Playtest Material is a journal dedicated to tabletop roleplaying games. We publish essays, reviews, interviews and experimental writing that examine roleplaying games beyond their context as entertainment products.
We welcome work from designers, players, scholars, organisers, critics and artists, anyone who has a relationship to and an interest in games. We want to hear from experienced and first-time writers alike.
Our aim is not to define a single canon or theory of roleplaying games but to support an ongoing conversation about how games are understood.
Issue One: An RPG Is Like…
We are looking for writing which is well researched, avoids overgeneralisation or moralism, and goes beyond simply making quality judgements.
We’re interested in what makes games work, not necessarily if they’re good or bad.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- RPG design theory informed by methodologies from other disciplines, such as film theory, literary criticism, theatre studies, architecture, anthropology, art history, journalism, sociology, musicology, or game studies.
- Comparative criticism examining how roleplaying games function differently from other media forms.
- Reviews or critical essays on RPGs which consciously draw upon multiple media forms and aesthetics.
- Analysis of adaptation and remediation: what happens when RPGs become podcasts, streamed performances, novels, videogames, films, or vice versa.
- Reflections on explaining roleplaying games through analogy to other artistic forms or cultural practices.
- Accounts of where such comparisons succeed or distort the medium.
- Experimental or hybrid critical forms which themselves blur boundaries between criticism, play, fiction, and design documentation.
Sponsorship & Support
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Editorial Queries
Questions about submissions or have a more complex pitch for us?