Swish Staffer Shares Passion for Dungeons and Dragons

As soon as I got off the phone with Ann Lynen, I googled “Dungeons and Dragons Groups in San Antonio.” After all, it sounds like an intriguing pastime. As it turns out, though, it’s much more. 

Introduced in the 1970s, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is an insanely popular fantasy tabletop role-playing game that has found continued success, at least in part, because it attracts fans spanning a variety of ages, backgrounds, and professions. In the case of Ann, the Clean-It Center Lead for Swish Maintenance, an Ontario-headquartered distributor with locations throughout Canada, we know D&D has at least one fan in jan/san.

Ann started playing D&D two years ago after being inspired by her husband, Morgan Hager, who has been playing it since he was a little kid. She plays at a local bar where the monthly D&D night is a great opportunity for beginners to learn the nuances of the game.  

“It is a collaborative storytelling game and a great way to flex your improvisational and storytelling skills,” says Ann. It’s also a great opportunity to socialize in small groups because there are typically anywhere from two to eight people playing each game.  

In addition to the board at the bar, Ann has two more games going at home. In one of those, she operates herself as the “Dungeon Master,” which is the person in charge of teaching each game’s unique fantasy scenario and making sure players follow the rules. According to the official D&D website, “While the players will bring their characters to the game, the Dungeon Master will provide everything else … the main responsibilities of the Dungeon Master are to narrate the adventure … and help move the story along.”   

Naturally, every D&D game takes on its own personality and duration.  

“The game is totally imaginative,” explains Ann. “There is no script and it’s all improvisation. Every game follows the same basic rule system, which can be tailored to the players. There are different tabletop versions of the game, and the person running it decides which one to play.”

When Ann plays at the bar, the game usually wraps up that night. When at home, where Ann is a player in one game and runs the other, the games have gone on for about a year. 

“Even two years into D&D, I’m still surprised at things people do with their characters,” says Ann. “I was running a game trying to get people to rescue a princess and bring her back home. The characters killed the princess, stole a pirate ship, and became villains themselves. I didn’t even know what to do with that and certainly didn’t know how to end that game, so we had the town destroyed and the game was over.” 

As tragic as a game ending with a destroyed town may sound, it’s all just part of the storytelling, which is Ann’s favorite thing about D&D. 

“The storytelling is so collaborative — you don’t know where it’s going to go,” she says. “You always put a little bit of yourself in it, which can lead to both funny moments and feeling moments. It’s a community, and it’s nice to be with a group of people with which you have commonalities. Together you create something unique.”

Gretchen Roufs, a 25-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns a marketing and public relations company in San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “Freetime,” contact her at Gretchen@GretchenRoufs.com.