In the field of digital media, the study of interactive narratives holds the aesthetics of agency and dramatic agency as core to digital design. These principles hold that users must reliably be able to navigate the interface and the narrative elements of the artifact in order to have a lasting appeal. However, due to recent academic and critical discussions several digital artifacts are being focused on as possible new ways of engaging users. These artifacts do not adhere to the design aesthetics foundational to digital media, but represent a movement away from the principle of dramatic agency in interactive narratives. In an attempt to understand this separation and offer a solution to this developing issue, another non-digital interactive medium was studied: tabletop role-playing games. The designers of this medium were studied to understand the techniques and methods they employed to create dramatic interactive narratives for their users. These case studies suggested the designers used a third design aesthetic, design agency, to help balance the tension between agency and dramatic agency of the users of their medium. This design aesthetic could provide a balancing force to the current issues arising within interactive narrative.

Though tabletop role-playing games, or TRPGs, have received some scholarly attention since the creation of Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s, very few scholars have considered how TRPGs function as a vehicle for long-form narrative. As an inherently collaborative form of narrative, the TRPG demonstrates a unique relationship between author and audience, as participants take on both roles during play. Previous narratological models of author-audience interaction are insufficient to understand the way that authorship functions in the TRPG, and the rise of actual play shows, where TRPGs are broadcast for an audience of nonparticipants, adds an extra layer of complexity to these author-audience relations. This thesis identifies key narrative elements of the TRPG, including game mechanics, framing, and collaboration, and examines how popular actual play shows and their graphic adaptations engage with these elements to create their narratives. This examination indicates that TRPGs create complex author-webs where each participant is both author and audience, and this influence pushes actual play shows and further adaptations of TRPG narratives to expand the ways in which audiences can influence and interact with narratives as they are created. The TRPG genre continues to explore how these elements can be developed beyond traditional understandings of narrative, and this development provides a framework for further narratological study of interactive works, which will only continue to evolve and grow in popularity and complexity in the continuing digital era. / Master of Arts / The tabletop role-playing game, or TRPG, has been growing in popularity since the creation of Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s, and the rise of the actual play show, where a TRPG game is broadcast to viewers via video or podcast, has spurred both casual and scholarly interest in the TRPG. Players of TRPGs create narratives through collaborative storytelling moderated by certain rules and game mechanics, so each participant in a TRPG acts as both author and audience, as they create certain elements of the narrative and also witness the narrative creations of the other players. This particular collaborative author-audience model is not seen in any other form of narrative, and existing models of author-audience interactions do not account for authorship in the TRPG. Therefore, this thesis examines how several elements of the TRPG, such as the use of game mechanics to structure the narrative, the multiple frames in which players interact with each other, and the collaboration inherent in every game, contribute to the ways that authorship and audience interact in the narrative. It also looks at how popular actual play shows and the graphic novels they've created of their narratives engage with these elements to create their own unique audience interactions. As audience participation in the development of the stories they're consuming become more prominent with the rise of video games and other interactive media, an understanding of the evolving relationship between authorship and audience developed by the TRPG becomes important for examining interactive works in general.

Tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) present a unique opportunity to study political behavior. In educational settings, role-playing games (RPGs) of all kinds have proven to be valuable educational tools, and even when played for fun, participating in role playing games has been shown to increase one's level of confidence. Knowing this, I designed an experiment to attempt to increase internal political efficacy through the use of a politically-themed TRPG. I took inspiration from the original TRPGs of the 1970s and 1980s which were used purely for entertainment purposes to create my own game in a traditional TRPG setting with current issues woven into the story of the game (also called a campaign), and utilized quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze participants' reactions to the campaign and levels of efficacy. In doing so, I seek to determine whether players will recognize real-world issues when presented in a science fiction or fantasy-themed campaign. Furthermore, given that TRPGs have the potential to shape players' understanding of how the world works and their place in it, will players be more motivated to act on said issues presented in-game, even if they do not consciously make the connection between the real-life issues presented in the science fiction/fantasy setting and those same issues in the real world?

I denna uppsats undersöks användningen, användbarheten, samt för- och nackdelar medäventyrsrollspel som behandlingsform vid psykisk ohälsa och autismspektrumtillstånd.För att studera detta har vi genomfört en kvalitativ intervjustudie med verksammapraktiker. Resultatet visar att behandlingens struktur är liknande för olika klientgrupperäven om behandlingsfokuset kan skilja sig beroende på klientens problematik.Återkommande teman är användandet av fantasin som verktyg vid behandling,äventyrsrollspelet som ramverk, social träning samt möjligheten till personligutveckling vilket är positiva aspekter av behandlingen. Dock är behandlingen begränsadför individer med vissa typer av problematik och skulle därmed fungera bättre som enkompletterande terapi. Den har även högt ställda kompetenskrav på behandlare som villanvända metoden. I diskussionen använder vi symbolisk interaktionism som teoretisktramverk för att tolka resultatet. / This study explores the usage, applications, as well as the pros and cons of utilizingtabletop role-playing games as a method of therapy for individuals with mental illnessand autism spectrum disorder. Qualitative interviews were conducted with practitionerswho apply the method. The result shows that the method is structured similarly fordifferent client groups while treatment focus changes according to individual diagnoses.Some recurring themes were: fantasy as a tool for therapy, the tabletop role-playinggame framework, social training, and possibility for personal growth which are allpositive aspects of the treatment. However, the treatment has limitations when used onindividuals with certain types of mental health problems and would instead work betteras a complementary treatment. However, a high level of competence is required forpractitioners who wish to utilize the method. In the discussion we seek to answer ourexplored issues through a symbolic interactionist theoretical standpoint.

I denna studie undersöks hur bordsrollspel kan användas i en behandlingskontext. För att studera detta har vi genomfört en kvalitativ studie av verksamma utövares medverkan i podcaster och panelsamtal uppladdade på Youtube där de berättar om metoden. Resultatet visar att bordsrollspel används i två, delvis överlappande, syften: social färdighetsträning och behandling av psykisk ohälsa. Bordsrollspel beskrivs som en social aktivitet med många inneboende positiva följder för spelaren, exempelvis ökad samarbetsförmåga, perspektivtagande och känsloreglering. När aktiviteten leds av en tränad behandlare kan spelet användas för att nå uttalade terapeutiska mål. Detta ställer emellertid stora krav på spelledaren som behöver ha god kännedom om både behandling och spelet. Behandlingen riktar sig främst till ungdomar med svårigheter med socialt samspel, men den har också potential att användas med vuxna klienter. För att diskutera materialet har ett symbolisk interaktionistiskt perspektiv använts. / This study examines how tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) can be used as an intervention. We have conducted a qualitative study of practitioners' participation in podcasts and panel discussions published on Youtube where they talk about TTRPGs as an intervention. The results demonstrate how TTRPGs are utilized with two, partially overlapping purposes: social skills training and treatment for mental health conditions. TTRPGs are described as a social activity with a number of inherent benefits for the player, such as increased collaboration skills, perspective-taking and emotional regulation. Whilst being led by a trained professional the game can be used as a tool to reach defined therapeutic goals. This, however, requires the game master to be well-versed in both the role of therapist as well as game master. The intervention studied is primarily used with adolescents struggling with social interactions, but also has potential to be used with adult clients. To discuss the results a symbolic interactionist perspective has been used.

This paper presents a comparative study on two Tabletop Roleplaying Games, Dungeons & Dragons and Blades in the Dark. This paper takes a look at the narrative differences within the two systems. More specifically investigate if Blades in the Dark is more playerdriven than Dungeons & Dragons. The two tested as closely as possible and will be compared with each other. This is a close reading on the rules and player agency rather than a one-on-one comparison. The comparisons were made regarding the mechanics and narrative differences within the systems rather than quality of the story. This study was conducted by running two sessions, one for each system, played by separate groups with the same game scenario and premise. Meaning that the background for both games, character and plot for the session were the same. Comparisons were made by observing player decisions, situations that arose and the influence that the gamemasters had on the game. It was found that there is a clear difference between the two systems, this difference regarding whether the players were reacting to the gamemaster, or the other way round. In Dungeons & Dragons, it was observed that the players reacted and acted according to what the gamemaster explained and played out, whereas in Blades in the Dark it appeared to be the opposite. Here we found that it was the Gamemaster who was reactive to the players instead. The paper concluded that Blades in the Dark is the more player-driven system. This short study could later be built upon and used by game developers to keep in mind and plan their future game systems around. Taking these observations on emergent narrative in Tabletop Role-playing Games into account can be used to create more player-centric and player-driven games. Meaning that the players are more in influence and decisions to make in the story and game. / I detta papper presenteras en jämförande undersökning av två rollspelssystem, Dungeons & Dragons och Blades in the Dark. Det här papperet kollar på skillnaderna när det kommer till spelar-drivet berättande inom de två spelen. Mer specifikt så utreds om Blades in the Dark är mer spelar-drivet än Dungeons & Dragons. De två kommer att testas så likt som möjligt och jämföras med varandra. Detta är en noggrann läsning av reglerna och spelarnas påverkan på spelets berättande, där vad som undersöks är spelets funktioner och skillnader i hur de berättas och presenteras, snarare än kvalitén på spelen eller berättelserna. Denna studie genomfördes genom att hålla två sessioner, en för varje system, spelad av separata grupper men med samma scenario och förutsättningar. Jämförelser gjordes genom att observera spelarbeslut, situationer som uppstod, samt det inflytande som spelmästare hade på spelet. En tydlig skillnad blev synlig mellan de två systemen var gällande huruvida spelarna reagerade på spelmästaren eller tvärtom. I Dungeons & Dragons observerades att spelarna reagerade och agerade enligt vad spelmästaren förklarade och spelade ut. I Blades in the Dark studerades en motsatt effekt, här upptäcktes att det var spelmästaren som reagerade på spelarna istället. Med denna undersökning kom vi fram till att Blades in the Dark är det mer spelar-drivna systemet. Den här studien kan i framtiden användas och byggas på av spelutvecklare för att göra nya spelsystem, med dessa observationer som framkom, kan komma till användning för att göra fler spel med mer spelar-drivet fokus. Vilket innebär att spelaren har mer inflytande på historiens som berättas och spelet i sig.