📜🛡️🖋️ Life has been hectic since I moved to London, but I've found joy and inspiration in my TTRPG group! We’ve been playing Pendragon. Here’s why its brilliant and supports my academic work in the philosophy of stories.
Pendragon is an immersive role-playing game that allows players to step into the legendary world of King Arthur and medieval Britain/Europe. Players assume the roles of low-ranking medieval knights and partake in everything from running their home, attending court, getting married, and of course, adventuring and joining battles.
It is meticulously researched and detailed in terms of the accuracy of medieval life and Arthurian literature. Exploring stories and worlds through TTRPGs like Pendragon offers more than entertainment—it can become a conduit for practice-based research and experiential learning.
Story Immersion
My interdisciplinary academic work weaves together philosophy, creative writing and narrative theory. I then put this into practice through my creative projects. In researching story immersion, I aim to present a philosophy of stories and invite others to consider the conditions of their own story immersion in day-to-day life. I believe in the arts and creative practice as a means of making academic research accessible and available to be experienced by audiences who might not otherwise engage with it.
Pendragon, like other TTRPGs, offers deep story immersion by allowing players to become actively involved in the narrative. Unlike passive consumption of stories through reading or watching, playing Pendragon requires participants to engage with the story world, characters, and events directly. By experiencing the story from within, as a Medieval knight with a many skills, characteristics, passions, and flaws, players gain insights into how such a historical character might conduct themselves in a wide range of situations.
Pendragon's setting in the Arthurian legend allows for deep exploration of philosophical themes such as heroism, honour, fate, and the human condition. Players confront and engage with these themes in a meaningful way, from a state of story immersion. My research concerns the use of this immersive engagement to study how philosophical ideas are conveyed through narrative, how players interpret and react to these themes, and how storytelling can be a powerful tool for exploring complex philosophical questions.
Primary Source Research
TTRPGs provide a unique form of primary source research by creating a living narrative that unfolds through gameplay. The decisions made by players and the game's progression can serve as raw data for analysis. Researchers can examine the how players navigate Medieval life, the narrative choices players make, and the emergent stories that develop and expand on the world of Arthurian legend. This hands-on approach can complement traditional primary sources like Medieval manuscripts, offering a dynamic way to explore narrative construction and reception.
Experiential research involves gaining knowledge through direct experience. Pendragon immerses players in Arthurian legend and medieval settings, enabling them to experience the themes, conflicts, and moral dilemmas of the stories first-hand. This type of research allows for exploration of how narratives are lived and understood from the inside, providing a deeper appreciation of the complexities of storytelling. Experiencing the story world of Pendragon can lead to new insights into how history and myth shape and are shaped by human experience.
In this sense, TTRPGs like Pendragon act as proxies for the real world, creating detailed, interactive environments where narratives unfold. These alternate realities serve as laboratories for studying all manner of phenomena and facets of the human condition, via the conduit of narrative. The detailed setting and historical background of Pendragon provide a rich tapestry for exploring themes such as heroism, chivalry, politics, and societal values.
Playing Pendragon, or any TTRPG, involves first-person engagement with the narrative, as players assume the roles of characters within the story. This can highlight the impact of narrative perspective on empathy, moral decision-making, and the understanding of character motivations and plot development.
To anyone interested in the medieval era, Arthurian myths, British folklore and similar topics, I highly recommend Pendragon! Collective storytelling in the Pendragon world is not only great fun, it unlocks new perspectives and insights into the timeless tales of King Arthur and medieval Europe. Every narrative becomes a pathway to deeper appreciation and understanding.
The Designer and Publisher
Pendragon RPG is designed by Greg Stafford and published by @Chaosium. You can pick up a copy on their website:
https://www.chaosium.com/pendragon-rpg/
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