WobbuPalooza

@wobbupalooza

Parlor game history, especially focused on early collaborative storytelling / roleplaying / Surrealist games but also forfeits and pre-1800 games in general:

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WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· 19d

Side note--it's interesting that Miller also used his platform in 1979 to comment on sexism in gaming, taking observations that could have been framed better re: www.wired.com/story/women-... as points of departure for a strong argument for doing significantly better with roleplaying

Screenshot of Marc W. Miller (1979), "My Life in Role Playing," from _Different Worlds_ #1: "The first is the subject of sexism in gaming. Wargames (by that, I mean the boardgame end of the wargaming spectrum) are generally played by males; women simply aren't interested. Fantasy role-playing games are an entirely new field, and don't yet have the barriers to women that the other games do. I think it's very important to keep the FRP field open to women, and that means an almost conscious effort on the part of designers. If you look at modern fantasy literature, you can easily find women working and fighting as central characters, not as hangers-on. Such activity is rarely historical, but it is a reflection of what modern fantasy is. I think that role-playing games should reflect this as well. All it needs is a simple caution that the roles covered need not be restricted by gender, and some attention to pronouns throughout the game."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· 19d

FWIW light roleplay as 'moral' education ca. 1894-1925 could be pretty problematic, e.g. as discussed in Laurie A. Finke & Susan Aronstein's "The Queens of Avalon: William Forbush's Arthurian Antidote": www.jstor.org/stable/43485...

Image of ~27 young women in some kind of ceremonial dress costumes, captioned "A Fine Court Group: Court Camelot Marlboro Mass." and taken from _The Queens of Avalon_ (1911) by William Byron Forbush, which is available online at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/forbush-queens-of-avalon.html

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· 19d

A lot of early TTRPG designers had experience with boardgames and wargames, but Miller said these were _role-playing games_. Here's a report on SIMRAD published in 1974 that lists many of the games: files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED1...

Screenshot of Richard Banner (1974), "Simulation, Research, and Design (SIMRAD)," from _Instructional Development at Illinois State University, 1973-1974_: "The staff was initially composed of one director and seven game designers. For the second semester there were only four game designers. During the year, a total of six different games were played in a total of 27 classes. The History Department used four different games in seven classes. 'Election 1896' was played in four different classes; and 'Crisis Diplomacy,' 'Witch Trials,' and 'Election 1976' were each played in one class. The Political Science Department used the game, 'Russian Revolution,' in one class. Finally, the Information Sciences Department used one game, 'Bond Issue,' in 19 different classes. Three of the games were developed during this year. They were 'Crisis Diplomacy,' 'Witch Trials,' and 'Election 1976.' The other three were revisions of previously developed games."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· 19d

Did you know Traveller's Marc W. Miller and others designed ~4 or more educational roleplaying games ca. 1972-1974--before D&D? Here's a 🧵 with a few thoughts about this ...

Screenshot of Marc W. Miller (1979), "My Life in Role Playing," from _Different Worlds_ #1: "Strange is the word to describe my life in role-playing; in fact, looking back I find that I was in the field before I knew about it, and for longer that it seems possible. It all started back in 1968, in a political science class at the University of Illinois. My introduction to role-playing took the form of a hypothetical political nominating convention, with the students taking the roles of candidates and political aides. (I came within a hair's breadth of getting a Barry Goldwater type conservative nominated as democratic presidential candidate.) When I came back to school in 1972, I immediately became involved in boardgames, and simultaneously signed on as a designer (soon head designer) at _SIMRAD_, located at Illinois State University. _SIMRAD_ was an innovative education project, envisioned as a simulation souce for instructors; they issued specifications for simulations, we designed them, and then administered them in the classroom (thus, SIMulation, Research, Administration, and Design). In the course of 18 months with _SIMRAD_, I (actually we, much of the workshop staff worked at various levels in _SIMRAD_) put together about 8 games, of which more than half were educational role-playing games. In general, such games simulate presidential nominating conventions, or elections, or passing a bill in congress; anything political, and relatively simple. _SIMRAD_ folded in 1973, and the staff formed the core of Game Designers' Workshop--we immediately set about producing historical boardgames, such as _Drang Nach Osten!_, _Unentschieden_, _Chaco_, _Triplanetary_ and _Eagles_. Board games were to be our mainstay for several years to come."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 9

I loved attending a demo of Breaking the Ice when it debuted, and I think Emily Care Boss deserves credit for inventing this usage. As a footnote Mary K. Kuhner used the term to express these issues in a game theory forum in 1997, and it didn't get much uptake: groups.google.com/g/rec.games....

Mary K. Kuhner writing on 06/05/1997 in rec.games.frp.advocacy: "My personal problem with immersive play has not been bleed from the player to the character--as you said in another post, this is often pretty obvious and a strong no-metagame esthetic can help quash it when it occurs. My problem is bleed from the character to the player, as I recently was reminded. My character's daughter was being stalked by someone she had little power to stop. My grandmother was being stalked (well, harassed) by someone I had little power to stop. My character coped with this fine, and with little visible tranferrence. *I* didn't, though; it was just too much for me, both physically (stress symptoms) and emotionally. I guess my life doesn't have as strong of a no-game esthetic as my game has a no-metagame esthetic! I expect to be affected emotionally by what goes on in the game--it's one of the things I play for--and that means that the game events need to stay off really touchy areas."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 7

Oulipo? It's almost cheating to list a group where arts and games converge but why not: wobbupalooza.neocities.org/oulipo ... Same probably goes for Bernadette Mayer and her _0 to 9_ circle, e.g. see the chapter from Story Games for Everybody (1934) in the 1st issue en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_to_9#...

Photo of the cover of V.C. Alexander's 1934 book of entertainment for children titled _Story Games for Everybody_

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 6

Yourself, but as a cartoon bsky.app/profile/nerd...

In Pokémon episode 173 (Wobbu-Palooza!), three Wobbuffet pop up in the woods to offer friendly greetings to Brock, Misty, Ash, Togepi, and Pikachu

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 6

The fun part is the text also records 6 different solutions to the words Calais, Pig tails, Soup maigre, and Old Quiz. "Quiz" alone is an amazing find! The poems date circa the origin of the word in its sense of an eccentric person, e.g. Charlotte Burney's diary in 1782: eu.than.asia/2022/05/on-t...

Journal of Charlotte Ann Burney (sister of the novelist Frances Burney), 1782

"... Fanny have been and spent an evening with them, where we met Dr. Lort, whose nose I am sure has never grown since he was six years old,--nipped in the bud--; but he's a droll quiz, and I rather like him. There we met Sir Joshua Reynolds, who did me the favour to speak to me; and Mrs. _Rena_, and Miss Johnson who looked handsomer than I ever ..."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 6

Another "Words given" poems has Miss Hamilton at the top but doesn't use her name in the poem--did she write it? Or suggest it? FWIW the manuscript is in the hand of her future husband, John Dickenson, and one poem is an acrostic based on the name Mary--meant for her? See alt text for transcription

Excerpt from Memorandum/anecdote book of John Dickenson (n.d.) (DDX 274/7) in the Mary Hamilton Papers:

M.erry, chattering, laughing girl
A.lways smirking, always smart
R.etiring from the(?) frenchmans noise
Y.et doating on it in y(our?) heart

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 6

It also has this "Words given" poem that seems to be _attributed_ to Lady Dartrey in the lower right? Well, someone was given a list of words to make a poem from and chose to write about having a great time with Lady Hamilton while visiting the town of Spa in Belgium. See alt text for transcription

Excerpt from Memorandum/anecdote book of John Dickenson (n.d.) (DDX 274/7) in the Mary Hamilton Papers:

Words given

Miss Hamilton
Lubin
Mountain
Adieu
Fairy

_Adieu_ Dear Spa, _Lubin_ Adieu
Guard an nother on your _Mountain_
Adieu Pouhon, & Geronstere
Thou salutary fountain,
I should implore a _Fairy's_ power
To hear me on my way
Had I not _Hamilton_ each hour
To make my journey gay

Ldy D___y

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 6

Backing up, the manuscript records poems by multiple authors because it also has this "Written by Hawkins Brown Esq. to whom we allow'd but 10 minutes to write an acrostic upon Lady Dartreys name." See alt text for transcription. BTW Lady Dartrey was among other things William Penn's granddaughter

Excerpt from Memorandum/anecdote book of John Dickenson (n.d.) (DDX 274/7) in the Mary Hamilton Papers:

Written by Hawkins Brown Esq. to whom
we allow'd but 10 minutes to write an
acrostic upon Lady Dartreys name
--------
D-ear to her friends, & to her husband dear,
A-dorn'd with every art, yet most sincere,
R-ov'd like some angel from her *_native_ _shore_,
T-o show us virtues we can boast no more,
R-aised to high rank with brightest lustre shines,
E-ase and simplicity to breeding joins,
Y-outh she enjoys & pleasure she refines.
--------
*Lady Dartrey was born in America
at, Philadelphia

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Jun 5

Oh, this is new to me--a 17th C. play about a man so wild for the game of bouts-rimés that he holds a contest for the best sonnet made from his list of rhymes, offering money and, uh, his daughter to the winner: Les Bouts-rimés (1682) by Pierre de Saint-Glas www.theatre-classique.fr/pages/progra...

CRISPIN, après avoir battu le tambour.

De par l'illustre Monsieur du Rimet, assez connu par le Mercure galant, et par les affiches, on fait à savoir à tous poètes, présents et à venir, que le temps s'en va expirer dans un quart d 'heure, de donner des sonnets sur les rimes qu'il a proposées, afin que s'il y en a encore, quelqu'un à faire enrôler, on ait à le présenter au plus vite à moi Crispin ici présent, tambour de sa compagnie de bouts-rimés. Et on avertit Monsieur le Public, que les dix mille écus que ledit sieur du Rimet a promis pour le prix, c'est le mariage de Mademoiselle Angélique, sa fille, laquelle il donnera aussi avec l'argent à celui qui l'emportera par dessus les autres.

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· May 26

Just curious but do you mean the history of the Forge's actual play subforum? FWIW I very much appreciated the ethic Ron et al. developed around it that I guess was a little influenced by a similar ethic encouraged by key folks in RGFA, who had a similar goal e.g.: groups.google.com/g/rec.games....

John H. Kim in rec.games.frp.advocacy, 01/10/1999: "Personally, I think it is
vital to ground discussion about what it all means in actual
play, and what your *actual* experience is -- not just what one
thinks should happen. I agree that there is some tendency to
over-theorize here, and I would say that the only cure is to
temper any discussion of universal theory with talking about
what really happens in real games."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· May 23

I don't know if there's more recent evidence, but in 1994 Christine Alexander couldn't determine the earliest issue of Blackwood's that the children read -- just that they'd begun by 1825 had read some issues from "1820 or possibly earlier": www.jstor.org/stable/45185...

Brief excerpt from Christine Alexander's 1994 article on the Brontës and Blackwood's: "It is clear from references in their writings, that the Brontes read a number of earlier issues of Blackwood's, dating from 1820 or possibly earlier.' It seems likely that they actually began reading Blackwood's in about 1825, and borrowed not only current issues but back numbers of the magazine."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· May 23

Exactly what Emily and Anne took from the magazine is less clear, but there are reasons to speculate about it and/or there's the indirect influence of the Glass Town games / stories themselves to point to: www.jstor.org/stable/45185...

Brief excerpt from Christine Alexander's 1994 article on the Brontës and Blackwood's: "Although none of Emily's Bronte's Gondal prose manuscripts survived, it is likely that she also received her first lessons in narrative structure from Blackwood's. Germs of the sophisticated layered narration of Wuthering Heights can be found, for example, in James Hogg's contributions to the magazine and in his Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Branwell too was influenced by Hogg, but he was less interested in structure than in impersonation. Like the anti-hero of Hogg's novel, he felt pursued by his literary double. There are few clues to Blackwood's early influence on Anne, apart from those reflecting her collaborative role in the early Glass Town saga."

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· May 23

But an interesting fact about the Brontë children is they were also big fans of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine ... Branwell wrote letters to the magazine in a style that seems to have been directly relevant to his role in Glass Town: www.jstor.org/stable/45185...

Brief excerpt from Christine Alexander's 1994 article on the Brontës and Blackwood's: "he bombastic over-statement that we see here suggests a created literary personality: an image and voice that he would never have assumed had he met the editors of Blackwood's in person. He is writing here as he wrote in all his early prose manuscripts, as the hero or as the historian of the Glass Town saga, the fictional world created by the four Brontē children and continued by Charlotte and Branwell well into their early adulthood. His tone is that of the narrators he adopted to tell his imaginative stories. And it is on this 'swaggering tone', its origins and the relationship it implies between the writer and his audience, that I want to focus in this paper. I want to argue that Branwell Bronte's assumed persona as writer of voluminous early manuscripts derived directly from his role as a reader of Blackwood's"

WobbuPalooza@wobbupalooza· Apr 25

Not it, but 70s British comics with a house like that include one page from Misty, below, by Brian Delaney ( downthetubes.net/comic-creato... ), whose credits for DC Thomson include comics like Romeo, which had lettering like that for internal monologue captions ( www.facebook.com/groups/32593... )