The History of RPGs: A Reading List [Academia Is Fun]

[GamePoster]

We mentioned Michael Abbot (of the Brainy Gamer) and his efforts to put together a great syllabus for his history of RPGs class; as promised, he's now posted the reading list (required readings will be culled from this list, but it's a pretty nice little bibliography for background reading). At this point, it just includes traditional books and articles, but he's planning on expanding it to online and popular media sources, as well as other good ideas sent in by people who are keeping tabs on this project:

You'll find some esoteric stuff here, but every title is germane to the subject in one way or another. I've also included books like Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, portions of which I plan to assign as foundational texts.
So far the bibliography only includes traditional materials (books and academic journals). I'm working on supplementing the list with online and popular media resources devoted to RPGs ...
Here's the list. If I've omitted a title you think should be included, please let me know. If you have a favorite website or online essay devoted to RPGs (history, analysis, special focus on a single game or developer, etc.), please feel free to drop me a comment. I'll be sure to add it to the list I'm working on, which will be posted here in a few days.

It's quite an impressive list, and if you've got room on your list of things to read, wander over and check it out — or add your own suggestions for good go-to sources for a class of this nature.
RPG syllabus - books and journals [The Brainy Gamer]
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