A Study on the Transmedia Strategies in the Dungeons & Dragons Franchise : Focusing on Hank’s Party in the D&D Animated Series

This study examines transmedia storytelling strategies that have enabled the long-term expansion of the intellectual property (IP) of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) across various media platforms over the past 50 years. Focusing on the original protagonists of the 1983 animated series Dungeons & Dragons, known as Hank’s Party, this study analyzes how this group has reappeared across animation, audio drama, comics, live-action films, and tabletop role-playing game (TRPG) modules, facilitating narrative continuity and world building across media. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of intertextuality and Ruppel’s typology of migratory cues, this study identifies the franchise-, story-, and intersectional cues deployed by D&D to guide audiences between texts. The findings indicate that Hank’s Party’s consistent portrayal—its weapons, costumes, personalities, and roles— functions as a powerful intersectional cue that encourages audiences to traverse multiple media within a franchise. Fan engagement played a crucial role in resurrecting and expanding the unfinished narrative of the original series, providing momentum for later official adaptations, like audio dramas, comics, and cameo appearances in film and TRPG modules. This study highlights strategic implications for the Korean content industry, suggesting that revitalizing legacy IPs can serve as an effective alternative to creating entirely new ones.