EricNoah
Adventurer
I've been looking back at some old grad school papers and sort of realized that while it SEEMS like I've been using the Internet to improve my gaming life forever, it has really only been a few years. On December 16, 1994, I turned in a paper for my Reference class on the topic of "unusual sources of information for a given topic" (in my case, I chose RPGs). The project was known as the "fugitive paper" for some reason.
At that time, I had known about the Internet for a few months, and only used it sporadically at best. I didn't own my own computer at the time and so was relying totally on my University access; I had only seen the web maybe 2 or 3 times. Here are some notes about my first experiences seeking out RPG information on the internet from that paper...
--------------------
The Internet in General
Until I started school this semester, I only knew of the Internet from what was in the popular media. Fortunately, it turned out that UW's WiscInfo Gopher was a little easier than I had expected . . . and yet, it took a lot longer than I had anticipated to come up with good results. I thought maybe I could just type in what I wanted and, presto, it would appear. I learned (the hard way) that using the Internet takes many of the same skills that are required of a good reference librarian: patience, flexibility, and creative approaches to problem-solving. Overall, I would say that my experience with the Internet was a pretty good one.
Listservers
Early in the semester I attended a basic Internet workshop. During that presentation, I learned of the concept of the listserver. I instinctively knew that there must be many gamers out there that were using listservers to share stories, home-made materials, and reviews of published gaming materials. Then only trick would be to find the addresses of these listservers.
I spent much of the next day cruising the net, looking for RPG listservers. I found a few through the University of Minnesota Gopher, and decided to try a few out. The results of my "test-runs" are included at the end of this paper.
While I was "subscribed" these lists, I realized I had a great opportunity to interview others on the lists about their experiences with listservers. I asked questions such as: How has this listserver helped you? Have you encountered any problems? What does TSR think of these lists? I almost immediately got several good responses.
Steve F. (from University of Michigan) says that being subscribed to a RPG listserver "...helps me to be a better [Dungeon Master], since I now have the resources of a great number of gaming groups at my disposal." While "some people [on this list] are borderline illiterate or just plain stupid," most "have intelligent ... points of view that are interesting to read and discuss."
Joseph D. had this to say about TSR's attitude toward "unofficial" distribution of home-made materials using their rules: "TSR views the Internet not as loyal customers, but as competitors eager to cheat them .... This attitude has cost TSR quite a bit of negative publicity and lost customers."
Robert B. (of University of Washington) notes some drawbacks to the listserver method of communication: "As with any email, the body language is totally lost, and it's easy to misinterpret what's been said/written."
Glenn H. (of Norway) definitely sees listservers as a big help for gamers: "It works in several ways, both as a forum for technical details, questions, etc., and as a forum for stories, fun and jokes. It also gives you a feeling for what's going on in the gaming world.... I have gotten some very nifty ideas for plots, [magical] items, spells, poisons, etc."
Derek (no last name given) felt that The Art of Game Master's list was particularly useful: "... the list combines a common interest with extremely diverse views and a friendly atmosphere. Having all of that is sort of like having a group of scholars attached to the back of my brain that I can carry around with me and ask question before and after game sessions."
I personally felt that being subscribed to these lists was a great deal of fun, and a neat way to meet other gamers. As a reference tool, it seemed to meet some of my specific needs.
Netbooks
Some intrepid souls on the Internet take it upon themselves to collect home-made bits and pieces into bigger files, and leave them for anyone who's interested to pick up. These collections are known as Netbooks. There are Netbooks on lots of RPG topics; spells, monsters, magical items, and characters from the various gaming "worlds." Netbooks are not sold, nor do they pay for the submissions to them. They are simple labors of love, free for the taking via FTP. Some specific Netbooks and a general list of Netbooks is included at the end of this paper.
Wonderful World of the World Wide Web
The newest, easiest way to cruise the Net nowadays is the World Wide Web. It combines the ease of Gopher with the ability to "play" multi-media. I got a chance to use WWW at the Biotechnology Center, and it was a lot of fun. Getting to good sources of RPG materials was easy, and once I got there, I stayed and played.
The best part of WWW is its ability to take multi-media files and display them directly, without the user having to go through a lot of steps. For instance, once I got to the Fantasy Art area, I could click on an icon and almost immediately see a full-color painting on my screen. I see a future where interested gamers could find full adventures ready for downloading, complete with drawn maps, illustrations, recorded sound bites, text, maybe even video or animation. If TSR were to get into this at the ground floor, I think they could find a way to make some money off of it.
Conclusions: Fugitive Materials and Reference Work
As much as the media likes to portray a future where librarians might not be needed, the Fugitive Paper confirmed for me my suspicion that reference work is more than being able to use standard reference tools. While a "reference book" might be transferred into machine-readable format, there are many sources of information that just can't be mechanized. Interviews, phone calls, letters, and in-depth hunting for information are activities that require a living, breathing human being -- and a smart, determined, creative one at that!
Even the advent of the Internet confirms more strongly that someone is needed to help make order out of that chaos, both at the user end and at the design/creation end. Whether that someone is a librarian will depend on librarians: if we are willing to step out of traditional roles, take risks, and try new things, then I think that librarians can be the pioneers on the "information superhighway" rather than mere passengers or traffic cops.
Real reference work, then, is an exquisitely human undertaking. It is somewhat of a relief to discover that not everything can be found in a book, and that some things get passed on from one person to another with a little less formality.
--------------
[The other part of this assignment was a massive bibliography of these "unusual sources" I uncovered. It, of course, was known as the "fugitive biblography." Here are some of the more relevant, Internet-related, resources I uncovered.]
Internet Resources
Basic Internet Guides
Many Internet Guides contain lists of FTP sites, bulletin boards, listservers and other items of interest to gamers. (All other Internet resources listed on these two pages are ones that I found myself as a result of "surfing the net.") Below are two such guides:
Smith, Richard J. and Mark Gibbs. Navigating the Internet. Indianapolis: Sams Publishing, 1993. RPG list on p. 371.
Hahn, Harley and Rick Stout. Internet Yellow Pages. Berkeley: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1994. Listed alphabetically under "Fantasy Role-Playing Games."
Finding Listservers
One "list of lists" is on the University of Minnesota Gopher/Fun & Games/Games. A two-part listing of dozens of listservers, their addresses, moderators, and specialties is provided.
Another directory of role-playing related listservers is available through World Wide Web (see below).
Listservers
ADND-L (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons List). Subscribe: LISTSERV@ UTARLVM1.BITNET. This list "covers general topics relating to AD&D, plus gaming material." Despite its name, this is not a TSR sanctioned site. This is a very active list; I typically got 30-50 messages per day. Discussions on this list included a good-natured war of words concerning the superiority of elves over dwarves (and vice versa); new spells, magical items, and monsters; ideas for adventures; complaints about TSR and its alleged quest to wipe out "non-official" D&D bulletin boards, FTP sites, etc.; fiction; requests for help in interpreting rules ("If you turn invisible, can you see yourself?"); requests for players for new play-by-email sessions. The folks here were plenty nice to me when I asked for information about their list.
TAOGM-L (The Art of Game Mastering List). Subscribe: LISTSERV@WIZARDS. COM. This is a list supported by Wizards of the Coast, the makers of the fabulously popular Magic: The Gathering card game. GMAST was a substantially less busy list; I got quite a few "Is anybody else on this list?" messages the first day or so. Once things got rolling, though, I found the folks here to be very interested in helping each other out. Overall, they were a very mature group of gamers who were quite interested in GMing as an "art form." Typical discussion was to be found on transitions between adventures; cliffhangers as a way to generate interest for the next gaming session; linear vs. non-linear adventures; how to deal with problem players; and a very touching discussion of how to deal with the death of a player (not a character, but the real person).
GMAST-L (Game Masters' Development Group). Subscribe: LISTSERV@UTCVM. BITNET. This was also a very busy list, generating 30-50 messages per day. The material on this list was general game master issues, plus specific information on several less-popular game systems. There seemed to be a little antagonism against players of TSR games (or "T$R," as it is sometimes called here). About half the material generated could be construed as "useful," while the other half was just people jabbering back and forth about "fluff" topics.
Netbook Directory
A directory of FRPG netbooks is available through the University of Minnesota Gopher/Fun & Games/Games under "Netbooks." These entries give the compiler's name and e-mail, and an e-mail address where the netbook can be obtained via anonymous FTP.
Specific Netbooks of Interest
Given here are the names of some useful Netbooks, the compiler, and a brief description of contents.
Net.Monstrous.Compendium / Robert Christian <robertc@garfield.cs.mun.ca>
Contains statistics and descriptions of new monsters.
Net.Bard.Songs.Book / Jeff Gostin <jgostin@erternal.chi.il.us>
Lots of funny songs for minstrel characters.
Net.Forgotten.Realms.Book / Chris <cmk113@psuvm.psu.edu>
Miscellaneous stuff pertaining to TSR's most popular game setting.
Net.Plots.Book / Aaron Sher <ars3cif@uhura.cc.rochester>
Two-part file containing plotlines for interesting adventures.
Net.Prayer.Book / Boudewijn Wayers <wsbusrl@urc.tue.nl>
Spells for priest or cleric characters.
Net.Spell.Book / Boudewijn Wayers <wsbusrl@urc.tue.nl>
Spells for wizard characters.
Bulletin Boards
The following sites contain information that is more "historical" than "fantasy," but should be useful to any fantasy game set in the Middle Ages. Both include information on how to join their respective associations:
Society for Creative Anachronism (via Ball State Gopher). Includes Medieval Law, Chants, Recipes, and jokes galore.
Medieval Society (via Plymouth State College Gopher). Includes literature, clothing, where to get medieval weapons training, and "Medieval Stuff for Sale."
Commercial Site
TSR On-Line via America On-Line. Accessible via keyword: TSR. This is a brand new service available from AOL. One can access several "areas," including new TSR products, "Download of the Month," a Dragon Magazine page, a "live" area where you can write to anyone else who happens to be on at the same time, a "Library," an "On-line Catalog" of TSR products, a "Q&A" page, and an art gallery. Seems very product-oriented.
World Wide Web Sites [note that at this time I didn't really understand the concept of a "web address" so I am describing how you could get to it through the original version of Yahoo]
Internet Directories
-->Yahoo
----> Entertainment
------> Games
--------> Role-playing: This is an extremely extensive page, with lots of fun tools, references and resources.
----------> Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
--------------> Listservers: This is a directory of active listservers pertaining to role- playing games.
---------->Fantasy-Related Pictures: This is one place that the media capabilities of WWW come in handy. A very extensive gallery of fantasy artwork is available for browsing or downloading. A simple click of the mouse displays the picture in living color right on your screen.
----------> Bryant's Role Playing Page
--------------> Internet Resources for RPGs: This is a listing of bulletin boards and other services available on the Internet.
-----------------------
[By that next spring I had learned to make basic web sites, and had built the first sites for the UW Library School and the UW Water Resources Center. Then in 1996 I took my current job as librarian at Waunakee Middle School, serving as district webmaster. And then of course in 1999 I learned that WotC would be producing a "3rd Edition" of D&D. And the rest is history...]
At that time, I had known about the Internet for a few months, and only used it sporadically at best. I didn't own my own computer at the time and so was relying totally on my University access; I had only seen the web maybe 2 or 3 times. Here are some notes about my first experiences seeking out RPG information on the internet from that paper...
--------------------
The Internet in General
Until I started school this semester, I only knew of the Internet from what was in the popular media. Fortunately, it turned out that UW's WiscInfo Gopher was a little easier than I had expected . . . and yet, it took a lot longer than I had anticipated to come up with good results. I thought maybe I could just type in what I wanted and, presto, it would appear. I learned (the hard way) that using the Internet takes many of the same skills that are required of a good reference librarian: patience, flexibility, and creative approaches to problem-solving. Overall, I would say that my experience with the Internet was a pretty good one.
Listservers
Early in the semester I attended a basic Internet workshop. During that presentation, I learned of the concept of the listserver. I instinctively knew that there must be many gamers out there that were using listservers to share stories, home-made materials, and reviews of published gaming materials. Then only trick would be to find the addresses of these listservers.
I spent much of the next day cruising the net, looking for RPG listservers. I found a few through the University of Minnesota Gopher, and decided to try a few out. The results of my "test-runs" are included at the end of this paper.
While I was "subscribed" these lists, I realized I had a great opportunity to interview others on the lists about their experiences with listservers. I asked questions such as: How has this listserver helped you? Have you encountered any problems? What does TSR think of these lists? I almost immediately got several good responses.
Steve F. (from University of Michigan) says that being subscribed to a RPG listserver "...helps me to be a better [Dungeon Master], since I now have the resources of a great number of gaming groups at my disposal." While "some people [on this list] are borderline illiterate or just plain stupid," most "have intelligent ... points of view that are interesting to read and discuss."
Joseph D. had this to say about TSR's attitude toward "unofficial" distribution of home-made materials using their rules: "TSR views the Internet not as loyal customers, but as competitors eager to cheat them .... This attitude has cost TSR quite a bit of negative publicity and lost customers."
Robert B. (of University of Washington) notes some drawbacks to the listserver method of communication: "As with any email, the body language is totally lost, and it's easy to misinterpret what's been said/written."
Glenn H. (of Norway) definitely sees listservers as a big help for gamers: "It works in several ways, both as a forum for technical details, questions, etc., and as a forum for stories, fun and jokes. It also gives you a feeling for what's going on in the gaming world.... I have gotten some very nifty ideas for plots, [magical] items, spells, poisons, etc."
Derek (no last name given) felt that The Art of Game Master's list was particularly useful: "... the list combines a common interest with extremely diverse views and a friendly atmosphere. Having all of that is sort of like having a group of scholars attached to the back of my brain that I can carry around with me and ask question before and after game sessions."
I personally felt that being subscribed to these lists was a great deal of fun, and a neat way to meet other gamers. As a reference tool, it seemed to meet some of my specific needs.
Netbooks
Some intrepid souls on the Internet take it upon themselves to collect home-made bits and pieces into bigger files, and leave them for anyone who's interested to pick up. These collections are known as Netbooks. There are Netbooks on lots of RPG topics; spells, monsters, magical items, and characters from the various gaming "worlds." Netbooks are not sold, nor do they pay for the submissions to them. They are simple labors of love, free for the taking via FTP. Some specific Netbooks and a general list of Netbooks is included at the end of this paper.
Wonderful World of the World Wide Web
The newest, easiest way to cruise the Net nowadays is the World Wide Web. It combines the ease of Gopher with the ability to "play" multi-media. I got a chance to use WWW at the Biotechnology Center, and it was a lot of fun. Getting to good sources of RPG materials was easy, and once I got there, I stayed and played.
The best part of WWW is its ability to take multi-media files and display them directly, without the user having to go through a lot of steps. For instance, once I got to the Fantasy Art area, I could click on an icon and almost immediately see a full-color painting on my screen. I see a future where interested gamers could find full adventures ready for downloading, complete with drawn maps, illustrations, recorded sound bites, text, maybe even video or animation. If TSR were to get into this at the ground floor, I think they could find a way to make some money off of it.
Conclusions: Fugitive Materials and Reference Work
As much as the media likes to portray a future where librarians might not be needed, the Fugitive Paper confirmed for me my suspicion that reference work is more than being able to use standard reference tools. While a "reference book" might be transferred into machine-readable format, there are many sources of information that just can't be mechanized. Interviews, phone calls, letters, and in-depth hunting for information are activities that require a living, breathing human being -- and a smart, determined, creative one at that!
Even the advent of the Internet confirms more strongly that someone is needed to help make order out of that chaos, both at the user end and at the design/creation end. Whether that someone is a librarian will depend on librarians: if we are willing to step out of traditional roles, take risks, and try new things, then I think that librarians can be the pioneers on the "information superhighway" rather than mere passengers or traffic cops.
Real reference work, then, is an exquisitely human undertaking. It is somewhat of a relief to discover that not everything can be found in a book, and that some things get passed on from one person to another with a little less formality.
--------------
[The other part of this assignment was a massive bibliography of these "unusual sources" I uncovered. It, of course, was known as the "fugitive biblography." Here are some of the more relevant, Internet-related, resources I uncovered.]
Internet Resources
Basic Internet Guides
Many Internet Guides contain lists of FTP sites, bulletin boards, listservers and other items of interest to gamers. (All other Internet resources listed on these two pages are ones that I found myself as a result of "surfing the net.") Below are two such guides:
Smith, Richard J. and Mark Gibbs. Navigating the Internet. Indianapolis: Sams Publishing, 1993. RPG list on p. 371.
Hahn, Harley and Rick Stout. Internet Yellow Pages. Berkeley: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1994. Listed alphabetically under "Fantasy Role-Playing Games."
Finding Listservers
One "list of lists" is on the University of Minnesota Gopher/Fun & Games/Games. A two-part listing of dozens of listservers, their addresses, moderators, and specialties is provided.
Another directory of role-playing related listservers is available through World Wide Web (see below).
Listservers
ADND-L (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons List). Subscribe: LISTSERV@ UTARLVM1.BITNET. This list "covers general topics relating to AD&D, plus gaming material." Despite its name, this is not a TSR sanctioned site. This is a very active list; I typically got 30-50 messages per day. Discussions on this list included a good-natured war of words concerning the superiority of elves over dwarves (and vice versa); new spells, magical items, and monsters; ideas for adventures; complaints about TSR and its alleged quest to wipe out "non-official" D&D bulletin boards, FTP sites, etc.; fiction; requests for help in interpreting rules ("If you turn invisible, can you see yourself?"); requests for players for new play-by-email sessions. The folks here were plenty nice to me when I asked for information about their list.
TAOGM-L (The Art of Game Mastering List). Subscribe: LISTSERV@WIZARDS. COM. This is a list supported by Wizards of the Coast, the makers of the fabulously popular Magic: The Gathering card game. GMAST was a substantially less busy list; I got quite a few "Is anybody else on this list?" messages the first day or so. Once things got rolling, though, I found the folks here to be very interested in helping each other out. Overall, they were a very mature group of gamers who were quite interested in GMing as an "art form." Typical discussion was to be found on transitions between adventures; cliffhangers as a way to generate interest for the next gaming session; linear vs. non-linear adventures; how to deal with problem players; and a very touching discussion of how to deal with the death of a player (not a character, but the real person).
GMAST-L (Game Masters' Development Group). Subscribe: LISTSERV@UTCVM. BITNET. This was also a very busy list, generating 30-50 messages per day. The material on this list was general game master issues, plus specific information on several less-popular game systems. There seemed to be a little antagonism against players of TSR games (or "T$R," as it is sometimes called here). About half the material generated could be construed as "useful," while the other half was just people jabbering back and forth about "fluff" topics.
Netbook Directory
A directory of FRPG netbooks is available through the University of Minnesota Gopher/Fun & Games/Games under "Netbooks." These entries give the compiler's name and e-mail, and an e-mail address where the netbook can be obtained via anonymous FTP.
Specific Netbooks of Interest
Given here are the names of some useful Netbooks, the compiler, and a brief description of contents.
Net.Monstrous.Compendium / Robert Christian <robertc@garfield.cs.mun.ca>
Contains statistics and descriptions of new monsters.
Net.Bard.Songs.Book / Jeff Gostin <jgostin@erternal.chi.il.us>
Lots of funny songs for minstrel characters.
Net.Forgotten.Realms.Book / Chris <cmk113@psuvm.psu.edu>
Miscellaneous stuff pertaining to TSR's most popular game setting.
Net.Plots.Book / Aaron Sher <ars3cif@uhura.cc.rochester>
Two-part file containing plotlines for interesting adventures.
Net.Prayer.Book / Boudewijn Wayers <wsbusrl@urc.tue.nl>
Spells for priest or cleric characters.
Net.Spell.Book / Boudewijn Wayers <wsbusrl@urc.tue.nl>
Spells for wizard characters.
Bulletin Boards
The following sites contain information that is more "historical" than "fantasy," but should be useful to any fantasy game set in the Middle Ages. Both include information on how to join their respective associations:
Society for Creative Anachronism (via Ball State Gopher). Includes Medieval Law, Chants, Recipes, and jokes galore.
Medieval Society (via Plymouth State College Gopher). Includes literature, clothing, where to get medieval weapons training, and "Medieval Stuff for Sale."
Commercial Site
TSR On-Line via America On-Line. Accessible via keyword: TSR. This is a brand new service available from AOL. One can access several "areas," including new TSR products, "Download of the Month," a Dragon Magazine page, a "live" area where you can write to anyone else who happens to be on at the same time, a "Library," an "On-line Catalog" of TSR products, a "Q&A" page, and an art gallery. Seems very product-oriented.
World Wide Web Sites [note that at this time I didn't really understand the concept of a "web address" so I am describing how you could get to it through the original version of Yahoo]
Internet Directories
-->Yahoo
----> Entertainment
------> Games
--------> Role-playing: This is an extremely extensive page, with lots of fun tools, references and resources.
----------> Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
--------------> Listservers: This is a directory of active listservers pertaining to role- playing games.
---------->Fantasy-Related Pictures: This is one place that the media capabilities of WWW come in handy. A very extensive gallery of fantasy artwork is available for browsing or downloading. A simple click of the mouse displays the picture in living color right on your screen.
----------> Bryant's Role Playing Page
--------------> Internet Resources for RPGs: This is a listing of bulletin boards and other services available on the Internet.
-----------------------
[By that next spring I had learned to make basic web sites, and had built the first sites for the UW Library School and the UW Water Resources Center. Then in 1996 I took my current job as librarian at Waunakee Middle School, serving as district webmaster. And then of course in 1999 I learned that WotC would be producing a "3rd Edition" of D&D. And the rest is history...]
Last edited:
