Episode 128: Dungeons & Dragons Gets Cozy

The roguish heroes of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Games are packed with astounding worldbuilding, and Dungeons & Dragons is perhaps the worldbuildiest of all. We take a deep dive into the game’s transformation from from a Satanic threat in the 1980s, to a wholesome, cozy world that has inspired a swashbuckling new movie and adorable novels like Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes. And then we’re going to talk about worldbuilding in Charlie Jane’s epic series Unstoppable – the third and final book, Promises Stronger than Darkness, came out this month!

Notes, Citations, & Etc.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is great — you just have to roll with it, by Jess Weatherbed

Learn more about the war games origins of D&D in Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax, by David Kushner

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsin Muir

Shadow & Bone series, by Leigh Bardugo

Mazes & Monsters (1982), dir Steven HIlliard Stern

How Dungeons & Dragons became a part of the 1980s Satanic Panic, by Olivia Kennedy

Dungeons & Dragons (2000), dir. Courtney Solomon

Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

Critical Role podcast

“What Dungeons & Dragons Tells Us About Race,” an episode of the Code Switch podcast (2022)

Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, from Wizards of the Coast

Promises Stronger Than Darkness, by Charlie Jane Anders (!!!)