LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
In the halls of the Aurora College building, a role of a dice can change the fate of players immersed in a virtual world.

Dungeons and Dragons players sit around a table during a game session on Feb. 26 in the Aurora College building in Fort Simpson. Charles Blondin, front, makes notes about the game as players seated around the table talk. From left, are Trenton Diamond'C, Josh Bertrand, Ethan Betsaka, Nathaniel Tsetso and Perrin Dempsey. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

About a dozen teenagers have been taking part in the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons each Thursday and Sunday.

Over the past two years, they've been learning math and social skills through participation in the group.

"I'd probably be home playing video games if I wasn't here," said Perrin Dempsey, one of players.

In front of the players are reams of paper. A hand-drawn map of the world sits in front of Dempsey. Beyond that, it's all in their heads.

In the gane a dungeon master creates an imaginary world inhabited by characters the players create to explore and battle their way through.

They play for about five hours when they meet.

On Feb. 26, the group was playing in a world set in a modern universe of two factions - an army and rebels - where dead bodies have started coming back to life.

With a toss of several dice, dungeon master Dempsey, 15, decides the outcome of the move a character has made.

One roll that evening decided the effectiveness of a player shooting a reincarnated body that had attacked another player.

Dempsey, who has been taking part for over a year, said his role involves a lot of quick thinking and improvising.

Players take turns with their character and can even gang up on another player.

Dempsey must keep track of where all of the players are and what they're doing in the world.

"It's really hard to be the dungeon master," Dempsey said.

The group began roughly two years ago when Thaddeus Timbre bought Dungeons and Dragons supplies in Edmonton.

The group is an offshoot of the board game club started by Dean Harvey several years ago as a way to get children to socialize and step away from computer and television screens.

The club began with funds for community literacy.

"I think this is a great way for the kids to improve their basic literacy and the social skills they get from playing with each other," Harvey said.

It gives the teens something else to do in the community instead of sitting around playing video games, he said.

Nathaniel Tsetso, 15, has been playing since Timbre introduced him to the game last year. Tsetso said players are developing their math and reading skills through the game.

As well, it fosters an active imagination. The players keep track of the virtual world, plotting their moves through it.

"You imagine the whole thing," he said.

Timbre said when everyone started playing, people barely knew what to do. Now they're fully involved and friendships have been fostered.

"It's really fun," Timbre said, adding that there's elements of teamwork that brings the players together.