For Danielle and John Neary, D&D is more than a hobby. The joke in the family, according to Danielle, is that D&D saved their marriage.

As a freelance reporter, I got to compose stories about this wonderful couple for mainstream outlets in the days after Gen Con. You can see them here:

But, due to the outlets I was working for, I had to pare back on some of the geekier aspects of our interview — which I don’t have to do here.

Danielle started playing D&D when she was 12, 22 years ago under the bleachers at a summer camp. She was the only girl in the game, and other players harassed her, but the experience had her hooked.

Seven years go, she introduced John to the game, and his entry into the hobby mirrored her own.

“She described [my first game] as a bad one, but it had me hooked. So we keep playing,” John said.

John, who has since gotten deep into the game, said he wishes he discovered it earlier in life. His youth kept him too involved in sports to find his way into a fantasy world.

“I would have been drawn to it when I was younger,” John said, “and I just never explored it.”

Now, the pair play three times a week as a way to defuse the stress of parenting three children — a five-year-old, a three year old and an 18-month old.

Their oldest plays a youth version of D&D.

“I always say we’re raising little geeks,” Danielle said. “When she rolled a 20, we took pictures… and when she got mad at us the other day, she stomped her feet and said ‘I hope you roll a one, mommy.’ It’s perfect.”

And this is why it was so concerning for Wizards of the Coast when players like the Neary’s opted out of Fourth Edition. Danielle said she even backed away from D&D fiction during this period. She didn’t like what they had done with the Forgotten Realms world.

But, she and John both like what Wizards has done with Fifth Edition. The company brought the game “back to its roots,” they said. Danielle, who has been playing a Second Edition game for years, said she’s going to try to convince her friends to upgrade. And she plans to bring new people into the game in the D&D Fifth Edition framework.

How important is gaming to your life? Tell us in the comments.