Perhaps the most conservative rule that D&D taught me is that change isn’t always good. I started playing with the first-edition rules, and even today, I won’t bother with anything past second-edition rules. Game overlords Wizards of the Coast is introducing the sixth version of D&D’s canonical rules after ruining the game with versions 3, 3.5, 4 and, worst of all, version 5. Stick to the classics! There are other lessons I learned – that taxes are painful, that governments are riddled with corruption and that people’s motives aren’t always angelic.

I am sure you could learn liberal things from D&D too. NPR ran a story by a man my age who immersed himself in the game as a closeted gay teen. D&D is what you make of it. Indeed, in my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, there’s a liberal group playing the game in an LGBTQ+-themed world of their imagination. There’s plenty of research showing that role-playing is good for your mental health and a cure for loneliness.

Break out your twenty-sided dice and read the whole thing.