Islanders can explore 'no-holds-barred' imagination at role-playing game nights

Whether you’re a regular player or just want to try something new, a program that lets Islanders play 2SLGBTQ+ and neurodivergent-friendly tabletop role-playing games has started up again for the year.

Weekly Tabletop Roleplaying Games is run by PEERS Alliance and began Jan. 29. It's a free program that goes for nine weeks at the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m., and is open to everyone.

Now in its fourth year, the initiative was inspired by Heroes and Adventurers, a program run at the public library in Truro, N.S.

“Role-playing games are something that really allow people to play with their imagination, to have sort of a no-holds-barred world in terms of ... how they tell stories with other people,” said Josie Baker, executive director of PEERS Alliance.

“This is something that really connects with community. People love doing it. People love getting together and having these experiences together.”

Baker said the goal of the program is to foster community and self-discovery, which she called “core to queer identity.”

Kels Smith, the program's co-ordinator, said she didn’t play tabletop role-playing games until taking on the role.

She said the games on offer include classics like Dungeons & Dragons but also “gentler” ones like Wander Home, a pastoral fantasy game in which players wander the countryside as a team. 

“One of the largest pieces of feedback we get every year is folks talking about how lonely they are in the winter, how isolated they are and how hard it is to make friends on the Island,” Smith said. 

“The way this program works, it brings folks together for one night a week for two of the darkest and coldest months that we have, and it builds so much community, brings so many smiles and gives people a reason to get out of the house."

Gamers can sign up through the PEERS Alliance website or show up at the library, though that doesn’t guarantee a spot. 

This year, the program is also running for the first time at Summerside Rotary Library every Thursday night.

Smith said it was important for the alliance to give people in the western part of the province an opportunity to take part in the program.

“We have a lot of queer leadership in this program, which is a great opportunity for queer youth to see that they can grow up in the community, that they can grow up in P.E.I. and find places here and do the things that they love to do,” she said.