CAR-PGa NEWSLETTER Vol. 29, No. 4, April 2020

CAR-PGa Chair

David Millians, Editor

Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA

millians.david@paideiaschool.org

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Hello All,

We have a few orders of business to attend to but I’m putting all that on hold to discuss the most pressing matter at hand: staying safe.

Your health and safety matters most. Please take care of yourself and your family by practicing good hygiene and social distancing.

The COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak is an unprecedented scenario echoing some of the most dire predictions of post-apocalyptic role-playing games, but it is no joke. We’re trying to “flatten the curve” of emergency and medical visits due to the outbreak through “social distancing,” but to do that requires gamers to change their plans. I’ve shared differing views on the subject of gaming in-person on EN World.

I think the CAR-PGA has a responsibility to emphasize the safety of our all gamers, and that includes preventive measures. I’ve shared this with the board and here are our recommendations. These recommendations are made with the full acknowledgement that there is significant financial risk in canceling plans—but they must be weighed against the lives they may save:

  • Don’t play tabletop games with people who are outside of your immediate circle of family and friends for the next 60 days. This means that everyone must enact the same self-quarantine measures. If there is a gamer at your table who has other family that you don’t regularly interact with, then they are outside your circle and you shouldn’t play with them for the next 60 days. This means you may be limited to playing with family only for the next two months.
  • Play remotely with non-family members if you can, or six feet apart if you can’t. There are several distance gaming options, including dedicated platforms and video conferencing/chat software. Playing in person is obviously not ideal and probably only feasible if you have two players at opposite ends of a table.
  • And of course, clean everything before and after the game.

These are extreme measures taken during extreme times, but it’s worth reinforcing that when you risk sharing an infection that doesn’t appear for up to two weeks, you are risking the health of every player at your table. In light of the risk, playing our tabletop games online seems a small sacrifice to make.

Please take care of yourself and stay safe.

Sincerely,

Mike

Committee Chair

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Please, take care and stay safe everyone.

The second part of Carsten Obst’s much-enjoyed report from Spiel 2020 will be in next month’s newsletter. I’m an elementary school teacher, and the switch to online teaching is like starting a new job with summer’s worth of in-service, all in the span of a few days, so my time for the newsletter has been greatly reduced. I hope things are rolling more smoothly soon for all of us.

Play some games and have some fun!

David

Editor

Graphic by Mike Tresca

NEW MATERIAL

FROM DAVID MILLIANS

Bisdorf, Bob (2020 Mar 24) Using Safety Tools in Virtual Games. http://www.contessa.rocks/blog/using-safety-tools-in-virtual-games. Being mindful of others when we’re playing online.

Brown, Lloyd (2020 Mar 10) Recruiting a Whole County. https://www.rpg.net/columns/businessofgamingretail/businessofgamingretail113.phtml. Alachua County, Florida, library association requests tabletop game presentation for county-wide development.

Cowman, Ross (2015 May 16) Fall of Magic – Gaming with Kids (part 1). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-bgr-uy-PU&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3wBw2kzzu8GLazTvh3-Azn3y7Nn4i-RHszX-zA5o3XJfYoGTfhvSoW2KM. Creative game session video.

Elsam, Sara (2020 Mar 13) Quests of Yore, the tabletop RPG from Pixar movie Onward, is now a real game. https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/quests-of-yore-barleys-edition-game/news/quests-of-yore-onward-rpg. Crossover game creation.

Evans, Jonathan (2020 Mar 2) Translation, Accessibility and Variation in Global Analog Gaming. http://analoggamestudies.org/2020/03/translation-accessibility-and-variation-in-global-analog-gaming/. Translation and adaptation in the transmission of games and attendant cultural practices.

Farough, Amanda (2020 Mar 17) How tabletop RPG actual play shows are inspiring a new generation of fans – and products. https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/17/how-tabletop-rpg-actual-play-shows-are-inspiring-a-new-generation-of-fans-and-products/. Changing entry points, inclusivity, intellectual property boundaries, and publication goals.

GAMA (2020 Mar 9) Avonelle Wing receives inaugural Rick Loomis Service Award. https://www.gama.org/news/news.asp?id=492063. Remembering our late elders in the present.

Macgregor, Jody (2020 Mar 13) The authors of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were roleplaying long before Dungeons & Dragons. https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/brontes-roleplaying-before-dnd. Imaginative play that extended into adulthood.

Mitchell, Laura (2020 Mar 2) Games as Spaces of Translation. http://analoggamestudies.org/2020/03/table-talk-games-as-spaces-of-translation/. Games as culture and shared language.

Morrissey, Russ (2020 Mar 17) Critical Role Suspends Broadcasts. https://www.enworld.org/threads/critical-role-suspends-broadcasts.670992/. Covid-19 halts live filming.

Morrissey, Russ (2020 Mar 23) ICv2 Reports 23% Growth In RPGs in 2019. https://www.enworld.org/threads/icv2-reports-23-growth-in-rpgs-in-2019.671113/. $80 million industry showed strong increases and many positive factors.

Morrissey, Russ (2020 Mar 31) Game Distributors Close Down; RPG Publishers Affected. https://www.enworld.org/threads/game-distributors-closing-down-rpg-publishers-affected.671257/. The Covid-19 pandemic and economic contraction slows the hobby industry.

Nelson, Jim (2020 Mar 27) The Fantasy Books that Inspired Dungeons & Dragons. http://blog.archive.org/2020/03/27/the-fantasy-books-that-inspired-dungeons-dragons/. Appendix N makes the National Archives blog.

Reed, Bob (2020 Mar 3) Defining the Six Generations of D&D Players. http://cyclopeatron.blogspot.com/2011/03/defining-six-generations-of-d-players.html. Fromt the White Box to starting with 5E.

Boerth, Robbie (2020 Feb 13) Teaching Role-Playing Games, Part 1: The Justification. http://ludoverse.blogspot.com/2020/02/teaching-role-playing-games-part-1.html. Educational elements and the lens of ergodic literature.

Boerth, Robbie (2020 Feb 17) Teaching Role-Playing Games, Part 1:The Game Plan. http://ludoverse.blogspot.com/2020/02/robin-laws-has-appropriately-called.html. Presenting role playing to novices and getting them ready to play.

Boerth, Robbie (2020 ) Teaching Role-Playing Games, Part 2: The Debrief. http://ludoverse.blogspot.com/2020/03/teaching-role-playing-games-part-3.html. Lessons learned by students and teacher for critical reading, time management, safety tools, social and emotional learning, and collaboration.

Tiffany, Kaitlyn (2020 Mar 5) A Chart to Explain Your Entire Worldview. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/03/alignment-chart-memes-moral-worldview-fantasy/607561/. The simple nine-box Alignment grid that launched a thousand memes.

Uribe-Jongbloed, Enrique (2020 Mar 2) Playing with Translation: Translanguaging Role-Playing Games in Colombia in the 1990s. http://analoggamestudies.org/2020/03/playing-with-translation-translanguaging-role-playing-games-in-colombia-in-the-1990s/. Cultural capital, privilege, culture, and language in RPG learning and play.

Ward, James (2020 Mar 10) The Naming of Names: Metamorphosis Alpha, Boot Hill, & Gangbusters. https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-naming-of-names-metamorphosis-alpha-boot-hill-gangbusters.669414/. Capturing the spirit of a game in a few prominent words.

Whitten, Sarah (2020 Mar 14) How Critical Role helped spark a Dungeons & Dragons renaissance. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/14/critical-role-helped-spark-a-dungeons-dragons-renaissance.html. Opening more eyes to tabletop role playing.

FROM MIKE TRESCA

Tresca, Mike (2020 Mar 9) Rise of the Artificial Game Master. https://www.enworld.org/threads/rise-of-the-artificial-game-master.670248/. AI in computer role playing games.

Tresca, Mike (2020 Mar 16) When Pandemic Isn’t Just a Game. https://www.enworld.org/threads/when-pandemic-isnt-just-a-game.670892/. Predicted effects of Covid-19 on the professional, social, and personal elements of gaming.

CALENDAR

Editor’s Note: Obviously, most or all of these events are delayed or canceled, and Paul and other contributors will update this Calendar when more information is once again available. Below is the same listing that appeared in the March newsletter, copied for reference, but keep in mind that the dates are no longer firm.

New listings this month were provided by Paul Cardwell, others are urged to submit information. If you attend a convention, be sure and check the conventions table and let us have a copy of the fliers (or at very least the when, what, where, and contact information) for upcoming conventions available there. CAR-PGa is international, so this includes anywhere in the world.

Dates, precise venue, contacts’ URLs or phone numbers, and other information, where missing from this list, would be particularly appreciated.

“[LARP]” means only LARP events as many RPG cons include at least some LARP, as likewise applies to the mention of specific game systems. The same bracketed information applies as well to game systems when the con will have only those games present.

In an attempt to get more face-to-face meetings of the membership, we list who will be going to what convention, if they will tell us. Get this type of information in at least two months before the convention itself, so we can run it at least once. Support your local cons by helping in the staff. It is a good way to promote RPG and you generally get in free for the brief time spent helping.

A review of any attended convention afterwards for the Newsletter would be appreciated too. These reviews should include demographic data such as attendance, percentage male/female, white/ethnic minorities (or what- ever is the majority/white/others), games in addition to tabletop RPG, and more subjective matters such as unusual events, quality of games and dealers’ room, encouragement of new gamers, and whatever seems worth reporting. We need to work to restore CAR-PGa’s reputation as the media’s go-to on gamer demographics, especially since the media are still citing a study that cut off all those over 35 – at a time when that was the median age of gamers – it is closer to 40 now – which indicates we also need to work on recruiting younger players, although some increase in college age players at conventions has been noted.

Conventions are currently being compiled by archivist Paul Cardwell, 1127 Cedar, Bonham, TX 75418 or plcardwell@gmail.com, so send them there.

April 2020

May 2020

June 2020

July 2020

© Copyright 2020 by the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGa), ISSN 1071 7129. The CAR-PGa Newsletter is a monthly publication. For more information contact David Millians, Editor, Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA, phone (404) 808-1070, fax (404) 377-3491, e-mail millians.david@paideiaschool.org. Back issues are available. Contributions of material from the membership are urged, and the byline is responsible for content. Deadline is the last weekday of the month, email preferred. Permission is granted to copy anything in the Newsletter, provided we get a credit line in the publication copying it, and it doesn’t have someone else’s copyright on it. Information, including details on joining CAR-PGa, can be obtained on the Internet at car-pga.org.