Do you love roleplaying games? Are you fascinated by the stories we tell with them, the players who play them, and what we can learn from them? Then you won’t want to miss these two upcoming events, organised in collaboration between the Manchester Game Studies Network (MGSN) at Manchester Metropolitan University and Game in Lab, Asmodee’s dedicated research unit.
MGSN are taking part in Game in Lab’s international Roleplaying Games Conference series with two discussion panels featuring academics and roleplaying-game designers. These panels, hosted online, are free to attend and open to the public.
Dark Forests and Doomed Adventurers. Wednesday 5 May, 5pm-7pm BST.
This event explores the way in which players create, encounter and interact with the environment in indie roleplaying games. This will be a panel discussion featuring award-winning roleplaying-game designers from the UK and the US, including the creators of Cthulhu Hack, Cthulhu Dark and Trophy. Dr Nick Mizer (Lecturer in Games at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Dr Chloé Germaine (a Senior Lecturer in English at Manchester Metropolitan University) will also present their research on the strange environments of roleplaying games.
Tickets are free and can be booked here.
Dice on the Nile: Roleplaying History. Monday 10 May, 5pm-7pm BST.
This event investigates the use of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition to engage with the history of the early Islamic world. We ask what challenges are posed by the use of historical settings in roleplaying games. What kind of ethical issues are involved in roleplaying characters from diverse cultural and historical locations? The panel features academics with specialisms in the study of Ancient History who have developed a unique setting for the popular roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. The discussion will be chaired by MGSN’s Dr Jennifer Cromwell.
Tickets are free and can be booked here.
