Author: Premeet Sidhu
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262377993
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 387
Book Description
On the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a collection of essays that explores and celebrates the game’s legacy and its tremendous impact on gaming and popular culture. In 2024, the enormously influential tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons—also known as D&D—celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, editors Premeet Sidhu, Marcus Carter, and José Zagal have assembled an edited collection that celebrates and reflects on important parts of the game’s past, present, and future. Each chapter in Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons explores why the nondigital game is more popular than ever—with sales increasing 33 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite worldwide lockdowns—and offers readers the opportunity to critically reflect on their own experiences, perceptions, and play of D&D. Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons draws on fascinating research and insight from expert scholars in the field, including: Gary Alan Fine, whose 1983 book Shared Fantasy remains a canonical text in game studies; Jon Peterson, celebrated D&D historian; Daniel Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture; and numerous leading and emerging scholars from the growing discipline of game studies, including Amanda Cote, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and Aaron Trammell. The chapters cover a diverse range of topics—from D&D’s adoption in local contexts and classrooms and by queer communities to speculative interpretations of what D&D might look like in one hundred years—that aim to deepen readers’ understanding of the game.
Anachronist
Author: Andrew Hastie
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781916474796
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Josh had no future until he discovered he could travel back into the past One step away from prison, 17-year-old Joshua Jones breaks into the house of the local eccentric, the Colonel, and finds himself transported back to Hitler's war rooms in 1944. The Colonel rescues Josh and introduces him to a secret society of time travellers sworn to protect the future, taking him on an epic adventure into the alternate histories and guilds of the Oblivion Order. But Josh struggles to escape his broken past and the death of his best friend. Caught between a magical world of possibilities and a life of crime, will he use his new-found powers to alter his timeline? Can the Order help him to find the future he never dreamed he could have? The Anachronist is the first novel in The Infinity Engines Series. If you're a fan of time travel, fantasy and history, then you'll love this fast-paced adventure!
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781916474796
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Josh had no future until he discovered he could travel back into the past One step away from prison, 17-year-old Joshua Jones breaks into the house of the local eccentric, the Colonel, and finds himself transported back to Hitler's war rooms in 1944. The Colonel rescues Josh and introduces him to a secret society of time travellers sworn to protect the future, taking him on an epic adventure into the alternate histories and guilds of the Oblivion Order. But Josh struggles to escape his broken past and the death of his best friend. Caught between a magical world of possibilities and a life of crime, will he use his new-found powers to alter his timeline? Can the Order help him to find the future he never dreamed he could have? The Anachronist is the first novel in The Infinity Engines Series. If you're a fan of time travel, fantasy and history, then you'll love this fast-paced adventure!
The Beginning of Infinity
Author: David Deutsch
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141969695
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 571
Book Description
'Science has never had an advocate quite like David Deutsch ... A computational physicist on a par with his touchstones Alan Turing and Richard Feynman, and a philosopher in the line of his greatest hero, Karl Popper. His arguments are so clear that to read him is to experience the thrill of the highest level of discourse available on this planet and to understand it' Peter Forbes, Independent In our search for truth, how far have we advanced? This uniquely human quest for good explanations has driven amazing improvements in everything from scientific understanding and technology to politics, moral values and human welfare. But will progress end, either in catastrophe or completion - or will it continue infinitely? In this profound and seminal book, David Deutsch explores the furthest reaches of our current understanding, taking in the Infinity Hotel, supernovae and the nature of optimism, to instill in all of us a wonder at what we have achieved - and the fact that this is only the beginning of humanity's infinite possibility. 'This is Deutsch at his most ambitious, seeking to understand the implications of our scientific explanations of the world ... I enthusiastically recommend this rich, wide-ranging and elegantly written exposition of the unique insights of one of our most original intellectuals' Michael Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Bold ... profound ... provocative and persuasive' Economist 'David Deutsch may well go down in history as one of the great scientists of our age' Scotsman
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141969695
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 571
Book Description
'Science has never had an advocate quite like David Deutsch ... A computational physicist on a par with his touchstones Alan Turing and Richard Feynman, and a philosopher in the line of his greatest hero, Karl Popper. His arguments are so clear that to read him is to experience the thrill of the highest level of discourse available on this planet and to understand it' Peter Forbes, Independent In our search for truth, how far have we advanced? This uniquely human quest for good explanations has driven amazing improvements in everything from scientific understanding and technology to politics, moral values and human welfare. But will progress end, either in catastrophe or completion - or will it continue infinitely? In this profound and seminal book, David Deutsch explores the furthest reaches of our current understanding, taking in the Infinity Hotel, supernovae and the nature of optimism, to instill in all of us a wonder at what we have achieved - and the fact that this is only the beginning of humanity's infinite possibility. 'This is Deutsch at his most ambitious, seeking to understand the implications of our scientific explanations of the world ... I enthusiastically recommend this rich, wide-ranging and elegantly written exposition of the unique insights of one of our most original intellectuals' Michael Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Bold ... profound ... provocative and persuasive' Economist 'David Deutsch may well go down in history as one of the great scientists of our age' Scotsman
The Difference Engine
Author: William Gibson
Publisher: Spectra
ISBN: 0440423627
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
The 20th anniversary edition of the classic steampunk novel With new commentary by the authors 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. Three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with the future: Sybil Gerard—fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator; Edward “Leviathan” Mallory—explorer and paleontologist; Laurence Oliphant—diplomat, mystic, and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine took the science fiction community by storm when it was first published twenty years ago. This special anniversary edition features an Introduction by Cory Doctorow and a collaborative essay from the authors looking back on their creation. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, this novel is poised to impress a whole new generation.
Publisher: Spectra
ISBN: 0440423627
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
The 20th anniversary edition of the classic steampunk novel With new commentary by the authors 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. Three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with the future: Sybil Gerard—fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator; Edward “Leviathan” Mallory—explorer and paleontologist; Laurence Oliphant—diplomat, mystic, and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine took the science fiction community by storm when it was first published twenty years ago. This special anniversary edition features an Introduction by Cory Doctorow and a collaborative essay from the authors looking back on their creation. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, this novel is poised to impress a whole new generation.
Beneath a Starless Sky
Author: David L Craddock
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781070487861
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 682
Book Description
Dungeons & Dragons became a cornerstone of gaming culture by providing players with dice, sheets of paper, and guidebooks that teased the imagination-all the tools they needed to build their own worlds. Influenced by all-night D&D sessions, the video game developers at Black Isle Studios and BioWare had a thought: Leave the dice-rolling to computers, letting players focus solely on creating characters and embarking on unforgettable adventures.The result was Baldur's Gate, a computer roleplaying game (CRPG) featuring breathtaking scenes, compelling characters, dozens of quests, and deep tactical battles. As financial turmoil plagued their parent company, a small team of developers broke away from Black Isle and set out to create unforgettable adventures of their own.From the early days of Fallout and Baldur's Gate, to the formation of Obsidian Entertainment and the company's fateful crowdfunding campaign that averted financial ruin, Beneath a Starless Sky explores the making of the Infinity Engine CRPGs and the critically acclaimed Pillars of Eternity franchise.-Based on over 40 hours of interviews with developers from Black Isle and Obsidian-Go behind-the-scenes to witness the creation of the celebrated Infinity Engine CRPGs: Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, and Icewind Dale II -Relive the dramatic moments that led to Obsidian's record-setting Kickstarter, and the making of 2015's Pillars of Eternity and 2018's Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire-Sit in on a discussion of the past, present, and future of roleplaying games with Obsidian's co-founders, writers, and directors
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781070487861
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 682
Book Description
Dungeons & Dragons became a cornerstone of gaming culture by providing players with dice, sheets of paper, and guidebooks that teased the imagination-all the tools they needed to build their own worlds. Influenced by all-night D&D sessions, the video game developers at Black Isle Studios and BioWare had a thought: Leave the dice-rolling to computers, letting players focus solely on creating characters and embarking on unforgettable adventures.The result was Baldur's Gate, a computer roleplaying game (CRPG) featuring breathtaking scenes, compelling characters, dozens of quests, and deep tactical battles. As financial turmoil plagued their parent company, a small team of developers broke away from Black Isle and set out to create unforgettable adventures of their own.From the early days of Fallout and Baldur's Gate, to the formation of Obsidian Entertainment and the company's fateful crowdfunding campaign that averted financial ruin, Beneath a Starless Sky explores the making of the Infinity Engine CRPGs and the critically acclaimed Pillars of Eternity franchise.-Based on over 40 hours of interviews with developers from Black Isle and Obsidian-Go behind-the-scenes to witness the creation of the celebrated Infinity Engine CRPGs: Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II, and Icewind Dale II -Relive the dramatic moments that led to Obsidian's record-setting Kickstarter, and the making of 2015's Pillars of Eternity and 2018's Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire-Sit in on a discussion of the past, present, and future of roleplaying games with Obsidian's co-founders, writers, and directors
Dark Intelligence: Transformation Book 1
Author: Neal Asher
Publisher: Tor UK
ISBN: 1743536283
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 424
Book Description
The first volume in a no-holds-barred adventure set in Asher's popular Polity universe One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed... Thorvald Spear wakes in hospital, where he finds he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war which ended a whole century ago. But when he relives his traumatic final moments, he finds the spark to keep on living. That spark is vengeance. Trapped and desperate on a world surrounded by alien Prador forces, Spear had seen a rescue ship arriving. But instead of providing backup, Penny Royal, the AI within the destroyer turned rogue. It annihilated friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction, and, years later, it's still free. Spear vows to track it across worlds and do whatever it takes to bring it down. Isobel Satomi ran a successful crime syndicate. But after competitors attacked, she needed more power. Yet she got more than she bargained for when she negotiated with Penny Royal. She paid it to turn her part-AI herself, but the upgrades hid a horrifying secret. The Dark AI had triggered a transformation in Isobel that would turn her into a monster, rapidly evolving into something far from human. Spear hires Isobel to take him to the Penny Royal AI's last known whereabouts. But he cheats her in the process and he becomes a target for her vengeance. And as she is evolves further into a monstrous predator, rage soon wins over reason. Will Spear finish his hunt, before he becomes the hunted? PRAISE FOR THE TRANSFORMATION SERIES "One of his best works so far ... Asher is a modern master of Sci-Fi" Starburst magazine "Beautifully paced ... does just as well as at slam-bang action scenes as at painting frightening pictures" Publishers Weekly, starred review "Blends large portions of horror and mystery into an SF tale of revenge and redemption ... a complex and satisfying work" Library Journal, starred review "Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera epic ... Asher's books are similar to the world of Iain M. Banks' Culture universe, but the Polity is arguably a much darker and more vicious environment - and all the better for it" TheRegister.co.uk
Publisher: Tor UK
ISBN: 1743536283
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 424
Book Description
The first volume in a no-holds-barred adventure set in Asher's popular Polity universe One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed... Thorvald Spear wakes in hospital, where he finds he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war which ended a whole century ago. But when he relives his traumatic final moments, he finds the spark to keep on living. That spark is vengeance. Trapped and desperate on a world surrounded by alien Prador forces, Spear had seen a rescue ship arriving. But instead of providing backup, Penny Royal, the AI within the destroyer turned rogue. It annihilated friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction, and, years later, it's still free. Spear vows to track it across worlds and do whatever it takes to bring it down. Isobel Satomi ran a successful crime syndicate. But after competitors attacked, she needed more power. Yet she got more than she bargained for when she negotiated with Penny Royal. She paid it to turn her part-AI herself, but the upgrades hid a horrifying secret. The Dark AI had triggered a transformation in Isobel that would turn her into a monster, rapidly evolving into something far from human. Spear hires Isobel to take him to the Penny Royal AI's last known whereabouts. But he cheats her in the process and he becomes a target for her vengeance. And as she is evolves further into a monstrous predator, rage soon wins over reason. Will Spear finish his hunt, before he becomes the hunted? PRAISE FOR THE TRANSFORMATION SERIES "One of his best works so far ... Asher is a modern master of Sci-Fi" Starburst magazine "Beautifully paced ... does just as well as at slam-bang action scenes as at painting frightening pictures" Publishers Weekly, starred review "Blends large portions of horror and mystery into an SF tale of revenge and redemption ... a complex and satisfying work" Library Journal, starred review "Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera epic ... Asher's books are similar to the world of Iain M. Banks' Culture universe, but the Polity is arguably a much darker and more vicious environment - and all the better for it" TheRegister.co.uk
Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons
Author: Premeet Sidhu
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262377993
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 387
Book Description
On the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a collection of essays that explores and celebrates the game’s legacy and its tremendous impact on gaming and popular culture. In 2024, the enormously influential tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons—also known as D&D—celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, editors Premeet Sidhu, Marcus Carter, and José Zagal have assembled an edited collection that celebrates and reflects on important parts of the game’s past, present, and future. Each chapter in Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons explores why the nondigital game is more popular than ever—with sales increasing 33 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite worldwide lockdowns—and offers readers the opportunity to critically reflect on their own experiences, perceptions, and play of D&D. Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons draws on fascinating research and insight from expert scholars in the field, including: Gary Alan Fine, whose 1983 book Shared Fantasy remains a canonical text in game studies; Jon Peterson, celebrated D&D historian; Daniel Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture; and numerous leading and emerging scholars from the growing discipline of game studies, including Amanda Cote, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and Aaron Trammell. The chapters cover a diverse range of topics—from D&D’s adoption in local contexts and classrooms and by queer communities to speculative interpretations of what D&D might look like in one hundred years—that aim to deepen readers’ understanding of the game.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262377993
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 387
Book Description
On the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, a collection of essays that explores and celebrates the game’s legacy and its tremendous impact on gaming and popular culture. In 2024, the enormously influential tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons—also known as D&D—celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. To mark the occasion, editors Premeet Sidhu, Marcus Carter, and José Zagal have assembled an edited collection that celebrates and reflects on important parts of the game’s past, present, and future. Each chapter in Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons explores why the nondigital game is more popular than ever—with sales increasing 33 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite worldwide lockdowns—and offers readers the opportunity to critically reflect on their own experiences, perceptions, and play of D&D. Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons draws on fascinating research and insight from expert scholars in the field, including: Gary Alan Fine, whose 1983 book Shared Fantasy remains a canonical text in game studies; Jon Peterson, celebrated D&D historian; Daniel Justice, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture; and numerous leading and emerging scholars from the growing discipline of game studies, including Amanda Cote, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, and Aaron Trammell. The chapters cover a diverse range of topics—from D&D’s adoption in local contexts and classrooms and by queer communities to speculative interpretations of what D&D might look like in one hundred years—that aim to deepen readers’ understanding of the game.
Archive Everything
Author: Gabriella Giannachi
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549247
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
How the archive evolved to include new technologies, practices, and media, and how it became the apparatus through which we map the everyday. In Archive Everything, Gabriella Giannachi traces the evolution of the archive into the apparatus through which we map the everyday. The archive, traditionally a body of documents or a site for the preservation of documents, changed over the centuries to encompass, often concurrently, a broad but interrelated number of practices not traditionally considered as archival. Archives now consist of not only documents and sites but also artworks, installations, museums, social media platforms, and mediated and mixed reality environments. Giannachi tracks the evolution of these diverse archival practices across the centuries. Archives today offer a multiplicity of viewing platforms to replay the past, capture the present, and map our presence. Giannachi uses archaeological practices to explore all the layers of the archive, analyzing Lynn Hershman Leeson's !Women Art Revolution project, a digital archive of feminist artists. She considers the archive as a memory laboratory, with case studies that include visitors' encounters with archival materials in the Jewish Museum in Berlin. She discusses the importance of participatory archiving, examining the “multimedia roadshow” Digital Diaspora Family Reunion as an example. She explores the use of the archive in works that express the relationship between ourselves and our environment, citing Andy Warhol and Ant Farm, among others. And she looks at the transmission of the archive through the body in performance, bioart, and database artworks, closing with a detailed analysis of Lynn Hershman Leeson's Infinity Engine.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549247
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
How the archive evolved to include new technologies, practices, and media, and how it became the apparatus through which we map the everyday. In Archive Everything, Gabriella Giannachi traces the evolution of the archive into the apparatus through which we map the everyday. The archive, traditionally a body of documents or a site for the preservation of documents, changed over the centuries to encompass, often concurrently, a broad but interrelated number of practices not traditionally considered as archival. Archives now consist of not only documents and sites but also artworks, installations, museums, social media platforms, and mediated and mixed reality environments. Giannachi tracks the evolution of these diverse archival practices across the centuries. Archives today offer a multiplicity of viewing platforms to replay the past, capture the present, and map our presence. Giannachi uses archaeological practices to explore all the layers of the archive, analyzing Lynn Hershman Leeson's !Women Art Revolution project, a digital archive of feminist artists. She considers the archive as a memory laboratory, with case studies that include visitors' encounters with archival materials in the Jewish Museum in Berlin. She discusses the importance of participatory archiving, examining the “multimedia roadshow” Digital Diaspora Family Reunion as an example. She explores the use of the archive in works that express the relationship between ourselves and our environment, citing Andy Warhol and Ant Farm, among others. And she looks at the transmission of the archive through the body in performance, bioart, and database artworks, closing with a detailed analysis of Lynn Hershman Leeson's Infinity Engine.
Performance and the Medical Body
Author: Alex Mermikides
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472570790
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This edited collection focuses on performance practice and analysis that engages with medical and biomedical sciences. After locating the 'biologization' of theatre at the turn of the twentieth century, it examines a range of contemporary practices that respond to understandings of the human body as revealed by biomedical science. In bringing together a variety of analytical perspectives, the book draws on scholars, scientists, artists and practices that are at the forefront of current creative, scientific and academic research. Its exploration of the dynamics and exchange between performance and medicine will stimulate a widening of the debate around key issues such as subjectivity, patient narratives, identity, embodiment, agency, medical ethics, health and illness. In focusing on an interdisciplinary understanding of performance, the book examines the potential of performance and theatre to intervene in, shape, inform and extend vital debates around biomedical knowledge and practice in the contemporary moment.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472570790
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This edited collection focuses on performance practice and analysis that engages with medical and biomedical sciences. After locating the 'biologization' of theatre at the turn of the twentieth century, it examines a range of contemporary practices that respond to understandings of the human body as revealed by biomedical science. In bringing together a variety of analytical perspectives, the book draws on scholars, scientists, artists and practices that are at the forefront of current creative, scientific and academic research. Its exploration of the dynamics and exchange between performance and medicine will stimulate a widening of the debate around key issues such as subjectivity, patient narratives, identity, embodiment, agency, medical ethics, health and illness. In focusing on an interdisciplinary understanding of performance, the book examines the potential of performance and theatre to intervene in, shape, inform and extend vital debates around biomedical knowledge and practice in the contemporary moment.
BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development
Author: Bioware
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 1506718809
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
From the BioWare's isometric role-playing roots to its intense space operas and living worlds, chart the legendary game studio's first 25 years in this massive retrospective. BioWare - Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development puts you in the room during key moments in BioWare's history, with never-before-seen art and photos anchored by candid stories from developers past and present. See what it took to make games in those wild early days. Pore over details of secret, cancelled projects. Discover the genesis of beloved characters and games. Presented and designed by Dark Horse Books, this tribute to BioWare's legacy is a must-have for any fan of the best stories you can play.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 1506718809
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
From the BioWare's isometric role-playing roots to its intense space operas and living worlds, chart the legendary game studio's first 25 years in this massive retrospective. BioWare - Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development puts you in the room during key moments in BioWare's history, with never-before-seen art and photos anchored by candid stories from developers past and present. See what it took to make games in those wild early days. Pore over details of secret, cancelled projects. Discover the genesis of beloved characters and games. Presented and designed by Dark Horse Books, this tribute to BioWare's legacy is a must-have for any fan of the best stories you can play.
Honoring the Code
Author: Matt Barton
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482205904
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
If you want to be successful in any area of game development-game design, programming, graphics, sound, or publishing-you should know how standouts in the industry approach their work and address problems. In Honoring the Code: Conversations with Great Game Designers, 16 groundbreaking game developers share their stories and offer advice for anyone
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482205904
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
If you want to be successful in any area of game development-game design, programming, graphics, sound, or publishing-you should know how standouts in the industry approach their work and address problems. In Honoring the Code: Conversations with Great Game Designers, 16 groundbreaking game developers share their stories and offer advice for anyone