Dungeons & Dragons Won’t Get You Stuffed in Your Locker Anymore

I’m not that old (but I ain’t no spring chicken either). My 36th Birthday happened in January and while that doesn’t mean I’m over the hill, I did hurt my back cause I sat wrong while reading comic books to my children last month. My time on this Earth has been filled with … many cultural shifts (good and bad). But the most astonishing one has been the prevalence of nerd culture. I saw it happen in real time, and still can’t wrap my head around it.

While now I can read comic books almost anywhere without fear of being accosted, that was not always the case. My high school days were spent shielding my Superman comics behind my history books. The sneers and jeers I received from fellow students often revolved around my “weirdness,” which was me enjoying graphic novels. Disrespect for paneled pages even followed me into the working world, as I would try to read comics on my breaks at work and be constantly interrupted as if I wasn’t doing anything. Still, comics lost their stigma thanks to their success in other media, which I expected would happen eventually. The growing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons has caught me completely off guard.

I was not alive during the Stanic Panic around Dungeons & Dragons in the 70s and 80s, but I had a science teacher who regurgitated the same nonsense to me in the early 2000s. A Science teacher! He should know better! I was part of an after-school group that attempted to play but the stigma against the game was so strong that we lost a member after the first meet-up, and the group was canceled after only a few sessions. It was incredibly hard to find people to play with until I got to high school and even then, we didn’t talk about it. Admitting to playing D&D was a social death sentence. Oh, how times have changed.

I’m not breaking any new ground here. D&D has risen in public popularity for over a decade. The game is not only acceptable, it’s popular as hell. A new film was released over twenty years after the abject failure of an attempt at a big-screen presence. People liked it! While it didn’t set the box office on fire, critics and audiences adored the funny film in a way that seemed to push the cultural shift even further. Now, the franchise is taking its next logical step in its progressing popularity: a streaming show!

Shawn Levy, hot off the success of Deadpool Ampersand Wolverine will produce a live-action TV adaptation of the popular game for Netflix with Drew Crevello serving as writer and showrunner according to Deadline. This is another big step in streaming’s attempt to corner the fantasy market. So, they need to use something incredibly popular that people are willing to admit they like and that is apparently Dungeons & Dragons. Who’d a thunk it?! People may be watching the show on their phones, on the bus, without worrying about anything being thrown at them! The dream!

Maybe this news won’t be as shocking to others, but it feels like a point of no return. Netflix definitely helped make Dungeons & Dragons more “mainstream” with its inclusion in Stranger Things, but this next step feels even bigger. They are seeing something popular and capitalizing on it for those sweet sweet subscriptions. Nerds are now in charge (for better and for much worse). Take that, Mr. Broeder! Warn someone else about the dangers of Satanism!