Areas Of Effect: Planar Systems, Critical Roles, and Gaming Imaginaries

Curated by artist David Blandy and writer Jamie Sutcliffe in association with Strange Attractor Press, Areas Of Effect: Planar Systems, Critical Roles, and Gaming Imaginaries is a one-day symposium on Tabletop Role Playing Games (TTRPGs) with live game sessions. Forming part of arebyte’s programme The Body, The Mind, The Soul which questions the complex nature of humanity in the realm of technological progress, the event brings together artists, game designers, theorists, and philosophers to discuss these wildly expansive forms of play in which players utilise both their imaginations and chance mechanics (such as dice rolls) to determine the actions of fictional characters and the scenarios surrounding them. The symposium looks at TTRPGs as the physical interface between the body and the imaginary, addressing the hopes currently instilled in tabletop play to act as a transformative activity. As such, this form of play presents novel opportunities for immersive experience, problem solving, moral dilemma, but perhaps most importantly, communal storytelling. Speakers at the event include acclaimed RPG designers Emmy Allan, Kayla Dice, Mike Mason, Chris McDowall, Samuel Mui, and Zedeck Siew, alongside writers, historians and theorists such as Stu Horvath, Timothy Linward, Mark Pilkington, and Simon O’Sullivan. An exhibition of TTRPGs-inspired video games by artists Kitty Clark, Uma Breakdown, John Powell-Jones, Petra Szemán, and Holly White are hosted on computers and available to play for visitors throughout the whole event. The day culminates in live TTRPG play sessions of the games ECOMOFOS!! by artist David Blandy and SUPERZEROES by TTRPG game designer Samuel Mui, amongst others, inviting the audience to play with a deck of uniquely designed TTRPG playing cards. The event features a selection of merchandise and publications from Strange Attractor Press and independent London-based bookshop Igloo Tree.