The Dungeon Master’s Choice : Dungeon Masters’ attitudes towards new editions of Dungeons & Dragons

Sammanfattning

This research examines the attitudes of Dungeon Masters toward newer editions of Dungeons & Dragons, with a special focus on Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024 and potential dealbreakers for the DMs and their opinion on the timing of the release. Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game played in a fantasy setting with multiple players, featuring improvisational roleplaying and collaborative storytelling. The aim of the research is to investigate the attitudes among a selection of Dungeon Masters towards playing newer releases of Dungeons & Dragons. DM Habitus (Dashiell, 2022) and digital ethnographies (Anderson, 2023) have informed our theoretical framework and methods. The study evaluates this with mixed methods, composed of an online survey gathering 40 replies and 4 Dungeon Master interviews. We conclude that the reception of the new release is mixed among DMs and hypothesise that online influence and play environment might be affecting factors. There is agreement that the new release is not considered as a new edition, but offers more than a patch, which has caused confusion in the community. The overarching scope of the research, however, is used to understand the needs and wants of Dungeon Masters of varying levels of experience and expertise.