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Dungeons & Dragons, explained

Here’s why you should fall in love with this nerdy fantasy role-playing game.

Carlos Maza & Gina Barton/Vox

Dungeons & Dragons is cool now.

Nearly 50 years after its original release, this fantasy tabletop role-playing game is experiencing record sales, has launched wildly popular weekly live streams, and is slated to be turned into a major movie.

The game, which asks players to act as heroes going on an imaginary adventure, has a strange reputation. In the years after its initial release in 1974, D&D was accused of being a gateway to the occult. And it spent decades being treated as a punchline, a game that only nerds and social outcasts play.

But thanks to shows like Community and Stranger Things, more and more people are falling in love with this magical, ridiculous game of make-believe. Check out the video above to find out why.

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