A group of adventurers approach a camp of sleeping goblins. Darkness blankets the world and hides their movement as they slowly creep closer. In the night they can barely make out the tents, as they infiltrate the camp. Alas, an adventurer trips, falling into a tent where he comes face to face with the goblin king. A bellowing yelp from the king wakes the camp and by the grace of some crucial dice rolling, the group manages to escape with their lives.

This is not the plot of the newest fantasy movie, but rather a meeting of Madison College’s Nerds of the Round Table, a lively bunch of students who get together to do all things nerdy, like play tabletop games.

The group has been around for some time, playing Dungeons & Dragons, Magic the Gathering and World of Warcraft, among other things, but as an unofficial group. That all changed about three years ago, when some of the students decided to make it official.

“They had referred to themselves, informally, as “The Nerd Table,” explained Victor Raymond, sociology teacher at Madison College and advisor to the club, “so Nerds of the Round Table was a fitting extension of that.”

According to Madison College’s collegiate link website, there are 56 students officially signed on to the club, though Raymond thinks the unofficial number could be as high as 100 students who have swung through over the course of a year.

“The club serves as a sort of touchstone for people who have got these nerd interests,” says Raymond.

The club is excited for new members, even those who have never played before. Patrick Kuntz, a student at Madison College and sitting president of the club enthusiastically encourages inexperienced people to join in on a game, or even just sit and watch.

Tabletop games, like Dungeons & Dragons, are games where players use dice to roll out characters that they then play through a guided story a “Dungeon Master” has created for them. A player’s handbook dictates the rules of the universe, like how many points it will take to kill a monster, or kill you. Playing takes strategy, imagination and intelligence.

The Nerds of the Round Table meet every Tuesday in Truax Room D2625. It’s sure to be a place where you can check your school woes at the door, don some body armor and kick some goblin butt.