Art, Agency, Alienation - Essays on Severance, Stanley and Root: The RPG

How do we talk about tabletop roleplaying games? For the answer to this seemingly-innocuous question, join me on a journey through television, video games, movies, philosophy textbooks, board games, dusty web forums, and a contemporary tabletop roleplaying game. With thanks to Penicillin, The Hollow, and my Patreon for their patience and enthusiasm. Content warnings: ABA, mind control, suicide mention, electroshock therapy, Islamophobia, brain damage, Adam Koebel Far Verona incident, HGMO TTRPG mention Spoiler warnings: Severance (S1), The Stanley Parable (and Ultra Deluxe, various endings), Gloomwood (Demo), Sunless Skies (Carillon), Big Bang Theory (S3E3) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Video Footnotes: Full Transcript: Original Soundtrack, composed by Snow: Thi Nguyen Full Interview: GDiMC Livestream: SH&R Livestream: And if you want links to everything in the video, here’s an embarassingly thorough bibliography: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Why does this exist? Because of the generous support provided by my patrons on Patreon! In particular, Sean Richer is generously supporting me for $10. Thanks, Sean! But more than that, this channel is powered by the collective contributions of Adam Buehler, Stout Stoat Press, Michael D., Krystal K., Toa Tabletop, ICBMoose, Andrew Linstrom, Emma Dee, Kadence Le, Alex T., Nate Treme, Isaak Hill, Olobosk, Glynn Seal, neko_cam, Cigeus, Dave H., Madeline, sam, Lord Yod, Beckett at Weird Realms, George Pollard, Matt Umland, Micah Anderson, Derk, Dave Menninger and Zzarchov Kowolski, who also generously support me for $1-5!! I appreciate every one of you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Chapters: 0:00:00 0. Intro 0:02:35 1. Severance 0:08:42 2. The Stanley Parable 0:21:42 3. Game Design is Mind Control 0:25:46 4. Suitsian Games 0:27:40 4.1 Suitsian Root 0:42:42 4.2 Suitsian Severance 0:49:57 5. Carillon 0:55:50 6. ABA 1:03:00 7. Encouraging Incentivization 1:22:09 8. Root: The RPG 1:25:00 8.1 Ad Copy 1:26:40 8.2 No Setting 1:41:48 8.3 Oops, All Moves 2:00:22 8.4 Adventure 2:03:36 8.5 Can of Worms 2:12:20 9. Why Play Suitsian? 2:22:08 10. Wait, Really? 2:22:46 11. Marketing The Forge 2:27:35 11.1 Ron Edwards 2:34:08 11.2 GNS and The Big Model 2:42:33 11.3 Marketing 2:53:44 12. Alienation 2:58:37 13. Outro ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Videos on YouTube. You found it! They’re right here! Patrons on Patreon: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Oh, and thanks to you too. :3