50 Years of Dungeons & Dragons Explained!

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Dungeons & Dragons, the legendary tabletop role-playing game featuring elves, dwarves, wizards, fighters, and legions of nerds is currently observing… its 50th anniversary! Really, no Really!
Over the five decades, the game has had its fair share of infamy with stories of “Satanic panic” and more recently, a resurgence after being featured on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” But what is this game really about? And how can it be more popular than ever after 5 decades?
Jason and Peter, after much needling from the self -identified nerds on their production staff (and Jason’s son who is a proud Dungeon Master) bravely walked into the never-known realms of D&D with one of the game’s quintessential experts... Jon Peterson, who studies the history of games, especially tabletop role-playing games and wargames. His first book has just been re-released as “Playing at the World, 2E, Volume 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons” which has been called "the first serious history of the development of Dungeons & Dragons" by the Village Voice.
IN THIS EPISODE:
A painless and fun history of Role-Playing Games.
D&D is an improvisational-collaborative- storytelling experience.
What’s a Dungeon Master and does it involve black latex, mouth gags and whips?
What’s the point of a game with no “winning”?
Breaking down D&D to understand its appeal.
Wait… watching other people livestream D&D is a multimillion-dollar thing?
Why D&D has become popular in prisons, on death row and in solitary confinement?
Is D&D a game or a lifestyle choice?
D&D’s ongoing controversies.
How should a novice approach starting to play D&D?
How A.I. and other technology will affect the future of D&D.
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[@VictorDiGiovanni]

I'm always baffled when ACTORS can't wrap their brains around role playing.

[@queenannsrevenge100]

“Writer’s Room + Improv = role-playing games” isn’t a difficult concept. Glad to see them involving Jon Peterson!

[@colinrussell2017]

Yeah it seems ironic, but I think difference is that actors follow a script while roleplaying is about escaping into a character and making your own choices.

[@VictorDiGiovanni]

@@colinrussell2017 Yeah, but acting is also improvising, and playing off the energy or unexpected things other actors say or do. I don't know any actors who only strictly read words on a page. Actors embrace a character and BECOME that character. Daniel Day-Lewis is notorious for fully becoming his characters on or off set during the duration of a production. I think the disconnect is that Jason Alexander and the other guy come from that generation and culture where THOSE things were just weird and didn't make sense. "Games" were things you played as a kid and weren't for serious adults, so a role playing "game" is just silly pretending like children do, but has a layer of wweeeirrd rules that let childish adults feel like they are doing something not as childish. It's just such an archaic and myopic understanding of this entire genre that makes me retroactively question their other conclusions.

[@AceRa-i7n]

Right 💯

[@crallsfickle2994]

The mocking people who dress up seemed bizarre too

[@mtheoryx83]

We need to get these two guys into a game. Immeditely.

[@queenannsrevenge100]

When Deborah Ann Will was on John Berenthal’s podcast, her less than 10 minute explanation of D&D to him was fantastic, and seemed to hook him immediately. She took him through what basically amounted to a 5-minute game session.

[@dansunder7minutebeerreview271]

This is how I see the game, it's like you and 3-5 of your friends sit down and write an episode of a TV series together every week, all of you are the characters in the series, except the GM is like the head writer or producer....and that's why it is so popular. It lets people be the star in their own story, and they make it themselves instead of having it presented to them.

[@L337P1R4735]

This was fun to watch until the end when you suddenly felt the need to shit on it for seemingly no reason

[@ferretbop99]

Yeah really rich seeing a creative outlet and hobby get shit on by fellow creatives. They need to get their heads out their asses

[@melindarhodebeck5511]

As others have said, this should be a relatively easy thing to explain to theater people. It's improv, telling a TV episode each week you sit down. Each and every game will be different, even if set in exactly the same world. Each player has a character and specific ideas of who they are. Once it morphed from a fantasy war game into a role playing game, it's all about the character. Peter's reaction to the guy with the map in the tavern is perfectly legit. And if the players all just sit around the tavern for awhile, the DM is going to have someone else get wildly wealthy with the coins they found. Or else just have a bunch of monsters attack the tavern and push the issue. Mainly, each player is playing a character in a long running improv game. The DM knows the sort of story they want to lead, but they also have to follow along with where the players want to go in the world they are creating together. The goal of each player - to tell a fun story. The goal of the characters will vary depending on who they are.

[@deejaytee]

A couple of things I'd like to clarify. First, I don't think it was emphasized enough how much the game is about telling and experiencing a story, not winning. I don't think the guest really emphasized this enough. Second, I was absolutely shocked that the guest didn't mention that almost right from the start the hobby exploded into different games, different genres, different worlds to the point there are THOUSANDS of different games now. It kind of felt like a D&D/Hasbro hype session.

[@michaelconnor1542]

Because this guy either works for wotc or is a shill for wotc. I quickly lost interest the moment I heard him speak and what he had done.

[@imuz8644]

I would love to see you guys playing a game of D&D. It is one of the most enjoyable, collaborative and creative experiences you can have.

[@TheMarshallProject]

thank you for discussing how folks play D&D in prisons and our former reporter Keri Blakinger's article on this!

[@SlurpeeE]

Great episode. I bet Jason would be a fun rogue to have in your party.

[@EdPalmatier]

This was actually a great episode. Very well put together and informative.

[@Vamirez]

Tbf the 80s versions of the game already and clearly included women as equal heroes in the art as well as in the text/rules.

[@queenannsrevenge100]

While this is true in some art (the classic Morgan Ironwolf from Basic D&D back in 1981) it was also true that there was a LOT of “cheesecake” art, chain mail bikinis, women who needed rescuing but no men needing rescuing, naked succubi but not equally naked male demons, etc. mixed in along with the more equal depictions. Add to that the clear 90% male population of gamers back in the late 80s and early 90s, and it wasn’t seen as very inviting to women and girls back then, until later years when there was a concerted effort to portray women as individually competent just as much as men were in art and examples.

[@Vamirez]

I am not going to get into an unnecessary discussion or even false defense of something here, but for most of Basic D&D (red box etc.) and AD&D 1st & 2nd Ed., which covered the 80s/90s, regarding depictions, and also plot of modules and novels, that is not actually correct - there was not a "lot" of that stuff. What springs to my mind is that one image with the "sexy" drow matrons. As for the players, ofc the majority of players were male, and my experience is not representative of the whole gaming world (we had 1+ females in our groups from the 90s on). I am all for inclusion of everyone. Just saying that early on, women were playable and shown as equal heroes in the game.

[@elishmuel1976]

Do an episode on Call of Cthulhu! 😁

[@BCSully83]

Such a better game!!!

[@davidstone9624]

They should have leaned into how... It is shared storytelling. An actor would appreciate...coming up with a background and creating motivations

[@RobertAlberti]

Wow, an hour long show about Dungeons and Dragons and not a single mention of Dave Arneson.

[@jgiv3793]

I don't know why when Jason has issues grasping it they wouldn't speak to his acting. improving with some rule sets.

[@paulhammons7077]

Not math ŕocks.. I rolled a 1 on this comment 😅

[@michaelconnor1542]

50 years of millions of nerds playing, not just D&D but many other great rpg, and this limp wristed soyboy is who gets interviewed? Why is the werewolf from True Blood not on here? He is a much better representative of the hobby. Even if he did work for wotc.

[@jeffhall2411]

after Jason's answer to what would he do, i can totally see Jason having a Blast in a game of DND

[@raylf3141]

Are there seriously people now that get offended by the word "nerd"? I'm a nerd. I build computers. I play D&D. I play computer games. I fix computer and software issues professionally. Those are all very nerdy things, and there's not a goddamn thing wrong with any of it. I'm also a dork, a geek, and a dweeb. I am nerd, hear me wheeze and use my inhaler.

[@paulhammons7077]

🤓:)

[@SamPackerVids]

No I don't think there's people who get offended by the word nerd. I would say that question was more a reflection of the person who asked it. He comes from a generation where nerds we're shoved in lockers so he's hesitant to call someone that.

[@pixelqube3274]

Parents think my interests like dnd and gaming at any level is poison

[@raylf3141]

@@pixelqube3274 that's a shame. My Mom tried to understand it. Back in the 90's she even did a bunch of research to find me a really good PC game and she went with Myst, I've never told her that that type of game really wasn't my vibe BUT she also grabbed a game called Renegade: The Battle for Jacob's Star out of a bargain bin and that one totally was. I've never told her about Myst because she was very proud of herself and I really appreciated her making that effort. Now playing PC games and D&D have become a sort of physical and cognitive therapy to work around the impacts of MS.

[@meghan3306]

Edit: That last little bit after John left took the tone I'd been worried about... was it worth it? I was really impressed before but the closing minutes were so unnecessarily mockery. I don't understand why y'all felt the need to shit on it right there at the end. This was my first video viewing on your channel and I have to say I expect the riffing in the beginning as that is a common way to build banter momentum but at the end after hearing your guest's words only to make fun of the subject at the end honestly does nothing but leave my entire viewing experience with a nasty bitter aftertaste. Truly disappointed. Original comment: I (f36) first want to say that I appreciate the tone with which y'all approached this topic of conversation. Since my pre-teen years, I've been dealing with chronic conditions and the lifestyle one has to take when juggling the management of pain and the myriad of symptoms that accompany each different chronic condition or disease. I first used reading, writing, and storytelling as a means of escapism but it was largely an independent activity and I needed an outlet that also involved socialization. D&D was not a quick fix; I didn't roll a couple dice and find some new level of enlightenment, but I was in my body less, I was in my mind less. My mental health improved and I still have my list of medical ailments and the shenanigans that entails but my quality of life overall truly improved so much with the addition of D&D, and with it a bunch of other TTRPGs (Tabletop Role Playing Games) that are also awesome. Thank you for this. Well wishes and kind regards.

[@BCSully83]

Guess I'm "comment guy" now, sorry, but I loved Jason's question about how he'd like to see the game evolve in 50 years. My answer is for Wizards of the Coast to sell the IP to a more reputable company, and fire the video-game minded greed-merchants they have in charge now.

[@jimilesaint1868]

All of this could have probably been explained better as far as playing, like Deborah Ann Woll on Real Ones with Jon Bernthal.

[@dougchisholm4874]

I came to comments to say this. Her example 2 minute “setting/adventure” she did with Bernthal really showed the essence of the game. Far better than this guest’s. He quickly abandoned the idea and went back to ‘you check your tables and dice’. Albeit, Jon Bernthal was genuinely trying to learn while I felt these 2 were curuous, but were also looking for the next quip.

[@BCSully83]

Wow. *Completely* missed the mark on Jason's controversy question! Wizards of the Coast is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro and the current controversies (plural - they really just keep stepping in it) are too numerous and lengthy to get into here, but they all center around ham-handed attempts to squeeze every last nickel out of their customers, while showing abject disdain for them. I highly encourage anyone interested to look into it. It's ugly, and it's causing many long-time players (myself included - started playing in 1978) to drop the game in favor of other, arguably better games.

[@BCSully83]

I'm still watching the video, so maybe this point will be moot, but the guest seems to be describing a very old version of the game. Between answering the "what's the players' goal" with "to gain treasure and experience", and saying you have to consult a table after rolling to hit, he seems locked into a 1st edition version of play. Neither of those things are true anymore, and haven't been for some time. The goal is "to tell a good story", and hit tables haven't been part of the game for decades.

[@age-of-adventure]

I just realised I’ve been playing Titterpigs for over 30years and actually never fought a dragon 😂

[@charleyvoos6078]

This was a fun conversation to watch. Seeing some normies hear about D&D from an expert (also getting some of the early history that I wasn't aware of) was a treat. The conversation was a little shallow with respect to why and how people play these games (there are a lot of very different reasons and approaches that didn't even get mentioned here) and the recent controversies with the copyright ownership and recent editions. But as conversations with normies go, this was cool.

[@vladtepid1]

I have been playing D&D for just over 40 years, the appeal is easy to explain for me. I love fantasy novels and immersing myself in those worlds and characters. D&D is almost like living as a character in that world. Speaking for myself, when I remember a campaign, I don't recall the mechanics and such. The memories are of the interactions with fellow player characters and the events as if they truly happened. I know they didn't, but the memories and the feelings they invoke are as real as remembering a fun vacation I once took.

[@lincoln3x7]

How I describe DnD: The dungeon master is the story teller, director and producer of the story, the players are actors in roles they create and the rulebooks and dice help decide the outcome and make it a game. What is the goal? To have fun.

[@phaedruslive]

The seeming sleight of hand of associating the fans of the TSR editions with the right as a way of dismissing old school styles of play was kind of underhanded. The rules and mechanics were simply better in the BX / BECMI books (At least to someone who really likes the rulings over rules Axiom) That isn't in any way a partisan position and the indie creators in the OSR come from all kind of backrounds.

[@chrisragner3882]

My D&D experience influenced my acting and vise verse. My favorite form of acting has always been improvisation. To step into a scene with goals within the parameters of the scene. As players we are equally actors and audience. The Dungeon Master is the referee who adjudicates, often by the dice roll (eliminating partiality), some attempts by players. They also are the director and writer, although the players with the DM together write the story as they improve along.

[@kabnoot]

The communal aspect of DnD is what I love greatly. Some of the most fun ive had was hanging out with friends running a campaign.

[@cychosity]

Does the dungeon master have to have scripts written out for each path, or is there an amount of improv?

[@jacobrodgers7743]

Some DMs do a lot of prep work (writing out narration to introduce something, writing an actual script is hard because the players might say anything), some (like me) do a lot more improv. But there's always a degree of improv.

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

You set up situations based on what the players have done. What happens in those situations is up to the players and the GM working together. Sometimes you set something up and the players go, “Nah.” And then what happens is ALL improv (instead of mostly improv).

[@brianwise899]

I'm glad I found this podcast because I've been needing some more Jason Alexander in my day. I googled Peter Tilden and the bio reminded me of a mad tv sketch 'Terminator 2: The Super Fantastic Musical'

[@BiggySn1p3r]

I would love to see a future podcast episode with "arguably" the most famous person in the d&d space right now, voice actor Matthew Mercer aka Dungeon Master of Critical Role. Critical Role started and grew into what it is today because of a tiny little podcast.

[@9um9um9um]

It would have been a better use of time to create characters for the two hosts. Also mention how sitting around the DnD table creates a special space unique to all other spaces in our 21st life.

[@tomgillotti]

I thought the guest was JGod, a gaming KZbinr 😂

[@larryveit9488]

I always compare the players to actors in a movie but you can do whatever you want.

[@liamgray3335]

DND is Fantasy Football for the theater nerds

[@grantdixon6556]

I would pay money to watch Jason play dnd

[@cdfreester]

The key word to Dungeonmaster: referee. That is what they were called in the beginning before the term "dungeon master" was invented.

[@kurtpetty8534]

I think a good comparison that the guys would get would be to say it’s similar to a writer’s room.