RPG night

Location (unless indicated otherwise): ASU Tower Center B (Digital Arts Ranch / Center for Philosophical Technologies)

Thursday Februrary, 20th 5:00-8:00

For the first time, PHuN will host an RPG (role-playing game) night, led by two of the meetings presenters. See below for descriptons of games led by Rosemary Jones (UW) and Cody Jones (U. Chicago) as well as sign-ups. Co-sponsored by ititit{inc}ttru.

We'll led through full-bodied play in the "Conductor" environment by ASU DC undergards Tianhang Liu, Patrick Hoffman, and Ivan Mendoza, hosted at Synthesis.

Blank Spaces // Rosemary Jones

Blank Spaces is an open ended tabletop role-playing game set in a cyberpunk universe that closely mirrors power dynamics found in our own world. The mechanical system is based on radical player autonomy and reflexive world building. This game allows players to entirely self-design and re-design their characters, assert aesthetic dominance over the world, and make dramatic choices about their place in this world's hierarchy. Inspired by systems from 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons, Fate, Apocalypse World, and Eclipse Phase, Blank Spaces is an excellent experience for players of any experience with an interest in collaborative storytelling. Game Capacity 1-4.

The Shab-al-Hiri Roach // Jason Morningstar

Cody Jones (University of Chicago) will be running a roleplaying game about a demonic Sumerian cockroach taking over the literature department of a minor university in New England during World War I. “The *Shab-al-Hiri* Roach” is fun for the whole… uh, not *family* really. Maybe like that weird uncle you have who thinks Ancient Aliens on the History Channel is factual? Yeah! It’ll be fun for him!

…And for us! We’ll be exploring the relationship between ludology and pedagogy. To what extent can the classroom experience be modeled after, or learn from, a roleplaying game? Does playing have some intrinsic connection with learning? What does trust mean in the university classroom? Can you avoid becoming an out-of-touch tenured professor who is seduced by the entomological powers of ancient Sumer (of course you can! tenure track jobs don’t exist anymore!)? Game capacity 6. Audience welcome. Debrief and discussion to follow.

"Conductor" Whole-bodied Interaction Playspace // Tianhang Liu, Patrick Hoffman, Ivan Mendoza

The aims of the project are centered around Synthesis, and specifically in using the space to drive digital synthesizers. The original intent of this driving was the representation of the I-Stage as a conductor, who drove the music which would be playing the background. The Conductor project turned the I-Stage into an Interactive Layered Instrument, which was driven from data from the overhead camera.

While the space functions as an instrument, since all of the action is driven by the camera input of motion and not a physical actuator, the space is not like a traditional instrument. A carefully crafted musical piece is possible but requires careful orchestration and planning of the synth parameters and actors in the space. More than an instrument, the I-Stage acts as an accompaniment to motion in the space, and was seen in the same light as the poem The Idea of Order at Key West (Stevens 1954) sees between the interaction between a woman singing on the cliffside and the sea in which her voice echoes and dances in. Wallace Stevens in talking to his companion, claims he can now see and experience something new in the combination of the woman and the sea that he had not been able to experience while seeing either of them independently. From this scope, the project tries to realize this experience through the motion-driven sounds and lights, and aims to show what can emerge from motion, in utilizing movement as a performance. In a direct metaphor from the poem, the I-Stage is the sea, the performers and the objects are the woman singing, the song is the sounds which come from the I-Stage, and the experience is what everyone in the space feels.