"I'm a fully realized creation!": bodies of work and creative processes in The Adventure Zone and The Lord of the Rings

Podcasts have been given relatively little scholarly attention, as the medium is so new very little framework exists to discuss it. This thesis seeks to provide an example by comparing a podcast to a more commonly discussed work. It focuses on The Adventure Zone, a popular “actual-play” podcast by the McElroy family of podcasters that tells a fantasy fiction narrative through the medium of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The narrative of The Adventure Zone’s Balance storyline is compared to that of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien’s foundational fantasy text, particularly as it pertains to how they were created. Both stories were developed to follow on from narratives more conventional and popular but less personal and complex, and used pre-existing non-narrative material made by the creators: Lord of the Rings used Tolkien’s unpublished “legendarium” to create a sequel to The Hobbit, and The Adventure Zone used the style and content of the McElroys’ other podcasts to complicate and subvert a simple pre-written Dungeons & Dragons adventure that became the starting point of the story. Comparing the two works’ creation, narrative and impact provides a rich example of the relationship podcast narratives have with more conventional literary ones

Good Ovens

Good Ovens was an entry in Myrin Library\u27s 13th Annual Edible Books Festival at Ursinus College.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ebf/1268/thumbnail.jp

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Candy

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Candy was an entry in Myrin Library\u27s 13th Annual Edible Books Festival at Ursinus College.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ebf/1266/thumbnail.jp

American Cheese Gods

American Cheese Gods was an entry in Myrin Library\u27s 13th Annual Edible Books Festival at Ursinus College.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ebf/1267/thumbnail.jp