CAR-PGa NEWSLETTER
Vol. 31, No. 4
An international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games
April 2022
David Millians, Editor
Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA
millians.david@paideiaschool.org
A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
ELECTIONS & SPEAKERS
For those of you who voted for our board membership, thank you for participating! In addition to voting Ted Skirvin, David Millians, and myself to the board, we’ve added Hawke Robinson to the fourth position. The board has also nominated me for Committee Chair (chosen from the board members), and I’m honored to accept. The CAR-PGA can have up to five board members, so if you didn’t run but would like to, please consider adding your name next year.
Our guest this month was Andrew Wall of Refuge 31 Films. Andrew is an accomplished editor and director with his award-winning films are screened nationally in Canada and throughout the world. Andrew reached out to us for documents in the documentary, The Satanic Panic and the Religious Battle for the Imagination, in which Reverend Derek White examines his journey through the satanic panic as a D&D-loving kid along with his many friends that were affected, including those that helped design the game itself. We discussed everything from the Satanic Panic itself, its roots in bullying and conspiracy theories, and how we still grapple with the “appropriate” way to use imagination in modern life today. You can watch the recording here. This session was our most popular yet, with a very enthusiastic Q&A!
Speaking of enthusiastic sessions, our next guest is Benjamin Riggs, author of Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons. Unearthed from Ben Riggs’s own adventurous campaign of in-depth research, interviews with major players, and acquisitions of secret documents, Slaying the Dragon reveals the true story of the rise and fall of TSR. Slaying the Dragon goes behind the scenes of TSR’s Lake Geneva headquarters where innovative artists and writers redefined the sword and sorcery genre, managers and executives sabotaged their own success by alienating their top talent, ignoring their customer fanbase, accruing a mountain of debt, and agreeing to deals which, by the end, made them into a publishing company unable to publish so much as a postcard. Look for an invitation soon.
Thank you for your support, your votes, and your enthusiastic questions. I look forward to serving you over the next twelve months.
Sincerely,
Mike Tresca
Committee Chair
NEW MATERIAL
FROM DAVID MILLIANS
Appelcline, Shannon (2022 Mar 22) The Fall of Tékumel. https://www.rpg.net/columns/advanced-designers-and-dragons/advanced-designers-and-dragons63.phtml. Revelations of M.A.R. Barker’s anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi work.
Black Monk Games (2022 Feb 25) We can’t do much alone, but together we have the strength that matters. https://www.facebook.com/blackmonkgames/posts/5244460295578586:0. Selling games and raising funds for Solidarity with Ukraine.
Carter, Chase (2022 Mar 3) Creators bundle nearly 500 tabletop RPGs for $5 to support trans rights in Texas. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/bundle/news/bundle-texas-trans-rights-rpg-itchio. Far in excess of original fundraising goal already.
Carter, Chase (2022 Mar 10) Coyote & Crow and Wanderhome among four TRPGs in the running for a 2022 Nebula Award. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/awards/news/nebula-awards-2022-finalists-trpg. Also, Thirsty Sword Lesbians and Granma’s Hands.
Carter, Chase (2022 Mar 24) Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan steps down after three years. https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/kickstarter/news/kickstarter-ceo-aziz-hasan-steps-down. Will there be changes?
Carter, Chase (2022 Mar 29) Cortex Prime’s second pass at a community license directly address public criticism. https://www.dicebreaker.com/series/cortex-prime/news/cortex-prime-rpg-community-license-update. Clarity and change.
Chance (2022 Mar 9) Fractal Histories. https://www.themightierpenknights.com/home/fractal-histories. Using Microscope in eighth grade ELA classrooms.
Devereaux, Bret (2022 Mar 6) A Shiny (and Wrong) Vision of Roman Imperialism. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/06/videogames-history-rome-expeditions. Video game review explores the complexities of historical recreation in games.
Frostick, Luke (2022 Mar 15) 3D printing is changing tabletop gaming. https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/miniature-wargame/feature/3d-printing-tabletop-gaming-miniatures-wargaming. The return of the miniatures, bespoke and novel.
Hall, Stuart (2022 Mar 22) Megagames are everything about board games made bigger – and better. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/megagames/opinion/megagames-like-board-games-bigger-better. They shade into tabletop games and LARP as well.
ICv2 (2022 Mar 8) Top 5 Roleplaying Games – Fall 2021. https://icv2.com/articles/markets/view/50615/top-5-roleplaying-games-fall-2021. Sales-based game popularity.
Jarvis, Matt (2022 Mar 2) Over 100 tabtletop games made $500,000 on Kickstarter last year for the first time. https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/kickstarter/news/kickstarter-tabletop-games-record-2021. Actually, 101.
Jarvis, Matt (2002 Mar 8) Ukraine charity bundle offers over 300 RPGs for $10, including Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Troika and The Wretched. https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/news/charity-bundle-for-ukraine-itch-trpgs. Beat its $1 million goal.
Kovalic, Jon (2022 Mar) A Very Hard Stare print. https://dorktower.bigcartel.com/product/ukraine-a-very-hard-stare-print. Political cartoon to raise money to feed Ukrainian refugees.
Meehan, Alex (2022 Mar 24) Critical Role and Stephen Colbert team-up again for Red Nose Day D&D event. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/critical-role/news/critical-role-stephen-colbert-red-nose-day-2022. Donation to help children direct the play of the one-shot game.
Meehan, Alex (2022 Mar 24) Roll vs Evil charity event invites players to raise money for Ukrainian victims. https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/modiphius-entertainment/news/roll-vs-evil-charity-event-announced. Play and do good.
Monte Cook Games (2022 Mar 2) Monte Cook Games stands with the people of Ukraine. https://twitter.com/MonteCookGames/status/1499063177111343115. Week’s profits to go to the International Rescue Committee
Mōdiphiüs Entertainment (2022 Mar 2) Ukraine Support. https://www.modiphius.net/pages/ukraine-support. Charitable campaign and links for many ways to help Ukraine.
O’Brien, Michael (2022 Mar 1) Call of Cthulhu’s ‘Does Love Forgive?’ is ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ for the next fourteen days; but don’t pay us, donate to support Ukrainian Refugees. https://www.chaosium.com/blogcall-of-cthulhus-does-love-forgive-is-paywantyouwant-for-the-next-fourteen-days-but-dont-pay-us-donate-to-support-ukrainian-refugees. Links to Black Monk Games’ efforts, as well as others.
Peregrine, Andrew (2022 Mar 1) Are Video Games Ruining Your Role-Playing?. https://www.enworld.org/threads/are-video-games-ruining-your-role-playing.686312. Divergences and expectations.
FROM MIKE TRESCA
Tresca, Michael (2022 Mar 17) For Those Who Support Us. https://www.enworld.org/threads/for-those-who-support-us.686598. Honoring those that supported our entry to the hobby.
Tresca, Mike (2022 Mar 28) Playing Your PC Poorly. https://www.enworld.org/threads/playing-your-pc-poorly.686460. Changing views of player character goals.
© Copyright 2022 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.
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