On the Arcane Nature of Tabletop RPG Books

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Why is it that digital RPGs don't make people as nervous as tabletop RPGs do? Perhaps the medium has something to do with it.
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30 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 34

@Jack-gs6sd 6 месяцев назад

Excellent observations here, I’ve never considered the angle of the salience and obviousness of video games, and the suspicion of the arcane. I think Western culture is developing a growing suspicion to the inaccessible, the private, the arcane. I think someone could go much longer than you have on this topic. Consider it!

@SettingFirstRPG 6 месяцев назад

Appreciate your comment, as always, Jack. I think you're very right about this just being a sliver of a broader inquiry. I suspect privacy, or the eradication of it, would need to be part of that inquiry as well. To exaggerate a bit, if we are being acclimated to "sharing" everything we do with the entire world, the act of engaging in the wholly private activity of reading, or even the slightly less private undertaking of playing games around a table with friends (without streaming it), must mean there's something to hide.

@bjornh4664 2 месяца назад

Computer games are much easier to grasp; most people can play them after finishing the tutorial. RPG books demand quite another level of investment. Also, one shouldn't discount the anti-intellectualism that can be found under the surface. I've made the observation (after years in reenactment, LARP and gaming) that if something is commercial in nature, it is usually more accepted by "the normies". Nerdy stuff done for the enjoyment of the participants, with no commercial value, is viewed with suspicion.

@SettingFirstRPG 2 месяца назад

Agreed on all counts. I like your mention of anti-intellectualism, because I think that's absolutely a factor as well. And I think you're right that it does go hand-in-glove with a suspicion of "under-monetized" activities. As you note, those who get really excited about things that most people haven't experienced tend to be looked at warily.

@Frederic_S 25 дней назад

That annual defence budget burn hurts 😭🇩🇪

@philippemarcil2004 Месяц назад

Now I can call my collection of RPG books an arcane library!

@beardyben7848 Месяц назад

Grew up in the Baptist D&D closet. I love books and the experience of unmediated books, paper, dice, pencil and ink. Loved your insight. Subscribed.

@SettingFirstRPG Месяц назад

Amen to the unmediated analog experience, and thank you for the note.

@nifftbatuff676 2 месяца назад

I think the opposite. At the time of the satanic Panic, computers weren't mainstream. The majority of people weren't culturally informed to associate any kind of content to computer. Videogames were seen as little inconsequential pastimes like pong or pacman. This is the reason why books were more under scrutiny.

@SettingFirstRPG 2 месяца назад

I suppose another way of looking at it would be to ask, "Would those tabletop roleplaying books be regarded as dangerous even if no computers of any kind existed?" I believe the answer is yes, they would be. The mistrust of books existed well before computers arrived.

@owlking3347 2 месяца назад

I like the thesis but the supporting ideas don't really convince me. Those caught up in the satanic panic were highly irrational and it stemmed from fear mongering about cults that were unsubstantiated and stranger danger. The Doom/Columbine controversy came from an irrational correlation between Doom and violence, but if the shooters had Diablo on their computer it'd just be the same arbitrary target to blame for all the evils in the world. The simplest answer is that Computer RPGs weren't really as popular as Doom or Mortal Kombat to get tied to a moral panic event. A lot of this stuff is just very happenstance. But also I think video games themselves weren't as big or detailed until the 90s and all the puritans just switched to a new flavor to get mad about. Those same people are probably just into QANON now. Like they aren't actually mad about the books or satanic imagery, the same way flat earthers don't actually care about the earth being flat. If you just believe in this conspiracy theory that confirms your world view and religious upbringing, maybe the world will make more sense. There's a comfort in finding something else to blame than believing that the world is rudderless and unknowable.

@SettingFirstRPG 2 месяца назад

I certainly don't disagree with you that those caught up in the Satanic Panic were highly irrational. And Flat Eartherism is really about mistrust of authorities. As @bjornh4664 noted, there's an anti-intellectualism running through all of it, which I believe is at least somewhat correlated to a mistrust of deep engagement with books. I mean, there's a reason book burning pops up rather reliably through American history. This video came from me wondering why it was that to this day, even with is popularity, there's still a certain stigma associated with tabletop roleplaying that doesn't attach to computer gaming. I do believe that part of the reason that stigma continues to gradually be reduced is that TTRPGs are now in many respects a primarily digital affair, and are therefore regarded as inherently less dangerous. But to your point, my examination is far from academically rigorous or exhaustive.

@kevinsullivan3448 5 месяцев назад

Some games seemed to go out of their way to be arcane looking as well, Ars Magica comes to mind... While other RPGs did not get the hate of the Moronic Panic, in this category we have Traveler and MechWarrior. I didn't suffer from the Moronic Panic myself, the local folks in my small towen weren't as stupid as those who accused games of being the downfall of their children when the parents and drugs were really at fault.

@SettingFirstRPG 5 месяцев назад

The Satanic Panic does seem to have been unevenly distributed. I really didn't see any of it in my town. My parents and grandparents bought me RPG books and were happy I was using my imagination and creativity in a social way. But I've heard lots of stories from people who were forced to stop playing and in some cases even burn books. The burning of books makes me think about the burning of witches or foul creatures. Again there's this sort of "the only way we can get rid of this powerful evil is by burning it" magical thinking.

@rocketbird1 4 месяца назад

You have a new subscriber. Brilliant observations. I have found that going back to a digital-free gaming table evokes right that feeling of the arcane. And for me and my colleagues in our mid-20s, getting to stay so far away from technology for 4 hours at a time truly is a transformative experience. I wish people were not so scared of it.

@SettingFirstRPG 4 месяца назад

Thank you! Also, as an early Gen X guy who spends hours and hours on video calls every week for work, I am totally with you on the benefits of going analog.

@oniricrash4887 5 месяцев назад

Great video !

@SettingFirstRPG 5 месяцев назад

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

@rohanmyers1732 4 месяца назад

Great video, very well said. Looking forward to more!

@SettingFirstRPG 4 месяца назад

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it and appreciate the comment.

@MarkHyde 5 месяцев назад

I think the rise of digital RPGs coincide with the proliferation and democratization of tech platforms to play them on - it tended to sideline printed books over time. And when the internet took hold - it became difficult to get time to play face to face. I see a return to a cross over - books as digital files. Anyway great video and reflections - it's become expected these days that IPs and fantasy worlds become multi-media in scope - movie/streaming rights, board game rights etc etc. The satanic panic happened in an era pre-internet. So Gary had to go where the media was to refute them, broadcast television. I love printed books - but storage is a major issue for us here. So digital files it is often lol

@SettingFirstRPG 4 месяца назад

Thanks for the comment, Mark. I don't know if the D&D TV show was intended as a refutation of the Satanic Panic, but it certainly made D&D more mainstream. At the time at least, making the leap from the printed page to the TV screen was a form of social acceptance.

@BunnyNiyori 2 месяца назад

I created role playing games. I was a teen of the 70s and an oddball. I created wargames in the 70s. I was still an oddball. But I was also very educated. Then something happened, the internet and digital gaming. And here I am, 62, and my hobby is likely not going to outlive me. Anyone under 20 simply doesn't know books and physical games like I do. When I say wargame, they think I mean Call of Duty not Squad Leader or Panzerblitz. When I say RPG, they think something MMO.

@SettingFirstRPG 2 месяца назад

I think you're right that digital forms of roleplaying have already overtaken in-person, physical forms, and we're not coming back from that. But I remember thinking with the rise of custom Lego kits in the 90s that plastic model building would go away, and it's still alive and well. Kids don't build them nearly as much as they did back in the day, but the hobby still has its own niche. I suspect that face-to-face analog roleplaying will never go away. It's just too compelling and the barriers to entry are so low. There will always be people out there who are drawn to its special charms.

@JohnWhitehead-f6z 4 месяца назад

As a survivor of the Satanic Panic, I can vouch for the observations of Setting First. The 80's were...interesting, in the Chinese curse meaning.

@SettingFirstRPG 4 месяца назад

It was a weird time indeed.

@bl00dywelld0ne 3 месяца назад

Fantastic essay. You just earned yourself another sub 🎲🎲🎲

@SettingFirstRPG 3 месяца назад

Thank you! Really appreciate the note.

@juauke 6 месяцев назад

Interesting topic, I think you're right and that their "arcane" nature makes them less accessible especially when compared to technology and by extension RPGs on the computer PS: Clicked because I saw Death in Space in the thumbnail 😊

@SettingFirstRPG 6 месяцев назад

Thank you for the comment. Death in Space sure is an unmistakeable cover, isn't it? And it's a blast to play.

@juauke 6 месяцев назад

@@SettingFirstRPG you're welcome So true and so beautiful as well! It looks like it is but I have yet to find a group for it (even though, I'm really enamored with the setting and the mechanics)

@michaelmullenfiddler 5 месяцев назад

Yes, well, pictures of symbols that some credulous folks called "satanic"--along with vivid descriptions of the powers and motivations of pagan gods and demons, in a book called "Dieties and Demigods", did not help the game's rep among a certain segment of the population. It wasn't JUST that they were books. But still, good video

@SettingFirstRPG 5 месяцев назад

Thanks for the note. And yes, it wasn't just that they were books. Part of my point is that in order to believe that descriptions of gods and demons are inherently dangerous, one has to believe that there's something more, some intrinsic power in the book holding those descriptions.

@bjornh4664 2 месяца назад

@@SettingFirstRPG People who believe in the power of prayer are probably more prone to believe that the descriptions of magic in RPG books (and Harry Potter) are instructions put there by evil people in order to corrupt the young and innocent.