How the early Dungeons & Dragons community grappled with the nature of role-playing games, theorizing a new game genre. When Dungeon & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s, followed shortly thereafter by other, similar tabletop games, it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games. D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game. But in the original rules, the term "role-playing" is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a war game. In The Elusive Shift, Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games--and by doing so, established a new genre of games.

The story of the arcane table-top game that became a pop culture phenomenon and the long-running legal battle waged by its cocreators. When Dungeons & Dragons was first released to a small hobby community, it hardly seemed destined for mainstream success--and yet this arcane tabletop role-playing game became an unlikely pop culture phenomenon. In Game Wizards, Jon Peterson chronicles the rise of Dungeons & Dragons from hobbyist pastime to mass market sensation, from the initial collaboration to the later feud of its creators, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. As the game's fiftieth anniversary approaches, Peterson--a noted authority on role-playing games--explains how D&D and its creators navigated their successes, setbacks, and controversies. Peterson describes Gygax and Arneson's first meeting and their work toward the 1974 release of the game; the founding of TSR and its growth as a company; and Arneson's acrimonious departure and subsequent challenges to TSR. He recounts the "Satanic Panic" accusations that D&D was sacrilegious and dangerous, and how they made the game famous. And he chronicles TSR's reckless expansion and near-fatal corporate infighting, which culminated with the company in debt and overextended and the end of Gygax's losing battle to retain control over TSR and D&D. With Game Wizards, Peterson restores historical particulars long obscured by competing narratives spun by the one-time partners. That record amply demonstrates how the turbulent experience of creating something as momentous as Dungeons & Dragons can make people remember things a bit differently from the way they actually happened.

Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible. From a vast survey of primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World distills the story of how gamers first decided fictional battles with boards and dice, and how they moved from simulating wars to simulating people. The invention of role-playing games serves as a touchstone for exploring the ways that the literary concept of character, the lure of fantastic adventure and the principles of gaming combined into the signature cultural innovation of the late twentieth century.

There's a SHIFT coming to the Body of Christ, to America, the world . . . and to your life. The Church in many corridors has become prevalent, but not powerful. We are recognized behind our four walls, but not much outside of them. As the culture drifts from biblical values, it is time to shift to eternal perspectives. It's time for a shift . . . it's time for REVIVAL. In Shift, Ron McIntosh has captured the principles, presence, power, and perspective that make up revival. This is a book that will prepare you for the current and coming move of the Spirit. This book answers the questions about revival that makes it well worth reading. But if offers so much more... it answers the question we should be asking. What is beyond revival? Mario Murillo Author, Vessels of Fire and Glory Shift will cause readers to prayerfully consider everything we have embraced packaged as "modern Christianity" and measure it next to the surefire standard of Scripture and the template of Pentecost. Larry Sparks Author, Pentecostal Fire Publisher, Destiny Image Shift explains, in the simplest terms, one of the most important mysteries for the person who truly desires to see and know God as He is. Dr. Jim Richards, PH.D., TH.D., OMD Creator of "Heart Dynamics" Author, Grace the Power to Change and Moving Your Invisible Boundaries

How the early Dungeons & Dragons community grappled with the nature of role-playing games, theorizing a new game genre. When Dungeons & Dragons made its debut in the mid-1970s, followed shortly thereafter by other, similar tabletop games, it sparked a renaissance in game design and critical thinking about games. D&D is now popularly considered to be the first role-playing game. But in the original rules, the term “role-playing” is nowhere to be found; D&D was marketed as a wargame. In The Elusive Shift, Jon Peterson describes how players and scholars in the D&D community began to apply the term to D&D and similar games—and by doing so, established a new genre of games. Peterson examines key essays by D&D early adopters, rescuing from obscurity many first published in now-defunct fanzines. He traces the evolution of D&D theorizing, as writers attempted to frame problems, define terms, and engage with prior literature. He describes the two cultures of wargames and science fiction fandom that provided D&D's first players; examines the dialogue at the core of the game; explains how game design began to accommodate role-playing; and considers the purpose of the referee or gamesmaster. By 1977, game scholars and critics began to theorize more systematically, and Peterson explores their discussions of the transformative nature of role-playing games, their responsibility to a mass audience, and other topics. Peterson finds that the foundational concepts defined in the 1970s helped theorize role-playing, laying the foundation for the genre's shift into maturity in the 1980s.

Discover the transformative insights of movement pioneer Moshe Feldenkrais Essential reading for somatic practitioners, movement teachers, performing artists, and anyone interested in self-improvement and healing As a scientist, martial artist, and founder of the Feldenkrais Method, Moshe Feldenkrais wrote several influential books on the relationship between movement, learning, and health. The Elusive Obvious is a thorough and accessible explanation of the method that is more relevant today than when it was first published, as current research strongly supports many of its insights. The Feldenkrais Method has two main strands: Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration. Both are renowned worldwide for their ability to reduce pain and anxiety, cultivate vitality, and improve performance. This new edition of The Elusive Obvious includes a beautiful presentation featuring a fold-out insert with illustrations that depict these two approaches. By uncovering solutions that are often hidden in plain sight, this book can help you learn to move with greater ease, grace, and efficiency through the Feldenkrais Method.

This handbook collects, for the first time, the state of research on role-playing games (RPGs) across disciplines, cultures, and media in a single, accessible volume. Collaboratively authored by more than 50 key scholars, it traces the history of RPGs, from wargaming precursors to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons to the rise of live action role-play and contemporary computer RPG and massively multiplayer online RPG franchises, like Fallout and World of Warcraft. Individual chapters survey the perspectives, concepts, and findings on RPGs from key disciplines, like performance studies, sociology, psychology, education, economics, game design, literary studies, and more. Other chapters integrate insights from RPG studies around broadly significant topics, like transmedia worldbuilding, immersion, transgressive play, or player–character relations. Each chapter includes definitions of key terms and recommended readings to help fans, students, and scholars new to RPG studies find their way into this new interdisciplinary field.