There are item(s) tagged with “rpg” on this site.
Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes
“This is a role-playing game. I don’t really play role-playing games. I just read RPG rulebooks for fun. There’s probably some deep psychological reason for this – something about putting rules around imagination. No idea. (Watch this video some time: Theoretical Gamers VS Practical Gamers ) (Also,…”
Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons
“This isn’t so much a book about role-playing games as much as it’s a book about the business of role-playing games. Or, just business in general. It’s the history of D&D and Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), for sure, but from a purely business standpoint. It follows the rise of the company from…”
Gran Meccanismo: Clockpunk Roleplaying in Da Vinci’s Florence
“This is a role-playing game rulebook. I love to read these, I think because I love to put rules around domains of information, and there’s nothing as amorphous as life itself. (Maybe read this: Are Computers Just Really Expensive Dice? ) The setting is Florence, Italy of the Italian Renaissance –…”
Love and Barbed Wire
“This is a role-playing game…sort of. It’s a ‘game of letters.’ You and a partner write letters to each other, each playing the role of a soldier in World War 1 and someone the soldier knows back home. So, it’s not a ‘game,’ really. It’s a…meditation? A contemplation? An experience? The mechanics –…”
Hometown Holiday
“This is a role-playing game that – hilariously – provides rules around a ‘televised holiday romance.’ A Hallmark Christmas movie, essentially. I’m sure this is a parody…pretty sure, anyway. The rules are kinda hilarious. Characters have only three attributes: Sweaters, Cocoa, and Cheer. There are…”
Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms
“This book was written by two board game experts, one of which is a professor at the NYU Game Center, which I didn’t even know was a thing. The book breaks down games into patterns – the ‘building blocks’ of the title. It groups them into categories: Game Structure Turn Order and Structure Actions…”
The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity
“This is a wonderful book that investigates how role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragon’s happened. Not the mechanical history behind it, but rather how they made ‘the elusive shift’ from wargames to a more personal experience. (If you’re looking for a more traditional history, I recommend Of…”
Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It
“Wonderful book about the history of D&D and role-playing in general. The author is a journalist, and the book is both an objective history and a personal reflection. The book is…tender, in places. It discusses the subject with clear emotional history and baggage, and I loved it for that. But hidden…”