A Reader Response Approach to Storytelling and Tabletop Games: The Player's Experience of Dungeons and Dragons and Its Pedagogical Applications

Abstract

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a role-playing game (RPG) that has exploded in popularity since its conception in the 1970s. This paper aims to examine how D&D, and other RPGs like it, can be utilized within an academic setting by utilizing Reader Response theory. This theory, pioneered by theorists Louise Rosenblatt and Wolfgang Iser, would serve to measure the impact that D&D has on the players. Using an IRB approved study, this paper views the emotional impact, literary experience, and individual connections that participants make while playing D&D to show the worth that D&D has as a literary tool and pedagogical device. These responses from participants would also lead to viewing D&D as a pedagogical tool by taking inspiration from Simulation Games, Devised Theatre, and the use of Reader Response within the classroom.