Junior music education major Barry Yard is taking his passion for gaming and trying to make it into a registered student organization.

Yard, who is considering working with the Gamer’s Guild, already has some ideas of how he plans to develop a new Dungeons and Dragons RSO.

“I would like to develop this group where we have one world where anyone involved can join into groups for adventures,” Yard said. “Imagine, there is a village in the forest that no one has ever explored outwards and has no idea what lays beyond the tree line. Players will be considered villagers who can send out exploration parties, which will be called red marches campaigns.”

Yard eventually wants to create a message board for people in Charleston interested in playing.

Though he is still working on the idea, Yard said the only struggle with getting the group started would be planning a time and the logistics of coordinating enough people to join.

“I am also planning to be an RA next year, so I really do not know if this will work out, but I am sure hoping it does,” Yard said.

There are several students who are fans of Dungeons and Dragons like Yard is, which is why he believes the RSO would be a great hit for students.

“As many people that play this game, I am almost positive that if the RSO was started, there would be a great turnout of students that would like to join,” Yard said. “I have not made any official plans or commitments as of right now to develop the RSO, pending my RA position next year and the fact that I need to come up with more detail and logistics, but I would like to see this happen.”

He said he hopes to come up with more ideas and plans before he approaches the Gamers Guild with the idea of possibly incorporating the RSO.

“I guess we’ll see how it turns out when I get everything planned,” Yard said.

Yard, originally from central New York, currently resides in Naperville. He transferred to Eastern from the College of DuPage this summer after obtaining his associate’s in fine arts degree with a concentration in music. While at College of DuPage, Yard worked as a peer tutor to students on campus.

“My primary instrument is voice, though I also play upright bass and percussion,” Yard said. “For fun, I like to play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends on campus, hence the reason I plan to start the RSO, and I also like to play World of Warcraft with my friends across the country.”

Yard said being a music major, he rarely has a lot of free time, because a lot of his time goes into rehearsal, as well as his education.

“I love my music and I love doing what I do,” Yard said. “Sometimes though it is nice to take a break from rehearsing, which leads me to listening to music, playing my games as well as drawing and writing.”

Andrew Paisley can be reached at 581-2812 or abpaisley@eiu.edu.