There’s An Incredible Dungeons And Dragons Playground In Illinois

Any self respecting nerd should schedule a trip to southern Illinois ASAP.

It should be noted that I am using the term "nerd" here in the most non-pejorative way possible.

I myself am a proud nerd that has been a part of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for about a year now. My current character is named Sinbad the Sailor. He's currently a level 4 half-orc that is the Captain of a ship our party commandeered off the coast of Saltmarsh, so I guess you could say that things are going pretty well.

A picture of our new ship.

I know, pretty sweet.

So, please, there are my credentials, I hope no one misinterprets this as making fun of Dungeons and Dragons because DnD is pretty awesome.

That's why I need to talk my group into making a 5 hour trip downstate to Carbondale, Illinois so we can play a game inside a Dungeons and Dragons themed playground.

This place has dragons and griffin sculptures.

They hold regular scavenger hunts around the park where they hide little dinosaurs and award people with prizes for finding them.

The park is a memorial to Jeremy "Boo" Rochman and is explained on their website. 

As a child he loved to play with toy action figures. As he grew older, he enjoyed painting wizard fugures. Several of the original statues found throughout the yard are enlarged versions of the tiny ones Boo painted.

I'm currently checking out hotel options in Carbondale, now I just need to convince the rest of the party to join me.

And seriously, if Dungeons and Dragons interests you at all but you just don't know where to start, just ask one person you know that might be into it as well. One thing I've learned about DnD is that the community is extremely inviting and welcoming to new players. There are PLENTY of resources online that can help you get started.