Instagram story viewer> @criticalprof> Posts

Dr. Em Friedman

@criticalprof

5K

followers

697

following

Historian of storytellers, games, & nerd fame
J.W. Liles Prof of English
@folgerlibrary Public Humanities Fellow
ACTUAL HISTORY OF ACTUAL PLAY (MIT)

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

🚨 A new episode of Adventuring Academy is out now on Dropout!

Join Brennan Lee Mulligan and Dr. Emily Friedman as they talk TTRPG history, game systems, and beaver nuggets!

#dimension20 #adventuringacademy #dropout #emilyfriedman #brennanleemulligan by @criticalprof

15k

71

2 months ago

It’s a wild thing to move from writing and teaching about the history of women writers to spending my life as a tenured professor working to prevent the work of women like @marisha_ray from being forgotten — and it’s a nice cherry on top to get a little shine in return.

Definitely a lot of great work on Actual Play and @critical_role in the world — you can find a lot at Aub.ie/critrolebib (or submit some at aub.ie/submitcritrolebib by @criticalprof

243

3

a year ago

I’m not the first (nor was AcqInc), but chuffed at the shoutout from @brennanleemulligan all the same. My thanks to my lovely former student @ascottdukes for giving me the head’s up. by @criticalprof

1k

32

a year ago

Proof of life: masked up (gross cold) and went to see Artistic Fellow Chase Brantley of @moonlight_theater_company give his @folgerlibrary “Cocktails & Conversation” playful presentation on the history and current practice of clown. It’s been so great to talk about where different practices overlap and deviate.

Play’s the thing, you know? taken in Folger Shakespeare Library by @criticalprof

69

2

4 days ago

A confession. by @criticalprof

81

5

12 days ago

🎲 What do 18th-century manuscripts and Dungeons & Dragons have in common? 🎲

When COVID-19 closed the archives where Auburn English professor Emily Friedman was studying unpublished manuscripts, she turned her attention to a different kind of storytelling: Actual Play, where tabletop role-playing games become stories created together in real time.

Now, Friedman is helping define the emerging field. She’s brought Critical Role Game Master Matthew Mercer to Auburn, built wildly popular courses around games as cultural objects and is writing a book for MIT Press tracing the 20-year history of Actual Play.

Support from the Jean Wickstrom Liles Professorship is giving Friedman something especially valuable to keep exploring those questions: time.

Learn more at the link in our bio! The image is split into two sections. The top section shows three individuals standing on a stage adorned with greenery and vibrant flowers. The bottom section depicts two individuals seated on a stage, engaging in conversation, with a book placed on a small table between them. The setting appears to be a formal or professional event. by @criticalprof

269

5

14 days ago

My work at the @folgerlibrary also includes introducing modern games to the staff and my fellow Fellows — which made for some hard choices when packing! What would YOU include? taken in Folger Shakespeare Library by @criticalprof

53

6

14 days ago

Today’s playful object from the @folgerlibrary is a Shakespearean Oracle designed as a party game — and one where interpreting lines of Shakespeare could get heated! Should we try to make a copy and play it? taken in Folger Shakespeare Library by @criticalprof

32

0

15 days ago

Delighted to be in Oxford early next year to be part of the Keynote Panel for the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Annual Conference alongside respected friends and colleagues.

I of course will be on my usual bullshit as Affable American talking games and playful media. by @criticalprof

12

0

15 days ago

More unboxing at @folgerlibrary — this time a 1901 trivia game by the Shakespeare Club of Camden, Maine. I’ll admit: some of the questions are a bit of a stretch… taken in Folger Shakespeare Library by @criticalprof

34

0

20 days ago

More unboxing here at @folgerlibrary — today, a pretty little game that assumes YOU know these “Familiar Quotations” — what do you think would be the most recognizable literary phrases today? by @criticalprof

21

1

21 days ago

More unboxing, this time of a tiny 1901 card game @folgerlibrary #games #shakespeare taken in Folger Shakespeare Library by @criticalprof

73

4

22 days ago