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.
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 Jose 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.
By:
Premeet Sidhu,
Marcus Carter
Edited by:
Jose P. Zagal
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262547604
ISBN 10: 0262547600
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 14 May 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
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
Premeet Sidhu is an accredited English and History teacher and PhD student at the University of Sydney. Her PhD looks at the modern resurgence and educational application of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Marcus Carter is Associate Professor in Digital Cultures at the University of Sydney. With Kelly Bergstrom and Darryl Woodford, he edited Internet Spaceships Are Serious Business- An EVE Online Reader and is the author of Treacherous Play (MIT Press). Jose P. Zagal is a professor in the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts and Engineering program. He is the author of Ludoliteracy; coauthor, with Sebastian Deterding, of Role-Playing Game Studies; and editor of The Videogame Ethics Reader and Game Design Snacks. He was honored as a DiGRA Distinguished Scholar and a Fellow of the Higher-Education Videogame Alliance (HEVGA) for his contributions to games research.
Reviews for Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons
“Rather than another retread of why Dave hated Gary etc etc etc, Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons takes the refreshing stance of looking less at the game itself and rather the cultural impact it’s had over its lifetime. . . [The MIT Press] Game Histories series has reliably been the best source of books on RPGs over the past few years.” —Wyrd Science “Fifty Years of Dungeons and Dragons has . . . something to appeal to anyone interested in game history, game studies or even just the impact of games on popular culture. If you’re interested in the ways in which hobbyist culture can have a lasting impact on the world, Fifty Years is well worth a look.” —Fortean Times
