Dungeons & Dragons group thrives in an unlikely place – local libraries – thanks to a volunteer at the helm

When Jeltje van Baren began teaching people how to lead a game of Dungeons & Dragons — the most well-known role-playing game — a few years ago, she ran into a few problems: finding players and a space to play. 

“I noticed that some people said, ‘I’m really interested in playing, but I’m afraid to come to a stranger’s house,’” said van Baren, whose first name is pronounced “Yelcha.” “I thought that’s interesting and unfortunate.” 

What came out of that realization was the idea to pitch a library program, where adults could meet once a month to play tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons, no matter their experience level.

The idea took off, and van Baren’s enthusiasm and love for role-playing games is at the heart of the program and its success — it’s now offered in Capitola, Santa Cruz and Watsonville — as many program volunteers and library staff have told Lookout. 

It’s the legacy that she’ll leave behind as she embarks on a new chapter in Portugal after living in Santa Cruz for nearly 16 years. Under van Baren’s leadership, the program is thriving, with game sessions running almost every weekend. Her group of friends is ready to continue the work she started. 

What makes the group especially noteworthy, according to some of its members, is that it brings together people from different walks of life, such as the LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent communities. It also has retirees who play. All one needs to feel welcome is the enthusiasm and interest to play, the volunteers say.  

“I didn’t set out to make this big program, but I did want to have people connect,” Van Baren said. She told Lookout that sometimes people are afraid of entering an unfamiliar space where they don’t know anyone – especially if they’re trying something new, like playing Dungeons & Dragons.

One of the goals of the library program is to encourage people to start their own games with players they meet, said David Sanda, a program volunteer. The group usually gets 15 to 25 people showing up at the Capitola and downtown Santa Cruz sessions once a month, which allows for about four games to be played at once. 

What helps ease any social anxiety is the immersive and creative nature of tabletop role-playing games, van Baren said. Players embody different characters, such as elves, fairies, wizards or even robots, that contribute to the narrative of the game.

There’s no awkward ice-breakers or needing to introduce yourself like in formal social get-togethers; rather, players introduce themselves as a character in whatever game they’re playing. 

“If you’re here to play Seven Dwarfs or trying to escape an elf king’s castle, then what you do is you introduce yourself [as your character],” van Baren said. “For example: ‘I’m Humbug and I care deeply about things that glitter.’” 

^{Photos by Natasha Leverett}

There’s a lot of imagination and improvisation involved, said Mark Pettigrew, a fellow program volunteer. Pettigrew, who joined the group more than a year ago, is a “game master,” a person who leads a game and often provides scenarios for the players. 

“They don’t make up the whole script,” he said. “The players say what their characters do, so you don’t necessarily know how things are going to wind up.” 

But to further immerse players into a game, the game masters have additional tokens or miniatures to represent a character or bring in other elements that tie into a game’s storyline, like curating a soundtrack, he said. 

Among the group, Pettigrew is known for his pirate-themed game and for singing sea shanties. 

That’s where van Baren gets to show her craftiness, Pettigrew said. 

She’s made a medieval tavern landscape for a game she was leading, equipped with bar tables, a keg of beer and a piano tucked away in one of the corners. And for other games, she’s used dry ice and colored lights to create an ominous atmosphere when the villain character is introduced. 

“She’s very creative. She comes up with new ways of engaging people and entertaining them all the time,” Pettigrew said. 

A lot of people come out of their shells because they “can just be somebody else” in a safe environment, said Pettigrew. Additionally, the format of these games allows each person the opportunity to contribute, which removes any pressure from being “put on the spot” for players who might be neurodivergent, said van Baren.

Storytelling is a “deep and primal need that human beings have,” said Shauna Soldate, another program volunteer and game master. Telling stories is a way to build connections with other people, which can manifest in different ways, she said. 

But, what also makes this group unique is the fact that people can connect with players who are significantly older, Soldate said. 

“Just because someone’s older than you, or in college, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re different from a personality perspective,” she said. “Being able to meet people who are just different from you, but also be able to do the same activity together, is a really heartening experience.” 

That’s also the beauty of the culture van Baren has fostered in the past four years since beginning the program. Pettigrew told Lookout that one of the first things he noticed when joining the group almost a year and half ago was how supportive everyone is of one another.

The group has also made an effort to have inclusive representation in who leads the games, van Baren said: “It’s very important to me that when you step into that library room, that the people that are at the head of the table are diverse.”

The Dungeons & Dragons community, and those of other tabletop role-playing games, have been primarily dominated by men, but over the past few years, van Baren says the culture has been shifting to become more inclusive. The group is always looking for more women and nonbinary people who are interested in leading games. 

“It brings people together in a way that allows for a lot of different people coming from different places to each participate and share in whatever they feel comfortable,” said Capitola librarian Diane Cowen. 

With her upcoming move to Portugal, van Baren said she’s excited to observe the program grow from afar, handing it over to volunteers, such as Pettigrew, Soldate, Sanda and others, who will “just do it in their own way,” she said.

“The joy was setting it up,” she said. 

Soldate told Lookout that she and other volunteers have been taking on different tasks originally handled by van Baren. “Jeltje wasn’t doing everything, but she was doing a big lift,” she said. 

“I feel like the program is healthy,” Soldate said. “And a lot of that is because we sat down with Jeltje and we talked about what she was doing and we kind of wrote everything down.” 

A big part of maintaining the program, Soldate said, is making sure that it’s not dependent on just one person. They’ve already been making that transition in the past few months leading up to van Baren’s departure. 

After van Baren stepped away from being a data scientist and programmer, creating this program was a way to contribute to the community. “It made me just feel really great to just reach out and make people happy,” she told Lookout. 

“I’m sad to leave people behind here,” van Baren said. “I found lots of great friends.” 

While it’s sad to see van Baren leave Santa Cruz, the program is left in the hands of people who are just as enthusiastic as she is, said Cowen. 

“They’re carrying the torch, and I feel like it’s going to be good,” she said. “Jeltje created this template for gathering and creating community, and mentored people on how to keep that going – and they’re going to do that.” 

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