Riverland Community College D&D Club Rebuilds Campus Community After COVID

What began in the fall of 2023 as a handful of students gathering around a table in Riverland Community College's East Building has grown into something much larger than any single campaign. The Dungeons & Dragons Club at Riverland, based on the Austin, Minnesota campus, now counts 25 members and has become one of the more quietly significant success stories in the college's post-COVID recovery.

The club meets bi-weekly in the Student Commons on the Austin East Campus, with Discord serving as the connective tissue between sessions, keeping campaigns alive and accessible for members who can't always make it in person. That combination of in-person play and online flexibility wasn't an accident. It reflects exactly the kind of community gap the club set out to fill.

"After the isolation of COVID-19, many students struggled to find a sense of belonging again," according to reporting on the club. "The D&D Club has helped fill that void, offering a place where students can reconnect, laugh, create, and feel part of something meaningful."

The skills players build at the table transfer well beyond it. The club has been credited with developing stronger verbal communication, better negotiation skills, confidence in handling tough or unexpected situations, improved teamwork and collaboration, and critical thinking abilities in its members. For community college students navigating coursework, careers, and the lingering social awkwardness that COVID left behind, those aren't small gains.

The club carries no prerequisite experience. Riverland's own student groups listing describes it plainly: "All skill levels welcome." That beginner-friendly posture is part of why the membership grew from a small founding group to 25 in roughly two and a half years.

JB Holtorf was among those photographed at a December meeting, seated at a table with fellow club members in the kind of scene that makes the club's mission concrete: dice on the table, character sheets nearby, players ready to step into whatever the Dungeon Master had prepared for them.

Riverland's D&D Club sits alongside a broader roster of active student organizations at the college, including an E-Sports Club, a student arts journal called ACCENT, and a chapter of Amnesty International. But the D&D Club's growth since fall 2023 stands out in the context of the "Progress 2026" community series where this story was featured, a series focused specifically on what recovery and rebuilding look like at the local level in Austin, Minnesota.

The club's pitch to prospective members cuts straight to it: "Riverland's Dungeons & Dragons Club isn't just about rolling dice or slaying dragons. It's about rebuilding community, fostering creativity, and giving students a place that feels like home.