2012 - There and Back Again: Nostalgia, Art, and Ideology in Old-School Dungeons and Dragons

Abstract

This essay examines the aesthetic construction of nostalgia in the cover art of the Advanced Adventures, a series of tabletop fantasy role-playing modules published by Expeditious Retreat Press between 2006 and 2011. The art of these modules reveals a genre and period-specific set of aesthetic codes with distinct subcultural rules of application. In order to construct a sense of nostalgia, the cover art highlights the representation of adventurers, monsters, and dungeon environments within a unique visual style reminiscent of the early Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) aesthetic from the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The Advanced Adventures use nostalgia ideologically as a form of homage to early D&D, to assert the values of old-school gaming, and to chart a new direction for classic fantasy role-playing that challenges the style of play espoused by the current fourth edition of D&D (4E) published by Wizards of the Coast.

Classification 1331: sociology of language and the arts; sociology of art (creative & performing)
Identifier / keyword nostalgia aesthetics Dungeons and Dragons art role-playing games
Title There and Back Again: Nostalgia, Art, and Ideology in Old-School Dungeons and Dragons
Author Gillespie, Greg 1 ; Crouse, Darren

1 Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada ggillespie@brocku.ca
Correspondence author Gillespie, Greg 
Author e-mail address ggillespie@brocku.ca
Publication title Games and Culture

Year 2012
Publisher Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA
ISSN 1555-4120
Source type Scholarly Journals
Peer reviewed Yes
Language of publication English
Document type Journal Article
Number of references 61
DOI
http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.ewu.edu/10.1177/1555412012465004
Update 2014-10-01
Accession number 201436356
ProQuest document ID 1567044197
Document URL https://ezproxy.library.ewu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ewu.edu/docview/1567044197?accountid=7305