Written, produced, narrated, edited, & transcribed by Kasey Roper.
This 17 minute podcast covers the fandoms and community surrounding the table top role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It incorporates media studies theory, including the works of Henry Jenkins and Benjamin Woo.
In case the above audio file does not work, please feel free to listen to the original podcast audio, first published by the Department of Media Studies at University of Virginia.
Full Transcript for “A Podcast on Fandoms”:
[“Tavern Song 5” music fade in]
Narrator/Host Kasey Roper: Fandoms are everywhere. From video games to book series, even TV shows and singer/songwriters—all of them and more have fandoms surrounding them. At their core, fandoms are communities: groups of people joined by a common interest, geography, identity, & more.
Reese Willis: In my opinion, that’s the point of a community: to engage with other human beings in a way that is meaningful & fulfilling.
Narrator: Welcome to The Community, the podcast where we dive into how communities are formed. I’m your host, Kasey Roper.
[music fade]
Narrator: Today, our focus is on communities surrounding the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, often referred to by its well-known acronym D&D. To get an understanding of how the D&D community has formed, we talked with several D&D players, many of whom are in the same ongoing campaign called Adventure School. To be clear, today we’re focusing on a community that has evolved around a single D&D campaign, as well as the broader D&D community online & globally. Before we dive into D&D communities specifically, we have to understand what community is.
[music break]
Narrator: In the academic sphere, Benedict Anderson furthered understandings of communities and their inner workings.” He introduced the term imagined communities, which refers to groups of people who “imagine” themselves to be connected despite the fact that they never meet in person. Rather than a personal connection, what binds these groups of people is a sense of shared ideology, shared geography, and shared values (Anderson, p. 6). Anderson used this understanding to explain how nations and their citizens feel united & have a sense of nationalism even when they are geographically disparate.
[music fade in & Henry Jenkins interview clip with original music background]
Narrator: Henry Jenkins expanded on this idea, applying it to media fandoms.
Henry Jenkins: Participatory culture describes a world where everyone participates, that where we take media in our own hands, where we have the capacity, often, to produce media, share media. I trace participatory culture back to the middle of 19th century, when there was the Torie printing press movement and high school aged kids were producing publications, hand-laying type down, and sending them across a national network. So the Amateur Press Association in the 19th century paved the way for science fiction fandom […] down to the rise of digital media. So there’s a whole trajectory of examples where communities began to produce media to share ideas among themselves and where they follow some of the practices we might associate with a folk culture. In a folk culture, media is produced not to make money. People produce media to share it with each other. If we think about media on the internet, it does many of those things. The fan communities I’ve spent much of my career studying write stories not ‘cause they wanna get in the industry or because they wanna make money, but because they love telling stories, & they wanna tell stories to each other.
[music fade out & shift to “Tavern Song 3”]
Reese Willis: D&D is at its core collaborative storytelling.
Cliff Montgomery: ‘Cause it’s not just the DM who’s making the story, it’s everyone who’s engaging with the situations & roleplaying with each other.
Reese Willis: It’s creating something with people who are both like & dislike you & then finding the common threads between you as a result of that.
Cliff Montgomery: It requires teamwork & it’s really awesome to see how that teamwork produces a story.
Katie Dezern: My friend argued that D&D was the best form of storytelling because it was collaborative & like you create it as you go & I’m inclined to agree.
[music fade]
Narrator: Playing D&D also creates incredible bonds between people, both in character and out of character.
Reese Willis: Out of character is almost always easier than in character because out of character, we are all very aware of the fact that we all need or want this group to work. So, as a result we’re all going into it with a positive attitude of let’s build something together.
[music fade & shift to “Tavern Song 15”]
Morgan Blackwelder: Because of the nature of the roleplaying side of D&D & how invested specifically we have all gotten into our character & in the campaign, it’s caused us to grow a lot closer as friends over the years, using this as the catalyst for a lot of that.
Cliff Montgomery: Most of the people I play D&D with have been friends of friends and it has been through D&D that I have gotten to bond with them & have a shared experience.
Katie Dezern: Once COVID hit & we started playing online, and people would just send random messages about thoughts they had about the campaign & I was like, “Oh wait, can I do that? Can I send the stupid thought I had about my character to the DM?”
Morgan Blackwelder: Recently, we have gotten a hold of creating meme templates to make memes related to the party and the campaign, which has been an incredibly fun time because it’s a hilarious exercise in looking at characters and also just really fun for everyone involved. [laughs] We did the cinnamon roll meme. [laughs] My character actually fit in “looks like a cinnamon roll,
[music fade & shift to “Tavern Song 13”]
Morgan Blackwelder: but could actually kill you.”
Narrator: What these D&D players are doing is building their community. Media & Fan Studies scholar Benjamin Woo argues that what matters most in community building is what people tell themselves and others about their group, as well as how people actively engage in forming bonds with each other. As he puts it: “community is a matter of narrative, one that people tell one another [… and] of community-making” (Woo, emphasis original). By creating Discord servers, sending random character thoughts, & sharing memes, these players are actively forming & maintaining bonds with each other & the rest of their community. I asked players what else they do to engage with the D&D community.
Reese Willis: I also will, for example, get commissions of the characters that I play. So, I will find an artist on the internet who’s willing to draw things to certain specifications & commission them to draw a picture of my D&D character, that sort of thing, & then send it to all of my friends like, “Look at my child, they’re beautiful!” which is always a lot of fun. [laughs]
Cliff Montgomery: I draw my characters a whole bunch [laughs] & I have shared those artworks online through my social media for other people to engage with and also, like, tagged them with a little description of their character. And a lot of people have, like, connected to, like, Zafer, Nheval, and those characters that’s always a lot of fun to get to share.
Katie Dezern: I’ve actually cosplayed Zefna a whole bunch and done a lot of Tik Toks as her because I’m big nerd and costuming is my passion.
Morgan Blackwelder: After a silly conversation with my DM—which she never expected me to take seriously, but I decided to run with it—has ended up with me writing a bit of a sitcom based on our campaign, set about 5 years in future wherein the party is kind of forced to adopt a child. And it has proved not only an incredible fun time that has gotten everyone to engage with it and help me write their character’s lines, but is a really fun thing for us to go through and read.
Reese Willis: I am very big on writing, so a lot of times I will write stories about my own Dungeons & Dragons campaigns or about my characters & publish those to my friends.
[music break & fade]
Narrator: Clearly, these D&D players are actively making their own community & even sharing their content amongst friends or online. As Henry Jenkins described, this behavior is an example of both participatory and folk culture, since these players are not trying to make money. Rather, they simply want to the share stories and experiences from the hobby they love so much & invest so much time into. These players consume media of the same nature—Tik Toks of stories from adventures or ideas for campaigns or even cosplays—for the same reason that they share their own content: so that others can engage with it and relate to it.
[music fade & shift to “Constellation”]
Reese Willis: In my opinion, that’s the point of a community: is to engage with other human beings in a way that is meaningful and fulfilling. And the communities that we’re discussing today are just ones that specifically pop up around this particular game, as opposed to, you know—there’s school communities where the only reason that you have been brought together is because you happen to attend the same school or church communities where you happen to share the same faith and live in a similar area. This is, [in] many ways, very similar to that: you share this interest & you want to talk to people about it and engage in these activities with other human beings. So, it’s really… It’s-it’s all about connection & this is a connection you can have with people you’ve never met in real life or people you have met in real life and can’t see. Gosh knows we’re all—we’re all there right now.
[music break & fade]
Narrator: As Benjamin Woo describes, communities are characterized by sharing. They can share spaces, like geography; activities, such as D&D; goals, such as activism; or experiences, which are especially salient for people with marginalized identities,
[music fade & shift]
Narrator: such as the LGBTQ+ community as well as the disability community. I asked players how D&D has impacted and shaped their identities.
Cliff Montgomery: Roleplaying and creating things, you have to kind of understand the other person and their character. And usually when we make characters, we kind of put a piece of ourselves in those characters.
Katie Dezern: To create my baby, Zefna Ashblade—not only was she my first character, but like she-she’s more of a self-insert than most of my characters are, so she just kinda became me, with a louder mouth and more confidence.
Cliff Montgomery: I created a character and this character’s name was Cliff and he was transmasc and I really connected with him. So much so that I stole his name [laughs] because his name was too good and I was like, “Well, that’s mine now.” It’s not that that part of me wasn’t there before, but roleplaying allowed me to explore that in, like, kind of, like a safe, a safe space because it’s really hard to be like, “Hey, I’m gonna go by this name now!” But you could be like, “I’m gonna play a character with this name” and in D&D you usually refer to yourself as the character, so it’s very much like putting on a costume.
Katie Dezern: You know how people call D&D, like, poor man’s therapy? I think I’m inclined to agree. Zefna has this problem where she would go off & do things to protect the people around her. And she would not tell them about them. The party, some of them were more worried because they care about her & I’m like, “Oh… oh, heck.” People care about her, it’s not just they’re mad, and that was something that I was like, “Oh, Katie doesn’t have to put everyone else before herself, just like Zefna doesn’t have to.”
Morgan Blackwelder: It’s actually helped me be more flexible in a lot of ways. I’m not very good with speaking. I’m not very good at thinking on my feet. Having to roleplay and act as a different character in front of people and think up words in scenarios can be really challenging for me. And through my exposure to D&D, it has definitely helped me do that, but it’s also helped me learn & grow as a friend.
[music fade & shift to “Big Feelings”]
Narrator: Roleplaying is an important part of identity exploration & growth for these players.
Cliff Montgomery: I think in all the campaigns I’m in, like, all of us or most of us are queer in some way or at least an ally. And we play gay characters or characters that are just anywhere on identity or sexuality spectrum, and D&D is a good place to explore your identity, like your own personal gender and sexuality.
Narrator: Equally important is representation in their favorite D&D podcasts, such as Critical Role, Dimension 20, & Calysto Six.
Reese Willis: My second favorite RPG podcast is Calysto Six, that one is about Cyberpunk superheroes.
[music fade & shift to “Flicker and Burn”]
Reese Willis: It’s not for everybody & I understand why it’s not for everybody—it’s got a very slow pace. But it feels like you stuck a bunch of Mary Sues in one narrative and then put them all together, which essentially means they’re all on the same playing field. So, it’s a lot of, “Well this shouldn’t be possible, but we’re doing it anyway!” There’s one specific character named Lacy who is in a wheelchair, and they are arguably the strongest person on the superhero team. This story is something that, if not for RPG streaming shows and podcasts and that kind of thing, I don’t think it would’ve been told. But the fact that it is told, it’s wonderful & it means the world to me.
[music fade & shift to “Magpie”]
Reese Willis: I am also physically disabled. Um, it’s not the same disability, but I have spent—I’ve spent most of my life having to 1. come to terms with the fact that I can call myself disabled when my disability is invisible to most people. But also, um… I spent a lot of my childhood being afraid that I wasn’t going to live past 35. And that I wouldn’t have, um, that I wouldn’t time to do everything I wanted to do and that sort of thing. But being able to see the narrative of someone who’s like me succeeding and doing things beyond the wildest dreams of any normal human being is, like I said, it’s hopeful. It makes me, um… it makes me believe that I could change the world in some small way. And I think that’s a really important message for a lot of people to hear.
[music fade & shift to “Tavern Song 4”]
Narrator: Dungeons & Dragons is more than just a game. To some people, it’s the world, because it provides a safe space for them not only to be themselves, but to explore their identities—even when facing themselves & their emotions is scarier than fighting six Mindflayers at once. Especially for players who have been in long-running campaigns, some of which have been running for several years, their characters really become a part of them, even more so than they already were. And while they aren’t exactly the same people, D&D characters can hold a mirror up to players, showing them things about themselves they may never have realized without playing D&D. This classic roleplaying game also has a robust, ever-growing community where players from all over the world can connect—which, after all, is what community is all about.
[music break & fade]
Reese Willis: If anyone listening to this has been wondering if D&D is something they should try—it’s absolutely something you should try. Even if it ends up not being your thing, there is no world in which you will not come out a better person for having given it a shot. D&D is wonderful, and it is a good experience and even if you try it once and decide it’s not for you, I guarantee you’re still going to get something out of. And I’m also pretty sure … you’re going to like it.
[music fade out]
Bibliography
Anderson, Benedict Richard O’Gorman. “Introduction.” Introduction. In Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, 1–7. London: Verso, 2016.
“Big Feelings.” Sound of Picture. Podington Bear, n.d. https://www.soundofpicture.com/.
“Constellation.” Sound of Picture. Podington Bear, n.d. https://www.soundofpicture.com/.
“Flicker and Burn.” Sound of Picture. Podington Bear, n.d. https://www.soundofpicture.com/.
Henry Jenkins on Participatory Culture (Big Thinkers Series). YouTube. YouTube, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gPm-c1wRsQ.
Jenkins, Henry. “Chapter 1: ‘Get a Life!” Fans, Poachers, Nomads.” Essay. In Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, 9–49. London: Routledge, 2013.
“Magpie.” Sound of Picture. Podington Bear, n.d. https://www.soundofpicture.com/.
Roper, Kasey, and Cliff Montgomery. Personal Interview with Cliff Montgomery. Personal, April 18, 2021.
Roper, Kasey, and Katie Dezern. Personal Interview with Katie Dezern W. Personal, April 18, 2021.
Roper, Kasey, and Morgan Blackwelder. Personal Interview with Morgan Blackwelder. Personal, April 15, 2021.
Roper, Kasey, and Reese Willis. Personal Interview with Reese Willis. Personal, April 16, 2021.
TAVERN MUSIC – Fantasy Medieval Music No Copyright – EPIC FOLK CELTIC MUSIC NO COPYRIGHT. YouTube. Unwind Station – No Copyright Music, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1BO2Y8RI7A.
Woo, Benjamin. “Chapter 5: Making Communities from Mass Culture.” Essay. In Getting a Life: The Social Worlds of Geek Culture. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018.
Kasey Roper 