The character sheet and dice of Tyler Carcara (COM’21)—essentials for a Dungeons and Dragons session. Image courtesy of You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here

Student Podcast

BU Students Produce Dungeons and Dragons Podcast

Take a behind-the-scenes look at You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here

With all of the pandemic-related chaos going on, no one could be blamed for wanting to trade in reality for a little fantasy and (mis)adventure. That’s where You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here comes in. 

Produced and performed by Boston University students Rudyard O’Neil Henry (COM’21), Olivia Fumiatti (COM’21), Jesse Norrell (CAS’21), and Tyler Carcara (COM’21), You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here is an actual-play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) podcast. The players—Fumiatti, Norrell, and Carcara—create and play complex characters in a game and world designed by Henry, who acts as the Dungeon Master (DM). The podcast transports the players and the audience to fantastical lands, magical secret societies, and even to the streets of Boston.

D&D shot to popularity in the 1980s as a popular fantasy tabletop role-playing game. The game involves players creating characters embarking on adventures, fighting evil, and starting a tavern brawl or two—all orchestrated by the DM, who runs the game and builds the world they inhabit. What was once perceived as a nerdy pastime played in basements has become a popular form of entertainment, attracting celebrities such as Vin Diesel, Stephen Colbert, and Terry Crews.

This season of You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here is called “S.W.A.T.: the Society of the Weird and Terrifying,” and it takes place in a magical version of our world, as opposed to a traditional fantasy one. The season follows a monk named Cash (Fumiatti), a fighter named Julie (Norrell), and a sorcerer named Wes (Carcara). The idea of mixing magic with modern technology makes for interesting conflicts and a unique season.

The players met as BU students, and D&D brought them together. Their first game was held in the Warren Towers common room with 12 other people. “That was in December, and either just before the intersession or during it, Kai [Medina] sent me a message that said, ‘What would you think about being in a D&D podcast?’ And I was like, ‘OK!’” says Norrell.

The cast of the first season consisted of Kai Medina (CAS’21), Henry, Norrell, Carcara, and Megan Antone (CAS’21). When they first started, they had an 8 am recording slot, but role-playing early in the morning wasn’t the only obstacle they had to overcome. They also had to get comfortable with each other. “I think it’s interesting, because when you also go back to those first episodes,” Norrell says, “we aren’t used to working with each other yet. There’s a certain level of humor. Like, if I make this joke, will other people get it?” 

Fumiatti joined the cast later after transferring to BU and meeting Henry and Antone in a comedy improv group. She also met Carcara through their work on a web series for the [student-run satire website] Bunion. However, unlike her counterparts, she was familiar with D&D, having played before transferring. “I was in two different groups at that time. I was in a group on my college campus in Connecticut, and then I was also in an online Roll20 group,” she says. “I had some D&D knowledge beforehand, and I remember at the audition [for the comedy improv group], Megan, who O’Neil and I both knew and was already in the podcast at the time, was like, ‘Oh my gosh! I do a D&D podcast. You should totally check it out!’”

D&D brought them together, and the podcast allows them to share their love and passion for the game with a wider audience. “I never would have met Jesse if we hadn’t done this. I would have seen Tyler maybe four times a semester for the show,” Fumiatti says.

The tone and style of You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here was inspired by several popular D&D podcasts, mostly The Adventure Zone. “I took a little inspiration from ‘Amnesty’ [the title of The Adventure Zone second season] as far as the modern era goes, and I’ve also taken some from Critical Role, because that’s when they get down and dirty with the nice stats and numbers, and you really get used to the rules,” explains Henry. “Hello from the Magic Tavern I take from because of the sound design. Bombarded is another one that I like because it’s a musical D&D podcast, which is very interesting. I take a lot of inspiration from them, but I try not to take content from them.” Each of these has helped to not only bring fantasy podcasts back to the forefront, but also has brought D&D more prominently into the public consciousness.

Henry is the podcast’s most recent DM (although the other players have tried their hand at running the game), but he also edits the audio and produces the music and sound effects for the podcast. The editing process can take a long time—sometimes up to 12 hours. “In general we record an arc ahead,” according to Henry, “so right now, we just wrapped up the ‘Magic in the Midwest’ arc, and so the next arc we’ll start recording when ‘Magic in the Midwest’ is released.”

More recently, Carcara has been learning how to edit audio so he can eventually help out with the podcast production. Fumiatti manages the official social media channels, which include Twitter and Instagram accounts. It takes a lot of work to get from a recording session to publishing it online. And that’s just on the technical front—there’s a lot more creativity that goes into producing the podcast

As DM for the game, it’s up to Henry to run each session, which includes coming up with material for an individual game, as well as connecting the dots to a larger overarching story. This means building a world for the players to inhabit, creating extraneous characters for them to interact with (called non-player characters, or NPCs), and crafting threatening villains for them to fight. “I’m a film student, so it’s a little bit all in my head,” Henry says. “But when it becomes more than just a game, that’s when I feel like it’s really rewarding.”

For the players, building their own characters is up to them. “My favorite part [of character creation] is reacting,” says Carcara. “When you still are kind of unsure of what their personality is and you’re trying to on the fly come up with how this character works in this world and how they feel about everything.” 

What makes You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here unique is the fact that so much of Boston—and by extension, BU—is embedded in the very fabric of this podcast. “Our first major arc of ‘S.W.A.T.’ is called ‘Botanists in Boston,’ in which they go to Boston and do Boston things,” says Henry. “For example, we go to the Target in Fenway.” 

“You get to hear us complain about the T map,” Norrell adds. Their characters also snuck into a Red Sox game and got in trouble with security. 

With the outbreak of coronavirus, the producers of You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here feel like D&D—and their podcast—is just the thing needed to escape from the stress of the real world, even for a few hours. “It’s my favorite thing that I do at school for sure,” Carcara says. All members recommend that others use this period of self-isolation to try playing D&D and craft their own fantasy adventure. “We use it as an art form, but it’s also just a game,” Henry says. “It’s a game you can play with friends.”

Listen to You Might Be Wondering How We Got Here on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, and YouTube. Episodes are released weekly.