Tucked away next to a mini-mart and food cart, this Montavilla music venue has tables on a covered patio for gaming, but the real draws are open-play Dungeons & Dragons every Wednesday and events like a Marvel superhero RPG (for those who would rather fight Hydra than hydras). Events are free, with a GM running things from the tiny stage in the intimate dining room for up to 10 players on a first-come, first-served basis.

The palatial game shop and venue boasts a globe-trotting menu (Japanese Scotch eggs, Thai shrimp skewers, Italian cold cuts) and an impressive collection of board and role-playing games. Mox also offers some of the most luxe private gaming rooms in the city—with a price tag to match, running $30–40 an hour. Mox doesn’t provide its own GMs, but it does host Adventurers League, a licensed D&D campaign series with professional GMs.

A charming soda fountain and café decked in faux-medieval hangings and battlements, the Paladins League is home to a selection of gaming spaces. The Castle is a sequestered room that seats up to eight and runs $20–30 an hour. Individual tables in the main hall are $10 an hour. The Paladins League currently doesn’t have an in-house D&D campaign for adults, but it does for children ages 7 to 14, making it a great spot for wee adventurers. 

With locally crafted leather goods, mead made with Oregon honey, and a subterranean dining room fashioned like a Viking feast hall, Wyrd just screams, “Play some D&D here!” Which you can, for a $20 table fee for the evening. Wyrd is best for established groups looking for an atmospheric locale for their home games—it’s BYOGM. Note that the current space will close in June; the team is currently crowd-funding for a new space in Milwaukie.

This cutely named monthly series unites craft beer and tabletop gaming at rotating breweries, with four GMs running tables of up to six players. Each game is a free-to-play single session adventure, colloquially known as a “one-shot.” Reserve a seat via Eventbrite. Even more casual are drop-in games, which take place at Old Town Brewing on MLK the first Monday of the month, Level Beer in Argay Terrace the second Tuesday, and the Paladins League the third Wednesday. 

Jess Hardie, Dana Ebert, and Elliott Kaplan opened their combination brewpub and tabletop role-playing game space to remove barriers for new players. The pub fills up nightly with gamers exploring dungeons and battling monsters, whether they’re a part of the in-house campaign or one of the many drop-in sessions offered throughout the week, most of which are free.