Digital role-playing games such as Rift, Diablo III, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning help players develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving, digital literacy and engagement. The author examines both the benefits and the drawbacks of role-playing games and their application to real-world teaching techniques. Readers will learn how to incorporate games-based instruction into their own classes and workplace training, as well as approaches to redesigning curriculum and programs.

This book explores video games as important cultural artifacts and as sources of powerful, compelling storytelling. It begins by considering the fundamental structures of video games-including immersion and player agency-and deepens the exploration of such elements by considering how each plays a role in storytelling. The book moves from the theoretical to the practical by considering numerous modern games and the stories they tell through careful, considered analysis of each title's story. Games considered at length include the Mass Effect series, BioShock, The Last of Us and many more. The book also explores genres like the visual novel, which are less frequently considered in video game study. What emerges from this book, which appeals to academics, game enthusiasts, and the general public, is the importance of considering video games as serious and important sources of storytelling exploring complex thematic subjects like identity, morality, and the impact of player choice.

From the first shots at Jumonville Glen to the surrender at Appomattox, Rebels and Patriots allows you to campaign with Wolfe or Montcalm, stand with Tarleton at Cowpens or Washington at Yorktown, or don the blue or grey to fight for Grant or Lee. From the French and Indian War, through the War of Independence and the War of 1812, to the Alamo and the American Civil War, these rules focus on the skirmishes, raids, and small engagements from this era of black powder and bayonet.

Your Company is commanded by your Officer during these tumultuous conflicts. Each battle that your Officer faces allows him to develop new and interesting traits. Does he perform heroically and earn a nom de guerre? Or falter, to be forever known as a yellow-belly? Designed by Michael Leck and Daniel Mersey, with a core system based on the popular Lion Rampant rules, Rebels and Patriots provides all the mechanics and force options needed to recreate the conflicts that forged a nation.

"Tank War," the new supplement for Bolt Action, gives players the option to expand their games to a whole new level - armored warfare. Recreate such great engagements as the battle of Kursk with the scenarios, army options and special rules found in this book. Whether you want to add more armour to your existing armies or build an entirely armoured force, Tank War has you covered.

Bow down in Fear! Monsters have long stalked us in the darkness. Within this book, you'll find a host of these creatures for use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Face off against archdevils and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, planar dragons and the legendary wild hunt, proteans and psychopomps, and hundreds more! Some creatures, such as the capricious taniwha, the mysterious green man, or the powerful empyreal lords, might even be willing to provide your heroes aid-if they deserve it! Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 is the sixth must-have volume of monsters for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and serves as a companion to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an open playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into a new era. Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 includes: More than 200 different monsters. New player-friendly races, like the crazed monkey goblins, the telepathic albino munavris, the river-dwelling fey naiads, the wolflike rougarou, and the yaddithians of the Elder Mythos. Numerous powerful demigods, from archdevils and Great Old Ones to empyreal lords and qlippoth lords. New animal companions and other allies, such as fierce devil monkeys and loyal clockwork hounds. New templates, including the entothrope and the mongrel giant, to help you get more life out of classic monsters. Appendices to help you find the right monster, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat. Expanded universal monster rules to simplify combat. Challenges for every adventure and every level of play. AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

Market Garden was a bold plan, designed to capture the Rhine crossings along the Dutch-German border and establish a foothold for an advance into Germany. A massive combined arms operation involving airborne landings and an armoured thrust, it was one of the most dramatic and controversial operations of the war. This new Campaign Book for Bolt Action allows players to command the forces facing each other across the Rhine, fighting key battles and attempting to change the course of history. New, linked scenarios, rules, troop types and Theatre Selectors provide plenty of options for novice and veteran players alike.

Through classroom activities, wizard rock concerts and organizations like the Harry Potter Alliance, Harry Potter fans are using creativity to positively impact the world. This collection of essays and interviews examines how playful fandom - from fanfiction to Muggle quidditch, cosplay, role-playing games and even Harry Potter burlesque - not only re-imagines the canon but also challenges consumerism, questions notions of identity and fosters participatory culture. The contributors explore issues applicable to fan studies and performance studies at large, such as the role of performance, the nature of community, and questions of representation and ownership in the digital age. Presented in three sections, the essays discuss discrepancies between sanctioned versions of Harry Potter and fan creations, the reenactment and reinterpretation of the original narrative in fan performance, and collaborative and participatory performances that break down the boundaries between actors and audiences.

The Pact Worlds are the beating heart of the Starfinder campaign setting, a solar system full of citizens both familiar and bizarre. From the cosmopolitan corridors of Absalom Station to the carnivorous jungles of Castrovel or the floating cloud-cities of the gas giant Bretheda, this hardcover rulebook is your guide to Starfinder's core worlds and civilizations, and the perfect place to launch any adventure. Inside, you'll find: * In-depth gazetteers of the system's 14 major worlds, from high-tech Verces and the draconic empires of Triaxus to the necromantic wastleands of Eox or magical bubble cities floating on the surface of the sun. Each gazetteer features a detailed world map, residents and cultures, settlements and adventure locations, a unique theme to customize characters from that world, and more. * New playable alien races, from undead Eoxians to Castrovellian plant-people. * New starships, from the living vessels of the Xenowardens to sinister Hellknight dreadnoughts. * A codex of themed NPC stat blocks to help Game Masters create vivid encounters. * New archetypes for every class, including the Star Knight, Skyfire Centurion, and Divine Champion. * Tons of new weapons, armors, spells, feats, magic items, technological gadgets, and more to help outfit your adventurers.

With this latest supplement for 'Bolt Action', players can now build an army for Great Britain and the Commonwealth. From early campaigns in Europe to the deserts of North Africa and the jungles of the Far East, British forces faced the Axis threat. The army lists presented here have all the information needed to field such elite units as the Paras, Commandos. Chindits and SAS alongside the steadfast 'Tommy'.

This ethnography of a live action role-playing (LARP) community examines the structure of play, how new participants are introduced and apprenticed into the culture, player expectations and motivations, and games as they are designed and as they are performed. The main focus is on LARP's affordance for learning across a variety of disciplines and interests. The book is intended for LARP participants, academics interested in play or in collaborative development, those interested in new uses of familiar learning environments, and game developers with an interest in creating games with highly interactive narratives and co-creative play experiences in which the role of designer and player is blurred.

The Roman Empire rules the civilised world with an iron fist, seemingly all-powerful and limitless. And yet, the power of Rome is secured not by its mighty legions, but by small bands of warriors and agents fighting a secret war. Tasked by the Emperor to explore ancient temples, forgotten labyrinths and beast-haunted caverns, they seek out artefacts hidden by the gods themselves, hunt creatures of myth and face enemies that would use dark magic against the empire. Broken Legions is a set of fantasy skirmish rules for a war unknown to history, fought in the shadows of the Roman Empire. Various factions recruit small warbands to fight in tight, scenario-driven battles that could secure the mystical power to defend - or crush - Rome. A points system allows factions to easily build a warband, and mercenaries and free agents may also be hired to bolster a force. Heroes and leaders may possess a range of skills, traits and magical abilities, but a henchman's blade can be just as sharp, and a campaign can see even the lowliest henchman become a hero of renown.

This book describes the creation of a wargames' army and provides essential guidance for someone starting out in wargaming through to the more experienced gamer. With over 290 colour photographs, it describes how the armies of the main nations - France, Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria - were organized. It illustrates the uniforms and battle formations using computer-aided plans. Practical modelling techniques are demonstrated from basic to more advanced. It provides detailed painting guides with accompanying step-by-step photographs, and finally, there is a chapter on the flags carried by these five armies during the wars.

This collection of all-new essays approaches the topic of immersion as a product of social and media relations in the 21st century. Examining the premises and aesthetics of live-action and tabletop role-playing games, reality television, social media apps and first-person shooters, the essays take both game rules and the media discourse that games produce as serious objects of study. Scholars of social psychology, sociology, role-playing theory, game studies, and television studies all examine games and game-like environments like reality shows as interdependent sites of social friction and power negotiation. The ten essays articulate the importance of game rules in our analyses of contemporary media products, and demonstrate methods that allow us to see those game rules in action during the contested process of play.

The second supplement for Stargrave offers a host of new scenarios and rules for gaining political backing as you fight across the ravaged galaxy. The Dahlgren Belt was once a vast asteroid mining operation that supplied the entire sector with rare metals and various elemental fuels. However, the isolation of the last war caused the corporation to wither, and the various outposts and colonies were eventually left to look after themselves. Some became true collectives, or limited democracies, while others have fallen to the rule of gangsters, warlords, and despots. In all cases, the limited resources of air and organic material has made life difficult. In this supplement for Stargrave, the crews must travel from asteroid-to-asteroid, and even down to the system's single, barely inhabitable planet, searching for a man who claims to have discovered a 'big score'. During their journey, players will fight through numerous different environments - including asteroid mines, zero gravity, and even hellish jungle. Captains must curry favour with the various small political factions that hold power in the Belt. Only through a combination of wits, diplomacy, and weapons can players hope to reach the last prospector and gain a share of his claim...

The genius and artistry behind Superbrothers and the making of an indie video game, from inception to its highly anticipated launch. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery was released in 2011 at the forefront of an exciting era of "indie games" - with the aesthetic of punk rock and the edge of modernist fiction, indie games pushed gaming into the realm of the avant-garde. Superbrothers (Craig D. Adams) was hailed as a visionary in the video game world. Now, his long-awaited follow-up, JETT: The Far Shore, has been released for Sony PlayStation and Epic Games Store. In the decade from inception to launch, Adams brought author Adam Hammond along for the ride, allowing unprecedented insight into the complicated genesis of Jett. The Far Shore offers a portrait of the enigmatic Adams and his team, the genius and artistry, the successes and setbacks, that went into building the world of JETT, in which you're tasked with scouting a new home for a humanoid people after they've decimated their planet. To provide context, Hammond recounts the history of indie games and how their trajectory has followed that of independent art and literature. A riveting insider's look at one of our most popular art forms.

Rise of the Dungeon Master tells, in graphic form, the story of Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, one of the most influential games ever made. Like the game itself, the narrative casts the reader into the adventure from a first person point of view, taking on the roles of the different characters in the story. Gygax was the son of immigrants who grew up in Lake Geneva, WI, in the 1950s. An imaginative misfit, he escaped into a virtual world based on science fiction novels, military history and strategic games like chess. In the mid-1970s, he co-created the wildly popular Dungeons & Dragons game, determining the rules and inventing the signature 20-sided dice. Starting out in the basement of his home, he was soon struggling to keep up with the demand. Gygax was a purist, in the sense that he was adamant that players use their imaginations and that the rules of the game remain flexible. A creative mind with no real knowledge of business, he made some strategic errors and had a falling out with the game's co-creator, his close friend and partner, David Arneson. By the late 1970s the game had become so popular among kids that parents started to worry -- so much so that a mom's group was formed to alert parents to the dangers of role play and fantasy. The backlash only fueled the fires of the young fans who continued to play the game, escaping into imaginary worlds. Before long, D&D conventions were set up around the country and the game inspired everything from movies to the first video games. With D&D, Gygax created the kind of role playing fantasy that would fuel the multibillion dollar video game industry, and become a foundation of contemporary geek culture.

The heroes travel to Absalom Station to warn the Pact Worlds government of a fast-approaching threat from beyond the stars! But before they are fully prepared, the titanic spacecraft arrives and shuts down the fabled Starstone Reactor, plunging the station into chaos. The heroes must find a way to bring the power back online, while rescuing citizens and dealing with Azlanti spies, angry outsiders, and confused spirits. Can they save the heart of the Pact Worlds and take the fight to the strange alien vessel? "The Starstone Blockade" is a Starfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 16th-level characters. This adventure continues The Devastation Ark Adventure Path, a three-part, monthly campaign in which the players stop the threat of an ancient alien civilization in Starfinder's first high-level adventures! This volume also includes an examination of the church of Eloritu-the god of history, magic, and secrets-as well as a selection of ghastly new aliens! Each monthly full-color softcover Starfinder Adventure Path volume contains a new installment of a series of interconnected science-fantasy quests that together create a fully developed plot of sweeping scale and epic challenges. Each 64-page volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path also contains in-depth articles that detail and expand the Starfinder campaign setting and provide new rules, a host of exciting new monsters and alien races, a new planet to explore and starship to pilot, and more!

Players: 2-4 Ages: 14+ Playing Time: 30-60 minutes Contents: 20 Unique Miniatures, 20 Character Cards, 120 Action Cards, 42 Battlefield Cards, Double-Sided Playing Board, Counters & Tokens The great Darkness has fallen, and the Empire with it. The arcane crystals which once powered entire cities were shattered, and the darkness was destroyed by the magics unleashed. All that remains are the lawless ruins known as the Wildlands, and the shards of the crystals that have been strewn across them. Now a few souls, the brave and the desperate, seek the shards to harness their power for their own ends. Take control of one of four factions, from the spell-slinging Mages' Guild or the nimble Gnomads to the versatile Lawbringers or the hard-hitting Pit Fighters. Each brings their own playstyle, with unique decks of action cards determining their abilities on the battlefield, so plan your tactics carefully. Dash through the ruins to grab the crystals you so desperately desire or focus your efforts on taking out the opposition - but take care, danger may be lurking in the darkness... In the Wildlands, opportunity awaits... if you fight for it.

The Digital Age has created massive technological and disciplinary shifts in tabletop role-playing, increasing the appreciation of games like Dungeons & Dragons. Millions tune in to watch and listen to RPG players on podcasts and streaming platforms, while virtual tabletops connect online players. Such shifts elicit new scholarly perspectives. This collection includes essays on the transmedia ecology that has connected analog with digital and audio spaces. Essays explore the boundaries of virtual tabletops and how users engage with a variety of technology to further role-playing. Authors map the growing diversity of the TRPG fandom and detail how players interact with RPG-related podcasts. Interviewed are content creators like Griffin McElroy of The Adventure Zone podcast, Roll20 co-creator Nolan T. Jones, board game designers Nikki Valens and Isaac Childres and fan artists Tracey Alvarez and Alex Schiltz. These essays and interviews expand the academic perspective to reflect the future of role-playing.

With videogames now one of the world's most popular diversions, the virtual world has increasing psychological influence on real-world players. This book examines the relationships between virtual and non-virtual identity in visual role-playing games. Utilizing James Gee's theoretical constructs of real-world identity, virtual-world identity, and projective identity, this research shows dynamic, varying and complex relationships between the virtual avatar and the players sense of self and makes recommendations of terminology for future identity researchers. Features 15 photographs of videogame screens, bibliography, and an appendix of sample videogame transcription data.

The Pathfinder Society is a globe-trotting organization of adventurers, scholars, and warriors all dedicated to exploration, collecting lost knowledge and treasure, and sharing it with the world. Lost Omens: Pathfinder Society Guide details everything players and GMs need to know about the Pathfinder Society, from the basics of membership, to the Society's various factions, to the various lodges littered throughout the Inner Sea region. This book is the go-to source for the history and lore of the Pathfinder Society and features new rules content including new equipment, wayfinders, and support for Pathfinder-related archetypes! A useful book in its own right, this helpful volume is a must-have for participants in Paizo's massive Pathfinder Society worldwide organized play campaign, and a great way to get involved in the international campaign! Written by: Kate Baker, James Case, John Compton, Vanessa Hoskins, Mike Kimmel, Ron Lundeen, Dennis Muldoon, kieran t. newton, Michael Sayre, Clark Valentine, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer

One of the most popular first-person-shooter franchises of all time, the critically and commercially acclaimed Battlefield series has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades. 'The Art of Battlefield 4' gives readers an in-depth look at EA's enormously anticipated action-packed game, featuring exclusive concept and development art, as well as detailed creator insights and commentary throughout.

2093, Neo York. A dystopian technological marvel, where concrete high-rises brim with holographic neon, as gilded mob bosses, flashy CEOs, and famous vid-stars all strive to consolidate their power over the masses. And while the rain reflects the neon, it never washes away the grime and filth of the streets. Welcome to a world of synth-jazz and cybernetics, where the status quo grinds down the hard-working man and vat-grown clone alike. Whether you're the redemption-seeking gangster, the one good cop in a corrupt system, or the gene-modded musician trying to make it big, you'll be trying to get by in a city that just doesn't care. Epic fight scenes take centre stage in this game of stylised, high-octane bloodshed. Jump straight into the action with a unique ruleset designed to deliver a cinematic, neon-noir experience, as the spotlight focuses on the brutal showdowns that will define you - or leave you face-down in the dirt. So get ready to give them hell, as the sultry notes of the saxophone build into a crescendo of violence.