annieb123's Review of Welcome to Dragon Talk

by Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito

For many, the words “Dungeons & Dragons” conjure a fuzzy image, most likely of teenage boys in a dim basement hunched over a tabletop game. In Welcome to Dragon Talk, Shelly Mazzanoble, Greg Tito, and their surprising guests bring a different image into focus, offering: What if those boys were girls? Were famous actors? Were educators, therapists, and politicians? After nearly five decades, Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever and has drawn together a community that defies stereotypes.

In this collection, the hosts of Dragon Talk, the official D&D podcast, recount some of the most inspiring stories from their guests. All use the core tenets of the game in their everyday life. Actor Joe Manganiello defends D&D by baring his soul (and his ripped abs). A teacher in a disadvantaged district in Houston, creates a D&D club that motivates students to want to read and think analytically. Writer and streamer Tanya DePass shows how D&D–inspired communication skills break barriers and empower people of color. Readers will see how D&D has given this disparate and growing community the inspiration to flourish in their careers and spread some of that in-game magic in real life—and how you can too.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Welcome to Dragon Talk is an engaging and very interesting set of conversations based on the Dragon Talk Podcast by Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito. Released 5th Dec 2022 by the University of Iowa Press, it's 198 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

The chapters are arranged thematically by subjects and cover a very wide range of topics: what D&D and tabletop RPGs *are* how they are valuable, who plays them (and why), and a lovely selection of interviews and viewpoints from a variety of experts, therapists, researchers, and gamers on gaming who have all entered the orbit of the Dragon Talk podcast or its co-hosts.

Well written and accessible, it's full of stories about the people from the gaming community. It's not rigorous, even the experts and research-adjunct experts who have featured on the show weren't annotated and there wasn't a bibliography or reference list, no notations, and no index, at least in the advance copy provided for review purposes. That being said, it is engaging with glimmers of profundity. I was there at D&D's nascence and played for a very long time. It's not an exaggeration to say that D&D very much helped shape the person I am. This was a nostalgic and fun read for me.

Four stars. Recommended for fans of the podcast as well as for gamers. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition, gift giving, and home library use.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

26 December, 2022: Started reading

26 December, 2022: Finished reading

26 December, 2022: Reviewed