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I’m waiting for the article unveiling the truth that 5E is one of the clunkiest games currently available—it’s popularity purely a function of big dollar advertising—and one that in my experience actively discourages roleplay.

Speaking as a former journalist: Journalists WANT to get the story right, but they can only quote sources they can reach who are willing to talk to them. If they don't know who they should talk to and don't know that they don't know, you end up with a half-baked story.

But if you (or someone else—not suggesting that it's your responsibility) were to contact that reporter and say, "Hey, I appreciate that you're reporting on this, but you had some basic context wrong; do you have some time for me to fill you in?" they WILL say yes if they have any standards at all.

Of course, we're all busy, and correcting the record is time-consuming and won't change the story that's gone out already. But it might not be a bad idea for folks in the know to drop that reporter a line and say, "Hey, next time you write about this, I have background knowledge you can draw on."

It’s mostly a local Seattle live show piece that got picked up, but what feels weird is that it links to a random blog, & goes to the effort of citing an academic book (one I’m in, for the record), but it’s @shellyjones.bsky.social Watch Us Roll that would give him the better origins. Minor whinge.

What’s interesting to me is that D&D gets framed here as the driver and the focus (unlike other recent mainstream pieces on CR & D20 that focus on the productions themselves) — and honestly our extant scholarship hasn’t really corrected that in easily-citable ways.

Also what is FASCINATING to me is that the moment that AP “begins to pick up” in this framing is when the monetization platforms spin up.