RPG Theory Review

• January 2008 - Theory Developments of Note

  Comment here with a link and sentence or two description of theory developments you see on blogs or forums. It doesn't have to be pure theory, but these developments ought to deal with how and why we play RPGs in some generality. I'll be adding comments here too, but without your help, I'm sure I'll miss something.

• Editorial: Returning

  For a variety of reasons, some more personal than others, I've been unable to continue RPG Theory Review through last year. However, I've decided not to let that be the end of things. The time off has let me re-examine some of my goals and methods in RPG Theory Review. I realized that the focus had become too much on the weekly blurbs, taking a sizable amount of effort with often very little show for it. They took time from looking at less transient incarnations of theory, and at the same time I never felt they delved deeply enough to do justice the those theory ideas which arose. In view of that, I'm happy to announce that RPG Theory Review is returning this year, with some important changes. First, I'll be focusing on literature reviews (specific games, books, and the like and their import in RPG theory) and spotlight reviews where I delve more deeply into specific topics of current interest. Fleshing this out will be monthly reviews with reader contributed focus. In addition, I'll be continuing the tradition of editorials on the practice of RPG theory and expanding into what I'm calling sandbox articles which will talk about some of my explorations in the frontiers of RPG theory. As always this will be something of an experiment, but I'm hoping RPG Theory Review will continue to be enjoyable and informative. And most of all that I can help improve our understanding of the thought and play of RPGs.

• Weekly Review May 4th to May 10th

  This has been a slow week in RPG theory, but with some continuation from previous developments. Crunch and Fluff Willow Palecek expands on the relationship between fiction and rules by looking as specific sub-forms of play which strongly accentuate one over the other.

• Weekly Review April 27th to May 3rd

  This has been a productive week in RPG theory, with some new work and some re-envisionment of earlier ideas. Modes of Design Fang Langford takes a good look at the different approaches that can be taken in the process of design - both in terms of the design products and in the viewpoints used when constructing and testing games. He suggests an incomplete set of these approaches: Disputative (focusing on conflicts and their resolution), Synergistic (focusing on cooperation and its facilitation), Individualistic (focusing on internal goals and contexts), and Collaborative (focusing on social features of play). He argues that most design happens with interplay between these modes. Fiction in the Rules Bradley "Brand" Robins discusses the the interplay of fiction and rules, building the idea that the one of the characteristics of RPGs is the presence of fiction within the game rules. He extends this idea to the concept of continuity discussed earlier this year. Elsewhere, Jonathon Walton takes this idea and delves further into RPGs which "lead with the fiction". He suggests this is related to free-form and rules-lite movements, but need not be averse to explicit rules.

• Weekly Review April 20th to April 26th

  This week has seen several attempts to expand the scope of RPG theory, both from the basics and from the edges. Characteristics Elliot Wilen looks at defining RPGs as a series of expected characteristics, rather than requirements. He develops three core criterion: aesthetic or thematic goals, freeform procedures (where the vision of the world can override the rules), and a lack of fixed motivations. He also suggests that a lack of endgame is a related, but largely disproved criteria. Chaotic Fiction Over at RPGnet is a discussion on borrowing a concept from Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and applying it to LARPs. Specifically, the concept of chaotic fiction - fiction which sits between the random and the structured. Part of this has been to extend the three axes which control the chaos into the context of LARP: Authorship (architect versus audience), Rules (built in structures), and Coherence (thematic and plot consistency among events).