Reading D&D Aloud

Today, we take time to talk to the third voice of our show, Madeleine Craig! Madeleine is an actress and long-time DM who got her start with 5th edition.

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Given the racist tropes baked into the fantasy genre, how does the institution of D&D move forward into a brighter, better future? Are there also questions of stories for children versus stories for adults to be weighed? And all that is bookended by a discussion on spells in AD&D 1st edition.

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Image by Mike Pape, and courtesy Wizards of the Coast.

We read aloud "Tribal Spellcasting" from the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, and reflect on how it codifies racist stereotypes into the game. We also read sections from "Hack the Orcs, Loot the Tomb, and Take the Land" by Daniel Heath Justice, which you can and should read here.

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You will not hear a conversation like this anywhere else. Was the D&D magic system an extension of the existing Western occult tradition, or a break from it? To answer that question, historian of magic, author, and eldritch librarian Dan Harms joins Dr. Scott Bruner, TTRPG academic, & Ben Riggs, D&D historian, for a discussion that takes us from real-world wandering medieval mage-priests to the pages of the blasphemous Necronomicon itself!

Dan recommended a few books for our audience:

Defining Magic: A Reader

Witch Bottles

The Book of Four Occult Philosophers

Authentic Thaumaturgy

The Necronomicon Files

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When you cast Fireball, what really happens in the fiction of the game? Today, Scott Bruner & Ben Riggs take a look at that very question by continuing to examine the "Magic" chapter of the 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide.

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Image by Jeff Easley and courtesy Wizards of the Coast.

Today, we talk with one of the most significant game designers of his generation: Jonathan Tweet. Best well known for being the lead designer on 3rd edition D&D, Tweet's D20 rolling fantasy game, 13th Age, is Kickstarting its second edition right now!

Did you know that 13th Age, the premier D20-rolling fantasy TTRPG, is funding a 2nd edition right now? Back 13th Age here!

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Scott & Ben read an ancient OSR oddity aloud with D&D and 13th Age designer Rob Heinsoo! The book is both deeply weird and incredibly inspiring. Imagine a TTRPG world with phasers, machine guns, ESP, evil wizards, demigods, and reincarnation. Did you know that 13th Age, the premier D20-rolling fantasy TTRPG, is funding a 2nd edition right now? Back 13th Age here!

You can buy Arduin Grimoire here!

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Would anyone designing a magic system for an RPG today use D&D's fire-and-forget magic system? A reading from the DMG on how the Illusionist gets their spells spins into RPG history and, shockingly, a link to Scott's dissertation.

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If you have not heard Dr. Joseph Laycock speak about the religious elements of tabletop role-playing games, prepare to have your mind blown. This conversation is like nothing you've heard before.

Check out his book on D&D and other RPGs here. We enjoy you. Do you enjoy us? If so, support us on Patreon! You'll get access to our Discord server, and have the pleasure of knowing that deep down, you really are the best.

Cthulhu is an unknowable eldritch blasphemy. How many hit points does it have? Was it copyright infringement for this octopoid monstrosity to appear in an AD&D product? Find out today when Ben & Scott talk to Jim Lowder, TSR alumnus, master freelancer, and specialist on the big green guy.

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