The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I wanted to write 3 different reviews of this book. The first, for the average games, goes like this:

Oh my-- imagine the charts and tables of your favorite game. Only this time, instead of 'random encounters' or 'points to advance', they cover items like "ways to improve your game" or "tricks for writing more inventive adventures". This book has great insight into what makes RPGs tick, and why they are such a fucking cool medium to play in. While not a 'romp' of a read, it's just so darn useful! A veritable cookbook of gameology. Buy it!

But that review would have used up a year's supply of exclamation points and still didn't capture everything I liked about the book. So the second review was to be for game designers, and basically says "If you haven't read this book, you suck." I didn't think that review would garner much attention or appreciation, though, so I skipped it.

The third review is for people like me, who like looking into game structuralism and approaches to making better games, as well as an interest in game theory. To them, the review says "there is no other book out there that covers this topic so accurately, with so much application to actually gaming. Fine's book is fine and Schick's book covers the history, but only Mackay really tells it like it is.

Then I thought a fourth review for larpers would be handy-- it is subtitled "A New Performing Art", after all. So they should read it.

And a fifth review, for the armchair gamer, that could be handy. And a sixth, for people stuck in one game who want to expand it without getting all theory-weary or mucking too deep into intellectual thought. It'd be handy for them.

But I have no time for writing all those reviews-- I'd rather spend that time rereading this book. So I'll keep it short.

Mackay has written a sometimes dry but always detailed look at the how, why, and when of gaming. With an excellent eye for the history of RPGs providing examples for the psychological techniques and sociological implications, this book covers:

The history of RPGs, up to the present
Game structuralism from a nested set of theatre conventions
A way to describe gameplay using the 4 medieval humors
The best analysis of tabletop vs/with CRPGs this side of Shannon Appelcline
A look at how narrative stances and author's voice contrast with GM and player actions
How games tie into religion, art, and play

Then, on the second page, he covers... well, okay, the above is the whole of the book, or at least a gross overview of it. Dense, sometimes self indulgent, and almost always essential to really getting the most out of games.

Buy it. At your gameshop, from the publisher, whatever. It's in print. It should be yours.

p.s. The Journey of the Media course site lists only 7 'required reading', including this in the class with Lord of the Rings and Hero of a 1000 Faces.

The Fantasy Role-Playing Game
The Fantasy Role-Playing Game Playtest Review by Sandy Antunes on 22/10/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) I give six different ways this book is useful, and hey, it also is an RPG history and defines the entire topic of RPGs-- so read it! Product: The Fantasy Role-Playing Game Author: Daniel Mackay Category: Non-Fiction Book Company/Publisher: McFarland Line: Cost: $32.00 Page count: 215 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 0-7864-0815-4 SKU: Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Sandy Antunes on 22/10/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Science Fiction Modern day Historical Horror Far Future Space Comedy Anime Espionage Conspiracy Post-apocalyse Old West Vampire Asian/Far East Superhero Diceless Generic Live-action Other	I wanted to write 3 different reviews of this book. The first, for the average games, goes like this: Oh my-- imagine the charts and tables of your favorite game. Only this time, instead of 'random encounters' or 'points to advance', they cover items like "ways to improve your game" or "tricks for writing more inventive adventures". This book has great insight into what makes RPGs tick, and why they are such a fucking cool medium to play in. While not a 'romp' of a read, it's just so darn useful! A veritable cookbook of gameology. Buy it! But that review would have used up a year's supply of exclamation points and still didn't capture everything I liked about the book. So the second review was to be for game designers, and basically says "If you haven't read this book, you suck." I didn't think that review would garner much attention or appreciation, though, so I skipped it. The third review is for people like me, who like looking into game structuralism and approaches to making better games, as well as an interest in game theory. To them, the review says "there is no other book out there that covers this topic so accurately, with so much application to actually gaming. Fine's book is fine and Schick's book covers the history, but only Mackay really tells it like it is. Then I thought a fourth review for larpers would be handy-- it is subtitled "A New Performing Art", after all. So they should read it. And a fifth review, for the armchair gamer, that could be handy. And a sixth, for people stuck in one game who want to expand it without getting all theory-weary or mucking too deep into intellectual thought. It'd be handy for them. But I have no time for writing all those reviews-- I'd rather spend that time rereading this book. So I'll keep it short. Mackay has written a sometimes dry but always detailed look at the how, why, and when of gaming. With an excellent eye for the history of RPGs providing examples for the psychological techniques and sociological implications, this book covers: The history of RPGs, up to the present Game structuralism from a nested set of theatre conventions A way to describe gameplay using the 4 medieval humors The best analysis of tabletop vs/with CRPGs this side of Shannon Appelcline A look at how narrative stances and author's voice contrast with GM and player actions How games tie into religion, art, and play Then, on the second page, he covers... well, okay, the above is the whole of the book, or at least a gross overview of it. Dense, sometimes self indulgent, and almost always essential to really getting the most out of games. Buy it. At your gameshop, from the publisher, whatever. It's in print. It should be yours. p.s. The Journey of the Media course site lists only 7 'required reading', including this in the class with Lord of the Rings and Hero of a 1000 Faces.

The Fantasy Role-Playing Game