web01.fireside.fm Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:55:07 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “D&D” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/d&d Wed, 21 Mar 2018 10:00:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 6: Dungeons & Dragons, or the Reality of Illusions https://www.weirdstudies.com/6 48651085-14df-4c36-a434-5e43c54d9fdc Wed, 21 Mar 2018 10:00:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 6 Dungeons & Dragons, or the Reality of Illusions full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF use D&D as a lens to locate the vanishing point where fantasy converges with the real. 1:18:32 yes The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga was one of the first thinkers to define games as exercises in world-making. Every game, he wrote, occurs within a magic circle where the rules of ordinary life are suspended and new laws come into play. No game illustrates this better than Gary Gygax's tabletop RPG, Dungeons & Dragons. In this episode, Phil and JF use D&D as the focus of a conversation about the weird interdependence of reality and fantasy. Header image: Gaetan Bahl (Wikimedia Commons) WORKS CITED OR DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE Official homepage (http://dnd.wizards.com/) of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game Critical Role (http://criticalrolepodcast.geekandsundry.com/) web series   Another RPG podcast JF failed to mention: The HowWeRoll Podcast (http://www.howwerollpodcast.com/) Demetrious Johnson’s Twitch site (https://www.twitch.tv/mightymouseufc125) [Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameOver:KasparovandtheMachine)_ (documentary)   Chessboxing! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5TQSKmS3o)   Jackson Lears, Something for Nothing: Luck in America (https://www.amazon.com/Something-Nothing-America-Jackson-Lears/dp/0670031739)   Peter Fischli, The Way Things Go (https://www.amazon.com/Way-Things-Go/dp/B00005UW7W)   Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox, Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom (https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Philosophy-Raiding-Popular/dp/0812697960)   Lawrence Schick, ed., Deities & Demigods: Cyclopedia of Gods and Heroes from Myth and Legend (https://www.amazon.com/Deities-Demigods-Cyclopedia-Advanced-Dungeons/dp/0935696229)   Article on Mazes and Monsters (https://mashable.com/2015/10/28/tom-hanks-dungeons-dragons/#1V067KU7SEqa), a movie that came out of the D&D moral panic of the 1980s   Phil Ford, “Xenorationality” (https://dialmformusicology.com/2015/09/26/xenorationality/)   Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element of Culture (https://www.amazon.com/Homo-Ludens-Study-Play-Element-Culture/dp/1621389995)   John Sinclair, [Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with the MC5 and the White Panther Party](https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Army-Revolution-White-Panther/dp/1934170003) The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga was one of the first thinkers to define games as exercises in world-making. Every game, he wrote, occurs within a magic circle where the rules of ordinary life are suspended and new laws come into play. No game illustrates this better than Gary Gygax's tabletop RPG, Dungeons & Dragons. In this episode, Phil and JF use D&D as the focus of a conversation about the weird interdependence of reality and fantasy.

Header image: Gaetan Bahl (Wikimedia Commons)

WORKS CITED OR DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE

Official homepage of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game

Critical Role web series
 
Another RPG podcast JF failed to mention: The HowWeRoll Podcast

Demetrious Johnson’s Twitch site

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine (documentary)
 
Chessboxing!
 
Jackson Lears, Something for Nothing: Luck in America
 
Peter Fischli, The Way Things Go
 
Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox, Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom
 
Lawrence Schick, ed., Deities & Demigods: Cyclopedia of Gods and Heroes from Myth and Legend
 
Article on Mazes and Monsters, a movie that came out of the D&D moral panic of the 1980s
 
Phil Ford, “Xenorationality”
 
Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element of Culture
 
John Sinclair, [Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with the MC5 and the White Panther Party](https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Army-Revolution-White-Panther/dp/1934170003)

]]> The Dutch historian Johan Huizinga was one of the first thinkers to define games as exercises in world-making. Every game, he wrote, occurs within a magic circle where the rules of ordinary life are suspended and new laws come into play. No game illustrates this better than Gary Gygax's tabletop RPG, Dungeons & Dragons. In this episode, Phil and JF use D&D as the focus of a conversation about the weird interdependence of reality and fantasy.

Header image: Gaetan Bahl (Wikimedia Commons)

WORKS CITED OR DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE

Official homepage of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game

Critical Role web series
 
Another RPG podcast JF failed to mention: The HowWeRoll Podcast

Demetrious Johnson’s Twitch site

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine (documentary)
 
Chessboxing!
 
Jackson Lears, Something for Nothing: Luck in America
 
Peter Fischli, The Way Things Go
 
Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox, Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom
 
Lawrence Schick, ed., Deities & Demigods: Cyclopedia of Gods and Heroes from Myth and Legend
 
Article on Mazes and Monsters, a movie that came out of the D&D moral panic of the 1980s
 
Phil Ford, “Xenorationality”
 
Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element of Culture
 
John Sinclair, [Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with the MC5 and the White Panther Party](https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Army-Revolution-White-Panther/dp/1934170003)

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