© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

D&D Turns 30

This Thursday night in Indianapolis, fans of role-playing and war games will gather for the annual GenCon convention. And this year, they’ll be marking the 30th anniversary of the most popular game in the genre’s history -- Dungeons and Dragons, known by its fans by the shorthand "D and D."

In the modern era of virtual reality, NPR's Rick Karr reports that the original, unplugged version of the game remains popular and has proved a key influence on the next generation of video games.

Anyone who thinks that Dungeons and Dragons has been consigned to the scrapheap of 1980s relics, right next to Pac-Man and leg warmers, would be surprised by what happens every Thursday night in Peter Girvan’s apartment in the Bronx.

For the past two years, Girvan and four friends -- all professionals in their 30s -- have been getting together every Thursday to play D and D -- sitting around a table with inch-high plastic figures, rolling odd dice and saying things in the odd, imagined voices of their characters.

The voices are part of the fun. Players often adopt the personalities of their characters -- in Girvan’s case, an acerbic warrior cleric from the Eastern realms of this particular fantasy world, called the Dark Hills.

The world these players journey through and the opponents they encounter are the responsibility of another player called the "dungeon master." With a roll of the dice, players find out how well their characters fare in battle. For D and D fans, it doesn't get any better than this.

Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson says he and partner Gary Gygax had pretty low expectations when they published the rules in 1974. "War games and smaller general games at the time were pretty small-audience. I mean, you had a successful game if you sold a thousand copies of it," he tells Karr.

But three decades later, players have purchased tens of millions of rule books, odd-shaped dice and fantasy character figurines. The game is also credited with inspiring a whole generation of game designers, just as the computer revolution took root.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.