Tabletop roleplay games (TTRPG), which began as an offshoot from miniature wargaming in the 1970s, is no exception to this, with the first published TTRPG, Dungeons & Dragons (1974) describing itself as “medieval fantasy”. Nowadays, the medieval - and medievalisms - thrive as settings and inspiration in TTRPGs, and are in need of analysis from gamers and medievalists alike. This discussion group aims to bring these subjects to the table, and to explore scholarship on „pen & paper“ roleplay gaming, medievalism and the role of the medieval past in TTRPGs.

Chronica Feudalis, I

In the second session, we shall discuss definitions of the TTRPG as a genre at large (White et al 2018) and the role of medievalism in play (Ortenberg West-Harling 2010), before beginning a closer analysis of Jeremy Keller’s TTRPG Chronica Feudalis (2010), (discussed as a case study in William J. White’s “The Right to Dream” (2013: 24), from our previous session). We shall take a closer look at the medievalism of the introductory chapters, and how they frame the medieval setting, before immersing ourselves further into the gameworld through a close, and hands on, look at how player character’s are created in the medieval setting of Chronica Feudalis.