Volume 11, Issue 4, 2024
Articles
- Roll to Hit: Comparative Mathematical Probability in Tabletop Role-Playing Games
This article analyzes the combat effectiveness of beginning characters in a variety of tabletop role-playing games against enemies they typically fight. We first orient the reader with the mathematical probability of critical successes and critical failures in several different tabletop game systems. For critical rolls, we examine D&D 5th Edition, Cyberpunk, Deadlands and Shadowrun. Then we compare the likelihood of a low-level combat-oriented character hitting their opponent across different systems. Our in-depth analysis includes D&D, Deadlands and Sword Chronicle. Games are rule bound systems and the random number generators selected for a TTRPG system and the parameters placed around those generators have a significant impact on the player experience. This analysis can help designers and players be more aware of their probabilities of hitting, and how these percentages change based on the gaming system that they are running. We roll out our research to highlight the dice on the table and the game system mechanics governing those dice.
- Mechanical Storytelling in D&D: Strahd in Relation to the Gothic
This paper compares and contrasts the vampire tradition with and against the mechanical elements of D&D, considering each element in practice to illustrates the value and unique nature of D&D within the vampire tradition. The first core mechanic this paper will examine is alignment. This paper shall also begin to establish Stoker's vampire Dracula as an important character of reference and contrast for Strahd. From here, the paper looks at the concept of agency and player led narrative. This section will look at the way agency is used in D&D, both for the benefit of the vampire tradition, and at the possible detriment of D&D as a game system. Finally, this paper will break down the key mechanic of the Tarokka deck, highlighting the marriage of mechanics and narrative. Overall, this paper, through the above points, will demonstrate how D&D's unique mechanics work in tandem with the vampire tradition, while challenging both the tradition and game itself.
- It's All Fun and Games ‘Till Somebody Loses an I: Ethnomethods of Bleed
Players face psychological risks when improvising in fictional worlds in which they may witness, enact, or be subject to danger, violence, violation, and dehumanization. In this article, we argue that there are limits to relying on conventional safety tools and protocols to ensure players are protected from emotional harm and trauma of bleed-out experiences during tabletop role play. We argue that actual play can reveal the limits of conventional TTRPG safety tools like the X card or lines and veils. We analyze a case study of an in-game sexual assault that precipitated the cancellation of the Far Verona stream. We examine the accounts given by players and GM after the event but zoom in on the sequential action of the live-streamed play itself. Adopting an ethnomethodological orientation to TTRPG play as accountable action, this article identifies four ethnomethods of bleed play through which character and player frames are acted upon by GM and players, and therefore, we call for a higher standard of care-oriented accountability than that embodied by existing safety tools.
- Book Review: The Rule Book: The Building Blocks of Games
A review of The Rule Book: The Building Blocks of Games, which offers a constructionist ludology approach to address the definitions, understandings, and boundaries of play, games, rules, game design, and game studies.