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Tabletop Role-Playing GamesJune 4, 2009 While advocacy about games brings out strong feelings — the column Words of Words from over two months ago is still generating discussion — I want to offer the readership here practical examples of people bringing gaming into libraries. What’s working, what isn’t, strengths, weaknesses, pitfalls, and possibilities. I’d be writing more often but I keep thinking “oooh, gotta do a piece on that, and then oh there's that topic I have to cover," and before long it's "oh look a chicken!" Since I can’t possibly do them all at once, nothing is getting done. I’m going to work on improving that. I think you deserve more words on games and gaming. (My editors probably do too! D’oH!)Role-Playing Games  Role-playing games (RPGs) have an odd history, perhaps to be discussed another time, but many of today’s older gamers remember endless hours in our teens and twenties being the schoolhouse reject nerds playing Dungeons & Dragons. I was the nerdiest of the nerds because I preferred Tunnels & Trolls myself, although I played a very wide variety of different RPGs over the years. I think most of you reading here know at least a little something about the role-playing game genre. At least, you’ve probably heard of D&D, the shorthand for Dungeons & Dragons. At its most elemental, RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons are interactive storytelling with paper-based personas being played by individual game players, under the direction of one person who handles the plotlines, the setting, the villains and supporting cast of non-player characters, and is the final arbitrator of the rules and circumstances. Many are medieval, but there are science fictional space games, Wild West games, dystopic near-futures, and games based on books like the works of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, and oh so many more. And yeah, it’s kinda like that.  Not The Easy Road RPGs have some drawbacks to being played as a formal library-run program. I’m going to make some broad generalizations here, and everything has a flip side or counterargument.
Enter A Master GM Instead of trying to answer that myself, I’m going to give you a practical example, as promised initially. I’m going to point you at Ian McKinney, working in Ft Wayne, Indiana, as he conducts a summer RPG gaming program for teens. Start here at Ian's Awesome RPG Blog. Yes, that's the name of it. As he says: "The blog is just serviceable; it's actually the game that's awesome."  You’ll also want to check in here at Azor Lok, his world development blog. because he talks about how to keep the players from rubbing each other the wrong way, about how he’s developing the program, and so much more. Ian knows gaming extremely well, as you can surmise from the blogs. He’s done this before, running a D&D 4e campaign last summer. This year, he’s creating house rules that seem loosely based in a little known RPG called Dogs in the Vineyard. He’s eschewing the traditional medievalisms of D&D for a Weird West, steampunkish 1890’s homebrewed RPG. He’s not just shooting for the moon, he’s shooting for the moon’s mother. I wish I were a teen in his library. Makes the idea of setting up a simple Lord of the Rings adventure with a few well-read tweens seem a little easier to manage, doesn’t it? This won’t tell you how to do it, I admit. What I want you to take away from this post is that things like this can be done. I expect you’ll find practical steps in Beth Gallaway’s upcoming book “Game On!” and over time, I’ll try to offer more useful bits. Right now, knowing it’s possible may be your first step to “well, then, how might I do this.” Earlier in this post, I said “RPGs have some drawbacks to being played as a formal library program.” That’s true. However, you might have some other options out there. I encourage libraries and librarians to seek out the local gaming crowd and simply make them welcome to come use your meeting spaces. Ask them if they can handle new players coming in, or if they'd come do a demo and discussion of their game for the public. If you can spare a mid-sized room for the afternoon on a weekend, you could win some steady customers. Evenings might be a little tricker depending on when you close — the tabletop games can run for many hours. If you close at 8 or 9pm, they won’t get much play time. If you are an academic library open late and have enclosed rooms so their conversations don’t disturb the more studiously inclined, you probably have a ready audience close at hand. What’s more: if you make such a connection, take the time to learn to play as well, if they have room for you. You’ll gain a skill, make new friends, and at the very least you will understand the audience better than in any other way imaginable. Gaming is experiential, whether it’s video games, board games, or RPGs. So game on! Posted by Liz Danforth on June 4, 2009 | Comments (4) Industries: Gaming
June 4, 2009
In response to: Tabletop Role-Playing Games Ian McKinney commented: Thanks for the great article, Liz. I wanted to add that my Azor Lok blog (zardok.wordpress.com) is also where I discuss the how-to and wherefore of library gaming, with a focus on RPGs, under the category "Library gaming." (Some of that material is also at www.librarygamingtoolkit.org, which Beth also had a big hand in putting together.)
June 5, 2009
In response to: Tabletop Role-Playing Games EarlB commented: At the risk of revealing my age, this article took me back to the summers of my youth which were spent in a local library branch, virtually every weekday, with my RPG buddies.
June 5, 2009
In response to: Tabletop Role-Playing Games Ian McKinney commented: Earl, I had exactly the same experience - by tolerating our presence and our occasional excitement, the library staff communicated an important set of values to us: respect, tolerance, and even acceptance of - let's face it - something pretty weird. Though it was very much connected to literature, of course.
June 6, 2009
In response to: Tabletop Role-Playing Games Liz Danforth commented: Cool response, Earl. I recall talking to a friend's mom, decades ago, who had five sons, one of whom was a gamer like you. She said "I always knew where Scott was, what he was doing, and who he was with. The other boys -- not so much." And yes, knowing his brothers and the trouble they got into ... Scott may have been the "nerd" but he went on to a successful, creative, productive life. The other boys -- not so much.
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