This lecture by Sarah Lynne Bowman gives a brief introduction to tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), discussing their similarities to childhood pretend play, board games, card games, and simulation. The lecture discusses the origins of the first official tabletop RPG, Dungeons & Dragons, as well as its basic structure. It discusses other traditional RPGs such as Call of Cthulhu and World of Darkness games, then transitions to discuss indie RPGs such as Fiasco, Apocalypse World, and Itras By among others. Content note: The comment about Gary Gygax participating in an impov troupe is not yet verified. Bio: Sarah Lynne Bowman, Ph.D. is a scholar, game designer, and event organizer.
She is an Associate Professor for the Department of Game Design at Uppsala University Campus Gotland and the Coordinator for Peace & Conflict Studies at Austin Community College. McFarland Press published her dissertation as The Functions of Role-playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems, and Explore Identity (2010). Bowman has edited for The Wyrd Con Companion Book (2012-2015), the International Journal of Role-playing (2016-), and Nordiclarp.org (2015-). She helped organize the Living Games Conference (2014, 2016, 2018) and Role-playing and Simulation in Education Conference (2016, 2018).