The Role-Playing Society

The Role-Playing Society
Author: Andrew Byers
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-03-01
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1476623481

Since the release of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, role-playing games (RPGs) have spawned a vibrant industry and subculture whose characteristics and player experiences have been well explored. Yet little attention has been devoted to the ways RPGs have shaped society at large over the last four decades. Role-playing games influenced video game design, have been widely represented in film, television and other media, and have made their mark on education, social media, corporate training and the military. This collection of new essays illustrates the broad appeal and impact of RPGs. Topics range from a critical reexamination of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, to the growing significance of RPGs in education, to the potential for "serious" RPGs to provoke awareness and social change. The contributors discuss the myriad subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways in which the values, concepts and mechanics of RPGs have infiltrated popular culture.

Good Society

Good Society
Author: Vee Hendro
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2018-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9780648150527

Good Society is a tabletop roleplaying game where you create an Austen novel with your friends.

The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games

The Postmodern Joy of Role-Playing Games
Author: René Reinhold Schallegger
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2018-02-16
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1476631468

Historian Johan Huizinga once described game playing as the motor of humanity's cultural development, predating art and literature. Since the late 20th century, Western society has undergone a "ludification," as the influence of game-playing has grown ever more prevalent. At the same time, new theories of postmodernism have emphasized the importance of interactive, playful behavior. Core concepts of postmodernism are evident in pen-and-paper role-playing, such as Dungeons and Dragons. Exploring the interrelationships among narrative, gameplay, players and society, the author raises questions regarding authority, agency and responsibility, and discusses the social potential of RPGs in the 21st century.

The Functions of Role-Playing Games

The Functions of Role-Playing Games
Author: Sarah Lynne Bowman
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2010-04-13
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 0786455551

This study takes an analytical approach to the world of role-playing games, providing a theoretical framework for understanding their psychological and sociological functions. Sometimes dismissed as escapist and potentially dangerous, role-playing actually encourages creativity, self-awareness, group cohesion and "out-of-the-box" thinking. The book also offers a detailed participant-observer ethnography on role-playing games, featuring insightful interviews with 19 participants of table-top, live action and virtual games.

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club
Author: Doug Henderson
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2021-04-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1609387562

On Thursday nights, the players assemble in the back of Readmore Comix and Games. Celeste is the dungeon master; Valerie, who works at the store, was roped in by default; Mooneyham, the banker, likes to argue; and Ben, sensitive, unemployed, and living at home, is still recovering from an unrequited love. In the real world they go about their days falling in love, coming out at work, and dealing with their family lives all with varying degrees of success. But in the world of their fantasy game, they are heroes and wizards fighting to stop an evil cult from waking a sleeping god. But then a sexy new guy, Albert, joins the club, Ben’s character is killed, and Mooneyham’s boyfriend is accosted on the street. The connections and parallels between the real world and the fantasy one become stronger and more important than ever as Ben struggles to bring his character back to life and win Albert’s affection, and the group unites to organize a protest at a neighborhood bar. All the while the slighted and competing vampire role playing club, working secretly in the shadows, begins to make its move.

Shared Fantasy

Shared Fantasy
Author: Gary Alan Fine
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2002-08-14
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 0226249441

This classic study still provides one of the most acute descriptions available of an often misunderstood subculture: that of fantasy role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Gary Alan Fine immerses himself in several different gaming systems, offering insightful details on the nature of the games and the patterns of interaction among players—as well as their reasons for playing.

Pathfinder Lost Omens

Pathfinder Lost Omens
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Fantasy games
ISBN: 9781640782785

The Pathfinder Society is a globe-trotting organization of adventurers, scholars, and warriors all dedicated to exploration, collecting lost knowledge and treasure, and sharing it with the world. Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide details everything players and GMs need to know about the Pathfinder Society, from the basics of membership, to the Society's various factions, to the various lodges littered throughout the Inner Sea region. This book is the go-to source for the history and lore of the Pathfinder Society and features new rules content including new equipment, wayfinders, and support for Pathfinder-related archetypes! A useful book in its own right, this helpful volume is a must-have for participants in Paizo's massive Pathfinder Society worldwide organized play campaign, and a great way to get involved in the international campaign! Written by: Kate Baker, James Case, John Compton, Vanessa Hoskins, Mike Kimmel, Ron Lundeen, Dennis Muldoon, kieran t. newton, Michael Sayre, Clark Valentine, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer

Immersive Gameplay

Immersive Gameplay
Author: Evan Torner
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 0786492376

This collection of all-new essays approaches the topic of immersion as a product of social and media relations. Examining the premises and aesthetics of live-action and tabletop role-playing games, reality television, social media apps and first-person shooters, the essays take both game rules and the media discourse that games produce as serious objects of study. Scholars of social psychology, sociology, role-playing theory, game studies, and television studies all examine games and game-like environments like reality shows as interdependent sites of social friction and power negotiation. The ten essays articulate the importance of game rules in analyses of media products, and demonstrate methods that allow game rules to be seen in action during the process of play.

Spire

Spire
Author: Grant Howitt
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2018
Genre: Games
ISBN: 9780996376563