Explorations in Fantasy: Sound in Dungeons & Dragons

Michelle Jones

Maynooth University

Third place winner of the 2021 CHMHE Undergraduate Prize

Michelle Jones is a 24-year-old musician and musicology graduate from Dublin, Ireland. She recently graduated with a first-class honours BMus International Degree from Maynooth University, with a major in Composition and a minor dissertation. Her passion for music began early with lessons starting in Leeson Park Music School of Music Rathmines at the age of 13 months. She has been playing the violin since age five, and the piano since age 10. In St Colmcille’s Community school she was honoured with the Father Jimmy award for outstanding contributions to the Musical life of the school. In Maynooth she received an Entrance scholarship, first place in the Bachelor of Music Degree examination in her year, and was nominated for the CHMHE Undergraduate Musicology prize, in which she was awarded third prize.

This paper explores sound in relation to the popular tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), and how it contributes to the sense of immersion experienced by players. The role of music in D&D is studied through ludomusicological and other media-based texts. Definitions of immersion and functional aspects of music in sessions are analysed. There follows an exploration of other sound such as the voice and sound effects, as well as discussion of the imagination and “virtuality”. Detail is provided regarding the ethnomusicological research undertaken for this project. The research data is compared to the proposed theoretical framework. Further avenues of research are suggested. It is concluded that sound has a firm connection to the immersive experience.