Dungeon Theory

  Studying Information Theory is akin to thumbing through the pages of an Advanced D&D module. Sure, it’s got the same name as contemporary Dungeons & Dragons, but there are so many differences in its understanding of the elements of gameplay, that they stand out almost more than the similarities. The model Claude Channon and Warren Weaver sought to develop had far different goals and priorities than do many contemporary, post-modern theories of communication. Indeed, their mathematical theory of communication bears much more similarity to early roleplaying games based in war-reenactments than to Critical Role , Dungeons & Daddies , or The Adventure Zone . Since its development in the 1940s, Information Theory has been applied in at least two very different contexts. The first is that of the electronic sciences, wherein its focus on signal transmission and perception has been key to understanding the capacity of mass communication systems to handle ever-increasing amoun...

Imagine a scenario wherein your players uncover a long-lost series of spells. Currently known only to the adventuring party, these spells deal with medical and healing capabilities long-forgotten. How will they spread these discoveries?  Should they, even?   Similar to the ideas covered in social network theory, where information is theorized to flow from opinion leaders into their social networks, knowledge of these newly discovered spells will likely spread beyond the confines of the adventuring party. How and why new technologies, information, strategies, techniques, and other innovations diffuse from their source into the general public was the concern of Everett Rogers , who is primarily responsible for developing this theory. For Rogers, both interpersonal connections and media were responsible for spreading innovations through a social system. Perhaps the party’s cleric begins to use the new healing spells first on party members, then on friendly NPCs he comes acro...

  Roleplay gaming is a web of connections. Friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors gather together to play a fantasy game at an individual’s dining room table. Perhaps in the basement, strangers who met on a social networking site gather online to play another collaborative game. The networks that hold us together societally, socially, and personally have been studied by at least three different academic traditions. First, scholars employed mathematical graph theory methods. Next, anthropological traditions examined the structure of groups, communities, towns and villages. Thirdly, the interpersonal tradition explored the relationships among individuals. So, while a host of scholars contributed to our current understanding of interpersonal networks, it was the efforts of Linton Freeman who proposed a trio of measures that help us to better understand network organization and centrality (the degree to which you are central to your network).  A network within this f...