Dungeons & Dragons is a structured yet open-ended role-playing game. It is normally played indoors with the participants seated around a tabletop. Typically, one player takes on the role of Dungeon Master while the others each control a single character, representing an individual in a fictional setting.

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 When working together as a group, the player characters  are often described as a "party" of adventurers, with each member often having their own area of specialty that contributes to the success of the group as a whole. During the course of play, each player directs the actions of their character and their interactions with other characters in the game.

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This activity is performed through the verbal impersonation of the characters by the players, while employing a variety of social and other useful cognitive skills, such as logic, basic mathematics, and imagination. A game often continues over a series of meetings to complete a single adventure, and longer into a series of related gaming adventures, called a "campaign"