WITCHES, wizards, bards, and barbarians from across the world this weekend will do battle for the forces of good – or to at least raise some money for a good cause – all united by a plucky band of Limerick podcasters.
Limerick podcaster Declan Doody, host of the Romancing the Dungeon podcast, an actual-play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) show with a romantic twist, will today (Friday) kick off worldwide tournament that will see players from other D&D podcasts go head-to-head in a battle royale, all to raise money for a good cause – the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
Declan will be just one host across three days of the D8Dungeon Drive 2024, in which characters from a number of D&D podcasts will take one another on in the heat of fantasy roleplay war to raise much-needed money for the children of Palestine.
Now in its third year, Declan says this year’s drive will have a very interactive element to keep audiences engaged and even taking part in the fun and games.
“We encourage all the game masters to the audience how can they use their donations to change their game, to help the players or hinder the players – we’ve seen over the last couple years just how awesome that can be.”
A veteran player in his own right, Declan has been playing D&D since he was 17 years old. Now, 21 years later, and having produced his award-winning podcast, he says his mother still asks if he’s playing his “little dragon game”.
Now in its third year, the D8Dungeon Drive unites roleplaying podcasters from across the world in a weekend of charitable gaming, with past causes including LGBTQ and trans rights and pro-choice causes.
This year, however, there was some consternation around the choice of charity, one podcaster told the Limerick Post.
Amber Clidinst-Jaron, another Romancing the Dungeon cast member, said that there was “no question” that funds should be donated from this year’s drive towards the children of Palestine.
“There was kind of a no question, that’s the issue this year. That’s the big thing that’s happening globally,” she explained. However not all podcasters in the international network felt the same way.
“People who would have supported us previously said ‘no thanks, sorry, we’re not actually going to do that this year’ … Of course, nobody ever says anything, but it’s easy enough to read between the lines,” she said.
Declan and Amber’s podcast, Romancing the Dungeon, is an improv-fuelled adventure “about finding that special someone in a world full of peril, monsters, and heartbreakers”.
This weekend’s tournament, however, is all about spreading the love outside of the dungeon, with the drive currently hoping to raise €4,000 for those impacted by the ongoing conflict in Palestine.
To watch all the the action of this year’s D8Dungeon drive and donate, visit twitch.tv/d8dungeon.
