Theory review #96

• Hvorfor er D&Ds scenariebøger ikke bedre? by Morten Greis Petersen suggests that the scenario writers of D&D do not have the experience to write good adventures, partially because of the differences in D&D editions and thereby breaks in what a good adventure is, instead using Paizo’s adventure paths as a model and creating linear adventures that do not consider the powers and power level of the characters. https://rollespil.blog/2023/01/27/hvor-er-dds-scenarieboger-ikke-bedre/
• NoD #136 — Creative brooding by Eero Tuovinen includes a theory of a game that can be recovered from Call of Cthulhu. https://www.arkenstonepublishing.net/isabout/2023/01/29/nod-136-creative-brooding/#1-mythos-investigation-1
• A taxonomy of roleplaying utterances v0.1 and follow-ups by Michael Prescott are an impressive classification of what people say when playing and in which order and analysis of some old school and Critical role play based on these. http://blog.trilemma.com/2023/01/a-taxonomy-of-roleplaying-utterances-v01.html , http://blog.trilemma.com/2023/01/update-some-analysis-with-whole.html and http://blog.trilemma.com/2023/01/rpg-transcript-analysis-critical-role.html.
• Two-player creativity is harder by Ben Robbins hypothesizes that games that rely on improvization and creativity work better with three players than with two. https://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/2758/two-player-creativity-is-harder/
• Anmeldelse av Trophy dark by Kaare Berg explains the design community the game comes from and the key rules. https://www.rollespill.info/2023/02/01/anmeldelse-av-trophy-dark/

Teori-innblikk #95

• D&D An unexpected wedding… Et blik på av Morten Greis Pedersen fortel korleis eit ikkje-voldeleg senario og mordmysterium ikkje fungerer i (moderne) D&D. https://rollespil.blog/2023/01/21/dd-an-unexpected-wedding-et-blik-pa/
• Conversation: Reflections and dissections av Ron Edwards og Ivan fortel om fantasirollespel i dei gamle dagane og kva GNS og kreativ agens er. https://adeptplay.com/2018/04/24/conversation-reflections-and-dissections/
• On OGL, ORC, and an attempt at a timeline av Jukka Särkijärvi beskriv kva har skjedd mellombels med OGL. https://nitessine.wordpress.com/2023/01/21/on-ogl-orc-and-an-attempt-at-a-timeline/
• What is high-trust trad adventure design av Per Arne Kobbevik forklarer S. John Ross sitt begrep, som handlar om opne problem i senario. https://blog.indre-auge.studio/2023/01/22/what-is-high-trust-trad-adventure-design/
• Skenet roolipelikulttuurin vahvuutena av Sami Koponen fortel om nasjonale delkulturar i rollespillsmiljø og kva kan hende når dei møtast. https://efemeros.wordpress.com/2023/01/23/skenet-roolipelikulttuurin-vahvuutena/

Teoriakatsaus #94

• Role-playing: a narrative experience and a mindset, kirjoittajana Satu Heliö, asemoi roolipelaamista omana aikanaan oleelliselle peli vai tarina -akselille. Artikkeli kirjassa Beyond role and play, https://nordiclarp.org/w/images/8/84/2004-Beyond.Role.and.Play.pdf.
• The elf that is you: The failure of the character sheet in Dungeons & dragons, kirjoittajana Jeff Rients, kertoo miksi hahmolomakkeet usein ovat huonoja ja mitä asialle voisi tehdä. http://isuwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Reints-Jeff-GWRJ-4.2-Spring-2014.-7-19.pdf
• Aktantmodell, kirjoittajana Lars Mæhlum, tiivistää Algirdas Julien Greimaksen mallin tarinoiden rakenteelle. https://snl.no/aktantmodell
• NoD #135 — Mythos investigation, kirjoittajana Eero Tuovinen, esittelee yhden pelin, jonka klassisesta Kutunluun kutsusta voi eristää. https://www.arkenstonepublishing.net/isabout/2023/01/15/nod-135-mythos-investigation/
• https://dice.camp/@rdonoghue/109636828333641117, kirjoittajana Rob Donoghue, erottelee pelien formaalit säännöt suositelluista hyvistä käytännöistä ja miettii, kannattaako hyviä käytäntöjä kirjoittaa säännöiksi.
• Making meaningful dungeons with cyclic dungeon generation, kirjoittajana Lars, esittelee kiinnostavan luolaston suunnittelumenetelmää. https://dicegoblin.blog/making-meaningful-dungeons-with-cyclic-dungeon-generation/

Theory review #93

• The simulation dream by Tynan Sylvester discusses what to simulate and what not in digital games. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/the-simulation-dream
• Measuring board game distance by Matthew Stephenson, Dennis J.N.J. Soemers, Éric Piette and Cameron Browne reports clustering of (mostly classical) board games based on their mechanical similarity. https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.03913
• How can the use of digital games in mathematics education promote students’ mathematical reasoning? A qualitative systematic review by Erik Ottar Jensen and Charlotte Krog Skott classifies use of digital games into five themes: developing strategies, exploring an immersive environment, experimenting, game design and solving tasks. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40751-022-00100-7
• Why it’s rude to suck at Warcraft by Folding ideas takes a look at the instrumental play culture of World of warcraft and how it affects the game and its players. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKP1I7IocYU&t=4140s

Teori-innblikk # 92

• NoD #131 — Amber fever av Eero Tuovinen ser på Terningslaus Amber (engl. Amber diceless) fra perspektiv av skapende mål og også tilbyr justeringer til egenskapsreglene i spillet. https://www.arkenstonepublishing.net/isabout/2023/01/01/nod-131-amber-fever/
• Pelaajabarometri 2022 : Kohti uutta normaalia av Jani Kinnunen, Milla Tuomela og Frans Mäyrä dokumenterer finske spillevaner basert på omfattende data. Bordrollespill spilles regelmessig (minst én gang per måneden) av 1,4 % av befolkninga og i det heile av 4,2 % av befolkninga, med feilmargin av rundt 10 % (men med liknende tall fra eldre Pelaajabarometri-er, så den samlede feilmarginen blir mye mindre, gitt visse antakelser). https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-2732-3
• An OSR preprint av Tommi Brander deler OSR i flere grupper basert på hvordan de spiller. https://ropeblogi.wordpress.com/2023/01/04/an-osr-preprint/
• Randomness and game design av Keith Burgun kritiserer tilfeldige utfall i abstrakte strategispill en spiller for å vinne. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/randomness-and-game-design
• D&D’s trope overlay av Sandra Snan gir to måter å ta til hensyn de mange overlappende klassene i modern D&D. https://idiomdrottning.org/trope-overlap

Teoriakatsaus #91

• TRPGでのロールプレイにおいてプレイヤーキャラクターを創作することの意味 : キャラクターのジェンダーと歴史についての設定を中心に, kirjoittajina 五十嵐 梨々花 ja 青山 征彦, kertoo muutaman japanilaisen roolipelaajan suhtautumisesta pelaajahahmojen sukupuoleen ja jatkuviin hahmoihin, joita pelataan useassa seikkailussa ja jotka saattavat ikääntyä samaa tahtia pelaajan eli tosimaailman kanssa. https://jarps.net/journal/article/view/38
• GM’s log: Court of opinion episode (part 2) preparation, kertojana Runeslinger, käsittelee Tähtimatka-pelin (engl. Star trek) valmistelua, tiettyjen teemojen tavoittelua ja kohtausrakenteen ja tapahtumien kulun suunnittelun välttämistä. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEGw-KQHX48&list=PLZfuKgeD5fl5kODiiRaumSatFGJr5NnLh&index=63
• Metareflection, kirjoittajana Hilda Levin, erottelee pelaamisen tiedostamista elopeleissä ja kokoaa erilaisia siihen liittyviä tekniikoita. https://nordiclarp.org/2020/04/30/metareflection/

Theory review #90

• Night’s Black Agents – The Zalozhniy Quartet del 1 by Morten Greis Petersen tells how a Night’s black agents -adventure organizes information in terms of the skill that reveals information, while the rules make sure that someone always has the skill. https://rollespil.blog/2022/12/19/nights-black-agents-the-zalozhniy-quartet-del-1/
• Depicting the human relationship to nature and culture: Transactionality and the homo economicus by V. P. J. Arponen looks as the mechanistic and goal-oriented nature of (board) games and links to it to various understandings of development of human society in terms of economical thinking. At the end the article consider soft incentives, like the aesthetic values of particular cards, as an interesting way to potentially escape the capitalistic and colonialistic nature of many games. It would be interesting to consider free wargames, with their often non-explicit and highly asymmetric goals for different players, in this light. https://analoggamestudies.org/2022/12/depicting-the-human-relationship-to-nature-and-culture-transactionality-and-the-homo-economicus/
• The magic circle as occult technology by Chloé Germaine tells about magic and magic circles in British larps. https://analoggamestudies.org/2022/12/the-magic-circle-as-occult-technology/
• When worlds collaborate: The style of early tabletop role-playing games by Stefan Huddleston describes sexism and racism depicted in early issues of Dragon magazine, Gary Alan Fine, Tunnels and trolls and Traveller. The author also claims a connection to the general loss of power among middle class white males of the period. https://analoggamestudies.org/2022/12/when-worlds-collaborate-the-style-of-early-tabletop-role-playing-games/
• 自閉スペクトラム症児のTRPG活動における会話の促進とゲームマスターの役割 by 原田 裕介, 加藤 浩平 and 藤野 博 describes how the gameplay of a tabletalk roleplaying game by school pupils at autism spectrum changed in the course of five sessions. https://jarps.net/journal/article/view/40
• OSR rules families by Marcia B. classifies various old school renaissance games in terms of mechanical features. https://traversefantasy.blogspot.com/2022/12/osr-rules-families.html
• ゲームマスターの力量マップ : プロフェッショナルの要件 by 藤林 啓一郎 discusses Japanese attempts at certifying skilled game masters and building a competency map for them. https://jarps.net/journal/article/view/35
• At the head of the table : the TRPG GM as dramatistic agent by William J. White, Nicolas LaLone and Nicholas J. Mizer looks at a few different understandings of what a game master is and does, offering a very necessary contrast to all the articles that tacitly assume a unified game master in all of roleplaying. https://jarps.net/journal/article/view/39
• History of bonus and malus dice by Tommi Brander lists some early implementations or influential examples of bonus and malus dice. https://ropeblogi.wordpress.com/2022/12/23/history-of-bonus-and-malus-dice/

Teori-inblick # 89

• Askur yggdrasils – 20 ár frá útgáfu eina íslenska spunaspilsins av Thorsteinn Mar är en intervju om det första isländska rollspel. https://spunaspil.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/askur-yggdrasils-20-ar-fra-utgafu-eina-islenska-spunaspilsins/
• Fail forward is bad for gaming av Sandra Snan argumenterar att att falla framåt är dåligt och för till prevalde utfall. https://idiomdrottning.org/fail-forward

Teoriakatsaus #88

• Hemmelighedsfulde rollespil – hemmeligheder i rollespil, kirjoittajana Morten Greis Petersen, luokittelee rooleja, joita pelaajien salaisuuksilla ja erilaisilla tietotasoilla voi roolipeleissä olla. Näkökulma olettaa, että joku on etukäteen päättänyt salaisuuden roolin pelissä; pelkkä salaisuus, joka ehkä on tärkeä, ehkä ei, ei luokitteluun mahdu. https://rollespil.blog/2022/12/02/hemmelighedsfulde-rollespil-hemmeligheder-i-rollespil/
• A player’s hanbook, kirjoittajana Chris McDowall, antaa perusohjeita luolailuun. Pätevää ohjeistusta sotapelaamiseen ja uudentyyliseen vanhaan liiton pelaamiseen. https://www.bastionland.com/2018/08/a-players-handbook.html
• Recomposing Lovecraft: Genre Emulation as Autopoiesis in the First Edition of Call of Cthulhu, kirjoittajana Christian Mehrstam, näyttää miten Kutunluun kutsu saa sisältöään useista tyylilajeista: fantasia, kauhu, pulp, kolonialistiset tarinat. Yhteys Reaganin ajan USA:han on myös näkyvissä. http://ijrp.subcultures.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IJRP-12-Full-Issue-Recomposing-Lovecraft-Genre-Emulation-as-Autopoiesis-in-the-First-Edition-of-Call-of-Cthulhu-Christian-Mehrstam.pdf

Theory review #87

• DM habitus: the social dispositions of game mastering in Dungeons & dragons by Steven Dashiell takes a look at the roles of dungeon master, without considering differences in editions or between methods of play, in terms of habitus of Bourdieu. This results in seeing the dungeon master as a storyteller and with general power over all the parts of the game, though restricted by the fictional world and other participants. https://jarps.net/journal/article/view/37
• Nordic erotic larp: designing for sexual playfulness by Hanne Grasmo and Jaakko Stenros reviews erotic Nordic larps from several different directions and within the last ten years. https://ijrp.subcultures.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IJRP-12-Full-Issue.pdf
• Co to jest za RPG? Blightburg by Mansfeld reviews the main distinctive features of Blightburg. https://commonfortress.com/2020/12/14/co-to-jest-za-rpg-blightburg/
• NoD #124 — War stories by Eero Tuovinen suggests why war stories from wargamey play might be more interesting in general than people telling about their characters in games that lack such context. https://www.arkenstonepublishing.net/isabout/2022/11/27/nod-124-war-stories/
• A mind game in game – Creating ludic unreliability to challenge players’ inference of the designer’s intention. by Kemchanin Pornpipatsakul summarizes an article that discusses deceptive (mostly digital) game design. https://www.tuni.fi/playlab/a-mind-game-in-game-creating-ludic-unreliability-to-challenge-players-inference-of-the-designers-intention/