Tabletop roleplaying games and emergent ecophobia: An ecocritical analysis
Date
2022-05
Authors
Herrera, Damian
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Sivils, Matthew W
Withers, Jeremy
Kretsinger-Harries, Anne C
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Abstract
This paper analyzes tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) from an ecocritical perspective. Using monster theory, queer ecofeminist theory, and intertextuality theory, the methods in which TTRPGs use ecophobia to motivate players and form literary narratives are examined. Various handbooks and supplementary texts from Dungeons and Dragons, emphasizing its most current edition, are used as primary texts along with Baker and Baker’s Apocalypse World and other Powered by the Apocalypse games inspired by Apocalypse World’s design choices. This paper first reviews the history of TTRPGs beginning with HG Wells’s Little Wars, discusses the creation of the other within TTRPG game worlds, analyzes the premade worlds which are sold, and concludes with a linguistic analysis of TTRPGs as it is connected to the ecocritical literary theory.
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