After posting a rambling missive on two 20 year-old tomes about gaming – wherein I mentioned maintaining
and building a small collection of non-fiction books about gaming –
I thought I should offer a brief yet annotated catalog of titles in
that collection, along with a few items on my “wish list” I hope
to acquire. The list is far from complete or truly “academic.” It
ambles around various styles and subjects according to my interest.
Most remain far from a seriously scholarly bent.
As always, I welcome civilized
discussion of this subject, particularly suggestions of interesting
titles I’ve overlooked. Here are some of the “academic” works
on my shelf, starting with the two featured in the previous blog
post:
Heroic Worlds, by
Lawrence Schick (Prometheus Books, 1991). As I mentioned in a
previous feature, this book offers an interesting view into the state
of the roleplaying game industry in 1990. Schick’s observations
about game genres and individual game products remain invaluable to
understanding and collecting materials of that period. The
contributions from industry luminaries remain extremely enlightening
even today.
The Complete Wargames Handbook:
How to Play, Design & Find Them,
by James F. Dunnigan (Quill 1992). Drawing on the author’s
involvement as founder of Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI),
publisher of Strategy & Tactics magazine, and work as a
prolific writer and game designer, this volume covers a host of
wargame-relevant topics for both traditional board-and-chit wargames
as well as their electronic interpretations. Lots of little gems in
here, from the progression from history to game for a sample wargame
to a brief history of the wargaming hobby.
Play: How It Shapes the Brain,
Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, by Stuart
Brown (Penguin Group, 2009). Based on a TED talk Brown gave, Play
provides a host of scientific observations on the beneficial power of
play to develop intelligence and social integration. Watching the TED
video covers most of the salient points, but I’m a fellow who likes
to have his references in analog format rather than digital. The book
offers far more in-depth material in an extremely readable style.
Everyone Plays at the Library:
Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages, by Scott
Nicholson (Information Today, Inc., 2010). I’m a fan of Professor
Nicholson’s work to broaden people’s perceptions of games from an
academic point of view (and I’ve discussed his book on the Hobby Games Recce blog before). As the culmination of years of research,
game labs, and an online course, Professor Nicholson’s book offers
a framework for evaluating and discussing games in a social context
to help determine what kinds of games are idea for different kinds of
audiences and venues. It imparts a better sense of matching
particular kinds of games to players and play spaces to create the
best game experiences possible. Don’t let the title fool you; the
book remains an essential reference for anyone seeking to introduce
games to others, whether in the comfort of your own home, the
Friendly Local Game Store, conventions, and local libraries, schools,
and museums.
Dicing with Dragons: An
Introduction to Role-Playing Games, by Ian Livingstone (New
American Library, 1983). Yes, the author is the Ian Livingstone
involved with White Dwarf, Games Workshop, and the Fighting
Fantasy solo gamebook franchise. This title remains one of the
earliest efforts to cover various aspects of the roleplaying game
hobby, from overviews of existing games on the market, various
accessories, miniature figures and painting, and even the nascent
subject of computer games. It includes a solitaire adventure in the
style of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks for more than 50 pages
(essentially one-quarter of the book) to introduce concepts of
creating characters and “playing” scenarios. Like Heroic
Worlds, Dicing with Dragons provides an interesting
historiographical picture of the roleplaying game hobby in its early
years.
Historical Game References: I
have a weakness for collecting books about historical games,
particularly those offering rules, variations, board diagrams, and
historical context. These include R.C. Bell’s Board and Table
Games from Many Civilizations, H.G. Wells’ Little Wars
and Floor Games, David Partlett’s Oxford History of Board
Games, Jeffrey A. DeLuca’s comprehensive Medieval Games,
and João Pedro Neto and
Jorge Nuno Silva’s Mathematical Games, Abstract Games. Bell,
Partlett, and DeLuca cover much the same ground with some variation,
but remain handy references nonetheless. Mathematical Games,
Abstract Games offers rules, boards, and strategies for more
cerebral fare – including one of my favorites, Lines of Action –
but some might find it dry reading. Wells’ two slim volumes occupy
a space between my “academic” game books and several volumes on
military history. I also keep The Big Book of Board Games: 14
Classic Games To Color & Play on that shelf, mostly because
the oversized coloring book (with nice cardstock pages) includes both
rules and playable boards.
To Read & Acquire
I’m always modifying my “wish list”
of non-fiction gaming books to acquire and read. I even maintain a
small pile – primarily an electronic pile – of material I possess
but haven’t had time to read. Greg Costikyan’s I Have No Words
and I Must Design is on my “to read” list, which demonstrates
how I can have a PDF on my computer but haven’t read it because I’m
not used to reading lengthy material on screen. That also reminds me
that I have a host of PDF articles Professor Scott Nicholson has
released over the years that really deserve my closer attention
(hmmm, I must start printing out academic gaming PDFs...). I regret
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s game-design textbook Rules of
Play: Game Design Fundamentals remains only partially read,
though now and then I pick it up and browse through it for
inspirational tidbits.
Now and then I stumble upon other, far
more serious reading lists on actual game design, all far more
scholarly than my own collection. Game industry luminary James Wallis offers his “game narrative” reading list at his blog, including
links to his friends George Buckenham’s “Reading List for Game Developers” and Jurie Horneman’s “Another Reading List for Game Developers.”
Aside from tomes I already own simply
waiting for my time and attention, I have a few choice non-fiction
gaming books on my wish list. Jon Peterson’s Playing at the
World remains high on that list as perhaps the most comprehensive
modern history of the roleplaying and wargaming hobbies. I also
consider Bernie Dekoven’s The Well-Played Game: A Playful Path
to Wholeness an essential look at games outside of the greater
adventure gaming field. Many wish list items relate to my interest in
wargames, including Henry Hyde’s The Wargaming Compendium
and Donald Featherstone’s War Games and Donald
Featherstone’s Solo Wargames by one of the late, venerable
masters of the subject.
Browsing over my Amazon wish list and
its automated, subject-related recommendations I realize many other
non-fiction titles about gaming exist, particularly regarding
roleplaying; but my “to read” pile (including fiction,
non-fiction, and actual gaming books) grows like an Ice Age glacier,
so I must exercise some degree of discretion.
Comments....
Want to make some non-fiction gaming
book recommendations? Offer feedback? Start a civilized discussion?
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