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What does popular culture's relationship with cyborgs, robots,
vampires and zombies tell us about being human? Insightful
scholarly perspectives shine a light on how film and television
evince and portray the philosophical roots, the social
ramifications and the future visions of a posthumanist world.
What does popular culture's relationship with cyborgs, robots,
vampires and zombies tell us about being human? Insightful
scholarly perspectives shine a light on how film and television
evince and portray the philosophical roots, the social
ramifications and the future visions of a posthumanist world.
Dread Trident examines the rise of imaginary worlds in tabletop
role-playing games (TRPGs), such as Dungeons and Dragons. With the
combination of analog and digital mechanisms, from traditional
books to the internet, new ways of engaging the fantastic have
become increasingly realized in recent years, and this book seeks
an understanding of this phenomenon within the discourses of trans-
and posthumanism, as well as within a gameist mode. The book
explores a number of case studies of foundational TRPGs. Dungeons
and Dragons provides an illustration of pulp-driven fantasy,
particularly in the way it harmonizes its many campaign settings
into a functional multiverse. It also acts as a supreme example of
depth within its archive of official and unofficial published
material, stretching back four decades. Warhammer 40k and the
Worlds of Darkness present an interesting dialogue between Gothic
and science-fantasy elements. The Mythos of HP Lovecraft also
features prominently in the book as an example of a realized world
that spans the literary and gameist modes. Realized fantasy worlds
are becoming ever more popular as a way of experiencing a touch of
the magical within modern life. Reworking Northrop Frye's
definition of irony, Dread Trident theorizes an ironic
understanding of this process and in particular of its embodied
forms.
This book examines how World War Two is simulated through serious
computer games, such as first-person shooters, flight and tank
simulators, and grand strategy games. It argues that a particular
dynamic emerges in these ‘simgames’, especially when curious
players begin to look beyond gameplay for how to understand the
past. This points them toward a wide range of
‘simtexts’—anything from game manuals or online resources
such as YouTube, to published material in the popular sphere or
even monographs by professional historians. This is important
because major events like World War Two continue to feature in a
wide range of game genres, and this engagement demonstrates how we
are learning about the past outside of traditional mechanisms such
as classrooms, teachers or textbooks. Utilizing interdisciplinary
methods, this volume foregrounds the experience that simgames
provide to players, especially in how they reconfigure and
reimagine history. Despite its visceral power and instructive
potential, the simulated digital experience created by simgames
curates World War Two and other global events of similar magnitude
within constrained frames that ignore much of what actually
happened in the past. This suggests that as computer games continue
to increase in power and fidelity—as seen with the expanding
scope of virtual reality—then the range of what can be simulated
will grow too. This will raise concerns about what is morally
acceptable to be simulated, and what should remain unplayable.
Dread Trident examines the rise of imaginary worlds in tabletop
role-playing games (TRPGs), such as Dungeons and Dragons. With the
combination of analog and digital mechanisms, from traditional
books to the internet, new ways of engaging the fantastic have
become increasingly realized in recent years, and this book seeks
an understanding of this phenomenon within the discourses of trans-
and posthumanism, as well as within a gameist mode. The book
explores a number of case studies of foundational TRPGs. Dungeons
and Dragons provides an illustration of pulp-driven fantasy,
particularly in the way it harmonizes its many campaign settings
into a functional multiverse. It also acts as a supreme example of
depth within its archive of official and unofficial published
material, stretching back four decades. Warhammer 40k and the
Worlds of Darkness present an interesting dialogue between Gothic
and science-fantasy elements. The Mythos of HP Lovecraft also
features prominently in the book as an example of a realized world
that spans the literary and gameist modes. Realized fantasy worlds
are becoming ever more popular as a way of experiencing a touch of
the magical within modern life. Reworking Northrop Frye's
definition of irony, Dread Trident theorizes an ironic
understanding of this process and in particular of its embodied
forms.
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