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Rai Cultura and Rai4 celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the most famousroleplaying game, a milestone of the fantasy world, with a special episode ofWonderland: Into the dragon’s lair - 50 years of Dungeons & Dragonsmagazine.

Written by Andrea Fornasiero and directed by Giuseppe Bucchi, the special, in the form of a 50 minutes documentary, expresses itself on a double record and a doublestory. At the heart of the narrative there’s the story of Dungeons & Dragons, from the beginning in 1974, thanks to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, to the latest versionsand the success of the videogame derived from the game, Baldur’s Gate III. Thetopic will be expound upon by various interviewees: the writer Vanni Santoni, withan approach both from a fan and a theorist side of the role-playing game; therenowned game designers Frank Mentzer and Zeb Cook; the translator Spartaco Albertarelli, as the witness of the expansion of D&D in Italy in the 80s; the writer Simone Laudiero, among the authors of Brancalonia, an italian variant of the game;the cartographer Francesca Baerald and Lawrence Schick the screenwriter of Baldur’s Gate III. In the archives of Wonderland, there’s also an interview with thegame designer, Jeremy Crawford, of the fifth edition of the game done at LuccaComics & Games in 2014.

This special of Wonderland wants to show the essence of the game itself. Thevarious chapters are framed by scenes of a Dungeons & Dragons game played in a Rai television studio. The actor Emiliano Coltorti took on the role of DungeonMaster and the writers Giada Pavesi and Christian Hill joined him, along with thestoryboard artist Gabriele Derosas and the colorist and designer Valentina “Banjiolin” Napolitano.

Wonderland: Into the dragon’s lair - 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons will bedisclosed in a preview during the 2024 edition, within the resounding tribute that the  event will bestow at the game anniversary. The special will air on Rai4 Monday, November 4th and immediately available on RaiPlay.

Rai is the main media partner of Lucca Comics & Games. As for last year, Rai Cultura will explain the 5 days of the most important “community event” in all of Europe witha daily spin-off of the Wonderland magazine, on the air on Rai4 from Wednesday,October 30st to Sunday, November 3rd, in the evening: Lucca Comics Daily. Thescheduling dedicated to Rai4 will conclude with a Wonderland special about the long  history of the event, written by Luca Raffaelli and directed by Enrico Platania, andwith a sequence of theme-based movies, that intersect the best supporters to the Lucca Comics & Games community.