[Roleplaying] Playground Worlds available as a free download

[Jaakko Stenros]

Hello,

We are pleased to announce that Playground Worlds: Creating and  
Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games, published last year in  
Solmukohta, is now also available as a free download. The book  
features 25 articles on Nordic live action role-playing games.

http://www.ropecon.fi/pw/

(If you link to the book, please use this address as it is the one  
that will be stable in the future as well.)

Playground Worlds is a collection of articles on role-playing games by  
leading researchers, artists and other experts. The book documents the  
theory and practice of the Nordic role-playing scene ? one of the most  
vibrant in the world -? and presents numerous methods and techniques  
that are directly applicable to larp design and production. It also  
offers a peek into some Anglo-American role-playing cultures.

The book is divided into three sections. Community and Journalism  
includes articles on role-player communities written particularly with  
an eye for approachability. Art and Design covers role-play as the  
product of a creative process, exposing philosophies and intentions  
behind specific role-playing works while providing advice and guidance  
for prospective designers. The Research and Theory section focuses on  
recent advances in analytic and academic thought on role-play.

Playground Worlds is edited by Markus Montola and Jaakko Stenros.  
Ropecon ry published the paperback version of the book for Solmukohta  
2008 in April 2008. You can also still order paper copies.

Reactions to the book in the role-playing game community:

"This book is a gem! A collection of diverse and quite useful articles  
on roleplaying, with a strong emphasis on live action play." (Jason  
Morningstar)

"If the idea of scholarly discussion of larp comes as a surprise to  
you, this book may deliver quite a shock. There are some contributors  
that are full-time widely-published game theorists, who specialise in  
larp theory. They?re writing about envelope-pushing larp, but the  
analysis is often generalisable to more garden-variety larp. If you?re  
not familiar with the Nordic larp scene, expect to read some articles  
while thinking ?what the hell?? Read with an open mind, and ideas that  
seem crazy or outlandish at first may grow on you." [...]
"A thought-provoking collection of works on roleplay, and innovative  
larp in particular. Well presented, dense with content, and definitely  
worth the purchase price to get it in hardcopy." (Ryan Paddy)

The table of contents looks like this:
  * Introduction by Markus Montola & Jaakko Stenros

Journalism & Community
  * The Role-Players? School: Østerskov Efterskole by Malik Hyltoft
  * Leave the Cat in the Box: Some Remarks on the Possibilities of  
Role-Playing Game Criticism by Jussi Ahlroth
  * The Dragon Was the Least of It: Dragonbane and Larp as Ephemera  
and Ruin by Johanna Koljonen
  * Producing A Nice Evening by Anna Westerling
  * Design for Work Minimization by Kåre Murmann Kjær
  * The Children of Treasure Trap: History and Trends of British Live  
Action Role-Play by Nathan Hook

Art & Design
  * Frail Realities: Design Process by Justin Parsler
  * High Resolution Larping: Enabling Subtlety at Totem and Beyond by  
Andie Nordgren
  * Walking the White Road: A Trip into the Hobo Dream by Bjarke  
Pedersen & Lars Munck
  * Adventurous Romanticism: Enabling a Strong Adventurous Element in  
Larp by Katri Lassila
  * Exhuming Agabadan by Matthijs Holter
  * The Nuts and Bolts of Jeepform by Tobias Wrigstad
  * Behind the Façade of A Nice Evening with the Family by Anders  
Hultman, Anna Westerling & Tobias Wrigstad
  * Stupid Stories: Using Narrativism in Designing Agerbørn by Jonas  
Trier-Knudsen
  * Levelling the Playing Field and Designing Interaction by Troels  
Barkholt-Spangsbo
  * The Age of Indulgence by Juhana Pettersson
  * Parlor Larps: A Study in Design by John H. Kim

Research & Theory
  * 24 Hours in a Bomb Shelter: Player, Character and Immersion in  
Ground Zero by Heidi Hopeametsä
  * We Are the Great Pretenders: Larp is Adult Pretend Play by Erling Rognli
  * Are You the Daddy? Comparing Fantasy Play in Children and Adults  
through Vivian Gussin Paley?s A Child?s Work by Andreas Lieberoth
  * Kaprow?s Scions by J. Tuomas Harviainen
  * Key Concepts in Forge Theory by Emily Care Boss
  * Broadcast Culture Meets Role-Playing Culture by Marie Denward &  
Annika Waern
  * We Lost Our World and Made New Ones: Live Role-Playing in Modern  
Times by Gabriel Widing
  * Fantasy and Medievalism in Role-Playing Games by Lars Konzack & Ian Dall

Cheers,

Jaakko Stenros & Markus Montola, editors

PS. You can follow the production of our next book at  
http://nordiclarp.wordpress.com/

--
Jaakko Stenros, researcher         jaakko.stenros at uta.fi +358-40-7520515
                                      http://jaakkostenros.wordpress.com/
Game Research Lab
Tampere Research Center for Information and Media                       
    University of Tampere                    
http://gamelab.uta.fi/wordpress/