Giving Thanks at the Table: A Thanksgiving Tribute for RPG Players and DMs

Giving Thanks at the Table: A Thanksgiving Tribute for RPG Players and DMs

November 27, 2025

Thanksgiving is often a time for feasting, family, and trying to explain to your relatives what exactly you do during “that game with the dragons.” But for those of us who gather around the gaming table—whether physical, digital, or conjured by ritual casting—Thanksgiving is also a moment to appreciate the community, creativity, and chaos that role-playing games bring into our lives.

This holiday, let’s look at Thanksgiving from two sides of the screen: the Player Perspective and the DM Perspective. Because while both share the same world, we all know they’re living very different campaigns.

🎲 From the Player’s Perspective: Gratitude for the Adventure

Players often see the game in snapshots—the triumphant nat-20s, the dramatic monologues, the questionable decisions that somehow didn’t result in a TPK. But Thanksgiving is the perfect moment to look beyond the dice.

1. Thankful for the Party

Even if the rogue steals from the cleric, the barbarian solves problems with doors too often, and the wizard keeps insisting that every puzzle has a magical solution (spoiler: they don’t), the party is what makes the adventure memorable.

Players bring:

Unexpected choices that derail every outline.
Character voices that range from “cinematic masterpiece” to “chaotic gremlin.”
Emotional investment that turns loot into stories.

A party is a found family—one that might argue about marching order, but always stands together when the dragon takes flight.

2. Thankful for the Dice Gods

They giveth.
They taketh away.
They mocketh us with mathematical indifference.

But without them, there’s no tension, no drama, no one-in-a-million story about accidentally headbutting a lich into submission. Players know the dice are fickle, and yet we love them all the more for it.

3. Thankful for Worlds Beyond Our Own

Every campaign transports players into a shared dream—crafted by the DM but brought to life together. Worlds full of mystery, danger, goblin merchants with suspiciously good deals, and the occasional inexplicable gelatinous cube.

RPGs remind players, especially at Thanksgiving, that imagination is not just a childhood relic. It’s a lifelong feast.

🧙 From the DM’s Perspective: Gratitude Behind the Screen

DMs carry a particular blend of responsibility and joy. On Thanksgiving, their gratitude is measured in milestone XP, not side dishes.

1. Thankful for Players’ Enthusiasm

When a DM sees their players:

Lean forward during a climactic reveal,
Cry laughing at a goblin’s failed intimidation check, or
Spend way too long planning a plan that will crumble instantly…

…that spark of joy keeps the world spinning.

Nothing beats watching players become invested in NPCs you invented 30 seconds before they arrived.

2. Thankful for Improvisation — The Unsung Skill

The players zigged.
You prepped for a zag.
Someone seduced the dragon.
Someone bought 400 feet of rope “just in case.”
Someone tried to bribe a storm.

And you—magnificent storyteller—rolled with it.

DMs don’t just prepare worlds. They adapt them. And Thanksgiving is the perfect time to appreciate the ridiculous miracle of collaborative chaos.

3. Thankful for Small Moments of Table Magic

DMs don’t always get to enjoy the game the same way players do. But when the room goes silent during a heartfelt NPC confession, or everyone cheers when a player rolls a clutch nat-20, or the plot twist lands exactly how you hoped?

That’s Thanksgiving-level heartwarming.

These are the moments that remind every DM why they stepped behind the screen.

🦃 A Shared Feast: What We’re All Thankful For

Whether you play, DM, or switch between roles like a bard changing instruments mid-song, RPGs give us things that matter—especially during the holiday season.

Laughter that shakes the table
Friendships forged through storytelling
Creativity expressed without judgment
Escapism in a world that often needs it
Community that grows every campaign

RPGs are, at their heart, about people. About coming together. About telling a story where everyone’s voice matters.

This Thanksgiving, that’s worth celebrating.

🍁 Closing Thoughts

As you gather with friends, family, or your adventuring party this Thanksgiving, take a moment to recognize how rare and wonderful it is to sit together and create something as strange, brilliant, and chaotic as an RPG campaign.

Thank your DM for every twist they prepared and every curveball they caught.
Thank your players for every moment they turned fantasy into memory.
And thank yourself for being part of the magic.

May your plates be full, your dice be kind, and your next initiative roll be higher than the turkey dinner’s DC to stay awake.

Happy Thanksgiving, adventurers — and may your next session be legendary.

Thanks for reading. Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!!