Let's Get Gaming with Guest Molly Murphy 🎲
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Season 2: Episode 90 Description
Ten News Gets Extra: 🎲 At the Ten, we love video games, ballgames, tabletop games, basically all the games you could ever play! 🎙️ Head Writer Ryan Willard sits down with Molly Murphy who works behind the scenes at Dorktales Storytime AND is a big Dungeons and Dragons player. 🎮 Find out who are the top 10 women gamers around the world. ✔️ Fun Fact Check: What was the first roleplaying game to come out in 1974? And, test your video game knowledge on today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
• U.S. video gamer gender statistics 2021 | Statista
20 Gamer Girls Making Thousands of Dollars (gamedesigning.org)
Top 10 Female Gamers on YouTube[2021] (wondershare.com)
History of Role Playing Games - The Functional Nerds
10 awesome video games made by women | Nerd Street
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:01
Whoa. The Ten newsroom is now an Arcade. Super Mario, here I come. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Saturday, March 26th. And this is no ordinary episode of the Ten News. This is the Ten News Gets Extra.
Various Voices 0:16
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:24
Do you love video games, tabletop games, or ball games? I just love all games. You might have heard of the first role-playing game or RPG. In 1974, the first commercial tabletop RPG was released. It was a fantasy storytelling card game called Dungeons and Dragons. In the nearly 50 years since it came out. The game has become a huge part of pop culture. 10 news head writer Ryan Willard sat down with Molly Murphy. Molly works behind the scenes at the Dorktales podcast. Take it away, Molly and Ryan.
Ryan Willard 1:05
Thank you very much, Bethany. I am thrilled to have a Miss Molly Murphy here. Can you tell us who you are, and where you're from? And what is it that you do?
Molly Murphy 1:15
Of course, yeah. So my name is Molly Murphy. I'm from California, originally just outside of San Francisco. And I live in Brooklyn, New York. So I work for an organization and write stories about the work that they do. And then I work on a podcast with my family and I write scripts for the podcast, and then other sorts of ephemeral story writing projects. So a lot of writing is what I do.
Ryan Willard 1:49
I like it. We love writers here at the Ten News. Because we also love reading. And I know you work on a podcast, is that Dorktales?
Molly Murphy 1:58
Yeah, the podcast is called Dorktales Storytime Podcast. And, I work on it with my mom and my brother, my brother does all of the voice acting and storytelling on the podcast, and my mom produces it. And I am a scriptwriter and a music writer and do a couple of jobs here and there, do some editing and things like that of scripts. And basically, we tell fairy tales. And we say we tell fairy tales with a geekish twist. So we do a little bit of a twist on your classic fairy tales and have a lot of fun, geeky references of some of our favorite pop culture and other things like that. And we also do stories about hidden heroes of history. So, folks in history who have done incredible things that you may not have heard of.
Ryan Willard 2:46
I heard a rumor that you are a gamer. And I'm a big gamer. I love video games. I love board games, but I have not played Dungeons and Dragons in a very, very, very, very, very long time. Can you explain to anyone that's unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons? What that is exactly?
Molly Murphy 3:06
Sure. So Dungeons and Dragons are what is known as a tabletop role-playing game. So it is played. Well. There's a lot of virtual play now. But it's usually played in person, you're sitting at a table with people around you. The simplest way to put it for me in my experience of it is group storytelling. So you have a group of players who create characters and for a game like Dungeons and Dragons, there's a whole slew of different choices and opportunities to play different types of characters, you can play an archer you can play, you know, somebody who fights with the sword, you can play a magic-user, and you build characters and then you have another person that comes to the table who is what's called the Dungeon Master Game Master. And they open up a world for those players to explore and then you sort of tell a story together in real-time with your characters and this world that your game master is created and brought to the table
Ryan Willard 4:14
Awesome. Okay, so if you're the Dungeon Master, you get to create the world, the story, and how it plays out?
Molly Murphy 4:21
There are a lot of different things there are so many games out there right now it's a little bit of a Dungeons and Dragons Renaissance. So there, they create worlds for you they create adventures for you like if you're a new DM or if you want to use something that's already pre-made and kind of tweak it for your table of players. They have those resources or you can create something wholesale and kind of use the basic rules and guidelines of the game to build your own world and share that with players
Ryan Willard 4:54
Very cool. So, do you have free rein to just create kind of anything using that structure that they give you?
Molly Murphy 5:02
I have I've played with a lot of newer players, there's always a period of time in which they're afraid they're gonna break the game where they know that I have a story in mind or something that I prepared or there's something that the book is telling me if I'm using a book, and they want to make the right choice to go on the right path. And the thing that I always say is, there is absolutely no way possible, at least at tables that I run, for you to break the game. Because I think the most exciting part about playing role-playing games is that you're offering this story to players, and they have agency and can make decisions. And, you know, they can think about what their characters would do and do it. And if it takes the plan I had for the evening and totally derails it. That's all the better because it's meant to be something that's collaborative. And I think the gift that you're giving when you're leading the games is the opportunity for the players to truly be the ones leading the story, but then they take it and make the story their own. Do you have
Ryan Willard 6:04
Any tips for anyone that wants to play D&D, or to be a Dungeon or Game Master and create their own campaign?
Molly Murphy 6:11
The first one is, just do it. So if there's any inkling inside of you that says, I'm really interested in this, and I want to try it. But you know, here's my list of reasons why I wouldn't be good at it. I would say just put the list aside at first and try it. And I think that you'd probably be surprised. That's like, my biggest piece of advice. Always have a random list of names for characters because your players will go talk to people that you didn't expect them to talk to. So it's very helpful to have a list of names on hand to pull from so that you can create a character spontaneously on the spot.
Ryan Willard 6:50
Awesome. Okay, good to know. I appreciate that advice. I have one last question about D&D, you said there was a renaissance in D&D, right? Yeah, no, before the Renaissance, to my knowledge, it was mostly males, boys, and men that played this game. Now, that it's a new age of D&D are women playing it more these days?
Molly Murphy 7:11
I think a lot more people are feeling empowered to lead games, you know, women, men, nonbinary folks, you know, all identities across the spectrum, I think it's a really welcoming place when you make sure especially if you're leading a game when you make sure to cultivate that experience for other people, that it is welcoming, and that you're empowering all people to you are often heroes saving the world. And I think that just being able to participate in an activity where you are casting yourself with that strength and that ability to take risks and the ability to quite literally take risks at a table with people and roleplay with them and be emotional with them or share your story with them. I think because it's opening up to more people and more people are experiencing that it's evolving into learning more people making content around this and that are actively saying, you know, you get to build a table of players in a story in a world. And it's worth telling, you know, whoever and wherever you are, is, you know, that's definitely expanding what the community looks like.
Ryan Willard 8:30
I'm so glad and I love that the community is expanded into a more diverse and inclusive place because it really is a great way to explore and express yourself under the guise of another character, which is suddenly actually making us all equal in a different way, which I think is awesome.
Molly Murphy 8:48
Absolutely. I absolutely agree.
Ryan Willard 8:51
And it is time for my favorite segment. Anytime I get to interview people these are serious and not so serious questions. This is a rapid-fire game, Molly Murphy, you're going to answer as many questions as you can as fast as you can. And if you hesitate or you answer incorrectly, I will send you a four-pound bag of glitter in your next birthday card. Do you understand?
Molly Murphy 9:10
I understand the stakes are high. That is correct.
Ryan Willard 9:12
All right. Here we go. Question number one. Do you prefer puppies or kittens?
Molly Murphy 9:16
Puppies.
Ryan Willard 9:17
Would you rather fight an angry dragon or 1,000 Samurai Warriors?
Molly Murphy 9:23
I'm gonna go with the angry dragon because I want to make it my friend.
Ryan Willard 9:25
Salsa or hummus?
Molly Murphy 9:28
Salsa.
Ryan Willard 9:28
What's a video game that you think every Ten'er should play?
Molly Murphy 9:31
Stardew Valley.
Ryan Willard 9:33
If you had to make up the worst ice cream flavor of all time. What would it be?
Molly Murphy 9:38
In New York the day after it snows it unveils the trash that was on the side of the street. Like as the snow starts to melt and get slushy and it's sort of mixed with the trash on the side of the street and turning that into an ice cream flavor. So, street garbage, melty snow ice cream, and like probably dirt from the bottom of people's shoes. Yeah, that's the worst I could imagine. Yes.
Ryan Willard 10:03
All right, next question. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
Molly Murphy 10:07
I think, to teleport so that I could go to all the people I love and then also go to cool places, you know, without even a thought.
Ryan Willard 10:17
Do you have any hidden talents?
Molly Murphy 10:19
I can tap dance.
Ryan Willard 10:21
Molly Murphy, the final question the most serious one I can possibly ask is if you had to change your name to a fantastical name. What would it be?
Molly Murphy 10:29
Mathilde is Star Child of the Dragon Kind.
Ryan Willard 10:33
I think you need to change your name to that immediately. Mathilde is Star Child of the Dragon Kind. Molly or Mateus. Thank you so much for joining us for the Ten News. This was a really great time. Is there anything else you want to say to our audience?
Molly Murphy 10:44
Thank you so much for having me. It's so exciting to chat with you and with Ten'ers.
Ryan Willard 10:50
Well, we're thrilled to have you and we can't wait to listen to more Dorktales. And we will see you soon. All right back to you, Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 10:56
Thanks for stopping by the Ten News, Molly. When you think of a gamer, who do you picture? Do you picture a boy? Well, guess what? 45% of gamers are girls or women. Nearly half of Americans play video games. We rounded up the top 10 Women gamers from around the world. At number 10, we've got Chinese gamer Chen Yu Yan aka GL Hui. She took first place at the gold Club World Championships playing the game Hearthstone. Number nine on the list is British gamer Lizzie aka LD shadow lady, a Minecraft player who has over a billion views on YouTube. Coming in and number eight we have Ricky Ortiz, a pro gamer who has competed in over 40 tournaments coming in second in the epic Capcom Cup. In the number seven spot is kitty cat gaming whose real name is Suzy Berhow. She streams lots of different games on her YouTube channel. Competitive pro, Catherine Gunn aka mystic is our number six gamer at WCG. Ultimate Gamer she took first place playing Halo Reach. Number five is Sasha Scarlett Huston a Canadian powerhouse she's the Top Paid pro gamer in the world and she plays StarCraft two Tiffany Garcia aka AI has cup quake is number four on our list. She started in league of legends in World of Warcraft but made it big playing Minecraft creating the Oasis series she has the most YouTube views of any female gamer. Number three is Liverpudlian which means someone from Liverpool England Leah also known as es Sniper Wolf. Leah plays Call of Duty Overwatch fortnight and more. World Record holder Carrie Switek is our number two lady gamer in 2015. She played just dance for over 138 hours. Wow, the longest marathon gaming session ever. So she was dancing for almost six days and raised money for charity the whole time. Awesome. And our number one is Stacy plays. Are you a potato flake? That's it. Stacy plays calls her fans Minecrafter Stacy and Joseph created the hugely popular dog craft series and is one of the most popular gamers on YouTube. Up Next it's time for what what what's the big idea trivia on the tech loves video games were designed by women but there's one very famous game created by a woman which came out in 2020 and help so many people by providing a welcome distraction from the pandemic. Do you know which game it is? Is it a) Animal Crossings New Horizon? b) Spirit fare or c) dreams? Did you guess it? The answer is a) Animal Crossing. Animal Crossing was a major obsession for Nintendo gamers in 2020. And the game creation was led by Iakia Goku. Iakia noticed there weren't many women on the team and decided to do something about it. She made sure there was an even split of women and men on the team in encourage the whole team to submit ideas for the game. Animal Crossings New Horizon is still one of the most popular Nintendo games of all time. Get it idea. Time's up. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The 10 News creative team is playing d&d and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Logan Deyoung and Tessa Flannery. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle. And our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. I'm going to get my RPG on right now. See you later.
