March 19, 2019 ▸ Myth & Folklore, Other

Episode 374: Dungeons and Dragons: Fairy Tales to Tales of Suicide

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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we bust out our dice bags, make a saving throw, channel our inner geeks, and talk about the grandfather of role playing games, Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons is considered the first ever true character-driven RPG, and the notions such as experience points and leveling up a character that are so ubiquitous in all gaming these days came from this very game. In fact, most of it came from one man—Gary Gygax.

Gygax, along with is co-creator David Arneson, modified a few older games (I’m looking at you Chainmail and Blackmoor) and created the first version of D&D. They printed it locally, off of borrowed money, and were lucky to sell 1000 copies. However, by 2004, the game had spawned feature films, a Saturday morning kid’s cartoon, countless video games, New York Times Best Seller books, and over a billion dollars in sales.

But this growth of the game was not without its controversies. For example, David Arneson had to sue the company he and Gygax created (TSR) to keep control of the intellectual property. He was allowed to maintain a hold on anything called Dungeons and Dragons. And then, TSR split the property and focused on the new version of the same game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, leaving Arneson a comfortable monthly payment but no real royalties.

There was also the time Gygax had somehow gotten Orson Welles to agree to be in a Hollywood produced D&D movie until he discovered that the CEO of TSR had made the company go broke buying too many company cars and trying to raise the wreck of an old pirate ship from the bottom of the sea (like you do…).

But the ups and downs of the corporation itself couldn’t compare to the great Satanic Panic that came around in the 1980s, linking the game to murder, suicide, and mental health issues—not to mention Satan himself! Televangelists attacked Gygax, TSR, and the game, and Tom Hanks even starred in the espically bad Mazes and Monsters based on the true story of a 16 year old’s suicide at the University of Michigan.

So, what do Brent and Brad think of the game, and would they be willing to play it? What happened the one time that Dave spoke with Gary Gygax on the phone? What is Dave’s favorite edition of the game? What is the truth about Dungeons and Dragons and suicide rates in teens? What actors and musicians praise the game and why? Listen, laugh, learn.