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).

José 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.

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