{"id":27977,"date":"2024-07-02T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?p=27977"},"modified":"2024-07-05T10:13:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T15:13:12","slug":"critical-wit-uwm-alumni-and-dungeons-dragons-experts-talk-shop-as-the-game-turns-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-spotlight\/critical-wit-uwm-alumni-and-dungeons-dragons-experts-talk-shop-as-the-game-turns-50\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical wit: 51ÁÔÆæ alumni and Dungeons & Dragons experts talk shop as the game turns 50"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

America\u2019s most popular tabletop role playing game turns 50 this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dungeons & Dragons, known for its epic fantasy settings and fateful roles of the dice, was co-created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and originally published from Gygax\u2019s home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Over the years, the game has evolved from the traditional domain of \u201cnerds\u201d to a mainstream cultural phenomenon, most recently driving the plot of Netflix\u2019s popular series \u201cStranger Things<\/a>\u201d and inspiring the 2023 film \u201cDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves<\/a>\u201d starring Chris Pine and Hugh Grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people have had a hand in the game\u2019s success, including UW-Milwaukee alumni. James Lowder, who graduated with his Master\u2019s degree in English in 1999, and Scott Bruner, who earned his PhD in English in 2023, are experts on D&D \u2013 Bruner because he studies tabletop and role playing games, and Lowder because he worked for Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), the original publisher of Dungeons & Dragons, and Wizards of the Coast, its current publisher. He has written and edited game content for D&D, as well as related novels and comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why has Dungeons & Dragons not only survived for 50 years, but become such an intrinsic part of American culture that the U.S. Postal Service has issued a set of commemorative D&D stamps<\/a> to mark the anniversary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruner has a theory: \u201cIt\u2019s a socially acceptable practice that says, hey, it\u2019s okay to find four of your friends and get really geeky around the table and play make believe like you did as kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin stories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Dungeons & Dragons first appeared on the scene, James Lowder was fascinated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was among the first wave of players for Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s. I got started because I had friends with an older sibling who played,\u201d Lowder recalled. \u201cI immediately realized that this was the game and the art form for me. In essence, role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons are group storytelling with the rule set structuring and gamifying the tales you tell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
James Lowder. (Photo by Denise Robinson.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Players create a character from certain classes \u2013 a barbarian, a rogue, a wizard, a bard, etc. Each class features different attributes and skills that a character might have. Characters can gain new skills or strengthen existing ones as they gain more experience. Gameplay is facilitated through a Dungeon Master, a person who presents the storyline to the players, who decide their characters\u2019 actions based on the resources they have, the members in their party, and the plot of the game. Whether the characters\u2019 actions are successful is determined by the roll of the dice. Potential story settings and other rules are laid out in extensive handbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lowder is very familiar with all incarnations of the game. For D&D specifically, he helped write and edit most often for the first three editions. He has also consulted on projects for the latest version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m back doing things connected to D&D because the publisher has been revisiting storylines and characters I created in my novels, such as the hero Artus Cimber and the monstrous dragon turtle Aramag, and using those as central elements in new RPG and multimedia projects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
51ÁÔÆæ alum James Lowder is the author of several D&D novels, including “Prince of Lies” (1993). (Cover art by Brom.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, D&D gameplay draws from D&D novels, and Lowder was in on the ground floor. When he was first hired at TSR as an editorial assistant in the book department in the late 1980s, the company was on the verge of breaking out as a major fantasy\/science fiction publisher. Thanks to his knowledge of the game and his fiction editing skills, Lowder was fast-tracked into a series editor role, working on such major lines as Ravenloft and the Forgotten Realms, which was the setting for the recent Hollywood film. He also did freelance work for the game department, editing and designing role-playing game material, and eventually became a specialist for transmedia projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Lowder had always wanted to be a fiction writer, ever since he was a child. He broke in as a novelist at TSR, penning several D&D-related books, including Crusade <\/em>(1991), Prince of Lies <\/em>(1993), and Spectre of the Black Rose<\/em> (1999), though the creations nearest his heart are the characters from his lost world fantasy The Ring of Winter<\/em> (1993).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, Lowder works as a freelance writer, editor, and publishing consultant for fiction, RPGs, and comics, as well as an advocate and mentor for artists, writers, and designers. His annual holiday \u201cGames to Gift\u201d segment highlighting new tabletop releases has run on Milwaukee\u2019s public radio station since 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D&D goes mainstream<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dungeons & Dragons has not only permeated popular culture in books, television, and movies, but it\u2019s become such an intrinsic part of life that people who have never played the game are nevertheless influenced by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor instance, the concept of \u2018leveling up\u2019 your credit card comes from Dungeons & Dragons,\u201d Bruner said. \u201cThere are concepts we have \u2018gamified,\u2019 and most of the elements of gamification come from Dungeons & Dragons. \u2026 D&D has infiltrated the way we think about advancement, the concept of experience points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Scott Bruner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bruner discusses that and more on the podcast that he co-hosts with D&D historian Ben Riggs, called \u201cReading D&D Aloud<\/a>.\u201d The two read and discuss the game’s founding rulebooks and invite guests to talk about D&D culture and history. Bruner also runs a D&D game for several 51ÁÔÆæ professors and colleagues. In fact, he added, 51ÁÔÆæ has a Dungeons & Dragons club and a gaming club. Serious Play<\/a> at 51ÁÔÆæ is a collaboration between students and faculty who study games and gaming, including D&D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as it has become more corporate over the decades, D&D, along with the role playing game market that came after it, has become more welcoming and accessible, Bruner mused. The barrier to entry has never been lower and the game has become much more diverse. Recent D&D releases have foregrounded diversity both within the imaginary worlds and in their table of contents. The award-winning “Journeys through the Radiant Citadel” (2022) was the first D&D product to feature adventures written entirely by designers of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As D&D continues to change, it\u2019s hard to say what its next 50 years will look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike all mass media, the future of Dungeons & Dragons will be impacted by the choices its corporate owners make about how their audience will interact with the material they publish,\u201d Lowder said. \u201cWill D&D continue to be an open system where one rulebook, purchased one time, can sustain infinite campaigns or will its owners attempt to shift it to a subscription model, with the rules locked away within a highly monetized walled garden?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing is for certain, said Bruner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDungeons & Dragons is timeless. We\u2019re going to be exploring what tabletop roleplaying games mean in the future in new ways, no matter what happens to how they\u2019re published. You can\u2019t publish and you can\u2019t sell make believe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America\u2019s most popular tabletop role playing game turns 50 this year. Dungeons & Dragons, known for its epic fantasy settings and fateful roles of the dice, was co-created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and originally published from Gygax\u2019s home …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":27978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1848,1648,1945,1946],"tags":[1857],"class_list":["post-27977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-student-news","category-in-focus","category-in-focus-2024","category-in-focus-spotlight","tag-july"],"yoast_head":"\nLetters & Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus-spotlight\/critical-wit-uwm-alumni-and-dungeons-dragons-experts-talk-shop-as-the-game-turns-50\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Critical wit: 51ÁÔÆæ alumni and Dungeons & Dragons experts talk shop as the game turns 50\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"America\u2019s most popular tabletop role playing game turns 50 this year. 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