Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Welcome to Episode 221 of the Mastering Dungeons podcast!

Main topic: The Psychology of D&D!
Dr. Jamie Madigan joins Teos and Shawn to explain that their dice aren’t cursed, the benefits of online vs in-person gaming, hot hand fallacy, and much more! Check out Jamie’s new book: psychologyofdnd.com

Contents
00:00 Psychology of D&D
00:45 Dr. Jamie Madigan
02:31 Writing and Publishing Process
05:47 Book Approach
08:35 Psychology of Dice Randomness
10:54 Gambler's Fallacy
12:53 Hot Hand Fallacy
15:11 Psychology of Game Choices
19:02 Fewer Compensatory Options
20:27 Satisficers vs Maximizers
24:15 Benefits of Play
26:51 Online vs In-Person Benefits
35:25 Shout-Outs
37:59 Find Dr. Jamie Madigan

Find our show notes and support our podcast and YouTube efforts:
patreon.com/MasteringDnD
Listen to us on your favorite podcast device:
MasteringDungeons.podbean.com
Chat with us online:
https://dice.camp/@MasteringDnD
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Find Shawn:
twitter.com/shawnmerwin
ghostfiregaming.com
Find Teos:
alphastream.org
youtube.com/@AlphastreamRPG
https://dice.camp/@Alphastream

Mastering Dungeons is a weekly podcast, providing News and a Main segment. We separate these on YouTube for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Our intro and outro music is Metropolis Fanfare, provided royalty-free by Tabletop Audio (https://tabletopaudio.com) under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).