With video games and apps available on every platform, it's Dungeons & Dragons that is making a quiet comeback.

Once thought as reserved for 'nerds', the game is now more popular than ever, with millions of players spending hours creating their own stories and adventures.

The game takes set in a medieval fantasy world where characters such as clerics, druids, elfs, warlocks and wizards interact together to overcome challenges. It is played using special role-playing dice and players can accrue powers and spells along the way.

Co-owner of The Incredible Comic Shop in the Brunel Centre Johnathan Brown believes YouTube channels and American series such as Riverdale and Stranger Things have played a big part in resurrecting the game.

He said: “They put D&D back on the map and more and more people are getting into it now.”

Johnathan and co-owner Troy Loveday are organising a free gaming event in town every first Wednesday of the month, known as Brunel Knights, which encourages people to come and play more than 100 games, including D&D.

“There was a high demand in Swindon,” said Johnathan.

They started running the Brunel Knights along with Matt Scarrott from Warhammer shop in May 2018.

Matt said: “We started off really strong. We’ve had a lot of customers coming in, talking about it. We started at about 70 people, which we were really pleased with. Our highest was 170. People look forward to it.

“What we found, especially with D&D, is to find people who don’t know what to do. They come down on this Wednesday and by the time they leave they will have contacts.”

The game was launched in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules Inc and is now on its fifth edition. The latest is intended to simplify the game.

Johnathan has been taking on the role of Dungeon Master for years, setting up the game and creating details and challenges throughout a given adventure.

“I run multiple games, I’ve been running continuous games with the same people for about four years,” he said.

“But I’ve been playing games pretty much all my life. The first time I played D&D was 19 years ago.”

He added: “It’s about storytelling mostly, writing a story, that’s my thing. I attempted for a long time to write in my life. That’s never came to anything. So that’s an opportunity for me to tell stories.”

D&D player James Wilcox from Cricklade was pleased to hear about Brunel Knights.

He said: “It’s all up to your imagination. You can be your own character, you can talk to other players in person, it’s not limited on one way of playing. As long as you get involved and you are enjoying it that’s the main thing.

“It’s the group of players and the Dungeon Master working together and from your interactions the whole story comes out. And it could be completely unexpected.

“It’s so much fun. When you are with a group, you are all there together. It’s that freedom of being able to do almost whatever you want. But also interact with real people because you not just interacting with the characters but also with people’s ideas behind."

James helps with introductory sessions to support those who never played D&D before.

He added: “Once you know what you are doing it’s not so hard. It’s simple once you know what’s going on. Anyone can play.”

The 32-year-old started playing D&D about five years ago. He said: "One of my friends invited to play, and I’ve not stopped playing since.”

James said the lack of exposure was responsible for the number of players dropping over the years.

“During Brunel Knights, people can just come in and you know there is a session,” James said. “You can even find groups on the internet, there are so many people, it’s incredible. And it’s not just one type of person that plays it

.”