Download or read book Metagamer Chronicles Complete Collection written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gary Burns thought he’d created a masterpiece. Instead, he’d created a prison for his friends—and himself. Gary Burns just wanted to create the greatest RPG campaign of his gaming career. But a freak magical accident sucks him into the very world he created—as himself. Surrounded by heroes who look and sound like his friends, Gary is forced to play out the story he wrote. Worthless in a fight, Gary must prove himself valuable even if it means feeding the team insider knowledge. Because he needs to keep his friends close—and himself alive—until he can solve the puzzle he never designed: how to get everyone back home. Metagamer Chronicles puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love Metagamer Chronicles.

Download or read book Armored Souls the Complete Collection written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 1108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 100 tons of walking steel. One human heart. Sgt. Reggie King wakes up from a battlefield injury to find himself physically intact. But the hospital staff insist he’s not fit to return to duty. As part of his psychological recovery, they introduce him to a game. Armored Souls is a tank game on steroids. Giant, walking mechs called juggernauts engage in interplanetary wars as noble houses and mercenary factions wage endless battles for supremacy. For the pilots of these juggernauts, the rewards are glory, cash, and XP. What follows is an epic struggle against the forces arrayed against him, from rival gamers to entire factions looking to crush Reggie underfoot. To survive will take all his military leadership, perseverance, and maybe a little help from some new friends. The Armored Souls series is perfect for readers looking for a combination of The Matrix and Battletech. If you enjoy giant robots blasting at each other and swinging 20-ton swords, you’ll love these books. Log out of your life and into Armored Souls.

Download or read book Homebrew written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Homebrew written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Gary had known he'd get trapped in an RPG with his real-life stats, he'd have tried harder in gym class. Gary Burns just wanted to create the greatest RPG campaign of his gaming career. But a freak magical accident sucks him into the very world he created--as himself. Surrounded by heroes who look and sound like his friends, Gary is forced to play out the story he wrote. Worthless in a fight, Gary must prove himself valuable even if it means feeding the team insider knowledge. Because he needs keep his friends close--and himself alive--until he can solve the puzzle he never designed: how to get everyone back home. Homebrew puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love Homebrew.

Download or read book Metagaming written by Stephanie Boluk and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The greatest trick the videogame industry ever pulled was convincing the world that videogames were games rather than a medium for making metagames. Elegantly defined as “games about games,” metagames implicate a diverse range of practices that stray outside the boundaries and bend the rules: from technical glitches and forbidden strategies to Renaissance painting, algorithmic trading, professional sports, and the War on Terror. In Metagaming, Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux demonstrate how games always extend beyond the screen, and how modders, mappers, streamers, spectators, analysts, and artists are changing the way we play. Metagaming uncovers these alternative histories of play by exploring the strange experiences and unexpected effects that emerge in, on, around, and through videogames. Players puzzle through the problems of perspectival rendering in Portal, perform clandestine acts of electronic espionage in EVE Online, compete and commentate in Korean StarCraft, and speedrun The Legend of Zelda in record times (with or without the use of vision). Companies like Valve attempt to capture the metagame through international e-sports and online marketplaces while the corporate history of Super Mario Bros. is undermined by the endless levels of Infinite Mario, the frustrating pranks of Asshole Mario, and even Super Mario Clouds, a ROM hack exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art. One of the only books to include original software alongside each chapter, Metagaming transforms videogames from packaged products into instruments, equipment, tools, and toys for intervening in the sensory and political economies of everyday life. And although videogames conflate the creativity, criticality, and craft of play with the act of consumption, we don’t simply play videogames—we make metagames.

Download or read book Dead Mech Walking written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 100 tons of walking steel. One human heart. Sgt. Reggie King wakes up from a battlefield injury to find himself physically intact. But the hospital staff insist he’s not fit to return to duty. As part of his psychological recovery, they introduce him to a game. Armored Souls is a tank game on steroids. Giant, walking mechs called juggernauts engage in interplanetary wars as noble houses and mercenary factions wage endless battles for supremacy. For the pilots of these juggernauts, the rewards are glory, cash, and XP. As a tanker in real life, Reggie has a leg up on tactics and leadership, but he’s got a lot to learn in the game world. Saddled with trigger-happy commanding officers, slacker teammates, and bafflingly incompetent NPC underlings, Reggie will have to struggle to make headway. Meanwhile, a sinister player decides to make Reggie’s life hell after their two factions clash. Reggie is forced to find a solution to his griefer problems while battling the real life demons that chased him into the game in the first place. …and they won’t let him quit.

Download or read book Open Beta written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They thought they knew the game. It knew them better. Connor and Dizzy have a problem. The game has rebooted yet again. Their names have been stolen, and they're limited to the advanced classes they earned last time around. On top of that, the beta version of Spires of Fate had enabled worldwide PVP combat. It's going to be the two of them not just against the world, but against the rest of the player base, too. But they know the game. They've got the experience. And the goal hasn't changed: get to the top and slay the Mountain Lord. And no dirty tricks by the developers are going to stop them. Open Beta is the 3rd book in the Pixelate series. Pixelate is a LitRPG fantasy series that follows the adventures of Arnold O'Connor as his digital self, delving into the secrets of a world that feels as real as his own body. The Pixelate series will appeal to fans of classic tabletop RPGs, World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings Online. It touches on themes of self and reality, style vs. stats, and how to kill dragons through the superior application of math. It's a book you won't be able to log out of! Grab a copy and try for yourself.

Download or read book House Rules written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-07-21 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Games were made to be broken. Gary Burns has been kidnapped, thrown in a dungeon, and tortured for information. Worst of all, he’s been separated from his friends, so no one even knows where to look for him. Cut off from his support network, Gary uses the only tools at his disposal: a silver tongue and an insider’s knowledge of the game world that’s second to none. With a makeshift party of former foes, Gary must not only escape his captor but plan for payback. Because nothing passes the time in a dank, lightless prison cell like plotting revenge. And when your adversary is a centuries-old lich with the might of an army at his disposal, death is a starting point, not a victory. House Rules puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love House Rules.

Download or read book Homebrew written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Gary had known he'd get trapped in an RPG with his real-life stats, he’d have tried harder in gym class. Gary Burns just wanted to create the greatest RPG campaign of his gaming career. But a freak magical accident sucks him into the very world he created—as himself. Surrounded by heroes who look and sound like his friends, Gary is forced to play out the story he wrote. Worthless in a fight, Gary must prove himself valuable even if it means feeding the team insider knowledge. Because he needs to keep his friends close—and himself alive—until he can solve the puzzle he never designed: how to get everyone back home. Homebrew puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love Homebrew.

Download or read book Closed Alpha written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former champions clash in a race to the top Rather than emerging victorious into the real world, Arnold O'Connor finds himself back at the beginning of Spires of Fate. This time, it's an alpha build he'd stuck inside, and he's forced to choose an entirely different class. With no outside help, he'll have to find allies within the game if he hopes to escape. What's old is new again as parts of the game world have been fixed, updated, or simply overhauled. New challenges await. New adversaries threaten. And waiting at the top of the spire itself is a simple-sounding quest goal that supplants all others. Slay the Mountain Lord. Closed Alpha is the second book in the Pixelate series. Pixelate is a LitRPG fantasy series that follows the adventures of Arnold O'Connor as his digital self, delving into the secrets of a world that feels as real as his own body. The Pixelate series will appeal to fans of classic tabletop RPGs, World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings Online. It touches on themes of self and reality, style vs. stats, and how to kill dragons through the superior application of math. It's a book you won't be able to log out of! Grab a copy and try for yourself.

Download or read book Ghost Platoon written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-02-02 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dying game. A tournament for the ages. One last chance for glory. After a glorious run as the world’s first full-immersion VR mega-game, Armored Souls is on its last legs. Competitors are on the rise, and the company’s own projects are surpassing it. In a last-ditch effort to inject new life into the game, Valhalla West announces a tournament with such an awesome prize that no player can resist. Reggie has led Wounded Legion to the top ranks of the factions on the Armored Souls servers, but the game has gotten easy for him. Too easy. When Valhalla West announces their tournament plans, Reggie springs into action to prepare for it. His motives are twofold. First, it’s the most excitement he’s felt in years. But more importantly, Armored Souls is Reggie’s entire world. He’s willing to fight to keep it going as long as he can.

Download or read book Test Environment written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2024-01-23 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you can't beat the computers, BE the computer. Freshly unemployed gamer Arnold O'Connor is short on cash and facing eviction. When an indie game developer advertises looking for participants in a brain study to help revolutionize enemy AI, he's not thinking about the benefits to his hobby, just his bank account. But things get weird once the trials start. Neuroscientists monitor his brain waves as Connor performs a variety of tasks, culminating in venturing into a testing version of the very game they're hoping to develop. The tests mess with his sense of reality, seeing things he can't touch and deafened to some sounds but not others. The game world operates on the same principles, forcing Arnold to wonder whether he's inside the game or just playing it. The only way to find out for sure is to reach the end victorious! Test Environment is the first book in the Pixelate series. Pixelate is a LitRPG fantasy series that follows the adventures of Arnold O'Connor as his digital self, delving into the secrets of a world that feels as real as his own body. The Pixelate series will appeal to fans of classic tabletop RPGs, World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings Online. It touches on themes of self and reality, style vs. stats, and how to kill dragons through the superior application of math. It's a book you won't be able to log out of! Grab a copy and try for yourself.

Download or read book Hero Time written by Xavier P. Hunter and published by Magical Scrivener Press. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The difference between a hero and a tyrant is charisma. Fresh off their defeat of the lich’s army, Gary and his friends find themselves preparing for an even larger threat. While unlocking elder magic gave them the juice they needed to turn aside one foe, it unstoppered the bottle holding back an ancient evil. Gary knows what’s coming because he wrote it. Now, with political responsibilities crushing him from one side and a demonic army looming on the other, Gary must balance the necessity of victory with the means to achieve it. After all, what good is saving a kingdom only to become the villain? Hero Time puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love Hero Time.

Download or read book Debugging Game History written by Henry Lowood and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-02-06 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays discuss the terminology, etymology, and history of key terms, offering a foundation for critical historical studies of games. Even as the field of game studies has flourished, critical historical studies of games have lagged behind other areas of research. Histories have generally been fact-by-fact chronicles; fundamental terms of game design and development, technology, and play have rarely been examined in the context of their historical, etymological, and conceptual underpinnings. This volume attempts to “debug” the flawed historiography of video games. It offers original essays on key concepts in game studies, arranged as in a lexicon—from “Amusement Arcade” to “Embodiment” and “Game Art” to “Simulation” and “World Building.” Written by scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines, including game development, curatorship, media archaeology, cultural studies, and technology studies, the essays offer a series of distinctive critical “takes” on historical topics. The majority of essays look at game history from the outside in; some take deep dives into the histories of play and simulation to provide context for the development of electronic and digital games; others take on such technological components of games as code and audio. Not all essays are history or historical etymology—there is an analysis of game design, and a discussion of intellectual property—but they nonetheless raise questions for historians to consider. Taken together, the essays offer a foundation for the emerging study of game history. Contributors Marcelo Aranda, Brooke Belisle, Caetlin Benson-Allott, Stephanie Boluk, Jennifer deWinter, J. P. Dyson, Kate Edwards, Mary Flanagan, Jacob Gaboury, William Gibbons, Raiford Guins, Erkki Huhtamo, Don Ihde, Jon Ippolito, Katherine Isbister, Mikael Jakobsson, Steven E. Jones, Jesper Juul, Eric Kaltman, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, Carly A. Kocurek, Peter Krapp, Patrick LeMieux, Henry Lowood, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Ken S. McAllister, Nick Monfort, David Myers, James Newman, Jenna Ng, Michael Nitsche, Laine Nooney, Hector Postigo, Jas Purewal, Reneé H. Reynolds, Judd Ethan Ruggill, Marie-Laure Ryan, Katie Salen Tekinbaş, Anastasia Salter, Mark Sample, Bobby Schweizer, John Sharp, Miguel Sicart, Rebecca Elisabeth Skinner, Melanie Swalwell, David Thomas, Samuel Tobin, Emma Witkowski, Mark J.P. Wolf

Download or read book Generation Decks written by Titus Chalk and published by Solaris. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Optimizing Play written by Christopher A. Paul and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-05-14 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unexpected take on how games work, what the stakes are for them, and how game designers can avoid the traps of optimization. The process of optimization in games seems like a good thing—who wouldn’t want to find the most efficient way to play and win? As Christopher Paul argues in Optimizing Play, however, optimization can sometimes risk a tragedy of the commons, where actions that are good for individuals jeopardize the overall state of the game for everyone else. As he explains, players inadvertently limit play as they theorycraft, seeking optimal choices. The process of developing a meta, or the most effective tactic available, structures decision making, causing play to stagnate. A “stale” meta then creates a perception that a game is solved and may lead players to turn away from the game. Drawing on insights from game studies, rhetoric, the history of science, ecology, and game theory literature, Paul explores the problem of optimization in a range of video games, including Overwatch, FIFA/EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, Clash Royale, World of Warcraft, and League of Legends. He also pulls extensively from data analytics in sports, where the problem has progressed further and is even more intractable than it is in video games, given the money sports teams invest to find an edge. Finally, Paul offers concrete and specific suggestions for how games can be developed to avoid the trap set by optimization run amok.

Download or read book The Princeton University Library Chronicle written by Lawrence Thompson and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vol. 1- includes section "Biblia, devoted to the interests of the Friends of the Princeton Library," v. 11-