As someone who is both a long-time RPG addict and a philosophy professor, I feel duty-bound to pick up (eventually) the forthcoming anthology Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy.
(Actually, it looks pretty good.)
AKRATIC WIZARDRY: A blog wherein I scribble about role-playing games (Mythras, Against the Darkmaster, Dungeons & Dragons [esp. old school], Swords & Wizardry, Into the Unknown, Middle-earth Role-playing, Lord of the Rings Role-playing, Adventures in Middle-Earth, Crypts & Things, Call of Cthulhu, etc.) and RPG settings (Middle-earth, Cthulhu Mythos, Greyhawk, Lyonesse, Ukrasia, etc.). I also write about fantasy and science-fiction films, novels, art, TV shows, and the like.
Ew, the three parts of the book are named after the stupid "tiers" from 4E. Blech. I'm not a 4E hater, mind you, and there's things that bother me about every edition. But the tiers are one of the things I hate about 4E.
ReplyDeleteTo follow up on my comment above, I guess I wish that they wouldn't have used something from a specific edition so prominently in the book. It makes it seem like the book is going to be something of a shilling device for 4E...though 4E is going away. Why should such an "ephemeral" edition of the game have such a bit impact on this forthcoming book. Just saying...
ReplyDeleteI inquired about it but the disciplinary boundries were up.
ReplyDelete@ Drance: I hadn't noticed the 4e-isms, but then I haven't thought about 4e since looking at the core books four years ago. That's grating, I agree. However, I don't think that the essays themselves are focused on 4e.
ReplyDelete@Kiltedyaksman: what do you mean?
The Yaksman is a Popular culture prof. or something like that. I think he taught a seminar on old school gaming aesthetics?
DeleteI see. Thanks, mikemonaco. Pity about that! :(
DeleteIs the old school 'blogosphere' dominated by academics?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few others, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that academics are 'dominant'.
DeleteI'm not surprised, though. It seems plausible that many of the bookish teens from the 1980s who were most 'into' RPGs would go on to become academics. :)
No way! They scooped me!
ReplyDeletehttp://mikemonaco.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/dd-philosophy-a-call-for-papers/
I'm a philosophy professor too, so score one more for academia's dominance of the OSR ;-)
ReplyDeleteI was philosophy adjunct before I sold out for the big money and prestige as a ... librarian.
DeleteCool! And nice blog as well. I'll add it to the roll. :D
Delete@mikemonaco: Wise move!
DeleteAnd Jack over at Tales of the Dungeonesque is a literature prof I think (or some related field).
DeleteSociologist here (latest paper rejection: this afternoon!). From my own blog roll I know that Noisms of Monsters and Manuals is a PhD student, Von of Game Over is a something or other, Kiltedyaksman is a professor, Davey of the Marienburg Gazette is an academic...
ReplyDeleteHuh, perhaps academics do dominate the 'old school' blogosphere!
DeleteAnd apparently there are quite a few blogs that I really need to check out... :)
"latest paper rejection: this afternoon!"
DeleteI feel your pain: I had one rejected on Tuesday.
Ah, the joys of academia...
If it helps the demographics, I'm a medievalist...
Delete"I'm a medievalist"
DeleteNow that's old school!
I'll try and keep an open mind, but the previous offerings in this "series", Harry Potter and Philosophy & Star Wars and Philosophy were very unimpressive. Neither was aimed at academics, and despite being a librarian who specialized in Children's Literature in college, I found them to be pretty childish and empty of thought provoking content.
ReplyDelete