Transformative Play Initiative

TPI members Sarah Lynne Bowman and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas had a wonderful time running a lecture, larp, and workshop, at History@Play hosted by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg! Huge thanks to Sandra Camarda and Jean Botev for their fantastic hospitality and stimulating conversation. We were happy to share transformative role-playing game design content from EDGE and our first democratic design workshop from Larpocracy, as well as a revised version of the edu-larp The Committee designed by Westborg, Sarah, and Kaya Toft Thejls, with revisions by Sandra to focus on museum curators deliberating over how to handle controversial archival material. We hope for more collaboration opportunities in the future!

A new Special Issue of the International Journal of Role Playing is now available! This ten article collection resulted from the Role-Play in Games Conference had at Tampere University last Spring. Notable, TPI members Sarah Lynne Bowman and Josephine Baird have an article with therapeutic game scholar Lauri Lukka. We hope you enjoy!

Findable here: https://journals.uu.se/IJRP

Here are the articles in the collection:

"Editorial: Special Issue on Foundational Approaches and the Role-Play in Games Conference"
Leland Masek, Daniel Fernández Galeote, Antonio Pomposini Tabja,
Felipe Ignacio García Soriano, Jaakko Stenros, and Ian Sturrock

This issue of the International Journal of Role-playing is based on the proceedings of the first Role-Play in Games Conference hosted in Tampere, Finland, April 9th and 10th 2025, by the Games As Art Center and Tampere University Game Research Lab.

"Another Kind of Future/Past: Decolonial and Asiafuturist Imagination in the Philippines from the 19th Century to the Contemporary Tabletop Role-Playing Games of "
Adrian Hermann

This piece explores four recent tabletop role-playing games from the Philippines arguing they expand a rich tradition of 19th-century speculative writers with a decolonial and anticolonial vision of a future-past.

"What are Studio Games?: Using the GFI Model to Investigate Chinese Jubensha"
Pengze Zheng

This piece presents two expert interviews on the popular commercial studio model of larp in China and “Jubensha”. These studios, provide services, customized props, themed environments, and professional game masters to craft a unique business model and type of role-playing experience.

"From 'Playing a Role' to 'Role-Playing Games': The Genealogy and History of the Term ‘Role-Playing’"
Matyas Hartyandi

This article genealogically maps the meanings of “role-playing” across nine historical and disciplinary contexts. It argues that the ideas that underpin contemporary hobby is role-playing are layered, interdisciplinary and hybrid.

"Hack, Slash, Heal, Repeat: Theorizing the Concept of the Murderhobo in Dungeons & Dragons"
Steven Dashiell

This work introduces and fleshes out the playstyle “murderhobo,” which is widely known in the gaming world, with a clear definition for game studies.

"On the Metaplot: A Look at Transmedial Storytelling in Tabletop Role-Playing Games"
Jukka Särkijärvi

This work theoretically expands on the concept of “metaplot” as an ongoing story inside of a game world created and released by a game publisher. He argues this represents a core tension between role-playing’s interest in creative agency for players and the economic realities of game publication.

"Losing and Finding Oneself: Duo- and Autoethnographic Study of ‘Character’ in the larp Superrealism"
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Lauri Lukka, and Josephine Baird

This text uses multiple ethnographic methodologies to bring designer intent and player experience into discourse. It argues that a variety of design choices in larp may construct a meaningful and transformative experience for its players.

"How Do You Want To Do This?: Us, Role-Playing Games, and The End of the World"
Șerban Mark Pop

This article uses a case study of Critical Role to analyze the persistent foundations of capitalist realism even in a collective storytelling medium.

"The Dynamic Loop Model: A Systemic-Cybernetic Meta-Theoretical Framework for Understanding Tabletop Role-Playing Games"
Felipe Ignacio García Soriano and Daniel González Cohens

This article introduces the Dynamic Loop Model for analyzing and understanding trpgs, based on cybernetics, Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model and Niklas Luhmann’s Social Systems Theory.

International Journal of Role-Playing The International Journal of Role-playing is a double-blind peer-reviewed scholarly journal that examines all facets of role-playing games for an audience of academics, designers, and players. The journal emphasizes analog role-playing games such as tabletop, live action role-playing (larp), and fre...