Rolling with it: Dungeons & Dragons & the University Honors Program
Three avenues for building resilient connections, problem-solving skills and community engagement
While Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) might not be the first activity you’d imagine engaging with through the University Honors Program (UHP), the hit tabletop role-playing game is at the center of three different honors experiences slated for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Whether they’re growing in resilience, creativity and connection at their own D&D tables, linking gameplay to philosophy and ethics, or helping teach those same concepts and skills to local middle schoolers at public library branches, you’ll find UHP students rolling dice and telling stories all year round.
A place at the (game) table
Tales of Resilience, a pre-approved honors experience that promotes empathy and personal growth through shared storytelling, is the UHP’s longest-running D&D-connected experience. Developed by associate director and honors adviser Kyle Key, Tales has run in every fall and spring semester since Fall 2022. Participants play through a storyline Key created, set in the fantastical campus of Zardigash University. Each table typically consists of four players and a Lead Storyteller — a UHP student who has previously participated in the experience and returned to serve as a facilitator.
Ranjan Reddy (L) and Audrey Baker (R) discuss their Tales of Resilience experiences.
“Tales helps you see the world through a different perspective,” says participant Ranjan Reddy, a rising third-year biological sciences major in the College of Arts & Sciences. “Sometimes I catch myself asking ‘What would my character do?’ and weighing pros and cons in the same way he might.”
Audrey Baker, a 2026 UC graduate in English and psychology who played alongside Reddy, agrees: “It’s impossible not to put yourself into your character, even if that character acts very differently than you… I take that perspective and the hardships I’ve gone through in-game and apply them to real life.” Both players describe the experience as a highlight of the semester and the game sessions as something they looked forward to every week.
Reddy and Baker also agree that individual players bring very different approaches to the table, and that those differences add depth and nuance to everyone’s experience. For Reddy, “my character’s an idealized version of myself”. By contrast, Baker describes her character as “the most flawed parts about me”. She added, “That’s why the story hits so hard!”
Class act
The UHP also offers an honors seminar dedicated to exploring the moral and philosophical side of D&D. The Ethics & Dragons (E&D) course, which has continued to run throughout the academic year since its initial offering in Summer 2025, was created by Andrew Cullison, PhD, executive director of the Cincinnati Ethics Center. Throughout the semester, students use tabletop role-playing games as a lens to explore ethical dilemmas and moral reasoning. Through the course’s service-learning component, they also serve as assistant Dungeon Masters (DMs) and/or model players for middle school students in branches of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.
“We show the kids that there’s more to the game than rolling dice and hitting monsters,” Reddy summarizes.
Going behind the screens
Reddy also participated in the Ethics & Dragons internship program in Spring 2026. The internship, which predates the seminar, pushes students to expand their storytelling and facilitation skills. Participants typically get involved at multiple library branches, an increase from the single-site attendance involved in the seminar. If they’ve primarily served as model players during the seminar, they’ll try their hand at DM-ing as interns.
This model encourages students to grow as leaders and narrators alike and places them in direct collaboration with both their fellow students and their library staff liaisons.
In their own words
Watch Baker and Reddy discuss their Tales of Resilience experiences in the video below!
Looking ahead
The Ethics & Dragons honors seminar will run again in Fall 2026. While UHP students have priority in registration for honors seminars, students outside the program who meet a 3.2 UC GPA requirement and who complete a class permission request are welcome to register for any remaining spots. The E&D internship program will also continue throughout the coming year.
The application for current UHP students to participate in Tales of Resilience during the Spring 2027 semester will open in Fall 2026. Interested students should keep an eye on the UHP’s email newsletter and on the Tales application web page!
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