Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
English
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Jeffrey Gonzalez
Committee Member
Adam Rzepka
Committee Member
Lee Behlman
Abstract
Actual Play, also known as Live Play or Narrative Play, is a media genre that features performers playing table-top roleplaying games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual Play has exploded in popularity over the past decade, and Dungeons and Daddies is one production from that recent explosion. An episode of the show’s third season, “Trout of the Past,” is an anomaly in the Actual Play space in its handling of its TTRPG systems, as only this episode features both Call of Cthulhu and Bluebeard’s Bride to convey the narrative. This paper uses “Trout of the Past” to examine the dynamic between narrative and system, building on preexisting arguments of ludology and narratology. It demonstrates the way the system can influence the messages of the narrative being told using gender as a lens to examine Bluebeard’s Bride which, while a feminist TTRPG, also entrenches gender divides further. The themes of the episode also pick up on this, essentializing Trudy Trout in an episode about her past abuse. Analyzing this episode of Actual Play will contribute to the continuing discussion around the medium, as well as its thematic union of ludology and narratology.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Monesteri, Faith, "The Actual Layers of Actual Play: Determining Actual Play's Structural Intrigues through "The Peachyville Horror"" (2026). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1675.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1675
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons