Dungeons and Dragons x Ludology

Do you play D&D?

Do you have a friend who does, but you don't totally *get* what it is?

Did you see the recent film Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and think "wow, that role playing game went MAINSTREAM!?"

Then this episode is sure to satisfy your curiosity about this zeitgeisty game! Hannah, who herself plays D&D, leads Marcelle through a history of the tabletop role-playing game created by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, tracing its origins all the way to Dungeons & Dragons 5E (the most recent edition). They then use ludology, the study of games and gaming, to understand the unique role D&D has at the intersection of gaming and narrative. And then, as always, the episode is wrapped up with a beautifully tied together thesis (from Hannah) about the transformation, or rather, realization of the game through the radical acts of people playing it.