Roll for Narrative : A study of narrative voice, pop-culture and intertextual relationships in The Adventure Zone

Sammanfattning

The Adventure Zone graphic novel as a story incorporates many different kinds of humor and storytelling techniques to develop its narrative. While the original podcast has been the primary focus of multiple previous scholarly studies, this has left the graphic novel adaptation quite underexamined in comparison. The aim of this study is to analyze how parody, metafiction and intertextuality operate within the graphic novel to challenge and reinterpret the established rules of storytelling through Dungeons and Dragons. In addition, the study investigates Griffin McElroy’s dual role as both narrator and Dungeon Master, and how these roles shape the reader’s experience of the narrative. The findings suggest that Griffin operates using a hybrid position throughout much of the story, where he appears simultaneously as a character within the narrative, a pseudo-narrator who guides the audience by explaining events, detailing what characters are doing and feeling, while also describing dialogues in real time.