50th years of Dungeon & Dragons: Readers tell us how it impacted them

04:09 |

by Brittney Melton

September 22, 2024

Good morning. This week, Tupperware has filed for bankruptcy, the Fed started cutting interest rates, and a cyclist is claiming the record for the fastest woman to bike around the world.

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Whether you have played it or not, you probably have heard of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. One reason for that is its popularity. The game's publisher, Wizards of the Coast, estimates that more than 50 million people have played. This year marks 50 years since it was released, and it has continued to show proof of its longevity.

Vintage game modules from the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons on display at The Dungeon Hobby Shop and Museum in Lake Geneva.

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Back in the '80s it was a pastime that in part fueled the "Satanic Panic," when concerned parents and news outlets linked it to teen killings and witchcraft. Now, it has become more popular. I remember the first time I heard about the game fully. At my first real job out of college, at a newspaper, I made friends with a coworker and she told me it, how she played it with her friends from college and it was a way for them to stay connected.

I wasn't enticed to play, but I was wowed by the way she got lost in describing something that was so meaningful to her. Explaining how the game works, how she and her friends, who don’t talk or see each other all the time, plan around it — that was beautiful.

At that point, the hit Netflix series Stranger Things had come out, making the game more mainstream. I remember rewatching the show with fresh eyes, knowing it’s not only based on Dungeons, but that the game is played in the show and includes villains from the lore.

The need to connect virtually during the pandemic — the same need my friend had to connect with her college buddies — fueled the D&D momentum, through virtual campaigns held on Zoom or on virtual tabletop websites. Throughout the decades, many people have remained loyal players, but even more than that, it has changed lives.

A few weeks ago, NPR asked readers and listeners to let us know how the game impacted their lives, and we were flooded with 1,000 responses. They told us that D&D has helped to bridge generations, improved mental health and more. Here are five of your stories.

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The Week That Was

A customer browses books on shelves at JF Books on Sept. 17, 2024.

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A bookstore that was forced to close its Shanghai branch due to China's speech restrictions has reopened in Washington, D.C. Its owner, Yu Miao, revived the bookshop, now named JF Books, as a place where people can sit and read together and also have open discussions about politics, human rights and more in the diaspora community. Yu is part of a growing wave of people who have left China amid Xi Jinping's crackdown on free speech and the economic challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's a look inside JF Books, with its shelves of Chinese-language volumes and English titles with a focus on Chinese and Asian topics.

Polls show a tight race for the White House between Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump. Most people already know whom they plan to vote for, but a handful of swing voters could decide the election. Close to four dozen undecided voters in the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll in the last four months gave permission to NPR to call them back to follow up. NPR was able to reach 10 in the days following the Harris-Trump debate to understand their thinking. Here's what they had to say.

As of Sept. 12, more than 12 million Americans have lost Medicaid coverage since federal pandemic protections expired. That includes patients in treatment for opioid addiction, the loss of which can be deadly. When medications for opioid use disorder are taken as prescribed, it can reduce dangerous drug use and cut overdose deaths by more than half, research shows. But if that treatment is interrupted, the risk of overdose and death increases.

WBUR’s Here & Now takes a closer look into whether bail reform is working in Harris County, Texas, in a special series done in conjunction with Houston Public Media. The series explores criminal justice reform and why bail reform specifically has become a flashpoint in the larger debate over crime. It also dives into the causes and impacts of overcrowding at the county jail.

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This newsletter was edited by Carol Ritchie.

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