A new network of RPG blogs has just been built by elmcat. In his post, Mapping the Blogosphere, elmcat explains his project involving web scraping, analysis, and the publication of results in the form of a superb interactive visualization.
One format to gather them all
His idea of using RSS to obtain super-clean blog posts (no banners, no JavaScript, etc.) is brilliant!
I had actually tried to build a similar project using ObservableHQ for the dataviz component, combined with a mix of Python scripts, wget, and httrack for the web scraping. However, I eventually stopped because the scraping itself was a colossal task, especially when it came to cleaning the data of all the excess code. I really should try again using this RSS-based method.
And in the darkness, hypotheses to forge
Through Mastodon, I asked elmcat a few questions and hypotheses to test.
Does citing inline (not blog roll) make a blog last longer? Produce more content?
Does citing other blogs by creating links within blog posts (rather than in the sidebar or header, i.e., in a generic way) make a blog last longer or produce more content? This is based on the hypothesis that community connections make blogs more enduring or more productive.
Does new bloggers cite more legacy bloggers compared to the avg bloggers, and to well established bloggers?
Do newcomers to the blogosphere cite more than average bloggers, or than well-established, reputable bloggers? Based on the hypothesis that people cite to connect to a movement or to other individuals, or that blogging may be a response to ideas expressed elsewhere that they wish to continue engaging with.
Is there a curve/pattern of citing over time?
Is there a curve in the number of links to other blogs over the lifespan of a blog? For instance, do people cite more at the beginning, or at the end, etc.
Do citing somebody make you cited by them afterwards?
Does citing a blog post make it more likely that you will be cited back later? Does citing create connection and reciprocity? For example, breaking the fourth wall: I am currently citing elmcat and his project, but I do not know whether I will be mentioned in return.
Prospects
To answer all these questions, one must not only collect and structure the data, but also have statistical analysis methods that I do not yet master. Perhaps elmcat will provide part of these answers.
In the meantime, the first observation suggested by the citation graph of the blogs is the existence of several groups, currents, or trends within the OSR (the Old School Renaissance play style relied heavily on blogs to share gaming experiences and innovations). Although many bloggers identify with this movement, the graph seems to reveal a great diversity of sub-communities rather than a single homogeneous whole.
My project On the Shoulders of Cloud Giants which attempts to describe citation practices in tabletop role-playing publications is a bit dormant at the moment. I am testing a new technique which consists of creating automatic citation indexes but it takes time.
The code queries Wikidata and returns the data in a structured manner in the form of (mainly) a series of pairs between a citing tabletop role-playing game and a cited TTRPG.
The data exists in Wikidata thanks to property P2860 (cites work).
The code is in the appendix (at the very bottom of the Observable page) in the variable query=
Other data is repatriated along the way: date of publication, “movement” to which the role-playing game belongs (The Forge, OSR, etc.), publishing house and game mechanics.
This data in the form of a table is encoded in JSON format. This is important because as we are going to do JavaScript visualizations, we need to structure the data in this format so that it is absorbed correctly by the JavaScript visualization libraries.
Then this JSON table is transformed into a JSON hierarchy, this is an organization of information specifically designed for network/relationship visualizations.
Basically, the structure of this JSON hierarchy is divided into two parts: a part describing each game independently (nodes part) and a part listing each relationship (edges part).
The transformation was done by a function named table2hierarchy
The variable containing this file is located in data_citingCited
From there, most of the work is done because the JavaScript libraries do all the rest of the work. You just have to modify them a little each time to have the desired effect (like filtering the data or coloring it). Several visualizations are thus made:
We've seen in previous posts that the earliest citation practices in tabletop role-playing games were primarily for the purpose of paying tribute or giving thanks. They appeared in prefaces and other introductory texts of games.
This early practice has been seriously undermined by lawsuits from major players like TSR. For many years, this type of citation has declined sharply. I am in the process of gathering data to quantify this phenomenon.
Since the birth of TTRPGs the fanzines (ALA publications, etc.) and specialized magazines supported the most interweaving work of referencing between games with critics, comments, comparisons, etc.
2000s-2020s
The Forge
Around The Forge community, many role-playing game designers and contributors have devoted one or more paragraphs, even sometimes entire sections, to citing other role-playing games. Very often, the games cited are part of The Forge community. Again, I am gathering data to quantify this phenomenon.
It seems that the game Sorcerer (1996) holds an important place:
In number of references (roleplaying games, fiction, people, etc.);
In the number of citations by the community;
In the diversity of types of references (bibliographies, acknowledgements, epigraphs, sourced notes of intent, etc.).
OSR blogosphere
The 2000s saw the advent of many amateur publications in the form of blogs, such as the community of gamers practicing so-called OSR (old-school renaissance) gameplay for example.
OSR Blogs and theirs links
Here is a graph of citations between OSR blogs. It has been published on Discord. The author is unknown to me. The method is unknown but it seems that the citation links come from the menu of each blog. Given the graphic appearance, it was produced by VOS Viewer (a very good free tool by the way). According to Josh, who relayed the information, it appears that red colors a "grognard" trend in the movement, while green colors an "artpunk" trend in the movement.
We can see that citations between blogs are important. In order to draw interesting conclusions, we would have to analyze the citation strategies (perhaps a questionnaire?). However, at first glance, I notice that the most visible blogs are also the ones that are original, or relevant, or erudite (and counting several years of existence).
Citing for Community Building
Zedeck Siew, a Malaysian role-playing game designer, recently emphasized the importance and duty of citing his sources, especially to prevent memory loss in a creative community :
« One way to resist memory loss in a creative culture:
📖CITE YOUR SOURCES📖
If somebody's work is an influence on your's, you're basically duty-bound to mention them whenever you can. In book credits, blogposts, podcast interviews.
According to him, « Interlocking chains of citation reinforce a creative culture for all working within it. An immune system against the attention economy, that:
Has us bunkered / broken up by social media;
Causes creators with less access to online time *appear* to stop working. »
Very interestingly, he adds that « Plus, awareness of citation politics generally helps creators from less privileged contexts-
Women; queer folk; non-White people; people from outside the West; people from non-English-language contexts; etc
Who for a myriad reasons are often left un-cited. »
He witnessed that some designers mention their inspirations early in their creative process but that list diminishes as their work progresses.
He concludes his loving ode to quotation [touching my librarian values] by saying that « Citation helps you understand your own work, too. (...) If you have nobody to cite- cite someone anyway. (...) You excavate unconscious antecedents. Situation it in an ecosystem. No work lives in a vacuum. »
September 14 is the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, the 14th century Italian poet and author of the Divina Commedia ("The Divine Comedy"). In first person, he tells an initiatory quest for personal transformation. The first part, Inferno, possesses a strong evocative power due to the description of multiple infernal underground places, haunted by the torments of the sinners. It has a lot of influence on culture, popular culture,... and tabletop role-playing games culture. Dante was a chess player, was he also a distant ancestor of RPG gamers ?
«Keep going in the obscure forest, go to 13. Give up and come back, go to 256.»
Dungeon railroading ?
Dante's Inferno could be an old inspiration for dungeon crawling, at least aesthetically because of its underground, gloomy and fantastical themes. It is possible that the domains of Moria and Mordor of The Lord of the Rings borrowed patterns from it. However, structurally, we could qualify Dante's quest being being very railroaded. Its journey is more a linear church labyrinth than a maze full of choices. Dante has very limited agency: he only has the choice to enter the underworld and continue.
At first, Dante is lost in a dark forest. He tries to avoid successively 3 wild beasts which push him to meet Virgil. Virgil is a poet admired by Dante, but above all he is a quest giver and a tour guide NPC who will be abandoned at the end of the Inferno. Virgil will be replaced by Beatrice and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux for the Purgatorio (Purgatory) and the Paradiso (Paradise). These NPCs are ubiquitous, they answer questions (even the most daring ones) and they keep Dante from getting lost.
The door which leads to the underworld, and which may be enchanted with the spell Magic Mouth, announces:
« You who enter, abandon all hope. » (Inferno III, 3).
It’s a great start to a dungeon crawl. Auguste Rodin made this door his masterpiece.
Extraplanar exploration
Rather than dungeon crawl, Dante's quest is more akin to a planar crawl, a visit to ordered parallel worlds. Dante travels the nine concentric circles of the underworld, then the ascending spiral of the mount of Purgatory and finally the celestial circles of Paradise.
Plane structure of The Divine comedy, Michelangelo Caetani, 1855, CC0.
The first sketches of the « Outer planes » in Dragon Magazine for OD&D (1977, no. 8, p. 4) and in the Players Handbookfor Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(1978, p. 120-121) seemed to owe much to Dante when they described the « Nine Hells of Absolute Lawful Evil ». The other Outer planes had the same stacked structure (eg. the 666 chaotic evil Abyss, etc.). Usually, one had to go through the first layer before accessing the deeper levels. There was also a hierarchy of power (D&D) or severity (Dante) between the upper circles of the underworld that were lighter and larger levels than the deeper levels.
Top : outer plane in OD&D (Dragon Magazine no. 8, p.4,
1977) Bottom : outer planes in AD&D (Players Handbook, 1978, p. 120-121)
In Dragon Magazine no. 35 (1980), William Fawcett, game designer and future co-founder of Mayfair Games, mentioned in his article « Angels in Dungeons & Dragons » (p.18) [added after suggestion by Jon Peterson] :
« This article is intended as a supplement to the games of D&D and AD&D. Though the information it contains is based on both religious literature and theological speculations, it is not intended to be representative of any religion’s actual beliefs. Its sources also include popular fiction such as Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost. »
In Dragon Magazine no. 75 (1983), Ed Greenwood, future designer of The Forgotten Realms mentioned in his article « Nine Hells, part I » (p. 17) :
« A vast number of writers have offered their own religious or primarily fantastic conceptions of the infernal regions (those lands of the dead that are linked with evil spirits and, usually, punishment of the souls of the dead). The chief sources of geographically detailed descriptions of the hells are listed here, for DMs who want to develop their own versions: Dante'’s Inferno; Homer’'s Odyssey, book XI; Virgil’'s Aeneid, book VI; Spenser’'s Faerie Queene, book II canto 7; Ariosto'’s OrlandoFurioso, book XVII; Tasso' ’s Jerusalem Delivered, book IV; Milton’' s Paradise Lost; Fenelon'’s Telemaque, book XVIII; and William Backford’'s fantasy romance Vuthek. Libraries are the best sources for the above books. » [bold are mine]
The Inferno module (1980) attempted an exploration directly inspired by Dante, but it was never followed up. In it, there was the 3 beasts, but also Charon, Minos, etc. The supplement To Hell and Back by Role Aids (1993) was also based on Dante's Inferno. The role-playing game Abyss (1997) also explicitly took Dante's Inferno as a campaign setting and allows conflict between different lords of the underworld or interposition forces to be played out. Most recently,Inferno: Dante’s Guide to Hell(2021) is a crowsourced D&D 5e campaign and the latest attempt at exploring Dante’s Inferno.
Visiting other worlds
Another common trope between The Divine Comedy and fantasy role-playing games is the « visitation theme » which was summarized by Jon Peterson in Playing at the World as an early litterary trope preceding TTRPGs. They are escapism journeys of personal transformation. The protagonist primarily faces the emotion of fear and overcomes it before returning to his homeworld. :
« The formula is a simple one: plausible contemporary persons undertake a journey to an undiscovered, fantastic realm, where after some adventures they return to their place of origin. » (Jon Peterson, PatW).
Examples: Alice in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court,...
" - Only kobolds ? - Only kobolds. "
According to Edgar Dubourg, The Divine Comedy is one of the first fiction to give an important place to the imaginary world. Indeed, its description is independent of the needs of the plot and it explores structural and detailed aspects that go beyond the story. “In fact, during the 15th century, an architect by the name of Antionio Maneti created a map from this text. This first imaginary map launched a very original debate from 1450 to 1600. Italian intellectuals debated it, while trying to improve it. It's one of the first signs, in the history of literary reception, of a strong interest in an imaginary world in itself ”. [added Sept. 29]
Reenchantment of the World
In addition to this theme of the visit, Dante incorporates in his journey people from his humanist culture (Virgil, Homer, etc.) or from his daily life (politicians, religious, etc.).
This process of sublimating emotions (anger or bitterness in the face of injustice or corruption, sadness or nostalgia for lost love) by incorporating them into a fiction can be close to the creative process of players and gamemasters (sometimes also close to the approach of the authors of fanfictions).
Economy of salvation & gamification
In the places visited by Dante, sinners are punished according to the faults committed. From Purgatory to Paradise, there is a progression by trials and by levels, with key locations and rewards. For example, in the Purgatory, Dante received 7 times the letter P on his forehead. Then, for each upper layer he went through, an angel removed one P.
This scripted and simple action-consequence modeling corresponds to the gamification models of ludic games and serious games. Salvation is a personal and collaborative, progressive, negotiated, educational, measurable / quantifiable and autotelic process. Like [tabletop role-playing] games.
It is interesting to note a theological shift in the meaning of the Underworld.In Dante and Christian theology, the devil is an angel who refuses the alliance with God, turns away from him, betrays him, leaves him to remain alone.In D&D, Asmodeus is an angel who tricked the gods into signing a contract containing hidden clauses to his advantage.From a theology of obedience, we switch to a theology of the contract.The latter is undoubtedly a more meaningful value in the publishing industry.
Symbolism
The magical world, accessible and decryptable, also refers to many themes of urban fantasy. Sometimes a key symbolic interpretation gives access to, or helps in understanding or mastering the magical world or the real world. In a sort of Gnostic approach, some role-playing games like Nephilim or Kult have used this theme of deciphered symbolism to acquire knowledge that gives more power to the characters.
In Nephilim (French 3rd ed, 2001, Manuel des joueurs, p. 102) Dante is revealed to be a Rosicrucian, along with Paracelse, Aggripa, Descartes or Goethe. Inferno(2003), a French supplement of Kult 3rd edition quotes and takes up lightly elements of Dante. In Tenebrae(2013), Dante's Hell is touched upon briefly in the Game Universe Secrets of Playing Paladins during the 30 Years War. In Mélencholia (2020), a storyline for Mantra - Oniropunk, players must travel through the underworld to collect nine shards.
Some games offer a player-character journey close to the narrative arc of the discovery of Dante's salvation:
the divine ascension in D&D Immortal rules.
the awakening in Kult.
the quest for Ascension in Mage : The Ascension (obviously!).
the spiritual enlightenment of Agartha in Nephilim.
In cyberpunk games
In some cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic games, Dante is mentioned as a wink.
In Shadowrun, Dante’s Inferno is a huge iconic night club in Seattle, the central city of the game universe. It has 9 floors with many holograms simulating flames. We enter through the roof passing in front of Charon, the bouncer, and we go down the floors. On each floor, with filtered access, corresponds a sin. The lowest floor is called Hell.
In the World of Progress, the game world of SLA Industries, Dante is a "war world" type planet, in perpetual conflict, where the average life expectancy of a dismounted soldier is no more than a few minutes. Those who come back are mad war veterans. In the game world, there is also a huge and multi-level nightclub: The Pit :
« At the entrance (“Deth’s Door”, after the Shaktar that runs gate security for The Pit) the words “Lasieate ogin sperenga voi ch’entrate” are written, which is Killian for “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” » SLA Industries: Mort Sourcebook (1995).
In Mage: the Ascension (1st ed.), The character on the tarot card on the cover of the game is a virtual devotee called Dante. He is an important NPC in the game. In the post-apocalyptic gameStygmata, Dante's Angels are "bikers who believe [the Europe of] Eden is a hell to rule. "
Certain events in the various matrix (a digital parallel world) of cyberpuk worlds can be compared to the Dantesque hellish journey.
Dante, a role-playing game author?
In Wraith: The Oblivion, Dante is the apocryphal (ie. fictional) author of Historia Popularis Stygiae (“A Folk History of Stygia”). This is a section of the base role-playing game describing the history of the Shadowlands (2nd Edition, pp. 59-75):
« (…) Here I cannot be silent, Readers. Hear me swear to you, as you go through this world, do not forget hope. Feed it, nourish it, conjoin with one another and encourage it, make it a powerful, lively thing. Do not forget the words of Charon, or the Lady of Fate, who have promised for us the path to eternal peace. I charge thee all, be faithful to the great goal, and there shall we all find Transcendence. By Charon’s Oar, » Dante Aligheri (apocryph)
A non-apocryphal (ie. true) epigraphic quote from Dante is also present on page 236:
« Trasumanar significar per verba non si poria. » - Dante, Paradiso, Canto I. 70–71
NB: trasumanar is a word invented by Dante. Translation : « Passing beyond humanity cannot be worded. »
Citations and quotations of Dante
Whether Dante's Inferno is used directly or indirectly, Dante is cited quite often in tabletop role-playing games. It is in White Wolf's World of Darkness games that we find the most direct quotations, or references in the text, or in the bibliography (and even in apocryphal texts, see above).
Game
In bibliography
Quoted in epigraph
In text
Players Handbook. AD&D (1978)
0
0
0
Inferno (1980)
0
0
1
Dragon Magazine no. 35 (1980)
0
0
1
Dragon Magazine no. 75 (1983)
1
0
0
Abyss (1997)
The Book of Madness (1994) for Mage The Ascension 1st ed.
1
Wraith : The Oblivion 1st ed. (1994)
1
1
Wraith : Player’s guide (1995)
0
1
Wraith : The Oblivion 2nd ed. (1996)
0
1
p. 59-75
Mage: The Sorcerer’s Crusade (1998)
0
2.5
Nephilim, Manuel des joueurs (3rd ed. fr 2001)
0
0
1
Inferno, pour Kult 3rd ed. fr (2003)
0
0
p. 6-11
Casus Belli magazine (3rd ed. no.3)
0
0
1
Tenebrae (2013)
Mélencholia (2020)
Inferno: Dante’s Guide to Hell (2021)
Without these explicit citation links, it is reasonable to think that The Divine Comedy indirectly or directly influenced many tabletop role-playing games. The aesthetic motifs of Inferno, the progression of the quest, and the orderly organization of the planes would be the main manifestations of this influence.
Cease-and-desist orders are an important element in the history and culture of intellectual property of the tabletop role-playing game industry. I will show how these legal actions had a negative impact on citation practices and how they hampered the explicit dedications, tributes, attributions and acknowledgments in the published works.
Definition
The purpose of a cease & desist letters is to precisely, explicitly and formally warn a person or an organization about a conflict. It can be written by anyone (a law firm can bring a little more credit and potentially more legal precisions). It also often contains a way to resolve this conflict, usually ceasing an activity (cease) and making a commitment not to undertake it again (desist).
Games copyright lawyer Zachary C. Strebeck estimated that in the United States a C&D letter sent by a lawyer costs between $ 300 and $ 1,000 (for 1 to 2 hours of work) in 2018. He said it can vary a lot between law firms (8).
C&D and D&D
Dungeons & Dragons was the first role-playing game released, and TSR's C&D were the firsts legal actions to impact the role-playing community (the company earned the nickname «T$R» or «They Sue Regularly»). Furthermore, TSR and WotC being the main players in the role-playing industry, their practices have had a significant influence. Later, the introduction of the Open Game License by WotC was a pivotal moment for intellectual property and it was a kind of reversal of C&D values.
Tactical Studies Rules (1973-1975)
TSR received a C&D in 1974 from the E.R. Burrough Estate Foundation for Warriors of Mars (15).
TSR sent a C&D in 1975 against Robert Ruppert, who was selling character sheets stamped “Dungeons & Dragons Character Sheet” for 2 cents (3, p.108).
TSR Hobbies, Inc. (1975-1983)
With Tunnels & Trolls
In the first edition of Tunnels & Trolls (1975), published by Flying Buffalo, its author Ken St-André mentioned ans scknowledged Dungeons & Dragons in his discovery of role-play gaming.
Tunnels & Trolls 1st ed. p. 4
TSR sends out a C&D circa 1975 or 1976 against the Flying Buffalo Company and Metagaming Concepts magazine for their advertisements and reviews of Tunnels & Trolls, defined as a game "like D&D".
«The lawyers claimed that using the words "Dungeons & Dragons" to help describe Tunnels & Trolls infringed on TSR’s rights. Flying Buffalo deleted any such comparisons from future advertisements. » (3, p.108)
Without surprise, the reference to D&D disappears in subsequent editions of Tunnels & Trolls.
With Tolkien
TSR receives a C&D at the end of 1977, from Saul Zaentz (via its Elan Merchandising division which had acquired the non-literary derivative rights from Tolkien) for the named creatures like Hobbit, Ent, Balrog, etc. (5, p. 29).
With Arduin Grimoire
TSR sends a C&D between 1977-1979 against David Hargrave for his Arduin Grimoire (4). In the preface to the first volume of Arduin Grimoire, David Hargrave is explicit about the change in tone and values in the role-playing community due to huge commercial success.
Arduin Grimoire, vol. 1. p. 2.
With Chaosium
Jeff Pimper and Steve Perrin approached TSR to publish a collection of monsters and they received a C&D letter from TSR in return (5, p. 250). Finally, they published their famous All the Worlds’ Monsters with Chaosium in 1977, a few months before TSR's Monster Manual. Since this success, Chaosium has grown into a major TTRPG publisher.
In 1978 and 1979, the authors of RuneQuest (Chaosium) dedicated the first two editions of their game to Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax and Ken St-André (discussed in a previous post).
RuneQuest 1st ed., p. 1.
RuneQuest 2nd ed., p. 1.
The second edition of RuneQuest included a full page of bibliographic references, among them : AD&D, D&D, but also Tunnels & Trolls and Arduin Grimoire.
RuneQuest 2nd ed. p.111
TSR received a C&D in 1981 from Chaosium for the inspired section of H.P. Lovecraft and Michael Moorcock in Deities & Demigods (9; 12).
The dedications and the bibliography disappeared in RuneQuest 3rd edition (from Games Workshop in 1984). The mention of D&D reappeared in the 6th ed. of the game (p. 4, 2012). A literary bibliography reappeared in HeroQuest - Roleplaying in Glorantha (p. 266, 2003).
TSR, Inc. (1983-2003)
TSR sent a C&D in 1992 against Gary Gygax and his game Dangerous Dimensions (DD) before its publication, renaming it Dangerous Journey. (5, p.101)
TSR sent C&D in 1993 against a large number of FTP sites or websites that contained material for D&D, even sites without copyright material (2).
"As the Internet exploded onto the public consciousness in the early-to mid-90's, D&D players naturally brought their chosen hobby online. TSR followed them, issuing dozens of cease and desist orders that shut down fan sites. The company even tried to prevent D&D fans from discussing the game in chat rooms and on message boards, earning derisive nicknames such as: “They Sue Regularly” (TSR) or “T $ R”, to stress the appetence for money of TSR managers ." (11). This caused significant animosity in tabletop role-playing communities (1, p.155).
Between 1991 and 1994, Shannon Appelcline, now WotC product historian, remembers being very angry when he received an email from TSR for a C&D website that he administered but which did not contain any content related to D&D (16, 9 min. 30 s.):
"Most of the people would have had the same reaction, hey we don’t like this already [T$R] and now they send these nasty letters for legal rights they probably don’t have, and they are doing it incorrectly too. (...) After receiving that letter, I didn’t touch anything related to TSR until 98-99 or so. (…) It pretty damages my relation with the company as a fan, yes. "
This wave of C&D seems to have been quite massive and has been dubbed “TSR vs. The Internet ”(17).
(Edit 2020-09-06: It seems that in the 90s « it was a scary time for IP rights, there was a real concern about losing rights because of the assine way US law forces active defense to retain things. Case law didn't exist yet to protect rights-holders from fan-work. » (Armorlord).
2000. WotC introduced a new practice in the tabletop role-playing games publishing industry: the Open Game License (v.1.0). It matches a spirit of the time : the free software licensing and copyleft movement. It also provides a counterpoint to the values and damage done by TSR's C&D waves.
2008. WotC backtracking towards a more restrictive license (Game System License, GSL).
WotC sends a C&D in 2010 against Die Cast Games (6).
WotC sends a C&D in 2010 against Masterplan where a fan comments: “It’s almost a badge of fandom. Only the Real Fans of the game get C&D letters - the ones who genuinely care about and love the game so much that they’re willing to invest substantial time and effort into building tools, forums and sites which support it. (…) A friendly email request would doubtless resolve any issues born out of simple ignorance or over-enthusiasm. Using C&D as a first solution is like burning a Daily Power on a Minion - total overkill (…) ”.
2016. WotC reverts to a more open OGL license (v.1.0a).
Others Cease & Desist
By doing some research on the Internet, I spotted these few other cases. Like the facts listed before, there is a search bias and selection bias, so these facts are not representative.
The term Fanwork Ban from the TV Tropes wiki brings together several interesting cases.
Palladium Books is famous in the role-playing hobby for its numerous C&D letters sent to companies or individuals, especially to those who are converting its rules to other game rules (7; 14).
Games Workshop also restricts the distribution of fan material or homemade miniatures made by fans.
In 2001, Other Hands Magazine, made by a MERP fan, received a C&D from Tolkien Enterprises.
In 2007, the Fallout-based RPG Exodus received a C&D from Bethesda.
2015. The amateur role-playing game Mass Effect RPG for Fate was removed from the Ennies Awards competition by a C&D from BioWare / EA.
Unknown date. C&D received by a GM for an online game of Harry Potter, from Warner Bros.
Impact on citation practices
In Colin Stricklin's memoir, he argues that role-playing games are incomplete products which require dialogue between the authority of the higher order author of the games and the authority of the lower order author, ie. game masters. Their interaction creates an equitable and more democratic culture of convergence. According to him, Cease & Desist are naturally less frequent there than in other cultural media (10, p. 67). I don't agree. No comparison study has been done with other media. Moreover, by seeing this review, it would appear that this is not the case. Finally, savvy hobby participants are familiar with the practice of C&D and know that it is not uncommon.
Thus, it can reasonably be argued that the issuing of Cease & Desist orders have had a profound impact on the role-playing industry and fan communities. More specifically, they have potentially negatively influenced citation, dedication, tribute, attribution, and explicit recognition practices in published works. Indeed, we often quote and cite to be part of a community. However, the exclusion and rejection outcomes of a C&D letter directly hurt this desire of belonging and being included.
I will elaborate in a future post how the Open Game License lead to systematic citation.
(8) Strebeck, Zachary C. 2018. « How Much Does a Trademark Attorney Cost? [And What Do They Do?] ». Video Game Lawyer | Zachary C. Strebeck | Attorney at Law (blog). 2 octobre 2018. https://strebecklaw.com/trademark-attorney-cost/
(15) Steve Zieser. « Warriors of Mars », Iron Rationales, August 28, 2010; et James Maliszewski « Retrospective: Warriors of Mars », Grognardia, March 14, 2012.
Disclaimer: the data are incomplete. This post is a midway tuning of my method and its results.
Introduction
My project On the Shoulders of Cloud Giants (I changed the name) is analysing the citation practices within the tabletop role-playing game publishing industry. For this purpose, :
I selected and analysed TTRPG;
I designed a database of citations within Wikidata and queried by SPARQL;
All the TTRPG that have a Wikipedia page (estimated coverage: 95%) ;
Plus all the TTRPG i heard about in my periodicals the last 10 years (blogs, podcasts, magazines) (estimated coverage: 80%) ;
Plus all the TTRPG cited by a TTRPG selected before.
The selection is moderately biased because the notoriety is externally attributed by a third party (Wikipedia contributors and periodical editors). Each TTRPG selected is validated by the fact, they all have a reference in the database RPGGeek (almost 99.9%).
Counting & Recording
Each mention of citation was saved as a PNG file nameofgame-pXX.png (where XX is the page the snapshot was taken).
I also recorded :
the colophons, the credit pages, the acknowledgement page, the forewords, the afterwords, etc.;
the bibliographies, the filmographies, the mentions of artworks;
and epigraphs (all or some of them).
Database
I choose Wikidata, because it was simple, it was open and it was fulfilling most of my needs. Wikidata can be queried by R Studio. The properties used were:
SPARQL is a language to query Wikidata and retrieve data. The main query is here.
R Studio Analysis
R and R Studio are very famous in the university around me. Its open, its quite simple to start, there is a lot of community support, its fashionable... so why not using it to process my data ?
I deposited the code of my R Studio project here on GitHub https://github.com/pmartinolli/OtSoCG
To have a look on a very drafty and preliminary graph displaying the data, please click on the picture below:
« The references and the bibliography ? They are the documents' social network. » Pascal Martinolli, 2018.
Bibliography
[1] King, Peter, & Andrew Arlig. « Peter Abelard ». In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Fall 2018. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/abelard/. Part 7. [2] Anderson, Elizabeth, 2011. “Democracy, Public Policy, and Lay Assessments of Scientific Testimony,” Episteme, 8(2): 144–164. [read in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-knowledge-social/]. Part 3. [3] Deslauriers, Marguerite. « Lucrezia Marinella ». In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2018. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/lucrezia-marinella/. Part 6. [4] Nickles, Thomas. « Historicist Theories of Scientific Rationality ». In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Summer 2017. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/rationality-historicist/. Part 1.6.[5] Vianney, & Manuel. « Qui possède le game ? » Ludologies, du jeu sous toutes ses formes, 2019. https://soundcloud.com/ludologies/76-qui-possede-le-game. at 00:56:01. [6] Jean-François Dortier, Descartes : Pouvoirs et limites de la méthode, Sciences humaines, no. 308, 2018, p.55. [7] Jean-François Dortier, De Socrate à Foucault, Les philosophes au banc d'essai, ed. Sciences humaines, 2018. [8] The Ultimate Interview With Gary Gygax. Interview by Ciro Alessandro Sacco. The Kyngdoms, 1999. http://www.keithrobinson.me/thekyngdoms/interviews/garygygax.php.
Which cultures and subcultures could have influenced the citation practices in the TTRPG hobby subculture ?
Religious authority
Religious cultures are ancient and holistic. They rely heavily on the citation of sacred or semi-sacred texts. Citing the right source can give value to an idea, making it closer to the truth. The citation has to be exact and attributed to an akckowledged authority. These citations are found in liturgy, sacred texts, song sheets, buildings, comments, etc. An acknowledged and cited idea can also create a community.
Religious song with biblical citation in epigraph, Elliott C., Woodworth LM & Bradbury WB. XIXe century.
Storytelling and authors
Most of the stories, oral or written, are attributed to an author. For oral storytelling, citing an famous author or witness means more credits to the story. Sometimes, two versions by two different authors are competing for attention or for truth [1].
A lot of written fictions or essays have explicit references to past works : in dedicace, in epigraphs, in the text, with the bibliography. Gérard Genette classifies them in paratext (epitext) and metatext (smoking literature theories).
Épigraph in Combinatorics and Graph Theory by Harris, Hirst, & Mossinghoff, 2009.
Academic tracking of citations
Mostly for the purposes of verifying and understanding, academic publications have to track back the sources of ideas, facts, theories, etc. Failing that rule is a major issue in the ethic of research : plagiarism.
In TTRPG
In 1979, Gary Gygax added his famous Appendix N to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules in the Dungeon Masters Guide (p. 224), listing the major literature fictions that inspired the game.
All the books cited in the Appendix N. Crédits image : Goodman Games.
In the 1980 and 1990, Casus Belli magazine was the first french mainstream media of the TTRPG community. In some of its articles (eg.: daylife in the Dark Ages, heraldry, crime in the 1920s, etc.) and in somes of its scenarii, there were small bibliographiess, epigraphs, glossaries, etc.
Bibliographies, epigraphs & glossaries in articles and scenarii
by Anne Vétillard, Casus Belli, no. 37. 46 et 50, 1987-89.
The academic culture and its citation practices are the reasons why the ludographic references are extremely precise in Vade+Mecum, a TTRPG by Romaric Briand.
Sampling & Do it yourself
Music remixes [8] and sampling technique extracts a piece of music, modifies it and replays it out of its original context. Legal issues of this hip-hop technique influenced the popular culture from the 1970s to the 2000s [4].
The 1980s were also influenced by the Do it yourself (DIY) culture. For example, the
punk movement claimed the values of hacking, tinkering, personal
experimentation, out of the mainstream networks, low-cost
resourcefulness, rough draft, non-judgemental and artistic honesty
attitudes [5,6]. But the movement wasn't always clear on the original inspiration attributions.
In TTRPG
The first publications of Dungeons & Dragons were incomplete and confusing. The dungeon masters had to tinker their own rules and their own dungeons (until the popularity of Judges Guild modules).
Actually, in TTRPG, all the ludic system is calling the DIY : from the ad hoc animation of the game master to the creative answers of the players, with the collaborative worldbuilding and campaign design.
There is also a lot of self-publications and fanzines. This culture of hack is still going on as a very common practice. For example, recently a lot of games « propelled by the Apocalypse » are hacks from the original game system Apocalypse World.
Since the 2000, the Creative Commons licences framed the reuse conditions, doing so they helped the tracking of the inspirations. The french author Thomas Munier, a follower the Do it yourself and outsider art movements, is using a lot of citations and references to games and fictions his own games.
Annotated ludography in Inflorenza 2e éd.,
a TTRPG by Thomas Munier, 2014.
Open-source programming
More recently, the culture of open-source code, through different licences, is asking to cite the authors and the institutions of the original code.
This acknowledgement lists can be very long and complex.
OGL/GSL of the « d20 sytem » of D&D 3rd ed. was inspired by the open-source movement [7]. The OSR movement and a lot of publish products followed and cited the original game as requested in the OGL/GSL.
Boardgames
Between entre 1980 et 1989, the french magazine Jeux & Stratégies proposed rules variants, different game goals and mini-games to build yourself. Boardgames don't have a culture of citation.
No author for a long time
Crédit photo : Laurence Rabat, 2018.
For a long time, few game boxes or rule booklets were crediting their authors on the cover or inside the game. For example « on the 700 boardgames (from 1930 to
1999) displayed at the Expo Vieux Jeux exhibition, less than 5 % had their author on the cover » said Stéphane Quesnel, curator of the exhibition [2].
To be credited as an author and receive royalties, a person had to be the composer of a text, not the inventor of a new mechanics or a new game system. [3]
Few citations too
Thomas Vuarchex said « Bruno Faidutti was mentioning all the time and explicitly which rule and which mechanic came from where. Now, not anymore. » [3]
Wargames
Since their Prussian origins to today, the rules of the wargames are crediting more often theirs authors. Hypothesis :
They were published in books or manuals. So they were looking more like essays than games.
The culture of the authority in the army.
Citing authors can help distinguish the variants.
Special mention : sampling & board games
@Pionfesseur said Tempête sur l'Échiquier by P. Cléquin et B. Faidutti : « During the golden age of hip-hop, this game is a rare ludic example. Taking chess rules and doing whatever with it. Absolute big split to destroy the calculations of the gameplay, with kicks in the chessboard. » [added 2022-05-06]
«(...) the Werewolf we have today is fundamentally a different game from Mafia because of the open source folk nature of how it's spread. If there was a commercial product to cement it, i wonder if we would have seen [list of games and works]. » (00:18:10)
The communities that spead the games were : university students, boardgames communities and « Tech Bros » who used it as management tool (00:30:30). [added 2022-07-11]
[4] Hess, Mickey. « Was Foucault a Plagiarist? Hip-Hop Sampling and Academic Citation ». Computers and Composition 23, no 3 (janvier 2006): 280‑95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2006.05.004.
Phylomemetics is the historical study of the evolution of relations between cultural objects or concepts. Like with memetics, there is a lot of problems due to numerous (and dubious) horizontal transfers and spontaneous generations. For the living beings and phylogenetics, its mostly vertical transfers and few mutations.
Phylomemetic trees
Hidden level of the exhibition Donjons & Données probantes :
a phylomemetic tree of TTRPG from 1974 to 2018
Some outcomes of this studies take the shape of beautiful trees. Here, a phylomemetic tree of batik patterns.
With my project On the shoulders of cloud giants, I started to design 2 trees that I layed down on a timeline: one for boardgames, one for TTRPG. They are coded in DOT language. When they will be mature, I will share them.
Phylomemetic relations
It is difficult to track and certify a reliable link between two games. For the living beings, we can assess the genes. For the human languages we can assess the words and structure of sentences. But for games, we have very few evidences.
Primary sources
The game as object: mobile and fixed items, patterns, trade dress, materials.
Text of the rules: mechanics and specific vocabulary.
Metadata of the game: author, publisher, publication date, version.
Metatext: acknowledgements, credits, epigraphs, bibliography and.... the very rare and precious pearl: the ludographic references citing other games.
Interviews and autobiography of the author of the game.
Secondary sources
Comments, reviews or critics of a game.
Article (academics, biographies) on a game or a family of games.
Tertiary sources
Encyclopedia or dictionary entries on a game or a family of games.
Game directories with indexation of the game mechanics.
Problems to investigate in future posts
Only the author of a gameB, citing explicitely the inspiration of a gameA, can prove the link between gameA and gameB [vertical link].
Maybe for intellectual propriety, few authors cite their inspirations.
Some cultures or motivations can foster citation practices.
Recently, acknowledgment of authors and game citations in TTRPG are changing game citations practices.
Anteriority and originality of a game mechanics is a sign of possible kinship with a more recent game with similar game mechanics [horizontal link].
From October 17 to 25, 2018, the Library of humanities and social sciences of Université de Montréal is hosting an exhibition named Donjons & Données probantes («Evidence-Based Dungeons») on the academic research and tabletop role-playing games.
Designed by Sébastien Savard and me, this exhibition shows :
how the scientific studies answered the moral panic of the 80s ?
how the academic and para-academic researches reattributed the original authorship to the creation of tabletop roleplaying games ?
how and why the design of D&D evolved through the decades ?
what designed the Québec and Canadian publishers and authors ?
how the innovations in game design evolved from 1974 to 2018 ?
OverviewDifferent editions of D&D (from Dave Arneson basement in 1971 to the 5th ed.)Scientific peer-reviewed answers to the moral panics of the 80sdo-it-yourself culture in the design of TRPG Québec authors and publishersWalkthrough map by Jason Bradley Thompson (@mockman) : OSR, dungeon crawl & humor in The Tomb of Horrors (a link with a lot of maps)Nouvelle-France map of the XVIIe by Dyson Logos for the Scenario from Ontario (Ennie award 2018)Map homemade with pencil and Photoshop, illustrating how TRPG can inspire a strong engagement in self-learning (author: Zulaan)Hidden level : « On the shoulders of cloud giants » or a Timeline of innovations in TRPG designs from 1974 à 2018
While studying the citation practices in the tabletop role-playing games industry, I was very touched to find that Runequest 1st ed. and 2nd ed. were among the earlier published products to clearly cite and credit previous role-playing game authors for their innovative designs. Dave Arneson then Gary Gygax (in this order) then Ken St-Andre, are cited in a dedication on the first line, on the first page of the rule book.
In the first edition, the dedication is followed by a list of playtesters and inspirations. At page 116, there is half page of bibliographic references.
In the second edition, the critics, special thanks and contributors of Alarum & Excursions, The Wild Hunt and The Lords of Chaos are added to the playtesters. At page 111, there is a full page of bibliographic references, citing not only literature material (Tolkien, Leiber, Howard,...) but also 27 tabletop role-playing games ! The editor and worldbuilder was Greg Stafford. I need to find more evidence to compare, but I consider it quite something for 1978.
I am collecting citation practices in TRPG to make a paper of it someday. As a librarian interested
in scientific publishing, the motto On the shoulders of giants resonates strongly inside me, and I am making sure it resonates in the ears of my students every day.
I was happily touched by what Romaric Briand said on his 31th podcast La Cellule when he was asking a friend to playtest his last game Vade+Mecum (red is from me) :
« (01:42:30) In Vade+Mecum, everytime I am using a mechanic from another game, I insist to cite its author and his game. (...) So people who read my game can go to see other games and see what it looks like.
» It's all because this scientific serious methods we learned at the university (...) : when you have an idea, it doesn't come from nowhere. The least you can do is to provide a bibliography and a precise citation. Not at the end of your book, where nobody goes. Not in the aknowledgements, where nobody knows what you are thanking for. But in the body of the text. (...)
» [I wrote a RPG theory named the Maelstrom] Thanks to your tests, your experiment, you saw the limits of my theory. We almost have a scientific TRPG here. Played RPGs sessions are an experimentation of the theory. (...) They test its limits, they inspire critics and make me grow because they make me see stuff I didn't see before. (...)
» By making ourselves acessible, clear and simple, we get stronger. We are opening ourselves to critics and it make us grow and go forward. »
1) His game Vade+Mecum seems to be the first game ever to cite its ludographic references in the body of the text. Congratulations! Since the "independant" movement in TRPG publishing, I noticed TRPGs are more and more citing their references. Examples :
Apocalypse World(2010): very detailed ludography, each game mechanic reused from another game is aknowledged.
2) Romaric Briand also shared an interesting idea: a role-playing game session can test a role-playing game theory. By its iterative designs, designing, running and assessing a TRPG can look like a scientific method. I spoke about it a little in an interview I gave to the Chroniques d’Altaride(no. 42).
The title of this post is for fun. It's important to « climb on the shoulders of dwarves to slap the elves who doesn't stop complaining about how it was better before.» There is no link with the excellent podcast On the Shoulders of Dwarves.
