All the Fanfare
All the Fanfare
50 Years of Dungeons & Dragons
8
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50 Years of Dungeons & Dragons

Episode 2: What D&D is and why it's my favorite hobby
8

Read to the bottom for a poll and a bevy of free reads.

Longtime readers know I’m a D&D aficionado from way back. Since I started this newsletter, the only things I’ve probably talked about more than D&D is Star Wars and Timothy Olyphant.1

There’s a real risk of getting too inside baseball with something like this. And the people interested in this episode probably at least have an idea of what D&D is, if they aren’t players themselves. I tried to walk a middle ground by keeping discussion of the game at a high level, and delving into specifics in more relatable areas.

And, as always, I tried to keep it fun.

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This Episode Covers

  • Where does D&D fall on the scale of nerdy activities?

  • A super brief and probably slightly inaccurate history of D&D.

  • How the game is played.

    • What a Dungeon Master does (hint: it doesn’t involve whips or gimp suits).

    • What the other players do (hint: it typically involves derailing whatever the Dungeon Master’s plan is).

  • Dungeons & Dragons & Me

    • My favorite classes.

    • How I started during the era in which D&D got you beat up.

  • The legacy of D&D.

  • The 4 types of D&D players.

Further Reading & Related Stories

I have written about D&D. Like, a lot. Here’s a cornucopia of nerdish delights.

Paid Reads

The Absolutely True Story of How Dungeons & Dragons Saved My Life

This is a companion article to the podcast, going into a lot of detail about how and why I got into D&D. It’s deeply personal, and though I try to keep it light, the subject matter gets a bit heavy.

Free Reads

Epilogue

If you’ve played D&D before, I’d love to hear about it!

I’m totally serious. Leave a comment!

1

Moneyball is creeping up these rankings.

8 Comments
All the Fanfare
All the Fanfare
An irreverent celebration of pop culture. Funny asides and probably overly serious analysis on movies, TV shows, and video games. Mainly focusing on stuff from the 1980s - 2010s. New episodes every week.
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Eric Pierce