Description
On the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a collection of essays that explores and celebrates the game’s legacy and its tremendous impact on gaming and popular culture.
In 2024, the enormously influential tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons—also known as D&D—celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, editors Premeet Sidhu, Marcus Carter, and José Zagal have assembled an edited collection that celebrates and reflects on important parts of the game’s past, present, and future. Each chapter in Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons explores why the nondigital game is more popular than ever—with sales increasing 33 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite worldwide lockdowns—and offers readers the opportunity to critically reflect on their own experiences, perceptions, and play of D&D.
Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons draws on fascinating research and insight from expert scholars in the field, including: Gary Alan Fine, whose 1983 book Shared Fantasy remains a canonical text in game studies; Jon Peterson, celebrated D&D historian; Daniel Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture; and numerous leading and emerging scholars from the growing discipline of game studies, including Amanda Cote, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and Aaron Trammell. The chapters cover a diverse range of topics—from D&D’s adoption in local contexts and classrooms and by queer communities to speculative interpretations of what D&D might look like in one hundred years—that aim to deepen readers’ understanding of the game.
Table of Contents
PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
1 IS THIS THE GOLDEN AGE OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS? 1
Premeet Sidhu, Marcus Carter, and José P. Zagal
INTRODUCTION TO DESIGNER VIGNETTES 13
Sam Mannell
FIFTY YEARS OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 15
Designer Vignettes I
2 FANTASY GAMES AT FIFTY: AN ACADEMIC MEMOIR 17
Gary Alan Fine
3 EXPLORATION AND EXPERIENCE: THE GAME CHANGERS 23
Jon Peterson
4 COMBAT IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: A SHORT HISTORY OF DESIGN TRAJECTORIES 43
Evan Torner
5 “DOCTOR HOLMES, I PRESUME?”: HOW A CALIFORNIA NEUROLOGY PROFESSOR PENNED THE FIRST DUNGEONS & DRAGONS BASIC SET 63
Tony A. Rowe and Zach Howard
6 REFLECTIONS ON THE OPEN GAME LICENSE: AN INTERVIEW WITH RYAN DANCEY 79
Michael Iantorno
7 PLAYING CUSTOM: A CURIOUS HISTORY OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS–BASED DIGITAL GAMES MODIFICATIONS 91
Mateusz Felczak
8 A RETURN TO THE MAGIC CIRCLE: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AND FRIENDSHIP & MAGIC FIFTY YEARS ON 109
Stephen Webley
INFLUENCING DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 119
Designer Vignettes II
9 “YOU’RE GOING TO BE AMAZING”: THE MERCER EFFECT AND PERFORMATIVE PLAY IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 121
Esther MacCallum-Stewart
10 THE OTHER D&D: RELIGION(S) IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS FROM DEITIES & DEMIGODS TO TODAY 141
Adrian Hermann
11 SPELLING WITH DICE: THE ROLE OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS IN CONTEMPORARY SPECULATIVE FICTION 161
Dimitra Nikolaidou
12 CLASSROOMS AND DRAGONS: LEARNING FROM DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 179
Premeet Sidhu
13 AN ENSEMBLE OF (ROLE-)PLAYERS? EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF PERFORMANCE ON DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 197
David Harris and Josiah Lulham
14 FORGING FAMILY THROUGH QUEER DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 211
Jay Malouf-Grice
CRITICALLY PLAYING DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 229
Designer Vignettes III
15 “RACE” AND RACE: LONGITUDINAL TRENDS IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS CHARACTER CREATION 231
Amanda Cote and Emily Saidel
16 HACK THE ORCS, LOOT THE TOMB, AND TAKE THE LAND: REFLECTIONS ON SETTLER COLONIALISM, INDIGENEITY, AND OTHERWISE POSSIBILITIES OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 259
Daniel Heath Justice
17 SEEKING THE UNIMAGINABLE: RULES, RACE, AND ADOLESCENT DESIRE IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 275
Aaron Trammell and Antero Garcia
18 DEFAMILIARIZING DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: PLAYING OUT WESTERN FANTASY IN SINGAPORE 283
Kellynn Wee
19 SOFT COMMUNITIES AND VICARIOUS DEVIANCE IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS 301
Victor Raymond and Gary Alan Fine
FUTURES 323
Designer Vignettes IV
20 D&D&D&D&D: IMAGINING DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AT 150 AND BEYOND 325
Jonathan Walton
