Role-Playing

I’ve had a play report on a Dungeons & Discourse game we played last year lying around on my computer for over an year now. I thought I might finally post it online. Unfortunately, it is in Finnish. More info after the cut. Luolia ja Diskursseja Dungeons & Discourse esiintyy nettisarjakuva Dresden Kodakissa. Siinä filosofian ja tieteen teorialla varustetut sankarit seikkailevat korkealentoisissa ympäristöissä, joissa lohikäärmeet korvataan p-zombeilla, solipsisteilla ja neoluddiiteilla. Tarina kuvaa roolipeliä, mutta ei perustu mihinkään todelliseen peliin. Ropecon 2010 tarjosi tilaisuuden kääntää tilanne toisin päin ja pelata roolipeliä luolien ja diskurssien maailmassa. Peliin käytettiin Donjonin systeemiä, jotta kaikki pelaajien villit ajatukset pääsisivät oikeuksiinsa: Donjonissa pelaajat saavat varsin paljon kerrontavaltaa. ...

Recently, a two-year long campaign ended. With 53 evenings spent playing, it is the longest game I’ve been involved in. We played Heimot, a Finnish science fiction game (it would be ‘Tribes’ in English, but that name is already taken). With a strong game master influence and a narrative focus it is a traditional game in many senses. Even the rules used in Heimot tend towards the old-school. They are also contradictory and unsatisfying in many cases, so we made some adjustments and hand-waving as we played. ...

When randomness in role-playing games is discussed, it usually means analysis of specific dice-mechanics. And since most rpg’s employ dice, it is a useful pursuit to try to understand the interplay of the mechanics and how they affect role-playing. But dice are not the only source of randomness, nor are the usual substitutions for them - cards or such. In fact, there are four types of randomness in role-playing games: ...

One of the pillars of our role-playing hobby has been the space provided by the student village. We have been able to use increasingly larger rooms as the amount of players has increased over the years. Recently, we lost our best rooms yet to a kindergarten, or more accurately, to money. They were able to pay rent, we can’t. Therefore, we were downgraded to a smaller space, ill-suited for our purposes. The timing is doubly unfortunate, since this is the time of the year new students usually find their way to us, increasing our numbers still. This year, we may be forced to turn some players away, since we simply don’t have space. ...

Ropecon was just last weekend and a friend of mine, the writer of Cafe Lax, published a role-playing game there: Bliaron. Apparently it sold quite well. It is written in Finnish and the book looks really good. The setting is a bronze-age fantasy land, with a strong emphasis on magic. There are also political undertones about who gets to use it. The world is also animistic, with everything consisting of spirits that the mages then try to influence. ...

Managed to publish my first article in role-playing theory, in the second issue of International Journal of Role-Playing. The article is about how role-playing games are, can and should be defined. There is a bunch of great articles in the journal. Suggested reading for anyone interested in (academic) role-playing game theory.