Accessibility links
Diversifying Dungeons & Dragons, plus 'A League of Their Own' : It's Been a Minute For a long time, Dungeons & Dragons was stereotyped as a game for nerdy young white guys in their parents' basement. But not anymore — the game has exploded in popularity and players of all backgrounds are joining in. Guest co-host Andrea Gutierrez talks to Jasmine Bhullar and Persephone Valentine, both content creators and dungeon masters, about how D&D has become an exciting medium for marginalized people to tell new kinds of fantasy stories.

Then, Andrea sits down with Chanté Adams, star of the new Amazon Prime series A League of Their Own. Adams plays Maxine Chapman, a queer Black woman loosely based on historic female players in the Negro Leagues. The role also expands on a non-speaking, unnamed character in the original 1992 film. Adams talks about seeking complex Black characters to portray onscreen, and bringing her family into each new role.

Finally, Andrea tests All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang and producer Mia Venkat on their pop culture news knowledge in a game of Who Said That.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at ibam@npr.org.

It's Been a Minute

The game has changed for D&D and 'A League of Their Own'

The game has changed for D&D and 'A League of Their Own'

Listen · 35:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1120523900/1199266978" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Enlarge this image

Close-up of Dungeons and Dragons game dice on table. Jared Hammonds/EyeEm/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Jared Hammonds/EyeEm/Getty Images

Close-up of Dungeons and Dragons game dice on table.

Jared Hammonds/EyeEm/Getty Images

For a long time, Dungeons & Dragons was stereotyped as a game for nerdy young white guys in their parents' basement. But not anymore — the game has exploded in popularity and players of all backgrounds are joining in. Guest co-host Andrea Gutierrez talks to Jasmine Bhullar and Persephone Valentine, both content creators and dungeon masters, about how D&D has become an exciting medium for marginalized people to tell new kinds of fantasy stories.

Then, Andrea sits down with Chanté Adams, star of the new Amazon Prime series A League of Their Own. Adams plays Maxine Chapman, a queer Black woman loosely based on historic female players in the Negro Leagues. The role also expands on a non-speaking, unnamed character in the original 1992 film. Adams talks about seeking complex Black characters to portray onscreen, and bringing her family in each new role.

Finally, Andrea tests All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang and producer Mia Venkat on their pop culture news knowledge in a game of Who Said That.

This episode of 'It's Been a Minute' was produced by Barton Girdwood, Jessica Mendoza, Liam McBain, and Janet Woojeong Lee. Our supervising editor is Jessica Placzek. Engineering support came from Stu Rushfield. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams, our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni, and our Senior VP of Programming is Anya Grundmann. You can follow us on Twitter @npritsbeenamin and email us at ibam@npr.org.