played Dungeons & Dragons since middle school but couldn’t find a place to play after graduating – until the library started the group.
“I remember coming here with like three other people,” she said. “I haven’t stopped coming since.”
Dungeons & Dragons is an interactive role-playing game, so participants create their own characters and then work together to build the story as they go. That’s its own form of magic.
“You can’t do it on your own. You need the collective narrative and team effort to make sure everything works,” said Library Volunteer Stephen Swiderski, who helps with the club. “Everybody gets the opportunity to have the spotlight and be the special one, but they also have to work together.”
Bolin said she likes the fantasy aspect, but she also enjoys the social aspect of Dungeons & Dragons.
“I like the whole role-playing aspect. I like that it’s creative,” she said. “I’ve also made a lot of friends here that I probably wouldn’t have made in real life.”
The club was originally designed as an after-school program aimed at elementary and middle-school students, but all ages showed up. Kids, teens, and adults all participate alongside each other. Some parents come with their children to play together.
“You get different walks of life, different age groups, telling the same story, and that really impacts the story,” Zbanek-Hill said. “It’s the idea of welcoming, of the social interactions, of finding your place in the community, of connecting people. Some of our players have become leaders, with their own tables.”
Swiderski is one of them. He said volunteering with the club is about more than loving a game.
“There is an abundant lack of third spaces in society now,” he said. “It’s nice to have a place where people can come and spend time where they don’t have to spend money and can just be with other people. I thought, I have an obligation to do what I can to support the library. If I believe a place like this should exist, I should do what I can to make sure it does.”
The library has also hosted Magic the Gathering and Trading Card Game groups. The Trading Card Game group will meet again next summer.
Zbanek-Hill and Swiderski said these programs are fun, but they’re also teaching different forms of literacy.
“We kind of covertly teach kids good life skills – basic math, reading comprehension, and teamwork,” Swiderski said. “And we create a pretty welcoming environment where everyone can be themselves. I wish that something like this existed when I was younger.”
On a recent Wednesday, Kelvin Witmer, 14, wasn’t concerned with what he might be learning. He said he just likes the club because it is fun.
“It’s a good stress reliever,” he said. “Because you get to do stuff you don’t get to do in real life. You get to kill monsters and cast magic spells.”
FY 2025 Annual Report
This story is from the library's FY 2025 Annual Report.