More than 50 million people are estimated to be playing Dungeons and Dragons, and has been the number one tabletop role-playing game in the United States for the past 50 years. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, industry experts Anjali Bhimani (desi exploration, Key role), Producer Kelly BrayFounder Gary Con Luke Gygax, R&D comic book writer Jim Zubas well as writers and game designers Matt Forbeck (endless exploration) share how Dungeons and Dragons has risen to the pinnacle of pop culture. The moderator of this group is Ross Thompson.
The group discussed on Gary Gygax day of celebration R&Dthe creator of. The crowd cheered as the panelists took their seats. Before answering any questions, Gygax asked the crowd, “Wick question, who brought their dice?” He laughed, and the crowd laughed in unison.
Thompson asked: “What do you think is the most important impact on this field? R&D Why has it permeated pop culture and resonated so long? Matt?
Forbeck initially seemed surprised to be called out, but responded: “As you can imagine, I have a lot of opinions about it, but I think one of the reasons is that it gives people an opportunity to satisfy the creative thirst of all people. .Forbeck goes on to explain how we humans need to share stories, come up with them, create them, and share them.
He concluded: “This is an interactive form of entertainment, unlike most entertainment where we just consume. You are actually producing [a story] Be with your friends in a unique way that is usually never captured.
“It unlocks the ability to be bold that you might not feel you can do in your daily life,” Zub said. “You know, a lot of entertainment is passive and we just let it overwhelm us. And being able to make choices all of a sudden, in The spotlight will be on you at that moment.
He mentioned how powerful it is to be able to change a game or turn an emotion around with just one choice.
Gygax picked up immediately: “Even as a master of the game, I already like games where I don’t know what the players are going to do. I like to do things to destroy my fire.” He points out that a general manager who listens to players might would find out that their original idea wasn’t as good as what the players suggested. “Sometimes they’ll say, ‘I think this is it,’ and I’m like, ‘This is way better than what I had. ‘”
“I think there’s something about the enduring power associated with identity. Dungeons and Dragons,” Bray said. “Whether remotely or over the dinner table, you can create genuine connections on a deeper level than most other activities with people you just met or with people you love deeply, and explore and learn things about yourself you may not have known you knew. Or being brave enough to do it in any other situation I think that’s why people keep paying attention to this issue.
Bhimani said the game is designed to be a safe space, as any good game should be. She does, however, delve into the roots of this and what it means for players around the world to be able to put themselves in the shoes of their own characters.
“It’s a very safe space to explore what it feels like to have agency in your life in ways that you don’t necessarily like. Just like gaming, video games in general can do the same thing. But TTRPG and R&D Specifically, to do this to a greater extent,” Bhimani said. “What you see when you see a hero that you identify with and then you can control it… When you do it with a controller, it’s one thing if you’re someone else’s voice, But you still have ownership of it. That’s awesome.
“But when your voice and your writing and your choices, when you can allow natural sounds to translate a story perfectly, you have a sense of empowerment that doesn’t necessarily come up in your day-to-day life. Life—daily life may not be like that,” she continued. “When you go out into the world with this sense of empowerment, you become a different person, you expand, you become more authentic because you experience things that you wouldn’t be able to experience during the day. ——Life today.
Inclusivity was a theme of the panel, and it couldn’t have been more prominent when the Q&A session began with many fans standing up to ask questions. These range from asking panelists their favorite R&D species, their favorite adventures, which projects they’d like to work on again, or their thoughts on last year’s backlash against Wizards of the Coast.
The most striking thing was when a kid dressed in probably the best shredder costume an 8-year-old could own walked up to the podium and asked, “Are you letting your friends in?” R&D Who has a short attention span? This made everyone in the room burst into laughter. It’s good to know that adults aren’t the only ones with this problem.
At the same time, it’s great to see these generations of fans want to know more, care, and be invested. Let us look forward to the next 50 years together Dungeons and Dragons All equally good.
Stay tuned for more coverage from SDCC ’24 beat.
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