A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre San Jose State University

This thesis addresses how the commonalities of “Dungeons and Dragons” and Episodic television are used as a framework for character development for writers and players. Through the Dramatistic Pentad, this study examines the texts of the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide by Gary Gygax and the episodic television texts Crafty TV Writing Thinking Inside The Box by Alex Epstein and Television Writing from the Inside Out Your Channel to Success by Larry Brody. Throughout this study, the concepts of Dungeons and Dragons and Episodic television are categorized, aligned, and analyzed to determine how these commonalities are used as a framework for character development.

Research on this subject reveals that the characters’ scenes, actions, and purposes are a direct extension and reflection of their universe. The scenes, actions, and purposes are a way for writers, players, and an audience to understand character and story development as a whole, not from one aspect.

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Appendix A: Terminology

Abilities are what the character can do within the game. These are defined as potential “power or skill of a game character or other creature.” (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 171)

Action/description is “the action, images, and sounds” that is displayed by the characters. This does not include dialogue (Douglas 226).

Antagonist is the character who “opposes the protagonist’s goal” (Douglas 226). This character is the main obstacle that the protagonist faces.

Attributes are the foundation of the character. It is the “character’s basic characteristics.” It is the initial stage of character creation. (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 171).

Back-story is the history of the characters. These are “incidents or relationships that shape a character” (Douglas 227).

Character-Arc is the progression of a character’s development from “one condition to a different dramatic state” (Douglas 226). This takes place over the entire series.

Character Document/Sheet contains all of the information about a specific character. The information refers to their “weight, age, dark secrets, strength” and any other necessary information that is needed to understand the character (Lappi 97).

Dungeon Masters (DM’s) is the overseer of the game session. DM’s “simply provides the setting” for the players to interact in (Toles-Patkin 3).

Episode is an “installment of a continuing story-line” within a television series. Usually each episode is either a half-hour or an hour in length (Douglas 228).

Game-Session is a complete episode of a role-playing game episode. A game-session can also “take place over one or more several play sessions.” (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 171).

Hit Points (HP’s) represents the amount of damage a character can take before being defeated. Also, this can represent the amount of damage the character can deliver “through some form of attack (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 173).

Non-Player Characters (NPC’s) are the minor roles assumed usually controlled by the DM. The NPC’s are controlled by the DM. NPC’s can appear in “one or more sessions of play” (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 174).

Player-Character (PC’s) is the roles portrayed by players. The PC’s is usually the central hero “in a campaign or single play session” (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 174).

Players are the participants who create a “make-believe character” that interacts in a game story milieu (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 174).

Protagonist is the main character in the story. This character “drives the action and makes key dramatic decisions” (Douglas 230). This is the character that the audience will root for.

Role-playing is the personality of the character that is being portrayed. The character actions are based on their character sheet and imagination. The art of role-playing is “limited only by very broad parameters, common sense, and imagination” (Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery, 175).

Tabletop/Pen’n’Paper was the first style of role-playing games. This requires two, or more, players at a table with the DM at the head. The players and DM’s use pencils and paper to create the characters they play. Next, the players “describe what their characters will do in a given scene” (Lancaster 51). What the players say is what their characters actually do.