CAR-PGa Newsletter July 2021

 CAR-PGa NEWSLETTER

Vol. 30, No. 7

An international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games

July 2021

David Millians, Editor

Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA

millians.david@paideiaschool.org

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

CAR-PGA member and veteran game designer Bill Bridges and I had a wonderful chat for our latest virtual panel. Attendance was low this month, which is to be expected as we enter the summer and emerge from a pandemic. Fortunately, we recorded the session and you can watch it here.

Bill’s a true transmedia auteur with experience in tabletop, story, video, and massive multi-player online games. Bill discusses his long and storied career at White Wolf (twice!), his work on Fading Suns and its inspiration, and shared advice on how to get into the industry. 

You can learn more about Bill at http://bill-bridges.com. For the latest info about Fading Suns, see the official web site, Facebook, and Twitter feeds.

The low attendance was a sign that it’s time to go on vacation, so we’ll take a break from our virtual panels while we gear up for future sessions. We won’t have a session in July and August and plan to return in September.

In the meantime, if you would like to be featured as a guest panelist, please send me a note and I’ll be sure to slot you in.

Thank you for all your support!

Sincerely,

Mike

Committee Chair

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Greetings, everyone!

I find the range of topics within the New Materials section just below particularly interesting, as they show the many directions in which the TTRPG culture and study is developing, both within itself and as part of the wider culture.

In addition, I would LOVE to share anything you’ve discovered recently, whether it’s a link, a print article, an insight, even in very brief form. As you’ve seen, this newsletter has included short pieces and extended explorations.

Please, share!

NEW MATERIAL

FROM DAVID MILLIANS

Gupta, Anika (2021 May 14) Meet the More Digital, and More Diverse, Dungeons & Dragons. https://atelier.net/insights/dragons-dungeons-and-digital-cultures. Business analysis of gaming with focus on professional game masters, diversity, and race.

Holmes, Nevin (2021 Jun 18) 6 Queer tabletop RPGs that everyone should play. https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/best-games/queer-tabletop-rpgs. Games with LGBTQ+ aspects to discover and play.

Jeffries, Bridgett (2021 May 14) Where to Draw the Line on Horror Gaming. https://gnomestew.com/where-to-draw-the-line-on-horror-gaming. Considerations of players, place, and more.

Leāo, Gabriel (2021 May 26) Dungeons & Disabilities: Can tabletop RPGs redeem their problematic portrayal of disability?. https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/dnd-disability-representation. Issues of disabilities, chronic illness, and neurodiversity.

Meehan, Alex (2021 Jun 22) Critical Role’s Campaign 2 finale shows just how far the hit Dungeons & Dragon series has come. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/critical-role/opinion/critical-role-campaign-2-finale-1. Depth and variety in characters and stories.

Nelson, Samantha (2021 Jun 9) How to hire a Dungeon Master. https://www.polygon.com/22525941/how-to-hire-a-dungeon-master. Benefits and controversies.

Payne, Stephen (2021 May 30) Roleplaying games were around hundreds of years before Dungeons & Dragons. https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/dnd-influences-roleplaying-games-centuries. Historical elements and precedents.

Petersen, Sandy (2021 Apr 23) Playing Boardgames with Kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPXJ8bhVK6c. Good advice for all kinds of games and kids.

Petersen, Sandy (2021 Jun 11) Why is Sandy a Game Desinger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JDRESiz6kg. Passions and insights of a game designer.

Pulsipher, Lewis (2021 Jun 19) TSR Is Back…. Again!. https://www.enworld.org/threads/tsr-is-back-again.680779. This story became more complicated as June came to an end, and it will presumably continue to keep social media sizzling for a while longer, but I’m probably not going to record the twists and turns in the next newsletter. If there are some useful summary conclusions at some later date, I’ll publish them here.

R. Talsorian Games (2021 Jun 19) Satanic Panic and TTRPGs. https://twitter.com/RTalsorianGames/status/1406244608649093121. Good historical overview and many interesting replies and related topics.

FROM MICHAEL TRESCA

Tresca, Michael (2021 Jun 21) The Hidden Costs of Game Mastering. https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-hidden-costs-of-game-mastering.680755. Stress and fatigue and self-care.

© 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.