2025-07-18
21 分钟For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
Last April,
I spent a harrowing hour of my life trying to get tickets to a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
I walked away with the cortisol levels of someone who'd just been hunted for sport and feeling lucky that I'd only spent like twice what I'd expected to.
And sure, that's a pretty typical story these days,
but I wasn't trying to snag tickets to see Taylor Swift or Beyonce.
I was competing with tens of thousands of people to go watch other people play Dungeons & Dragons.
I did not think that would happen.
I did not think that I would be DMing at Madison Square Garden.
How could you imagine of the goal 10 years ago?
I'm like walking past Madison Square Garden to hit up another frozen yogurt shop for free samples
because I can't afford lunch.
I'm like, one day, baby, I'll be in there playing D&D.
You count on it, bet on that.
No, I would never have anticipated.
That was Brennan Lee Mulligan, a professional dungeon master or DM.
That means his job is to facilitate the playing of D&D.
Brennan has made a name for himself through his work in actual play,
which is an entertainment genre, mostly podcasts,
but also streaming shows like his creation Dimension 20 on Dropout TV,