Thread by @friede

For @carolinethegeek & #CR7Years I *think* my first CR tweet is here. I’d gotten tenure the year CR started, my 1st book was out, & I was a lurker for a long time. But I’d respond to that call & write my 1st piece on #CriticalRole.

Now? I joke I’m the senior prof of CR studies.

https://twitter.com/friede/status/999504811102961664

I’d loved actual plays for a long time, but that chapter gave me “permission” to pitch a course on #TTRPG narrative, which plunged me into the community of nerdy-ass designers, players, fans, & academics.

That course will be followed by two more this fall.

Now I’m finishing up my 2nd academic piece on CR & narrative, & used CR as a “way in” to talking about actual play more broadly for broader audiences. My career spent telling the stories of emerging genres & hidden creative histories is now focused on the spaces CR has opened up.

I was challenged in correspondence with an editor about whether I think #CriticalRole has a canonical, influential role in the history of Fantasy. It may be too soon to say for sure, but I’d argue that it has already established a legacy in a rising generation of creatives.