Innovations in Tabletop Gaming

In this course, we will investigate the current "renaissance of tabletop gaming" by looking at boardgames and role-playing games. We will look at different types of games, investigate new genres (e.g. narrative role-playing games), new ways of playing (e.g. cooperative) as well as cross-overs between video games and tabletop games. We will also look at the place of modern tabletop games in contemporary art and culture and the ways they create meaning (e.g. in the form of political and activist games).

To get a better understanding of how those games work, we will play selected examples, discuss and analyse them and also tinker with modifying their mechanics.

Modify a game and explain your modifications in a short written essay.