Date of Completion

5-6-2020

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

Discipline

English (ENGL)

First Advisor

Sue Scheibler

Abstract

In fantasy role-playing games (RPGs), especially tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), participants are required to collaborate to create not only fantasy personas in the shape of characters, but also the world and space that makes up the game itself. Participants therefore create a sense of both time and space that exist outside of basic reality. The created space and time––referred to as a world or a story––exists as a liminal space that participants and characters use as a tool to both exist and explore. While the participants exist physically in the real world, the game space allows them to go beyond it. Participants can explore their characters, the world, themselves, and other participants' personas and worlds. Through these game spaces, participants are only able to produce what they know, consciously or subconsciously. Through play, they expose, explore, and evolve their understandings of gender, race, sexuality, ability and disability, interpretations of play, reality, fiction, and games overall. This project aims to explore the liminality and engagement possible in creating and using a TTRPG system. It will explore the meaning of liminality in gaming and creating, as well as the meaning of reality and fiction. To do this, I will create a game system meant to be used for TTRPGs and test the system with a group of individuals already accustomed to using similar systems. As there are distinct differences between in-person play and long-distance play, I will also be documenting those differences.

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