Dungeons & Dragons, the famous fantasy role-playing game, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The game has recently seen an upsurge in popularity online due to the pandemic, with an estimated 50 million people participating in it. Even Hollywood has taken notice, with a film adaptation and a D&D club run by Magic Mike star, Joe Manganiello.
Jeremy Cobb, Liv Kennedy, and Jasper William Cartwright, known as the Three Black Halflings, are hoping to encourage a more inclusive space for the game. The Three Black Halflings challenge the biases seen in traditional D&D and fantasy storylines, which tend to be based on Tolkien’s more Eurocentric visions of a fantasy world from Lord of the Rings. The hosts feel that representation is essential, and they aim to create a welcoming space for black people and people of color interested in the game.
The podcast hosted by the Three Black Halflings also looks at the connections between D&D and black culture. They note that every character is black in their podcasts and that this representation is essential in making people feel like they have a place in a traditionally white-dominated space. Dungeons & Dragons’ company, Wizards of the Coast, has already mostly done away with the traditional biases in the game, with race no longer defining whether a character is good or evil.
D&D has become a safe space for queer people like Liv, who use it as an experimental place to explore their gender identity and sexual orientation. There are no limitations in the game on what gender they want their character to be or how they identify. With D&D’s growing popularity, it has become big business for shops like The Travelling Man in Manchester, with people of all ages and backgrounds showing interest.
Jake, who works at the shop and plays D&D himself, says new people who come in often return to expand their collection, including fans he describes as “dice goblins.” He is hopeful that D&D will expand into space and delve into multiverses where an alternate version of the player’s character runs the campaign.
With its surge in popularity and impact in pop culture, it’s clear that Dungeons & Dragons has evolved into a far more inclusive and diverse space, catering to people of all races, genders, ages, and backgrounds
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More