Honors Projects

Abstract

This project examines tabletop role-playing games using concepts from narratology and ludology including emergent narrative and Roger Caillois’ categories of games by applying these concepts in the creation of an adventure zine for the game MÖRK BORG. The existing literature on emergent narrative primarily focuses on video games and Avant Garde texts but tabletop role-playing games provide a novel opportunity to explore emergent narrative in new ways. The dynamic of a collaborative game with multiple players and a gamemaster provides additional challenges for designers due to variance in interpretation of the game events and the lack of a digital program to handle inputs and outputs but simultaneously provides incredible opportunity for player autonomy with the constraints of programming absent in this analog form of game. This project examines existing literature on emergent narrative and ludology, identifies key concepts from said literature, then discusses the process of applying those concepts to the adventure zine that was created as a component of this project. Previous literature on emergent narrative has examined existing games and texts and drawn conclusions from those works, this project endeavors to invert this process by applying previously drawn conclusions to the creation of the new work of fiction that is the adventure zine, this application demonstrating the strength of those conclusions as well as providing new insights on how emergent narrative functions in tabletop role-playing games.

Department

Honors Program

Major

Philosophy

First Advisor

Dr. Simon Morgan-Russell

First Advisor Department

Honors Program

Second Advisor

Professor Amorak Huey

Second Advisor Department

Creative Writing

Publication Date

Spring 4-16-2024

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