Books on Roleplaying Games

[YooperGamer]

Hello all, I'm a new poster but have been a lurker for quite awhile. I thought I'd ask the EnWorlders for help with a small problem I have.

I am going to be doing a research paper on Roleplaying Games. What they are, who plays them, why, their effect on society as a whole, etc.

Now there are quite a few good sites that I've found so far to help with this. However, one of the stipulations is that some of the material be from print. Either books or magazines will work, but I need some help there. I have no idea how to go about finding books ABOUT Roleplaying Games.

So, I ask for help from the people here at EnWorld. Any sources about Roleplaying games that are in print. Also, some that are online that could be of use.

Thank you

 

[MerakSpielman]

Some Dragon magazine issues have articles of this nature, but I can't quote issue numbers to you from memory. Especially the older ones.

 

[bubbalin]

fantasy roleplaying gamers bible.

depends on what you want, info about the games, or info for the games.

roleplaying mastery - has some philosophy of rpgs...

 

[diaglo]

complete idiots guide to d20 roleplaying

robert's laws to roleplaying

the netbook For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

 

[der_kluge]

I think Gygax wrote a paperbook several years ago about how to DM.

Also, there is a 2nd edition book that talks about meta-aspects of the Game. Forget what it is called, though. Creative Campaigning, I think. But, even that probably isn't what you're looking for.

I would wager that Dragon magazine would have the best information that you would need. That involves scanning through 200+ issues for relevant information. You could get the Dragon magazine archive on CD-Rom. That goes up to issue 200, I think, or maybe 225.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Time or Newsweek had articles about Dungeons and Dragons. Check your college library for microfiche versions of these publications. Such articles would likely be very old.

Gary Gyax also posts on these boards. So, if you need an interview reference, he can be located here.

BTW, welcome to the boards.

 

[buzz]

What you want are:

• Shared Fantasy, Gary Alan Fine
• Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games, Lawrence Schick
• The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art, Daniel Mackay
• Performing the Force: Essays on Immersion into Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Environments, Kurt Lancaster

Then you probably want to check some of the essays by people like Andrew Rilstone, and read some of the discussion at The Forge and RPG.net. It also probably coulnd't hurt to look at some of the sites of various deisgners; Jonathan Tweet often has interesting things to say. Burning Void and rec.games.frp.advocacy might also prove useful resources.

You're on your own from there, though...

 

[buzz]

Oh, you also want to read Michael Stackpole's refutation of all that satanic stupidity from the '80s. It's really good.

The site that hosts it also has a MASSIVE bibliography that's pretty much everything you're asking for.

 

[YooperGamer]

Thank you all! As usuall the responses were fast and very helpful. This should be enough to help me get everything together. Ecspecially the information provided by buzz. The site has many many books that I think I will be able to get from the library. Along with the The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible 2nd Edition and a bit of work I should have a paper and speech to enlighten some people ,at least, about RPGs.

Thanks again

 

[woodelf]

What you want are:

• Shared Fantasy, Gary Alan Fine
• Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games, Lawrence Schick
• The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art, Daniel Mackay
• Performing the Force: Essays on Immersion into Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Environments, Kurt Lancaster

Then you probably want to check some of the essays by people like Andrew Rilstone, and read some of the discussion at The Forge and RPG.net. It also probably coulnd't hurt to look at some of the sites of various deisgners; Jonathan Tweet often has interesting things to say. Burning Void and rec.games.frp.advocacy might also prove useful resources.

You're on your own from there, though...

What he said, more or less. Also, for the sort of general-interest paper you're talking about, i'll cut through much of that bibliography (at the RPG research website) to recommend probably teh best of them:

• Fine's Shared Fantasy--but good luck getting a copy if your library doesn't have it (don't forget to try interlibrary loan): neither the author, nor the publisher, nor the university behind it have any copies left, and it took me a couple of years to track down a copy. I think Fine's book is still the best scholarly work to date on the general topic of RPGs and RPers (as opposed to some of teh specific psychological or other studies), but it suffers a bit it not being a comprehensive overview of the sub-culture. I don't know if it's the date or the locale, but he pretty much captured one playstyle (gamist-with-simulationist-leanings, in GNS terminology--the typical D&D/GURPS/Hero/RMSS/etc. playstyle, IME), rather than recognizing the spectrum, some of which may not have existed yet when he wrote his book.
• Mackay's The Fantasy Role-Playing Game. An excellent update to Fine's work, in many ways.
• Schick's Heroic Worlds probably won't do you much good. It's got 6pp on "what is an RPG?", 20pp of commercial RPG history, and a comprehensive list of overy RPG product published up to that date. You can probably invent the "what is an RPG" bit yourself, or source any of a number of other works, so unless you need a detailed (and 12 years out-of-date) history of RPG publishing, it probably won't be of much use. Mind you, it's an excellent book, just probably not much help for yoru paper. In yor ucase, i'd check it out from a library if possible, but not buy it.
• Swan's the Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games is another excellent book that probably won't do you any good. It has about 20pp of "how to RP"--excellent, system-independent guidelines on how to be a player and how to be a GM--and then 200+pp of RPG reviews. And, again, it's more than a decade out of date, so even those aren't necessarily relevant any more.
• Don't bother with Gygax's books (Role-Playing Mastery and, IIRC, Master of the Game)--they might be of some use for someone who plays RPGs, but are probably not of any use when talking about RPGs.
• Fannon's The Fantasy Role-Playing Gamer's Bible is a must-read. However, i suspect it won't be of a lot of use in your paper, unless you want an overview of the history of RPGs and don't have access to Schick's book.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse is another one you should be looking for. Several of the essays are great reads--and all the proceeds go to charity. It's more "about RPGs" in a way that a gamer would appreciate (the origins of Greyhawk and Pendragon are both in there, frex), but some of it is very relevant when talking about RPGs in a more scholarly way.
• Assuming you have access to a university library, you should find out if you can get dissertations from the U of Louisiana via interlibrary loan. I think you'll find Jack Holcomb's doctoral dissertation Playing Popular Culture: a Folkloristic Perspective on Role-Playing Games and Gamers really excellent.
• Find the CAR-PGa--i don't think they're linked from the RPG Research site linked above. More collected RPG-about-ness than probably anywhere else.
• See if you can get a hold of copies of Interactive Fantasy. It's essentially a scholarly journal for RPGs.
• What he said as far as essays. But, for your purposes, i think you won't find much of use outside of Rilstone's, Stackpole's, and maybe Costikyan's essays--most of the rest, while excellent essayists, are writing to RPers, not a general audience, and thus the topics are the wrong sorts for what you want, mostly.
• and a shameless plug: i have a paper online, "Folkspeech Among Roleplayers", at http://webpages.charter.net/woodelph/Gaming/writing.html -- first links. [Sorry about the website in general--i no longer have access, even to delete it, so it's woefully out of date.]

Oh, i know nothing about Performing the Force, so i haven't omitted it because it's poor, but just because i don't have an opinion.

 

[buzz]

I don't know if it's the date or the locale, but he pretty much captured one playstyle (gamist-with-simulationist-leanings, in GNS terminology--the typical D&D/GURPS/Hero/RMSS/etc. playstyle, IME), rather than recognizing the spectrum, some of which may not have existed yet when he wrote his book.

I'm suspecting it's the date; iirc, Fine wrote Shared Fantasy prior to 1980.

Horsemen of the Apocalypse is another one you should be looking for. Several of the essays are great reads--and all the proceeds go to charity. It's more "about RPGs" in a way that a gamer would appreciate (the origins of Greyhawk and Pendragon are both in there, frex), but some of it is very relevant when talking about RPGs in a more scholarly way.

Woah! I can't find this on Amazon and Google isn't being helpful. Do you know the author(s)? I need to read this.

Oh, i know nothing about Performing the Force, so i haven't omitted it because it's poor, but just because i don't have an opinion.

I found it on Amazon, and have seen it come up as a scholarly look at gaming, along with other aspects of fantasy/SF fandom. I cannot speak to its quality, either.