Bibliography Validation

 “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”

— Rene Descartes

Every so often I feel inspired (compelled?) to revisit topics I’ve explored in the past. My latest? Bibliographies, which I last featured in July 2024 in “Inspiring Citations.” That piece mostly focused on sources listed in bibliographies sending readers off to learn more about a game subject, whether for their own edification or incorporation in their hobby activities...a process that perpetuates itself as readers look at the bibliographies in those subsequent resources. And I’ll touch on that again here. But lately I’ve been finding bibliographies also give my frail self-esteem a sense that my past intellectual explorations have merit when I find sources I’ve read in the past listed in more current, relevant work. Bibliographies can send us off in new, exciting directions of personal and professional research as well as validate our past readings to remind us we’re on the right course.

A recent post at the Paxsims blog reminded me how bibliographies inspire and affirm. Professor Rex Brynen — a pillar of the professional wargaming community — released the outline for his McGill University “POLI 425 Conflict Simulation” course. I was already aware of the course since my cousin took it last year; aside from sharing some course materials, including the outline, we spent some brief time at a family gathering talking about the game mechanics of her group project. Reading Brynen’s outline offers a glimpse at elements and issues to explore in serious conflict simulation (“wargames”) and, of course, a host of suggestions on required and optional reading resources. Aside from the initial “core course texts,” the list of “course readings” follows the class schedule outline by topic; easy enough to skim for particular, relevant subjects. While I won’t comment on the plethora of YouTube video resources as I have little patience for much else beyond the “printed” word, I was, and am usually, impressed with the titles in print and more readily accessible PDF. They represent both new sources I need to investigate (and mine for additional references) as well as those I’m happy I’ve already read as part of my informal personal education as an informed wargaming generalist.

The latter category includes material from academic, government, and adjacent sources I’ve discovered through various channels: blog posts at Paxsims, titles at the History of Wargaming Project, and resources shared by those I follow on social media, to name just a few that immediately come to mind. They include classics by serious gaming luminaries Peter Perla, Philip Sabin, and James F. Dunnagin; handbooks from the British Ministry of Defense, NATO, and the US Naval War College; and game design books by Geoffrey Englestein, Isaac Shalev, Daniel Solis, and Maurice Suckling. And that’s just the surface.

You’ll find a download link to the outline with sources at the Paxsims blog post about the course. Many of those sources include their own bibliographies of relevant work, both to send readers off on additional learning adventures and to confirm the relevance and importance of their past reading.

(And if you’re interested in how this course plays out, Brynen offered a glimpse at how last year’s students handled their game-design challenges.)

I lament that more releases across the adventure gaming hobby don’t include bibliographical inspiration. Many wargames — board and miniature — provide source notes, some casually and others more formally. My recently acquired indie roleplaying game about Special Operations Executive agents (A Cool and Lonely Courage) offers a brief bibliography to send readers on a deeper research journey if they wish. For a while Dungeons & Dragons’ infamous “Appendix N.” inspired me to explore other fantasy literature beyond my varied library, giving me a more diverse look at material that influenced the fantasy roleplaying game world. Lists of sources and inspirations in fictitious game fare can enrich one’s experience at the game table and provide depth to our other entertainment. My Pulp Egypt sourcebook included a host of sources, both historical and fictitious, to inspire readers, not least of which are the entertaining Indiana Jones films. But bibliographies generally remain scarce in board game and roleplaying game materials; many taking their content from history often provide titles that inspired the designers or sources for further reading. Not all players wish to explore the history that inspired a game experience, but for those of us who do, a bibliography can propel us down new paths of exploration and enlightenment...or affirm the relevance of our past reading.

Games by their very nature present historical elements in abstracted formats to varying degrees. They’re no substitute for learning about complex, nuanced history or current events, but can serve as a springboard to encourage interest and further study. I’ve revisited bibliographies that gave me inspiration in the past and reassuringly found myself looking at all the titles I’d explored, either on my own or at the bibliography’s suggestion. Even simply following authors whose works I’d enjoyed earlier often leads me to new titles expanding my horizons.

Much as bibliographies can guide, inspire, and validate our course of research, I’m wary when some use them, intentionally or otherwise, as standards for gatekeeping. A bibliography serves as a gateway, not a gate, an invitation, not a requirement. One’s unique lived experience, in addition to what they read as suggested by a source list, should carry some validity, especially in informal places like online discourse. Credentialed professionals have their own spaces where gatekeeping may have its place, weeding out the informed generalists and others interested, casually or seriously, about a specific gaming field. To insist on a gatekeeping standard in public, online discourse might inspire some to work toward that standard, but might rebuff others who may bring some insights, innovations, and advancements to the table, especially from their “outside the box” perspective.

Bibliographies certainly validate the research and findings presented in a text or game, but also inspire and affirm one’s intellectual journey exploring games. I seek them out in game-adjacent work across the spectrum of the adventure gaming field, from hobby and professional sources, because examining different perspectives can inform my own view. I endeavor to include sources in my own work and encourage others to share their own inspirations to guide others wishing to explore their subjects for a deeper understanding.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

— Carl Jung