Link to the up-to-date syllabus for 2023/2024: JKM153 Role-Playing Game Studies Research Seminar syllabus.docx

SCHEDULE

Session 1

Theory: Introduction to Role-Playing Game Studies + Safety Tools

Playthrough: The Deep Forest/For the Story (DM-less TTRPGs)

Session 2

Theory: TTRPG History & Combat Simulations

Reading: Chapter 2: Player vs. Environment (37–69) of Švelch, Jaroslav. 2023. Player vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity. Playful Thinking. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

Assignment 1: Analyze a classic D&D monster.

Optional Assignment: Create a Shadowdark character (you can use the online tool https://shadowdarklings.net/)

Playthrough: Shadowdark’s starter adventure Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur (dungeon crawl TTRPG with modernized and streamlined mechanics)

Session 3

Theory: Political Economy of TTRPGs

Reading: Knowles, Isaac, and Edward Castronova. 2018. “Economics and Role-Playing Games.” In Role-Playing Game Studies, edited by José P. Zagal and Sebastian Deterding, 300–313. London: Routledge.

Assignment 2: Build a character on D&D Beyond and explore the monetization of this platform.

Playthrough: D&D 5e oneshot (Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk)

Session 4

Theory: Actual Play and Mediatization of Role-Playing Games

Reading: Friedman, Em. 2022. “How the First Decade of Actual Play Has Defined the Template.” Polygon (blog). September 14, 2022. https://www.polygon.com/23334732/how-the-first-decade-of-actual-play-has-defined-the-template.

Assignment 3: Analyze an actual play episode, excluding Critical Role.

Playthrough: Session Zero for an Actual Play Campaign (The goal is to design an actual play series drawing on best practices and the presented analyses of actual play episodes. Session zero refers to a planning stage of a TTRPG campaign during which players and the GM discuss core themes, worldbuilding, character narrative arcs, character builds, etc.)

Session 5

Theory: Genre, Theme, and Mechanics in TTRPGs

Reading: Albom, Sarah. 2021. “The Killing Roll: The Prevalence of Violence in Dungeons & Dragons.” International Journal of Role-Playing, no. 11 (December): 6–24. https://doi.org/10.33063/ijrp.vi11.281.

Assignment 4: Prepare a proposal for your UnEssay.

Playthrough: a non-fantasy TTRPG (selected by the students, e.g., Arc, Call of Cthulhu, Candela Obscura)

Session 6

Theory: Colonialism, Disability, Racism, and Sexism

Reading (choose one):

Dashiell, Steven. 2023. “Symbolic Violence in the Language of Game Descriptions of Blackness: The Case of Pathfinder.” Games and Culture, May, Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231176630.

Hines, Mark. 2023. “Game Mechanics and Narrative as Symbiotic, Co-Constructive Elements in Tomb of Annihilation.” Analog Game Studies X (I). https://analoggamestudies.org/2023/03/thats-just-what-the-book-says-game-mechanics-and-narrative-as-symbiotic-co-constructive-elements-in-tomb-of-annihilation/.

Stang, Sarah. 2021. “The Fiend Folio’s Female Fiends: Kelpies, Vampires, and Demon Queens.” Analog Game Studies VIII (The Fiend Folio). https://analoggamestudies.org/2021/10/the-fiend-folios-female-fiends-kelpies-vampires-and-demon-queens/.

Assignment 5: Research and analyze a TTRPG ruleset or a CRPG, excluding D&D and any other games that we have played in the classroom.

Playthrough: a modern TTRPG (selected by the students, e.g., Glitter Hearts, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Wanderhome)