D&D players raise millions in real-life campaign against 'corporate elite'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/16/dungeons-dragons-tabletop-games-politics

D&D players raise millions in real-life campaign against ‘corporate elite’

Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Dungeons and Dragons push is part of a wider trend using tabletop games for political action

Mallory Carra
Thu 16 Jul 2026 07.00 EDT

Just before their election day, six Los Angeles city council candidates stood on stage at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre. But they weren’t there for a debate or a black-tie gala. They were there to play Dungeons and Dragons. Comedian Brennan Lee Mulligan guided the politicians through a short D&D campaign to defeat corporate villains and an evil dragon. Hundreds of enthusiastic fans in the crowd pledged additional donations up to $150 each to give the candidates what is called an “auto crit” for maximum damage to the dragon.

If this sounds like a bizarre merging of politics and play, organizers say it is not. “Most people want to be tapped and told how to help,” said Mulligan, a longtime DSA member and the dungeon master of D&D-themed hit YouTube series Critical Role and Dropout’s Dimension 20. “Then, lo and behold, there’s this new way to participate, bringing the platform I have to bear.”

The DSA-LA show raised $30,000 for the city’s primary election in June; five of the candidates onstage that night either won re-election or advanced to the general in November. The event is just one in a wider resistance movement by players of D&D and other tabletop role playing games (TTRPGs) against the current political climate – ICE raids, attacks on transgender rights and the rise of artificial intelligence. Over the past few years, groups across the country have been playing TTRPGs online and in person to raise money to develop games that express their frustration with the federal government and instruct people on how to help those most impacted by its policies.

“There are different archipelagos of the fandom, but what unifies each and every one of them is that they are very responsive to calls to action from the people who are there watching and feeling that they’re in community with,” said Emily Friedman, an English professor at Auburn University who teaches classes on D&D and TTRPGs. “They feel like this is a space that is welcoming them.”

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