CAR-PGa NEWSLETTER
Vol. 30, No. 2
An international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games
February 2021
David Millians, Editor
Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA
millians.david@paideiaschool.org
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
Hello All,
I'm pleased to report that we had our first board meeting for the new year this month and we've come up with several recommendations to expand the CAR-PGA's membership and activities. All of these details are in our annual report, which is one of the outputs of our meeting. You can view the annual report here.
But more importantly, we're hoping to enlist you in getting others to join us. We have several fans but not nearly as many members, and we'd like to change that. To that end, we've included a sample letter you can send to anyone who you think might be a good fit. If you'd rather write your own letter, be sure to send them to https://car-pga.org/join-us.
Finally, we're going to launch a virtual series of meetings to further our own understanding of role-playing and keep you all in the loop on the status of our organization. Hawke Robinson has graciously agreed to be our first guest, so look for that invitation soon.
I hope you're excited as I am about the opportunity to engage with the RPG community, but we can't do it without your help. Everything we've been working on this past year has built up to this moment, and now it's time to take things to the next level.
I'm ready. Let's go!
Mike
Chair
ARTICLE
Digital Document Project
By Hawke Robinson
Unfortunately, due to COVID, the team of archivists that were starting to work hands-on with the Cardwell Archives we acquired, stopped coming to the location where the archives are stored until they feel safe going anywhere. They are not leaving their homes or allowing anyone to come to their location or bring such large quantity of materials to their location.
We are trying as quickly as we can to recruit new volunteers to handle these archives, but it will be a month or two before we have them onboarded, trained, and moving along again.
I also just brought online the core software we will be putting all of the research and museum archives into, Collection Space museum archive open source software, that will make it possible in the future to get access to all these electronically instead of the manual analog process it has been for Cardwell's collection previously. While this means it will be a learning curve getting it all working and scanned in, it will help everyone in the future to find research materials much more quickly with more scalable access within the limitations of copyright laws regarding research archives and museum public access.
Unfortunately, I and everyone else on our team is completely overloaded right now with merging the old archives, trying to keep up with the research and community programs, working on the PBS RPG training programs, getting the RPG.Education online learning platform back online, finishing the RPG Workbook, and all the new staff training.
Lend a hand!
Volunteer position listings are here https://www.rpgresearch.com/volunteer and here https://www.rpgresearch.com/jobs.
Donate here https://www.rpgresearch.com/donate.
If your timeline isn't immediate, it would help our process a lot if you would either please email info@rpgresearch.com with your request, Or, better yet, fill out a request support ticket (select Category: "Research or Museum Archives", Sub Category "Archive Search Request") here https://www.rpgresearch.com/support/ticket/submit.
Submit all the details you are requesting, and this will generate a support ticket that we can track and assign volunteers to address.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as our non-profit 501(c)3 group of volunteers scramble trying to keep up.
Hawke Robinson
Founder & President, RPG Research and RPG Museum.
www.rpgresearch.com
Mission: https://www.rpgresearch.com/mission
Vision: https://www.rpgresearch.com/vision
Impact: https://www.rpgresearch.com/impact
And future public URL for the RPG museum when it is up and running https://rpgmuseum.org/.
NEW MATERIAL
FROM DAVID MILLIANS
Appelcline, Shannon (2021 Jan 1) 2020: The Year in Review. https://www.rpg.net/columns/advanced-designers-and-dragons/advanced-designers-and-dragons43.phtml. Obituaries and appreciations, publishers, inclusivity, Covid, legacy games, mass market attention, and Kickstarter.
Bidaux, Thomas (2020 Jan 25) Kickstarter & Games in 2020. https://medium.com/icopartners/kickstarter-in-2020-for-games-70d26b5cba73. Record breaking year for Kickstarter and huge growth in game projects.
Carter, Chase (2021 Jan 18) Baked bean dice are real and you can buy them (again) soon, you weirdos. https://www.dicebreaker.com/themes/food/news/baked-bean-dice-buffet-etsy. Lilit makes dice from food.
Davis, Adam (2021 Jan 20) Listen to founder Adam Davis on Inverse Genius Podcast (Round 2!). https://gametogrow.org/2021/01/20/listen-to-founder-adam-davis-on-inverse-genius-podcast-round-2. Adam discusses using tabletop games as therapeutic tools.
DeLapp, Erik (2020 Jan 29) Feeling Lonely? Wearing Cat Ears May Help. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/style/modern-love-feeling-lonely-wearing-cat-ears-may-help.html. Meeting and dating through multiplayer role-playing games.
Dixon, Brandon (2020 Apr 2) When You Take Away Player Agency, It’s Not Being a Good DM – It’s Assault. https://medium.com/@swordsfall/when-you-take-away-player-agency-its-not-being-a-good-dm-it-s-assault-e10e6ed080c4. Grand plans without compassion for people.
Gailloreto, Coleman (2020 Jan 6) RPGS Where The Hero Founds Or Leads a Society. https://screenrant.com/rpg-hero-leader-build-society-pathfinder-kingmaker-haven. Digital RPGs that emphasize skills other than combat.
Gault, Matthew (2020 Dec 31) Dungeons, Dragons, and Diversity. https://www.wired.com/story/dungeons-dragons-diversity. Fundamental elements of D&D hinder its revision for contemporary society and the mass market.
Graham, James (2020 Jan 29) RPGs on Kickstarter in 2020: 5e Rises; Pathfinder Falls; the OSR Simmers. https://d100news.com/2021/01/29/rpgs-on-kickstarter-in-2020-5e-rises-pathfinder-falls-the-osr-simmers. Analysis of largest game projects funding last year.
Haupt, Ian (2020 Nov 24) Family-run board game company sees big sales increase this year. https://www.thenorthernlight.com/stories/family-run-board-game-company-sees-big-sales-increases-this-year,12015. Profile of Columbia Games in local newspaper and account of increased demand for board games during pandemic.
Museum Fatigue (2021 Jan 28) teaching a college class in minecraft?. https://museumfatigue.org/2021/01/27/teaching-a-college-class-in-minecraft. A digital anthropology class meets in a digital environment. Learning and hijinks ensue.
Nelson, Samantha (2020 Dec 29) How Cosmic Horror Went Mainstream. https://www.ign.com/articles/how-cosmic-horror-went-mainstream. From pulps to games to mass media.
Parvini, Sarah (2020 Jan 13) Turning to Dungeons & Dragons to escape a real-life monster – Covid-19. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-13/online-d-d-provides-relief-covid-19-pandemic. Imagination as relief in hard times, plus changes in society and the game itself.
Peterson, John (2021 Jan 16) The Origins of Rule Zero. http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-origins-of-rule-zero.html. Gamemaster flexibility and John’s new book.
Peterson, John (2021 Jan 23) A History of Hero Points: Fame, Fortune and Fate. http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-history-of-hero-points-fame-fortune.html. The development of a game mechanic that increased player agency and changed the games we play.
Peterson, John (2020 Jan 31) Immersion and Role Playing in the 1970s. http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2021/01/immersion-and-role-playing-in-1970s.html. Early uses of the term, game roles, rules knowledge, and defining a hobby.
Pulsipher, Lewis (2020 Dec 31) What the Future Holds for RPGs – Part 1. https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-what-the-future-holds-for-rpgs-part-1.677125. Technology and convenience.
Pulsipher, Lewis (2021 Jan 1) What the Future Holds for RPGs – Part 2. https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-what-the-future-holds-for-rpgs-part-2.677134. Actual play and economics.
Reiter, Eli (2021 Jan 21) How One Rabbi Uses Roleplaying Games to Build Community. https://www.wired.com/story/roleplaying-rabbi-community-building. Rabbi Menachem Cohen’s pastoral work and game design.
The Scout Association (2021) Dungeons & Dragons. https://www.scouts.org.uk/supporters/dungeons-dragons. Free PDF Starter Kit to get the dice rolling for a scout badge.
Studio Twenty (2021 Jan 25) Black History Month 2021 | Celebrating Black Excellence in Gaming. https://twentysidedstore.com/blogs/news/black-history-month-2021. Eric Lang, Mike Pondsmith, and black musicians.
Tregenza, Holly (2020 Jan 30) Canberra Dungeons and Dragons business helping children with autism improve their social skills and make friends. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-30/children-with-autism-making-new-friends-with-dungeons-dragons/13104254. Dice4 Diversity helps kids practice and build social skills.
Wang, Tina (2021 Jan 27) How a Game of Role-Playing Murder Mystery Became a Huge Hit in China. https://pandaily.com/why-role-playing-murder-mystery-game-is-popular-in-china. LARP and role playing trends in China.
Wieland, Rob (2021 Jan 11) Try A New Role Playing Game During New Gamemaster Month. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robwieland/2021/01/11/try-a-new-role-playing-game-during-new-gamemaster-month. Introduction to annual event.
FROM HAWKE ROBINSON
Robinson, Hawke (2021 Jan 4) 30,000+ people directly helped by RPG Research in 2020!. https://www.rpgresearch.com/blog/rpg-research-community-blog-1/post/30-000-people-directly-helped-by-rpg-research-in-2020-18. Programs and analysis from the past year. Way to go Hawke!
Robinson, Hawke (2021) Overview List of the Pros and Cons of Each Role-Playing. https://www.academia.edu/44992757/Overview_List_of_the_Pros_and_Cons_of_Each_Role_Playing_Game_Format. Interventional analysis of many game formats and structures.
Robinson, Hawke (2021 Jan) RPG Therapeutics Officially Contracted to Provide Services to PBS. https://rpg.llc/blog/our-blog-1/post/rpg-therapeutics-officially-contracted-to-provide-services-to-pbs-14. Press release concerning webinars through PBS in 2021.
© Copyright 2021 by the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGa), ISSN 1071 7129. The CAR-PGa Newsletter is a monthly publication. For more information contact David Millians, Editor, Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA, phone (404) 808-1070, fax (404) 377-3491, e-mail millians.david@paideiaschool.org. Back issues are available. Contributions of material from the membership are urged, and the byline is responsible for content. Deadline is the last weekday of the month, email preferred. Permission is granted to copy anything in the Newsletter, provided we get a credit line in the publication copying it, and it doesn't have someone else's copyright on it. Information, including details on joining CAR-PGa, can be obtained on the Internet at car-pga.org.
