Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground: A Guide to Tabletop Roleplaying Games from D&D to Mothership...

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Stu Horvath

Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground

A Guide to Tabletop Roleplaying Games from D&D to Mothership

Stu Horvath

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Hardback

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English

MIT Press
05 December 2023

Popular culture; Media studies; Role-playing, war games & fantasy sports; Game Worlds

A richly illustrated, encyclopaedic deep dive into the history of roleplaying games.

When Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson released Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, they created the first roleplaying game of all time. Little did they know that their humble box set of three small digest-sized booklets would spawn an entire industry practically overnight. In Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, Stu Horvath explores how the hobby of roleplaying games, commonly known as RPGs, blossomed out of an unlikely pop culture phenomenon and became a dominant gaming form by the 2010s. Going far beyond D&D, this heavily illustrated tome covers more than three hundred different RPGs that have been published in the last five decades.

Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground features (among other things) bunnies, ghostbusters, soap operas, criminal bears, space monsters, political intrigue, vampires, romance, and, of course, some dungeons and dragons. In a decade-by-decade breakdown, Horvath chronicles how RPGs have evolved in the time between their inception and the present day, offering a deep and gratifying glimpse into a hobby that has changed the way we think about games and play.

By: Stu Horvath
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 286mm, Width: 222mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 1.914kg
ISBN: 9780262048224
ISBN 10: 0262048221
Pages: 456
Publication Date: 05 December 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Stu Horvath is a writer from New Jersey. He is the founder of Unwinnable, an outlet for independent cultural criticism. He also manages the VintageRPG account on Instagram and cohosts the Vintage RPG Podcast.