Conversation with Jon Peterson SCRUM CON 2021

A Conversation about Researching the History of Role-Playing Games hosted by Scrum Con's Joe Procopio

Join us for this conversation exploring Peterson’s two seminal works on the origins of role-playing games, 2012’s "Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-Playing Games" and 2021’s "The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity." This conversation focuses on topics and material not often explored in Peterson’s other interviews: in addition to the history of wargames and role-playing games, we explore the challenges and choices involved in researching this nascent area of scholarship.

Attendees presented their own questions for Peterson in a Q&A at the end of the session.
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Jon Peterson studies the history of games, especially tabletop role-playing games and wargames. His first book, "Playing at the World," was called "the first serious history of the development of Dungeons & Dragons" by the "Village Voice." He is also co-author of "Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana" and the New York Times bestselling official Dungeons & Dragons cookbook "Heroes' Feast." He has contributed to numerous academic anthologies and popular culture websites including Boing Boing, the Escapist, and Gamasutra.

Joe Procopio, Director of Scrum Con, is an award-winning publisher and has worked as a managing editor, teacher, and journalist. He wrote "The Lost Art of Ray Willner" and has contributed to "Illustration" and "Snap Pop!" magazines and the art history website, Today’s Inspiration.

[BenA]

Great discussion, thanks for making this available through YouTube! I had forgotten about Jon's new book, just ordered it! (I've read PatW about 4 times)