I had some tentative discussions last August (2005) about setting up a web-based form to collect demographics information from RPGers as a precursor to a more complete research project I'm developing related to the therapeutic aspects (and/or risks) of role playing gaming (paper and dice games such as D&D ( Dungeons & Dragon), not computers).

I received more than 100 replies just from the Merp.com email list alone from folks saying they'd participate.

Last week I spoke with the director of the Psychology department for the university,
as well as several other psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists, on my
long term plans, and surprisingly received very encouraging feedback, encouragement, and guidance.

Click the "READ MORE" link to this article to read the rest....

After MerpCon II is done, sometime in August this year, I will create a database, and web-based software demographics form. (Probably using Python / Zope / Plone)

I will notify all the role playing gaming lists and boards I can think of when it is online.

There will be a little bit of a verification process, so that there's at least a modicum of control on who fills in the form (so I don't have spammers and
others of more mischievous intent filling the form in randomly).

That will run for a few months. Then the data will be gathered and analyzed.

After that, I will be working with others to put together a grant proposal to fund a complete research project on the therapeutic aspects of role playing gaming.

I hope to submit that proposal sometime in the summer of 2007.

The process for grant acceptance can be lengthy, and I've never done it before. But hopefully within the year after that (August 2007), there will be sufficient funding, staffing, and facilities for the
actual research project to begin.

It will have several stages, and is intended to span 10 years with several different populations studied.

There will be a battery of tests (such as MMPI, WAIS/WISC, IQ, Bender, Mental health
status, etc.) at the initiation of each participant, and then the tests taken again at intervals (such as 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, and finally 10 years).

This will be a large and rather expensive enterprise, because it will be necessary to pay participants (in addition to staff) to keep the attrition levels to as much of a minimum as possible, and will need as large a sample
group as possible (at least 500 participants at a bare minimum, and preferably 1,000+ participants).

Each group will be in triple blind studies, with assignment to control groups and placebo groups as well.

These groups roughly include (but are not limited to):
A group ages 8-12 years old.
A group ages 13 to 20
A group ages 21+.

Some groups may be only people who have never role played before.
Other groups may be only those who have role played before/currently.
There is currently some debate as to the merits of having any groups that are a mix of non-gamers and gamers with previous experience.

I just thought I would share this with folks as a very early heads up. (I have already posted this article on the merp@merp.com mailing list and had positive feedback so far).

I welcome any feedback or suggestions. Keeping in mind, this is in the earliest stages and only a rough road map for the project so far.
You may email me at: hawke at merp dot com.

Cheers!
--
--Hawke

http://www.hawkes-haven.com
Recreational Therapist in training.
Music Therapist in training.
______________________________________
Role-player since 1979
Gamemaster since 1984
Specializing in Middle-earth settings
http://eagroup.merp.com
______________________________________

Don't miss the second annual MerpCon!
Spokane, WA, USA
http://www.merpcon.com
MerpCon 2006, July 28th, 29th, 30th
A convention dedicated to role-playing gaming in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth
RSVP today at http://rsvp.merp.com
merpcon@merp.com
______________________________________________________________________________
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Catch my live radio broadcasts every Sunday 8:00 pm to 10:00 Pacific Time
Listen online at http://www.kyrs.org or via radio in the Spokane, WA area:
FM 92.3 or 95.3 KYRS Thin Air Community Radio.
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I've been preparing for months, and now the time is nigh!

MerpCon III begins Friday, July 27th, and runs through Sunday July 29th (and really bleeds over a little into Monday July 30th).

http://www.merpcon.org

All my engery in past weeks has been going towards this and the new Other Minds magazine release.

http://www.othermindsmagazine.com

The magazine and finished and ready for print distribution at MerpCon III. The PDF will be available to the public on August 1st. A couple of my essays are in the publication as well.

I'll report back on how this all went after I recover from the fun, but exhausting efforts.

Cheers!

-Hawke

This is an essay I did for one of my required courses related to the TR/RT (Therapeutic Recreation / Recreational Therapist) degree I am working on currently.
I hope you find it informative. Most of it I had gleaned over the years, but in actually sitting down and researching (and confirming information), I found a few interesting extra tidbits (like the relationship of H.G. Wells and wargaming), that were a total surprise.
Enjoy! .
-Hawke

Hawke 2004-09-30
RCLS-201
An Overview History of Role Playing Gaming

Role playing gaming has it's origins far back in ancient history with wargaming. Wargaming is the simulation of combat strategies and tactics represented in reduced scale with various rules, and often some sort of randomizer, such as dice or cards, to add an element of realistic unpredictability. As long as their has been organized warfare, there appears to have been some form of wargaming in every culture throughout history.... (click the READ MORE link to read the rest).

Chess and the Chinese game Go both are very much based on wargaming, but considered lacking by some, because of the lack of unpredictability offered by "true" wargaming with dice and/or cards or other means to add uncertainty as in the "real" world.
H.G. Wells was renowned during the late 19th century and early 20th century as a novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian. Some of his most famous novels include The Time Machine (1895), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War Of The Worlds (1898).
He revolutionized wargaming with his publication of Little Wars (1913). Previously wargaming was mostly the domain of the military and wealthy elite, his book make it easily understandable and available to everyone that could read.
In the 1960s, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings hit the literary world, and inspired the minds and hearts of generations, book sales in the USA second only to the bible. Wargamers and many others were inspired by Tolkien's works, and began working on ways to modify wargaming so that statistics, including magic, and individuals of significance, not just whole armies, were included.
Chain Mail provided wargaming rules with extra features such as magic and mythological creatures, it was released in 1968 by Gary Gygax, and would later evolve during the 1970s into the now famous (and infamous) Dungeons & Dragons.
The 1980s were the "Golden Age" years of role playing games. In the 1990s hybrid RPG games using cards started a shift to simpler rules, and that shift to cards was completed with the creation of Magic: The Gathering, a still world-wide popular CCG (Collectible Card Game).
The RPG industry continues to grow and is now a multi-billion dollar market. It has diversified from just "paper and dice" games to now also include hybrid CCGs, computer games, persistent online worlds and MUDs. There are also worldwide LARPS (Live Action Role Playing) groups still going strong.

Innumerable genres, systems, and settings abound. A very brief sumary included:
Fantasy/Medieval:
Dungeons & Dragons
Runequest
Robin Hood
Amber (Based on Roger Zelazny's Amber series, diceless game, uses cards)
Pendragon (King Arthur)
Conan

Science Fiction
Star Wars
Star Trek
Traveller
Doctor Who
RIFTS (Multiple universes/dimensions of reality)
Babylon 5
Robotech/Battletech
Aliens

Horror/Suspense/Gothica:
HP Lovecraft's Call of Cthulu
Vampie: The Masquerade (inspired tv short tv series, Kindred: The Embraced)

Mystery/Paranormal:
X-Files
Noir (Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane type detective mysteries)

Action/Adventure:
James Bond
Indiana jones

Oriental:
Bushido (feudal Japan)
Oriental Adventures

Old West:
Boot Hill
Deadlands

Comic book heroes (Such X-men, Batman, Spiderman, etc.):
Heroes
Champions

Humorous:
Ghostbusters
Paranoia
Toons

Amazing that an entirely new hobby industry has developed from non-existence to so much in just about 30 years!
There are those who take it even further, mostly adults, participating in reenactments or Live Action Role Playing (LARP). The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) is not exactly a LARP organization, but they do try more to reenact various time periods (medieval Europe, feudal Japan, Tzarist Russia, etc.) in historically accurate ways, and include combat in armor with various refereed and "on your honor" rules for contact, as well as many rules for correct chivalry, dealing with "class" such as nobility and serfs, etc. Only the fighters generally compete in combat, the majority of members act out other roles, many in costume, of diverse "supporting characters", such as minstrels, servants, courtesans, royalty, merchants, tradesmen, etc. SCA members are frequently used as extras in movies and television shows, and many are used as consultants to make certain that scenes, costumes, dialog, etc. are historically authentic to the periods depicted in various media.
In the early to mid 1980s some individuals began a campaign against role playing gamin and organized a group called BADD (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons) to slander and try to ban all forms of role playing games. They kept trying to get the public to believe that participating in rpgs would lead to suicides, murders, occultism, anti-social behavior, and anything else they could come up with. Some schools, churches, and communities fell for the false rhetoric and banned role playing games during this time.
These negative incidents received a disproportionate amount of misguided media and press coverage on and off for a while. They attempted a number of lawsuits, and tried to pressure lawmakers to pass laws, all such legal attempts were quickly thrown out. This persisted sporadically until around the early 1990s when official reports on studies about role playing games, and the accusations of BADD and similar entities proved the group's claims falsified and techniques of coercion for false testimonies, severely suspect. There are still some extremist religious groups and some others obsessed with the idea that role playing gaming is just a means of occultism or other antisocial behavior.
There is no doubt that someone already extremely unstable, can go overboard with a role playing game, just as they can with gambling, extreme sports, overeating, drinking, escaping into reading obsessively and not living life, or doing drugs, or any of a number of other ?escapes?. Gaming is a tool like any other, that can be overused and abused.
RPGs provide an unprecedented range of benefits for a leisure activity, some of these are:
Social
Cooperation with diverse people/cultures/background on common goals
Leadership
Walking in others shoes/experiences
Exposure to other cultures, religions, histories, etc.
Languages/Linguistics
Multicultural mythologies
Learning/following the rules but also ?thinking outside of the box when needed?

Intellectual
Mathematics
Statistics
Researching
Problem solving (e.g. puzzles, riddles, mazes, etc.)
Reading/writing (technical)
History
Geography
Cartography
Geology
Economics
Government systems
Politics
Ecology
Metallurgy
Meteorology
Astronomy
Physics
Demographics
Warfare tactics and strategies
Technologies past and present
Architecture




Creative
Theatrics/acting
Improvisation
Reading/writing (creative)
Artwork (drawing, painting lead figures, etc.)
Music
Poetry

How many other single leisure activities in life can provide so rich and fulfilling an experience as in the preceding list?
A very basic and quick example of a role-playing process follows...
The game referee, sometimes known as the Game Master meets with the players in a comfortable setting around a table, or anywhere they find comfortable, and begins with a description:
"You and your friends have just walked into the courtyard of an ancient building. The courtyard is approximately forty feet square. The walls, built of a tan colored stone material apparently indigenous to the area, are built to the points of the compass. They are about thirty feet high. You entered from an opening in the south wall. You see the north wall has some stairs going up, and the east wall on your right has what appears to be a solid metal door hanging open on rusted hinges. The walls are crumbling in places, and much is overgrown with ivy and weeds. In the center is a large fountain about fifteen feet high in what appears to be the form of a series of three flower-like terraces. Surprisingly, the fountain is currently spouting clear and cool looking water. Looking at the water, your more acutely aware of how dry you mouths are after the long day's hike to arrive here, with no water previously in sight.
The wind is picking up as a storm from the south, with lightning and dark clouds gathering, quickly approaches. It is getting colder by the minute,
What do you do?"
At this point, those playing in the game each take turns telling the GM and the other players what actions they take. Some will have mundane results, others could have surprising consequences. Dice are used to simulate the random events that can occur in life, and make it unknown in advance, even to the referee, what exactly will happen next. For example, someone may decide to climb the stairs, there are some loose steps, and depending on how agile the player's made-up "character" is, with a roll of the dice, that character may leap to the top unscathed, or may have a bit of a fall to deal with. Of course, there also could be trouble in the form of "ill-intentioned bandits" lurking within the entrance of the door....
I began RPGing around 1979 at 9 years old, and continued on and off until a few years ago. My sons, 4, 6, & 8 are now learning to game as well. They, of their own volition, and despite my mild protests, have been sucked into the collecting craze of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pok-e-man collectible card games, but after introducing them to rpging, they regularly comment on how much more satisfying role playing gaming is.
Many kids are spending so many relatively anti-social hours on computer games, and failing to develop so many skills other than quick fine motor skill reflexes. RPGing offers a means to engage their ample imaginations with so many other benefits. Such gaming can help develop invaluable social, creative, intellectual, and leadership skills that can benefit them throughout their lives. People of all ages can benefit from using such activities in their leisure time. It encompasses such wide interests, covering fantasy and medieval, to science fiction, horror, gothic, mystery, comic book heroes, cartoons, anime, and any other setting anyone can imagine. Who hasn't wanted to pretend to be some favorite character of a book or movie or television show, or famous historical person or event?

MerpCon was a blast, but exhausting gaming for all three days from 9:00 am to past midnight.
Plans are already under way for MerpCon III.
Meanwhile I'm trying to catch up on a lot of stuff.
One is a getting a series of DVDs done that I made for the Kung Fu studio I'm training at (Kung Fu For Life.
My primary DVD burner died (still under warranty, but have to wait to get replaced), so in a hurry I picked up an HP DVD burner with LightScribe.
This burns the actual lable onto the the CD/DVD. It's only greyscale, but it's a lot better than trying to print out a label on paper and try to stick it on straight! ;-)
Maybe someday they'll offer it in color.
I was hoping to do some camp counselor work for Campfire USA's Camp Dart-lo, but I wasn't able to get the paperwork ready in time for next week, so I'll have to finish it up and see what else they have coming up. I was planning to work with their special needs children.
I have been spending time with the boys too. Having fun.
I'm now (re)watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Ciao for now.

I originally ordered Campaign Cartographer at the urging of  friend in Germany and the recommendations of several others in the MERP (Middle-earth Role Playing) community. It's supposed to be a great tool for making maps of all kinds.

I went as far as ordered the "Whole Shebang" bundle (everything they have).

The goal was to have it in time for MerpCon III in the last weekend of July 2007.

Well, it wasn't even close. They didn't even ship it untilthe end of August and it didn't arrive at Spokane until the middle of September. Which then was too late for that address.

So I had to request them to reship it (in September). It only arrived (finally!) at my house November 1st!

It was a box of MANY separate CDs. What a mess, and they accidentally left out one item that I'll now have to request they ship.

The outer shipping box seemed to be fine. but the plastic inner cd cases, well, more than half of them were broken in one way or another (cd center retainer broken), clip that holds the box closed broken, etc.

All together there are 16 boxes/CDs to install! Why they can't just bundle it all on one DVD is beyond me. These are nowhere near full Cd installs and it would save a lot in shipping, packaging, and hassle.

I initially tried to get CC3 (and add ons) to install under Codeweavers Cross Office demo but alas it wouldn't even get past the initial installation screen before an error. I'm hoping I can help in making it run on Linux eventually. So i resorted to botting up the previously never used dual boot option of Vista Home Premium on the laptop. Turns out installation under Vista for CC (like almost every other application and driver out there) doesn't work in a straight forward fashion either.

You need to run each install as "Run as Administrator".

Also you have to install the older .NET framework 1.1 (2.0 is native to Vista), as well as the SP1.1 patches and other patches before several of the add ons can install.

Also while installing Symbol Set 1 (Fantasy Overland), after the install it closed with an error "FCW32: FCW32.exe - Entry Point Not Found" - "The procedure entry point _ShowChanges#0 could not be located in the dynamic link library fcw32.exe". So I don't even know (yet) if it is going to be a corrupted install and need to be reinstalled, or if I have to start the whole thing over.

Additionally, after (nearly) finishing the installation of Symbol Set 2 (Floorplans), as you click on the final "OK" dialog button (doesn't matter if the two checkboxes for "view important last minute information" and "run CC" are checked), an error is generated: "Error 00000007F loading XP module - AdvanvedCC2.dll. Upon clicking the only option "OK" for that dialog, another appears "Error 00000007F loading XP module - BMPTOOLS.DLSS", and upon clicking that OK yet another appears: "Error 00000007F loading XP module - CD2.dll", and even ANOTHER appears "Error 00000007F loading XP module - Dungeons.dll", and then again with "Error 00000007F loading XP module - Effects.dll", then House.dll, then House_cc2.dll, then XPDD2.dll, XPDD2_cc2.dll, xphelp.dll, and finally xppict2.dll."

I'll have more on this review as I finish installing and learning to use the product. I sure hope it's worth all this hassle.

Cheers!

-Hawke

I am working fervently in preparation for this year's MIddle-earth Role Playing Convention (MerpCon II).


It's a 3 day event July 28th-30th.


Details at www.merpcon.com.


So I will be pretty much unavailable until Tuesday (I'll be taking all Monday to clean up after the convention.


It's 100% free event, so you're welcome to come on down and join in.


Cheers!

I have been role playing gaming (paper and dice type) since 1979 or so.
<br />
I have played and gm'd/dm'd most gaming systems in a lot of genres, but prefer fantasy/Tolkien settings the most for long term campaigns, but will play just about anything if it's a decent group.
<br />
I'm detailing my background in the [read more] section of this article in case you're interested.
<br />
I'm planning to move to Spokane in 1-3 months and am hoping to either join or create a new gaming group for gaming in Middle-earth using "whatever" system. Click [read more] for details...

I first started my introduction to the RPG world around 1979, I was only 9 years old, when a cousin DM'd (Dungeon Master) througha Dungeons & Dragons adventure, using an NPC character sheet.
<br />
Later on I hooked up with an older kid who started Gming me, and soon were doing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. By 1984 I was GMing D&D, AD&D, MERP, Rolemaster, and others.
<br />
I started to feed my "habit" by figuring out ways to make money gaming so I could keep buying more dice, lead figures, modules, and rule books. I became and RPGA member around then.
<br />
I started GMing 3 groups on the weekends around 1985, onward.
<br />
Two Saturday groups around 4-8 players, and one Sunday group anywhere from 8-12 (And for about 2months up to 20 players).
<br />
I posted at all the hobby stores and libraries about the games available, and people would call and join.
<br />
I charged $1 per game session per player.
<br />
This added up fast, to around 20-40 bucks a weekend. That was good for enough "supplies".
<br />
Games would sometimes be at my house, or at a local library using their free "quiet rooms".
<br />
So, I arranged at a library to have about 50 games, with "subGMs" gming about 4-8 players each.
<br />

<br />
I then setup a local "con" (Convention)
<br />
Each player paid $1 per player per session.
<br />
Every GM was given the same aventures, that I created from scratch, I GM'd as well.
<br />
AS groups slowly had players die off throughout the day, those who succeeded/survived, would hang around to join the "main" group I was Gming, after going through a few other subGms.
<br />
Eventually after the library's closing time (we started at 8 am, and they let us stay late until midnight, the final group survived and achieved the final goals of the final module. It was a blast!
<br />
A lot of those eliminated just hung around to watch, and it was fun having the energy of an involved audience. It was a LOT of work preparing. I didn't have any prizes or anything arranged for make it to the final group, the fun and challenge itself was the reward.
<br />
I used to game insance amounts from 8 to 16 to 24 hours a day, for a whole weekend, or even longer when school was out, between whatever jobs I had (working since 9 years old).
<br />
Gaming has slowly taken a back seat to "real life" over the years, but it is always there.
<br />
I prefer gaming most in  J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth setting, I don't really care "That much" about which system. I've used ICE's MERP, Rolemaster (various), Harnmaster, and have the Decipher rules, but haven't hooked up with any Decipher gamers yet to really play test it.
<br />
I created back in 1998, merp.com and took over the mailing list from Mario shortly thereafter that he had been hosting for years via silent-tower.org. He still hosts the rolemaster and many other lists.
<br />
Several years ago I handed the reigns of the merp.com to an international team of volunteers. They have now run for years the mailing list, website, forums, servers, and more.
<br />
I have created various software programs and sites over the years to hepl assist GMs and players in RPGing.
<br />
Suitegm - www.suitegm.com
<br />
MerpMaker
<br />
GamerFinder
<br />
and various little utilities.
<br />
I also successfully setup and used audio/video conferencing over the Internet to game with players all over the world simultaneously.
<br />
I hope when I have better bandwidth again, I will do so again.
<br />
Meanwhile I'm looking for players to hook up with in the Spokane, Washington area.
<br />
Please email me at hawke[at}hawkes-haven.com if interested.
<br />
I have all my materials still for ICE MERP, RM, and many, many, many, many other game systems.
<br />
Here's a not quite complete list of the game systems I have and have played/gm'd:
<br />
D&D/AD&D
<br />
MERPS/RM2/RMSS/RMFRP
<br />
Harnmaster
<br />
Call of Cthulu
<br />
Paranoia
<br />
Star Wars
<br />
Elric/Stormbringer
<br />
Mechwarrior
<br />
Battletech
<br />
Robotech
<br />
Car Wars (modifed to be more RPG style)
<br />
Robin Hood
<br />
Top Secret SI
<br />
Thieves' World
<br />
Elfquest (played, don't have)
<br />

<br />
I'll be moving to the Spokane area around December/January 2003/2004.