Watch Us Roll: Essays on Actual Play and Performance in Tabletop Role-Playing Games 147667762X, 9781476677620

Table of contents :
Cover
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
What Is Actual Play?
Actual Play Reports
Birth of a New Medium or Just Bad TV?
Audience, Framing and Flow
Critical Role and Audience Impact on Tabletop Roleplay
Communal Narrative in Actual Play Environments
“Your fun is wrong”: Actual Play and Fans
Diversity and Audience Interaction in Critical Role and The Adventure Zone
Critical Fails
Actual Play Audience as Archive
Commodification and Pedagogy
Consumable Play
Actual Play as Actual Learning
Conclusion
About the Contributors
Index

Citation preview

Watch Us Roll

Studies in Gaming The Play Versus Story Divide in Game Studies: Critical Essays (Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, editor, 2016) Player and Avatar: The Affective Potential of Videogames (David Owen, 2017) Speedrunning: Interviews with the Quickest Gamers (David Snyder, 2017) The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers (Patrick Hickey, Jr., 2018) The Postmodern Joy of ­­Role-Playing Games: Agency, Ritual and Meaning in the Medium (René Reinhold Schallegger, 2018) Responding to Call of Duty: Critical Essays on the Game Franchise (Nate Garrelts, editor, 2018) Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today (Marco Arnaudo, 2018) Storytelling in Video Games: The Art of the Digital Narrative (Amy M. Green, 2018) Teach Like a Gamer: Adapting the Instructional Design of Digital ­­Role-Playing Games (Carly Finseth, 2018) Video Gaming in Science Fiction: A Critical Study (Jason Barr, 2018) The Composition of Video Games: Narrative, Aesthetics, Rhetoric and Play (Johansen Quijano, 2019) ­­Forum-Based Role Playing Games as Digital Storytelling (Csenge Virág Zalka, 2019) Narrative Design and Authorship in Bloodborne: An Analysis of the Horror Videogame (Madelon Hoedt, 2019) The Pokémon Go Phenomenon: Essays on Public Play in Contested Spaces (Jamie Henthorn, Andrew Kulak, Kristopher Purzycki, Stephanie Vie, editors, 2019)

The Minds Behind Adventure Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers (Patrick Hickey, Jr., 2020) The Minds Behind Sports Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers (Patrick Hickey, Jr., 2020) Rerolling Boardgames: Essays on Themes, Systems, Experiences and Ideologies (Douglas Brown, Esther ­­MacCallum-Stewart, editors, 2020) What Is a Game? Essays on the Nature of Videogames (Gaines S. Hubbell, editor, 2020) Women and Video Game Modding: Essays on Gender and the Digital Community (Bridget Whelan, editor, 2020) The Minds Behind Shooter Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers (Patrick Hickey, Jr., 2021) Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age: Essays on Transmedia Storytelling, Tabletop RPGs and Fandom (Stephanie Hedge and Jennifer Grouling, editors, 2021) Strictly Fantasy: The Cultural Roots of Tabletop ­­Role-Playing Games (Gerald Nachtwey, 2021) Who’s in the Game? Identity and Intersectionality in Classic Board Games (Terri Toles Patkin, 2021) Playing with the Guys: Masculinity and Relationships in Video Games (Marc A. Ouellette, 2021) Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Edited by Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette, 2021) Watch Us Roll: Essays on Actual Play and Performance in Tabletop ­­Role-Playing Games (Shelly Jones, editor, 2021) The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games (Patrick Hickey, Jr., 2021)

Watch Us Roll Essays on Actual Play and Performance in Tabletop ­ Role-Playing Games Edited by Shelly Jones Studies in Gaming

Series Editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina

This book has undergone peer review.

ISBN (print) ­978–​1-4766–​7762–​0 ISBN (ebook) ­978–​1-4766–​4343–​4 Library of Congress and British Library cataloguing data are available

Library of Congress Control Number 2021030884 © 2021 Shelly Jones. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Front cover images © 2021 Shutterstock Printed in the United States of America

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com

To Keith, who encouraged me to play the cleric all those years ago

Acknowledgments Many thanks to our fellow gamers, family, and friends, who supported this project through copious hours of discussion, watching YouTube, and, perhaps most importantly, playing with us.

vi

Table of Contents Acknowledgmentsvi Preface Shelly Jones

1

Introduction: From Actually Playing to Actual Play Shelly Jones

5

What Is Actual Play? Actual Play Reports: Forge Theory and the Forums Evan Torner

20

Birth of a New Medium or Just Bad TV? Framing and Fractality of Actual Play Julia J.C. Blau

32

Audience, Framing and Flow Critical Role and Audience Impact on Tabletop Roleplay Robyn Hope

56

Communal Narrative in Actual Play Environments: Roles of Participants, Observers and Their Intersections Anthony David Franklin

74

“Your fun is wrong”: Actual Play and Fans Diversity and Audience Interaction in Critical Role and The Adventure Zone G.L. van Os

88

Critical Fails: Fan Reactions to Player and Character Choices in Critical Role Christine Dandrow vii

118

viii   Table of Contents

Actual Play Audience as Archive: Analyzing the Critical Role Fandom Shelly Jones

136

Commodification and Pedagogy: Other Approaches and Uses of Actual Play Consumable Play: A Performative Model of Actual Play Networks Mariah E. Marsden and Kelsey Paige Mason

158

Actual Play as Actual Learning: What Gamers, Teachers and Designers Can Learn About Learning from Actual Play Videos Alex Layne

189

Conclusion Shelly Jones

208

About the Contributors213 Index215

Preface Shelly Jones

In the summer of 2013 my partner, Keith, downloaded the playtest for DnD Next, a text that would ultimately become the basis for D&D 5e. For a long time, we had been talking with our close friends, Lisa and Chris, about potentially playing Dungeons & Dragons. Chris and Keith, being men who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, had played when they were teenagers and fondly remembered the red box, playing in a friend’s basement, having a beloved character killed off with an entertaining story: the kind of experience that would be glorified and ­nostalgia-fied by the hit Netflix original show Stranger Things, but without the demogorgon. Lisa had never played but had devoured the Dragonlance novels as a teen and ­secretly-not-so-secretly loved “nerd shit,” as she would affectionately call it. I, on the other hand, was, at the time, a complete newb. I had an abstract notion of what it meant to play Dungeons & Dragons, and in fact, it scared me. I am not referring to any remnant of the Satanic Panic, although after we began playing, my mother did ask me repeatedly if I was participating in any “weird rituals.” No. The idea of playing D&D scared me because I thought of it as acting—and I was always a backstage kind of kid. I was nervous about the idea of performing, of making an ass out of myself, of doing it wrong, even (or maybe especially) in front of my friends. For years Keith had joked that we were going to play D&D and that I would play the healer, a suggestion he thought would bring me comfort. (I do, to this day, prefer being a support character as opposed to taking center stage.) So finally, one day, we rolled up characters and got down to it. While we had been debating about playing or not, Keith had come across a few podcasts of people playing D&D. We started listening to the inaugural sessions of what eventually would become Acquisitions Incorporated. As a total newbie, it was comforting listening to Chris Perkins patiently guide the players (some veteran like Jerry Holkins and some completely new like me, Mike Krahulik) through creating their characters 1

2  Preface and eventually playing. “Can I roll to kill Irontooth?” asks Mike Krahulik, ­half-jokingly but somewhat seriously as he tries to feel out the paradigm of D&D in the first episode. This was something I could relate to; this reassured me that maybe I wouldn’t “mess it up” as though D&D were an art form, a performance, a thing to be judged by others.1 Personally, we are still active players (and maybe not as active as we wish to be: insert meme of trying to schedule game sessions with friends) of several campaigns. We listen to actual play podcasts on long car rides or walking to work. We follow actual play players on Twitter and read updates on the industry. We’ve watched Acquisitions Incorporated spiral into several other shows with new players, watched Critical Role become a ­multimillion-dollar endeavor. We use Roll20 to play with friends who have moved away and have started playing with a colleague’s teenage daughter whose friends think it’s still nerdy to play D&D. Not only do we play and watch, but we write, too. Listening to actual play podcasts and discovering new ways to play games helped spur my scholarship as I began analyzing ­role-playing games of all kinds. One day in the summer of 2018 my husband and I were spending some quality time on the couch the way many modern couples do: we were each engrossed in our own device reading about things that interest us. On this particular occasion, my husband turned to me and asked me if I knew that Analog Game Studies, a scholarly journal that I coedit with Aaron Trammel, Evan Torner, and Emma Waldron, had been nominated for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming.2 “What? Let me see. Is that real?” I asked, unwilling to believe that the reddit thread he was reading was legitimate. After some quick googling, I was thunderstruck that our academic pursuit could be nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in the analog gaming arena. We soon received an invitation to attend an industry party the night before GenCon in Indianapolis, where the award would be announced. On the night of the party, we nerdily got to the party venue first and staked out the best booth, as though we were still those good students of our youth sitting in the front of the classroom. Sitting there, sipping beer from plastic cups, I watched as board game designers and gaming personalities that I recognized began to mingle and celebrate. Meanwhile, I sat in our booth, agog, trying desperately not to ­fan-girl out.3 But as I sat there watching actual play stars like Ivan van Norman, Ruty Ruttenberg, and Satine Phoenix accept the Diana Jones Award that year, I became more than just ­star-struck. The ­aca-fan in me began to think that there was more to the concept of actual play than simply ­binge-watching Critical Role or listening to Acquisitions Incorporated on road trips. This was a phenomena that deserved academic study. This, I thought, needed a book.

Preface (Jones)  3

Notes

1.  And yet, here we are seven years later, and we have the Mercer effect: the “unrealistic expectations of new Dungeons & Dragons players who believe their games will be similar to Critical Role” (Girdwood), so perhaps my initial nervousness about my acting ability wasn’t completely unwarranted. 2. See https://www.dianajonesaward.org/. 3.  Thankfully, this had not been my first GenCon experience. At my first con, it took me three passes to walk up to the Table Titans booth because I couldn’t muster up the courage to talk to the artist, Scott Kurz, who, for several years, was also part of Acquisitions Incorporated. “I’ve seen him on the tv,” I tried explaining to my husband, who wondered where his confident, professorial wife had wandered off to and who this ­puddle-person was next to him.

Introduction From Actually Playing to Actual Play Shelly Jones

We are living in a golden age of tabletop ­role-playing games. Despite persistent stereotypical portrayals of D&D players on network television,1 the ­role-playing game community continues to thrive. The recent resurgence of tabletop ­role-playing games has come about, in part, due to the convergence of participatory culture and gaming. No longer are players hiding away in their parents’ basement. No longer is Dungeons & Dragons erroneously synonymous with the occult, witchcraft, and the Satanic Panic of the ’80s. Instead, players are freely gaming in their homes, in their local board game stores, on virtual tabletop simulators like Roll20, and on live streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live. Curiously, it is this intersection of technology and analog gaming that has transformed tabletop ­role-playing games from a covert act that once labeled someone a “nerd” to a ­multimillion-dollar entertainment industry. As noted by ­MacCallum-Stewart and Trammell, RPGs “demand fan involvement and sharing, and, with the rise of online video sharing (e.g., YouTube) and live streaming of gameplay (e.g., Twitch), they are also easy to consume for spectators” (p. 374). Nowadays, not only are more folks playing tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons than ever before,2 but they’re also watching other people play Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs. 3 Actual play is the live streaming or recording of people playing ­role-playing games to be consumed by others in the form of videos and/or podcasts. Similar to video game “let’s plays,” “actual plays” are a form of “new entertainment phenomenon” (Hope 1) in which people watch other people play games. It is estimated that in 2017 “9 million people watched others play D&D on Twitch, immersing themselves in the world of the game without ever having to pick up a die or cast a spell” (Pilon). Wizards of the Coast, the company that produces Dungeons & Dragons, believes that over 40 5

6  Introduction million people are playing D&D (BusinessWeek). According to one assessment, more than half of the people currently playing Dungeons & Dragons were inspired to play by watching and listening to actual play shows and podcasts (IGN).4 These online streams are not only serving as a kind of entertainment, but they are inspiring a new generation of storytellers. Actual play has become a phenomenon in modern culture. It seems every few weeks there is an article in the Guardian or the New York Times that has to reiterate and reassure their readers: no really, D&D is cool again!5 Seen on shows like Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory, tabletop roleplaying games are not only “having a moment” as one article from 2018 claimed (Hall), but rather are quickly being assimilated into mainstream media. In September 2019 it was announced that FunkoPop! would be creating figures of the characters from both seasons of the actual play Critical Role (Hoffer). As a testament to its nearly mainstream status, celebrities like Stephen Colbert are rolling up characters as a way to nostalgically recreate their childhood experiences.6 Indeed, educators across the world are touting the impact of cooperative storytelling games like D&D on students’ development in imagination, ­problem-solving, and other cognitive function (Bowman 2010, Adams 2013, Gilsdorf 2018). As actual plays have become more popular and created more content, there has been a continued proliferation of the source of that media: namely TRPG content. Indeed, we are seeing ways in which campaign content by players and unofficial game designers is being folded into and brought into the canonical Dungeons & Dragons world. Acquisitions Incorporated, a ­long-time actual play DMed by Wizards of the Coast lead designers, now has its own official Dungeons & Dragons manual. With the help of this new product, players may utilize official rulesets for how to organize a corporate environment in their own campaigns, following the business model and acumen of Omin Dran (Jerry Holkins’ character in Aqc Inc). Similarly, the Critical Role Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting (5e) was published by Green Ronin as a guide for players to create their own campaigns in the world imagined and built by Matthew Mercer. While this text was not published by Wizards of the Coast, by September 2019 Critical Role was brought into the official Dungeons & Dragons canon. In the latest (as of this writing) official adventure by Wizards of the Coast, Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, an NPC (­non-player character) named Arkan appears. This character was created and embodied by Joe Manganiello, who guest starred on Critical Role as this character, wowing fellow players and audiences with his portrayal of the Dragonborn Paladin/Barbarian, as he deceived the party during his ­two-episode appearance. Wizards of the Coast is now capitalizing on the popularity of this character, incorporating him in Descent into Avernus. Within Arkan’s official backstory in this text is a reference to

Introduction (Jones)  7 Exandria, the world in which Critical Role takes place (Hoffer). So while we do not (yet) have official Critical Role products created by Wizards of the Coast, the narrative of the actual play show has affected official Dungeons & Dragons content. This example of transmedia storytelling further reiterates the narrative and financial potential of actual play as a medium and market. The essays in this book explore the historical, ­socio-cultural, psychological, and pedagogical implications of the concept of actual play. While none of the essays in this book are scoring these actual play shows on some grand TRPG grading rubric, we are now at a point where the playing of games like Dungeons & Dragons is a digestible, consumable text for individuals to watch, enjoy, learn from, and, for ­aca-fans like us, to analyze. It should be noted that the majority of the live streams and actual plays mentioned in this book are based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. However, this is in no way meant to disregard or discredit the myriad of indie ­role-playing games, ­one-shots, and actual plays out there. The actual play world is replete with a wide variety of rulesets, editions, and types of play. While the essays here focus specifically on D&D, particularly Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Acquisitions Incorporated, there are thousands of actual plays, videos, and podcasts out there for folks to enjoy. Dungeons & Dragons is not the only gaming system, and I would encourage anyone to look into and support indie ­role-playing game designs and designers. The first section grounds the reader in the fundamental understanding of what the concept of actual play is, how it has evolved over the years, and how it can be understood as a genre unto itself. In Evan Torner’s essay he provides an etymological and ontological study of the term “actual play” and its origins on the seminal Indie tabletop ­role-playing game forum The Forge. His examination provides insight into the ways in which “actual play reports” began as a pathway for game designers to experiment with the system and design of their developments. Torner then contrasts these design analyses with the performative aspects of the current actual play media spectacle. But what is this media that is part game, part narrative, sometimes audio, sometimes ­audio-visual? Some actual play franchises are viewed as a kind of television show, even going so far as to have their own (or several) imdb.com pages (e.g., Critical Role, Acquisitions Incorporated, Acquisitions Incorporated: The “C” Team to name a few). Yet others, such as those specifically created by Wizards of the Coast like Dice, Camera Action and Rivals of Waterdeep, are not showcased on imdb.com and not categorized in the genre of television show. Utilizing mathematical and psychological methodology, Julia J.C. Blau argues that actual play videos should be considered a burgeoning new medium. Her study analyzes actual play video footage and discovers a fractal pattern within the editing structure which indicates that this type of entertainment qualifies as a new medium

8  Introduction altogether. These two essays introduce the reader to the underpinnings of actual play, focusing on ways in which we can understand this gaming phenomenon. The essays in the second section “Audience, Framing and Flow,” each explore that which makes actual play different from simply playing a roleplaying game: the audience. By looking at this new element of gameplay, these authors illuminate the performative aspect of actual play, highlighting how play can transform into something more. Utilizing frame analysis theory and the concept of flow, Robyn Hope analyzes actual plays in order to determine how and why these shows appeal to audiences. She carefully dissects key moments in Critical Role and The Adventure Zone to examine what specific aspects of these shows, and others, transform them from watchable play to entertainment. In his essay, Anthony David Franklin explores the ­ever-blurring roles of observer and participant in relationship to actual play, noticing how the boundaries dividing these roles becomes increasingly less defined. Looking at actual play as a model of communal narrative, Franklin discusses the significance of the observers on actual plays and how the addition of an audience can affect the ludonarrative elements of the game. In the section “‘Your fun is wrong’: Actual Play and Fans,” the authors investigate how digital participatory culture interacts with and potentially affects the content of tabletop ­role-playing games. Focusing on the representation of diversity within the show Critical Role and The Adventure Zone, G.L. van Os analyzes the audience responses to the ways in which these actual plays incorporate diverse characters. Their work highlights the need for balanced and respectful attention to equality within RPGs and Dungeons & Dragons in particular, a product that has had a ­long-fraught relationship with incorporating diversity into their modules.7 Diving into the fandom of Critical Role, the next two essays examine the role of fans on actual plays and the ­s ometimes-fraught relationship between fans and the narrative. Christine Dandrow explores the ways in which the performative framing of actual play affects the fans’ perception of player failure. Her essay highlights the nuances of fan agency in the realm of actual play, emphasizing the tensions inherent in a genre that blends together game mechanics and narrative. In her essay analyzing the ­fan-created spaces such as the Critical Role Fandom wiki, Shelly Jones investigates how actual play fans carefully elide negative representation of their fandom objects by altering the narrative details in their paratexts. These acts of erasure reiterate the toxically positive attitude surrounding the Critters and, though intended to protect the reputation of the show, ultimately function as a kind of gatekeeping of the fandom.

Introduction (Jones)  9 In the final section of the book, “Commodification and Pedagogy: Other Appraoches and Uses of Actual Play,” we find essays dedicated to understanding actual play as something more than mere entertainment. In their study, Mariah E. Marsden and Kelsey Paige Mason examine the phenomenon of actual play through a lens of consumable play by emphasizing the capitalistic opportunities inherent to the larger gaming network. Their analysis focuses on the tensions between play and performance, creation and consumption within several actual play shows, particularly The Adventure Zone and Critical Role. Alex Layne takes a holistic approach to actual plays as she examines the ways in which this immersive and interactive entertainment can serve as a form of pedagogical tool. Exploring the instructional application of actual play shows, Layne argues that this genre of entertainment may be educational for both the audience as well as the players. All of these essays provide key insights into the phenomenon of Dungeons & Dragons actual play, examining not only why these podcasts and livestreams have become popular, but how they contribute to the overall hobby of tabletop ­role-playing games. While there is certainly more to be said about the ­ever-growing body of actual play texts, the essays here add significantly to the ongoing scholarly conversation surrounding Dungeons & Dragons.

Appendix While it would be impossible to include information about every single actual play podcast and stream, it is important to me to acknowledge additional shows out there not referenced in these essays. When creating this edited collection, I noticed that the majority of the proposed essays were dedicated to, what are arguably, the more popular actual play media: Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Acquisitions Incorporated. However, there are many, many other creators and players out there, featuring mainstream and indie ­role-playing game systems alike. Please note that this list is by no means exhaustive and merely scratches the surface of available content. If you are interested in discovering other podcasts, I highly recommend www.rpgcasts.com, a very thorough directory of ­role-playing game shows. In particular, RPG Casts is dedicated to highlighting podcasts created by or featuring marginalized folks. Acquisitions Incorporated https://www.­penny-arcade.com/podcasts/show/ai Starting off as a D&D 4e podcast, this collaboration between Penny Arcade

10  Introduction and Wizards of the Coast quickly became a ­much-beloved actual play. The cast, which has changed over the years, plays live at the PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) shows throughout the year. Acquisitions Incorporated is now officially part of the world of Dungeons & Dragons with a campaign book featuring how to franchise on adventuring. Acquisitions Incorporated: The “C” Team https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZRIC6PMEFkWSAyAcwsiqCIbKXe 9lMoF A ­spin-off of the Acquisitions Incorporated, this weekly actual play livestream and podcast is DMed by Jerry Holkins, a player in the original series. This group also features live shows at various PAX events. The Adventure Zone https://www.themcelroy.family/theadventurezone Originating as a ­one-off of the My Brother, My Brother, and Me podcast, The Adventure Zone quickly garnered critical acclaim as its own podcast on the Maximum Fun network. The Adventure Zone now features multiple campaigns and different tabletop RPG systems including D&D, the FATE system, the Monster of the Week system, the Urban Shadows system and more. Bombarded https://bombardedcast.com/ A combination of actual play and concert, this podcast features musicians playing bards in various Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. Critical Role https://critrole.com/ Arguably the most popular actual play, Critical Role started off as a livestreamed show through the Geek and Sundry channel. Their two larger campaigns are based off of Dungeons & Dragons, but they often produce ­one-shots that showcase indie RPGs such as the ­much-beloved Honey Heist, a free, ­one-page RPG created by Grant Howitt. D&D Live 2020: Roll with Advantage https://dnd.wizards.com/dndlive2020 A special ­three-day event hosted by Wizards of the Coast featuring multiple live streamed sessions. This event served as a promotion for the newest campaign adventure book, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden, as well as a fundraiser to support the charity Red Nose Day Fund. D&D Presents https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/­dd-presents A newer official Wizards of the Coast actual play show, D&D Presents: T.O.R.C.H. was announced in the Fall of 2019, with a planned debut in Spring 2020. The ­C ovid-19 pandemic seems to have affected the premiere of this show, which was to feature ­long-time professional DM, Chris Perkins. D20 Dames https://d20dames.com/ This ­bi-weekly podcast features an ­a ll-woman cast playing Dungeons &

Introduction (Jones)  11 Dragons. In their three seasons of content, they frequently have special guest stars on their episodes. This show is also very conscientious about providing trigger warnings regarding the content of their episodes. D20 Live https://www.youtube.com/user/D20Live First created in 2012, D20 Live is a livestream show out of Canada that features videos about how to DM, live tutorials of on various ­role-playing game systems (e.g., Fate, Paranoia, Shadowrun, etc.), and various campaigns (e.g., Dark Sun, Legend of Five Rings, etc.). Dark and Dicey https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/­dark-dicey DMed by Kaiji Tang, this ­short-lived actual play told the story of a group of shipwrecked villains who encounter a tyrannical Mageocracy on an island nation. The ­twenty-two episodes can be found on youtube.com and Twitch. Dice, Camera, Action https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfS8QgUdeGYo8F3RPUQ2Wsi2mZLP caU6X DMed by the prolific Chris Perkins, Dice, Camera, Action was a muchbeloved actual play podcast that lasted for four seasons. Another official Wizards of the Coast product, this show featured live ­play-throughs of Dungeons & Dragons campaign books (e.g., Curse of Strahd, Storm King’s Thunder, etc.). DiceStormers https://www.youtube.com/channel/­UCiHMbAFXhVslHs0wPd8-JrA Created in 2011, DiceStormers is an actual play show that varies its campaign materials. They have played systems such as Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun, and more. They also feature “how to” videos for budding DMs to learn how to run various campaigns as well as videos on generating characters for players. Dimension 20 https://www.youtube.com/channel/­UCC8zWIx8aBQme-x1nX9iZ0A A product of the internet comedy company College Humor, Dimension 20 features six campaigns DMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan with rotating cast members. With over 120,000 subscribers on YouTube, this show is a very popular actual play. Dragon Friends https://thedragonfriends.com/ An Australian comedy podcast, Dragon Friends has six seasons of content. Many of their episodes are performed as comedy shows before a live audience (though this format was unfortunately cancelled due to the ­Covid-19 pandemic). Dungeon Dome https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oneshotpodcast/­dungeon-dome-season-1 Combining Dungeons & Dragons with professional wrestling, Dungeon Dome is an actual play show created by James D’Amato of One Shot podcast fame. A successful Kickstarter in 2018 allowed for the creation of 15 episodes of the livestreamed show that can be found on YouTube.

12  Introduction Dungeon Drunks https://www.dungeondrunks.com/ Dungeon Drunks is a weekly actual play podcast using the Dungeons & Dragons system. Initiated by a convention charity game, this group frequently plays in order to raise money for Extra Life, a fundraiser that emphasizes the power of play for children in need. Dungeons & Daddies https://dungeonsanddaddies.com/ On the surface, it is what it says: dads playing Dungeons & Dragons. Beneath that surface, however, are five professional writers and actors who make content for their living, in addition to playing D&D. The show began in January 2019 and still is being produced as of this writing. Encounter Party! https://encounterparty.com/ Using Dungeons & Dragons as their ruleset, Encounter Party! is a podcast that features five professional actors. They have two seasons, Living in Fantasy and a run through of Ravnica, and are currently producing a third campaign, Islabrea. Encounter Roleplay https://www.youtube.com/c/EncounterRoleplay/featured A U.K.-based actual play livestream, Encounter Roleplay was created in 2015. They feature a variety of gaming systems including Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, Alien, Zweihander, Masks, Call of Cthulhu and more. The End of Time and Other Bothers https://albasalix.com/­other-bothers/ This ­bi-weekly actual play podcast features the Dungeon World roleplaying system. They emphasize that in the content of their shows, no animals are harmed. In addition to links to their podcast and patreon page, their website features links to their character sheets, allowing listeners to immerse themselves further into their content. Fandible https://fandible.com/ Featuring many indie ­role-playing games (e.g., Ten Candles, Monsterhearts, Dread, Masks, Blades in the Dark, etc.), Fandible has a little something for everyone and is a great choice of podcast for those who want to see many different flavors of RPGs. They feature both ­one-shot and campaigns and produce content weekly. A Fist Full of Dice https://www.youtube.com/c/aFistfulofDice/ Started in 2012 by Matt Click, this actual play livestream features episodes with multiple game systems including Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and more. This project also features ­how-to videos with tips and advice for DMs and players alike.

Introduction (Jones)  13 Force Grey https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/­force-grey-giant-hunters A collaboration between Wizards of the Coast and The Nerdist, Force Grey was a ­web-series created to promote new D&D campaign books (e.g., Storm King’s Thunder and Tomb of Annihilation). DMed by Matthew Mercer (Critical Role), the cast featured several famous actors including Joe Manganiello, Ashley Johnson, Chris Hardwick, Deborah Ann Woll, and more. Ghostpuncher Corps https://ghostpuncher.net/corps/ Set in the world of Ghostpuncher, this actual play podcast features a diverse cast who play hunters gathering entities that have escaped Hell. Emphasizing accessibility, their website features transcripts of their episodes in addition to audio links. Girls, Guts, Glory https://www.girlsgutsgloryrpg.com/ An ­a ll-woman cast, this weekly livestream features friends playing Dungeons & Dragons in costume. If you are interested in cosplay or just want to see beautiful costumes and excellent narratives, this livestream is a must. Glass Cannon https://glasscannonnetwork.com/ An official podcast of Paizo, the company that creates the Pathfinder RPG system, Glass Cannon provides weekly content. Highly regarded, this podcast offers shorter episodes averaging between ­forty-five and ninety minutes. Godsfall https://godsfall.simplecast.com/ Combining Dungeons & Dragons 5e with some homebrew elements, Godsfall began in 2015. In addition to weekly content, the creator, Aram Vartian, has produced two successful Kickstarters to publish the Godsfall worldbook and a campaign book, Rise of the Demigods. Greetings Adventurers (previously known as Drunks and Dragons) https://geeklyinc.com/tag/­greetings-adventurers/ With nearly four hundred episodes created (as of this writing), this weekly podcast is one of longest lasting. Begun in 2012, Greetings Adventurers is an ­award-winning podcast using the Dungeons & Dragons RPG system. Happy Jacks RPG http://www.happyjacks.org/ Started in 2012, this actual play and advice show provides a wide variety of content featuring many different RPG systems. Featuring a diverse cast, Happy Jacks emphasizes being approachable and accessible to new and veteran players alike. HarmonQuest https://vrv.co/series/GRNQZ129R/HarmonQuest What began as a bit in a ­stand-up comedy act by Dan Harmon, creator of Community and Rick and Morty, has developed into a ­multi-season adult

14  Introduction cartoon. The ­stand-up episodes can be found on the Harmontown D&D YouTube channel. HarmonQuest, the tv show, was on the VRV network and can now be found on Amazon Prime Video. Heart Beats https://www.heartbeatspodcast.com/ Using a homebrewed version of the Ryuutama RPG system, Heart Beats began in 2018. This show resists the typical epic fantasy and instead focuses on the everyday lives of folks living in a fantasy realm. Heroes of the Vale https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/­heroes-vale Another Wizards of the Coast creation, this actual play livestream lasted 35 episodes and was DMed by Todd Kenreck, Content Director for D&D Beyond. The episodes can be found on the D&D Beyond YouTube channel. High Rollers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3qtZRMtWNaD2Q96STxgOrA DMed by Mark Hulmes, High Rollers is an actual play livestream out of the UK that uses the Dungeons & Dragons system. To date, this is the largest RPG stream in Europe and boasts over 80,000 subscribers on YouTube. Join the Party https://www.jointhepartypod.com/ This ­bi-weekly podcast began in 2017 and has multiple campaigns as well as ­one-shot episodes featuring indie RPGs. With an emphasis on worldbuilding and helping new gamers, Join the Party includes ­pre-game episodes to highlight the creative process behind the gaming sessions. Maze Arcana https://www.youtube.com/channel/­UC6N3-Mjh3VdU0lOU7sBewAA ­C o-created by Satine Phoenix and Ruty Rutenberg, Maze Arcana was another actual play livestream sponsored by Wizards of the Coast. The livestream included multiple campaigns such as the Inkwell Society set in Eberron, the ­all-woman gaming group of Sirens of the Realm, as well as the Theogony of Kairos campaign DMed by B. Dave Walters. Missclicks https://wiki.roll20.net/Misscliks Missclicks began with the intention of being an online community dedicated to increasing representation of women within gaming. Acting as advocates and role models, Missclicks created multiple series and campaigns featuring ­all-woman and diverse casts. Nerd Poker https://nerdpokerpod.com/ Featuring actor Brian Posehn and friends, Nerd Poker began as a home game that eventually was recorded starting in 2012, with a reboot in 2016. This weekly podcast uses the Dungeons & Dragons RPG system and has several campaigns worth of material online.

Introduction (Jones)  15 Not Another D&D Podcast https://www.naddpod.com/ With over a hundred episodes and a successful Patreon, Not Another D&D Podcast is a weekly show in which DM (Direct Messenger) Brian Murphy (also in the cast of Dimension 20) runs the players, affectionately known as the Band of Boobs, through adventures in the realm of Bahumia. One Shot Podcast http://oneshotpodcast.com/ A network of gamers and designers, One Shot Podcast features monthly games with rotating casts. Their goal is to explore and showcase many different types of ­role-playing games, emphasizing indie games and diverse designers. Rivals of Waterdeep http://www.rivalsofwaterdeep.com/ An official Wizards of the Coast actual play livestream, Rivals of Waterdeep showcases a diverse cast of players including Tanya DePass of #INeedDiverseGames, Brandon Stennis, Shareef Jackson, Masood Haque, and Latia Bryant among others. In addition to six seasons of campaign content, their episodes also include conversations about diversity in gaming and the occasional one shot. Stream of Annihilation https://dnd.wizards.com/streamofannihilation A promotional event to showcase the publication of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign guide Tomb of Annihilation, this two day stream included ­one-shot games by many of the gaming groups included on this list such as Dice, Camera, Action, Acquisitions Incorporated: The “C” Team, Girls, Guts, Glory and more. Stream of Many Eyes https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/some Another promotional event by Wizards of the Coast, this ­three-day event showcased the publication of the Dungeons & Dragons book Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. The stream included ­one-shot games by members from several actual play media including Critical Role, Force Grey, and High Rollers. Titansgrave https://titansgraverpg.com/ GMed by Wil Wheaton, this ­ten-episode actual play show was a product of Geek and Sundry. A science fantasy setting mixing magic with technology, a Titansgrave companion book using the Fantasy AGE RPG is available through Green Ronin Publishing. 20 Sided Stories https://www.20sidedstories.com/ A combination of comedy and ­role-playing game, this podcast features a variety of tabletop RPG systems and guarantees a complete arc within 16 episodes or less. Very Random Encounters https://vre.show/ Produced weekly, this actual play podcast showcases different ­role-playing

16  Introduction systems in both campaign and ­one-shot episodes. Some of the RPGs they have played include Dungeons & Dragons, Tales from the Loop, Monster of the Week, Fiasco, One Last Job and more. Unlike many shows, Very Random Encounters keep their episodes to a manageable 30 to 45 minutes in length. You Meet in a Tavern https://youmeetinatavern.podbean.com/ A ­bi-weekly Dungeons & Dragons 5e podcast, You Meet in a Tavern boasts nearly a hundred episodes of content. Their second season, VOID, is set in a dystopian Pokémon world.

Notes

1.  A 2019 SNL skit portraying D&D players as “pocket protector clad nerds from the 80s” (@nichterhorst 4/8/2019) led to a battle cry from the Internet to share #dndselfie—photos of what D&D players really look like. Hint: it’s everyone. 2.  See Hall 2017. 3.  See Hall 2018. 4.  Significantly, these numbers only reflect the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons specifically, and not all ­role-playing games out there. There are myriad indie ­role-playing games that folks are also playing, which are not included in statistics or studies like these. According to a recent study conducted by the Orr Group Industry examining games played on Roll20. net, a virtual tabletop simulator, a little more than half of the games played are Dungeons & Dragons (Hall 2019). 5.  See Alimurung, Armstrong, Gilsdorf, Sjoberg, and Stuart among many others. 6.  See the Red Nose Day video from 2019. 7.  See Jones (2016), Trammel (2016, 2019), and Stenros and Tanja Sihvonen (2016) for more on this topic.

References

Acquisitions Incorporated. (2008, May 30). Acquisitions Incorporated: Penny Arcade/ PVP [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.­acq-inc.com/portfolio/details/­pennyarcade-pvp-s1-ep1. Adams, A. (2013). Needs met through ­role-playing games: A fantasy theme analysis of Dungeons & Dragons. Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research, 12(6), 69–86. Retrieved from https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/kaleidoscope/vol12/iss1/6/. Alimurung, G. (2019, April 18). How Dungeons & Dragons somehow became more popular than ever. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/ entertainment/­h ow-dungeons-and-dragons-somehow-became-more-popular-thanever/2019/04/18/­fc226f56–​5f8f-11e9–​9412-daf3d2e67c6d_story.html. Armstrong, N. (2019, July 13). No more nerds: How Dungeons & Dragons finally became cool. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jul/13/­no-morenerds-how-dungeons-dragons-became-cool-stranger-things-game-of-thrones. Bowman, S. (2010). The functions of ­role-playing games: How participants create community, solve problems and explore identity. McFarland. BusinessWeek. (2019, July 8). Sales of the fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons were up 41% in 2017 from the year before and soared another 52% in 2018, the game’s biggest sales year yet. According to Wizards of the Coast, an estimated 40 million people play the game annually https://bloom.bg/2NHaIxF [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/bw/stat us/1148275983235108864?lang=en.

Introduction (Jones)  17 Critical Role. (2019, May 23). Stephen Colbert’s D&D Adventure with Matthew Mercer (Red Nose Day 2019). [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3658C2 y4LlA. Critical Role. (2019, October 4). We’ve donated our profits from our sponsorships this week to @FarmwrkrJustice, an organization that works to improve the lives of farmworkers. If you’re able to, please consider a donation and learn more about their work: http:// farmworkerjustice.org