How do you read a tabletop RPG book, and other very important questions
That which we call a book by any other word smells just as inky.
When you think of a tabletop RPG–the physical product that sits on a hobby store shelf–your mind most likely conjures a book. Thus, it should be hard to argue with the claim that we read tabletop RPGs as much as we play them. Nobody ever refutes that second point (sit down, lyric games), but the first is barely discussed with the same rigor and fervor. We do read RPG books, right?
Logically, my next question was; okay, how? What are the processes, the preferences, and even the best and most efficient ways to read a tabletop RPG? Are these lines of inquiry creatively bankrupt, and do I need to chill out, pour a cup of tea, and treat Lancer like a Dostoevsky novel? If I’m to call myself an expert reporting on tabletop RPGs, I should at least be familiar with the dominant form of engaging with the medium. So, I found consensus through crowdsourcing opinion-making and asked two dozen players, designers, and tabletop hobbyists how they engage with these book-esque objects.
The results were as confounding as they were illuminating.
