CAR-PGa NEWSLETTER, Vol. 31, No. 7, July 2022

CAR-PGa Chair

An international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games

David Millians, Editor

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

millians.david@paideiaschool.org

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Hi All,

We had another great virtual session this month with Rick Meints, President of Chaosium. Rick’s career in the gaming industry started in the mid 90’s when he moved to the UK and helped with the layout for Tales of the Reaching Moon magazine. His Gloranthan and RuneQuest roots stem back to the late 70s. An avid RPG collector, his love of all of Chaosium’s publications, plus anything Gloranthan or RuneQuest in nature has earned him the nickname “Mr. Suitcase” (or “Monsieur Valise”, as he is known on the Continent). His Meints Index to Glorantha is the comprehensive product guide to all Gloranthan publications, games, conventions, and miniatures produced from 1975 to 1997. In 1999, Rick founded Moon Design Publications, with the launch of the Gloranthan Classics line of reprints of classic RQ2 material.

Rick was so generous with his time and shared several sneak previews from Chaosium that you can’t find anywhere else. Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/8OpCsma30es

We have one more session in July before we go on hiatus until September. Our guest next month is Mark Truman of Magpie Games. We look forward to speaking with him!

Sincerely,

Mike Tresca

Committee Chair

Convention Report:  MomoCon 2022

By Ted Skirvin

This convention took place over Memorial Day weekend (this refers to the U.S. holiday). Events started on Thursday and finished on Sunday. Thus there were no events on Memorial Day. The con takes place at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. I had not planned to go at all but a friend of my wife (and her boy friend) could not use their badges so they gave them to us. We were only able to go down there Sunday afternoon. So, we missed most of the con. This con started as an event with a focus on anime. Over the years it has expanded to include other areas of interest but it is still pretty much anime dominant. 

We were not able to go to any discussion panels or other events so we really just spent some time in the vendor’s room. It was a big room with a couple of hundred vendors. There were a few booths that sold stuff for RPGs. Mostly, this was dice and accessories. The only game company there that I saw was Goodman Games. 

I did briefly walk over to the area where they had tabletop RPG events but the con was mostly over at that point in time. There was only one game going on. But, it was a large area with roughly fifteen tables. I think they had quite a few games scheduled for the con. 

Although I did not go to any discussion panels, I did pick up a copy of the con schedule. It seems they had a decent number of panels that would be of interest to CAR-PGa and its efforts. Here are some I saw on the schedule:

  • Game Design Inclusivity Strategies
  • Intro to Live Action Roleplay
  • Safety Tools and Consent in TTRPGs
  • Level Up your GM Game
  • Finding your DM-Style
  • Chaos Theory: Minimal Prep TTRPGs
  • Let’s Make a TTRPG!
  • How to Be a Good TTRPG Player
  • DM Roundtable
  • Starting a career in TTRPGs
  • Tips & Tricks of D&D/RPG Podcasting
  • Dinner & Dicerolls: Feed your Party
  • Introduction to Tabletop Gaming

Review: She Kills Monsters

By David Millians

A few years ago I picked up a copy of the script of Qui Nguyen’s play She Kills Monsters, and this spring the high school acting troupe at the school where I teach staged a performance. It was a delightful staging of this story, which has several twists and turns, as the main character Agnes loses her sister, encounters gaming, and explores the issues of sisterhood, LQBTQ+, friendship, and more through an adventure crafted by the deceased.

It has a dollop of cheesiness, the depiction of D&D are of mixed accuracy with a few stereotypes, and the supporting characters can be two dimension, but many parts of the play are a romp, and the performers I watched enjoyed themselves and the ideas they were sharing with the audience. It’s going to play better with teens hungry for social issues and some melodrama.

I enjoyed the play in spite of its patchiness, and it presents gaming in a positive light.

NEW MATERIAL

FROM DAVID MILLIANS

Arrant, Chris (2022 June 3) DC is sending 10,000 copies of DC Pride 2022 anthology to US libraries. https://www.thepopverse.com/dc-pride-2022-anthology-libraries. A bigger fan industry but another model for our work.

Arrant, Chris (2022 Jun 8) Using The Walking Dead to teach STEM to girls, trans, and non-binary youth. https://www.thepopverse.com/using-the-walking-dead-to-teach-stem-to-girls-trans-and-non-binary-youth. Not RPG but adjacent and education.

Barber, Graeme (2022 Jun 19) What Does Supporting Diversity Look Like?. https://pocgamer.com/2022/06/19/what-does-supporting-diversity-look-like. Approaches to world-building, planning, hiring, publication, and long-term support to counter racism in your work.

Carter, Chase (2022 Jun 6) Queer Games Bundle strives to earn a living wage for the marginalized artists in the tabletop RPG space. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/bundle/news/queer-games-bundle-2022-itchio. Supporting the cause of inclusive income.

Carter, Chase (2022 Jun 14) Backerkit launches its own crowdfunding platform with nearly 40 planned projects. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/crowdfunding/news/backerkit-crowdfunding-announcement. New platform in the crowdfunding ecosystem.

Carter, Chase (2022 Jun 16) Workers at Seattle Mox Board House location follow Card Kingdom in forming union. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/unions/news/mox-boarding-house-union-seattle. Pay and treatment of workers motivates organizers.

Carter, Chase (2022 Jun 24) More indie support, less blockchain: Kickstarter’s new games advisors on tackling the crowdfunding giant’s problem. https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/kickstarter/news/kickstarter-community-advisory-council-interview. Conversations around fundraising platforms.

Carter, Chase (2022 Jun 28) Wizards of the Coast employees disappointed by Hasbro’s “out of touch” response to overturning of Roe v. Wade. https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/wizards-of-the-coast/news/wizards-of-the-coast-hasbro-employees-open-letter-abortion. Business, politics, and ethics.

Embry, Egg (2022 Jun 24) Free RPG Day 2022 – The Offerings. https://www.enworld.org/threads/free-rpg-day-2022-%E2%80%93-the-offerings.689438. Wide-ranging publishers and types.

Guildford, Arthur (2022 Jun 13) New Group for Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender-Questioning Participants. https://gametogrow.org/2022/06/13/new-group-for-trans-nonbinary-and-gender-questioning-participants. Making spaces for everyone to play and grow.

Kennedy, Olvia (2022 Jun 9) How Dungeons & Dragons became part of the 1980s Satanic Panic. https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/dungeons-and-dragons-5e/feature/dnd-satanic-panic. Background and history lesson.

McG, Bruce (2022 Jun 1) [Gen Con 2022] Most RPG Seats by System. https://rpggeek.com/thread/2876468/gen-con-2022-most-rpg-seats-system. Analysis of events and popularity.

McMillan, Graeme (2022 Jun 25) How the ALA’s Graphic Novel and Comics Round Table is turning libraries into comic stores. https://www.thepopverse.com/how-the-alas-graphic-novel-and-comics-round-table-is-turning-libraries-into-comic-stores. Making libraries safe for comics.

Meehan, Alex (2022 Jun 10) Dungeons & Dragons queer characters found in this new supplement. https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/dungeons-and-dragons-5e/news/25-queer-npcs-dnd-5e. Review of 25 Queer NPCs.

Meehan, Alex (2022 Jun 13) Monopoly summer camp will teach kids financial literacy. https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/monopoly/news/monopoly-summer-camp. Thinking financialy through a game.

Meehan, Alex (2022 Jun 20) More board games supporting single players were released in 2021 than those that didn’t. https://www.dicebreaker.com/topics/solo-games/news/single-player-supported-board-games. Growth in solo play.

Morris, David (2022 Jun 10) No new things under the sun. https://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2022/06/no-new-thing-under-sun.html. Treasure Hunt, a choose-your-own-adventure from 1940.

Morrissey, Russ (2022 Jun 24) UKGE and Origins Report 2022 Attendance Figures. https://www.enworld.org/threads/ukge-and-origins-report-2022-attendance-figures.689448. In-person cons are back, but mask mandates seem to lower numbers.

Ong, Alexis (2022 Jun 28) Jeeyon Shim carved a path in crowdfunding for her keepsake games. https://www.theverge.com/23139467/jeeyon-shim-crowdfunding-keepsake-games. Creativity and independence in a new age of publishing.

Schellman, Katharine (2022 Jun 6) Why Every Writer Should Play Dungeons & Dragons. https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/why-every-writer-should-play-dungeons-dragons. Value of play.

Wieland, Rob (2022 Jun 27) 10 things you didn’t know about the early history of D&D. https://www.dicebreaker.com/series/dungeons-and-dragons/feature/dnd-history-things-you-didnt-know. Nothing new here but a useful compilation of stories and an indication that these early days have truly become history.

FROM LUCIO PIMENTEL

da Silva, Pedro Panhoca, Luiz Fernando Martins de Lima, Maira Zucolott, eds., Narrativas Interativas Contemporâneas. Diálogos, https://editoradialogos.com/ebooks/narrativas-interativas-contemporaneas, 2022. [Portuguese] Pimentel discusses the significance of Appendix N in his chapter of this compilation of ideas.

FROM MIKE TRESCA

Tresca, Mike (2022 Jun 13) How to Fan. https://www.enworld.org/threads/how-to-fan.689093. Support beyond simply purchasing products.

© Copyright 2022 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.