It all began some time ago when I decided to delve deep into the world of Tabletop Role-Playing Games, approaching this world intellectually and exploring its academic corpus. These resources were scattered all over the internet: many people had organized on forums for years, conducting their discussions there, while essays and articles were published on personal blogs. Meanwhile, the few books, academic journals, and theses were yet to be brought together into any coherent collection. Diving into the depths of the internet to discover these would be a part of this endeavor as significant and challenging as the reading itself. And so, the Anatolian Archives came into being.
Anatolian Archives was planned as a series of posts documenting my journey. In this series, I will be bringing together articles about TTRPGs scattered across the internet on a monthly basis. My plan is to eventually categorize these writings and, at the end of my journey, leave behind a well-organized TTRPG bibliography. By doing so, I hope to both save time for those eager to embark on a similar journey and bring some order to this chaotic field.
Initially, I planned to share 30 articles per month, but I was convinced this would be too many. The number will be 8 for this month, and I may change it in subsequent months based on feedback. I also want to note that I don’t include every article I read. That would merely create a crowd of texts. What I aim to do is gather articles that I believe offer something to readers or contribute to the field. However, this doesn’t mean the list will only contain academic writings; many more informal blog posts and even occasional forum discussions will be the mainstays of these selections.
Finally, including an article in the selection doesn’t mean I agree with it. In fact, I can say that often the opposite is true. I feel there’s no place for my personal opinions in what I want to achieve with Anatolian Archives, so I will keep these as objective as possible and make minimal comments. If you’re curious about my opinions, keep following the blog!
May Selection
We don’t have a specific theme this month, but as this is a beginning, I’ve tried to focus on articles that address fundamental concepts and discussions in Role-Playing Games. Happy reading!
Six Cultures of Play (An article that divides TTRPGs and players’ approaches into 6 different cultures. Which one do you feel closest to?)
Rules Are A Cage (Do we really need rules? What are the rules for?)
I got your threefold model right here, buddy! (An article that ironically divides RPGs into three categories.)
Vampire: Roleplaying Text (This isn’t actually a blog post. Short excerpts from Vampire the Masquerade books explaining what Roleplaying is, and the responsibilities of Players and GMs.)
System Does Matter (Does it matter which system we play games with? Why do systems exist, what purpose do they serve?)
Are You A Good Player? (What makes a good GM is a standard topic of discussion. But what about being a good player? How does one become a good player?)
Bleed: The Spillover Between Player and Character (A fundamental role-playing term. Truly feeling like your character. Is it natural, or a problem?)
The “Tyranny” of Fun? (A different perspective on a commonly used role-playing term.)
You can share your ideas or article suggestions by commenting or contacting me via my email address!
mustafaguler@anatoliancreative.com
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