My Dissertation
the Tl;dr
My dissertation explores how the term "canon" is used to describe and delineate the storyworlds underlying specific popular culture texts. I take the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) as my primary example, outlining how it uses specific types of text to convey systems, expand settings, and delimit stories - and in doing so, creates a base storyworld that is limited in particular, procedural ways.
The longer version
In July 2021, senior story designer Chris Perkins outlined entertainment company Wizards of the Coast (WotC)'s stance that each edition of D&D “has its own canon, as does every other expression of D&D” (link). Other highlights of this statement from Perkins included: a spotlight on the importance of lore and art; name-dropping of particular D&D properties, specifically R.A. Salvatore's long-running novel series; and an insistence on business reasons as the driving factor for there being a canon in the first place. Perkins also insisted that user friendliness was an important factor, as players "should be able to use our content without having to keep up on some metaplot that stretches across novels, comics, and video games" (par. 9), which D&D properties certainly do.
While this was one of the first official statements put forward by WotC staff using the term "canon," it certainly reflects other long-running conversations. For one thing, the notion of individual texts (and franchises) having distinct canons separate from, say, the canon of a genre, has gained considerable traction, though sadly less theorizing: how does this interest intersect with D&D, given that players are *meant* to change up the texts they're given?
For another thing, D&D already holds a particular place in the history and canon of English-language fantasy as well as gaming - how does that fact intersect with this growing contention that it has its own canon as well?
And finally, why put these questions forward now? What exigencies does it serve to have a public-facing stance on canon, particularly for something that's (presumably) not a text-based transmedia franchise at all?
My dissertation examines these questions and more, with a specific focus on D&D's dark elves, or drow, as its throughline. In my first chapter I offer an overview of canon(s) -- in both the classical and contemporary senses -- in the genre of English-language fantasy, in storyworlds and heightened transmedia interests, and regarding D&D in particular. The following chapters each then focus on a different "expression" of D&D and how these texts participate in storyworld creation: chapter 2 looks to the procedural rhetorics of D&D manuals, modules, and supplements; chapter 3 revisits tie-in novels and novelizations; and chapter 4 considers audiences and adaptations, beginning with the affordances of the OGL before moving into actual play D&D shows such as Critical Role.
While this was one of the first official statements put forward by WotC staff using the term "canon," it certainly reflects other long-running conversations. For one thing, the notion of individual texts (and franchises) having distinct canons separate from, say, the canon of a genre, has gained considerable traction, though sadly less theorizing: how does this interest intersect with D&D, given that players are *meant* to change up the texts they're given?
For another thing, D&D already holds a particular place in the history and canon of English-language fantasy as well as gaming - how does that fact intersect with this growing contention that it has its own canon as well?
And finally, why put these questions forward now? What exigencies does it serve to have a public-facing stance on canon, particularly for something that's (presumably) not a text-based transmedia franchise at all?
My dissertation examines these questions and more, with a specific focus on D&D's dark elves, or drow, as its throughline. In my first chapter I offer an overview of canon(s) -- in both the classical and contemporary senses -- in the genre of English-language fantasy, in storyworlds and heightened transmedia interests, and regarding D&D in particular. The following chapters each then focus on a different "expression" of D&D and how these texts participate in storyworld creation: chapter 2 looks to the procedural rhetorics of D&D manuals, modules, and supplements; chapter 3 revisits tie-in novels and novelizations; and chapter 4 considers audiences and adaptations, beginning with the affordances of the OGL before moving into actual play D&D shows such as Critical Role.
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contact: maria.alberto@utah.edu
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