Works & References

The works this part’s articles discuss and the texts they cite. The print edition carries the credited works and the references; the web edition adds the wider research consulted.

Works discussed

• Allegiance. Ida Foss and Martin Nielsen, 2022.
• Among Us. InnerSloth, 2018.
• And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie, 1939.
• Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been. Andrew Shiel Dods (year not established).
• AScapeD (an autism-inclusive escape room). Cocx et al., 2021.
• Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. Corey Konieczka (Fantasy Flight Games), 2008.
• Beale ciphers. Anonymous; first published 1885.
• Blood on the Clocktower. Steven Medway (The Pandemonium Institute), 2022.
• Burning Empires. Luke Crane, 2006.
• Burning Wheel. Luke Crane, 2011.
• Cain’s Jawbone. Edward Powys Mathers (“Torquemada”), 1934.
• Cicada 3301. Anonymous, 2012.
• College of Wizardry. Rollespilsfabrikken / Liveform, 2014.
• The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine. Thomas Sing (Kosmos), 2019.
• Crisis in Elysium. Alex Beck, 2017.
• Dead of Winter. Jonathan Gilmour and Isaac Vega (Plaid Hat Games), 2014.
• Den of Wolves. John Mizon (South West Megagames), 2019.
• Dungeon Master’s Guide (D&D 5e). Wizards of the Coast, 2014.
• Dungeon Masters Guide (AD&D). Gary Gygax (TSR), 1979.
• Dungeon World. Sage LaTorra and Adam Koebel, 2012.
• Europa. Eirik Fatland, 2001.
• Fate Core. Evil Hat Productions, 2013.
• Free Kriegsspiel Renaissance. A contemporary RPG movement (no single creator).
• Hanabi. Antoine Bauza (Cocktail Games / R&R Games), 2010.
• Inside Hamlet. Participation Design Agency (with Atropos), 2015.
• Jubensha. A script-driven venue form, China, c. 2016.
• Just a Little Lovin’. Tor Kjetil Edland and Hanne Grasmo, 2011.
• Knave. Ben Milton, 2018.
• Mad About the Boy. Tor Kjetil Edland, Margrete Raaum and Trine Lise Lindahl, 2010.
• Mafia. Dmitry Davidoff, 1986.
• Magic: The Gathering. Richard Garfield (Wizards of the Coast), 1993.
• Masquerade. Kit Williams, 1979.
• Maze Rats. Ben Milton, 2016.
• The MIT Mystery Hunt. MIT solver community, from 1981.
• Mirrorshades. Alex Beck, 2018.
• My Life with Master. Paul Czege, 2003.
• Nemesis. Adam Kwapinski (Awaken Realms), 2018.
• New World Magischola. Maury Brown and Ben Morrow (Learn Larp), 2016.
• Not Over By Christmas. Rob Cooper, 2015.
• Oak Island. A real-world treasure-hunt tradition (no single creator).
• Pandemic. Matt Leacock (Z-Man Games), 2008.
• Pathfinder Second Edition. Paizo, 2019.
• Principia Apocrypha. Ben Milton, Steven Lumpkin and David Perry, 2018.
• A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming. Matt Finch (Mythmere Games), 2008.
• The Resistance. Don Eskridge, 2009.
• Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering. Robin D. Laws (Steve Jackson Games), 2002.
• Scotland Yard. Ravensburger, 1983.
• The Secret. Byron Preiss, 1982.
• Secret Hitler. Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges and Max Temkin, 2016.
• Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. Raymond Edwards, Suzanne Goldberg and Gary Grady (Sleuth Publications), 1982.
• “Shoot for the Stars” (an escape room). SJ Chen, 2023.
• Sleep No More. Punchdrunk, 2011.
• Spirit Island. R. Eric Reuss (Greater Than Games), 2017.
• Strike Force. Aaron Allston, 1988.
• Then She Fell. Third Rail Projects, 2012.
• Thousand Year Old Vampire. Tim Hutchings, 2020.
• Tomb of Horrors. Gary Gygax (TSR), 1978.
• Twelve Angry Men. Reginald Rose, 1954.
• Twitch Plays Pokémon. Anonymous (Twitch), 2014.
• Watch the Skies. Jim Wallman, 2013.
• Werewolf. Andrew Plotkin, 1997.
• World Escape Room Championship (ER Champ). Organised by Lockme, founded 2017.
• The Wretched / Wretched & Alone. Chris Bissette, 2020.
• You Me Bum Bum Train. Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd, 2004.

References

• Alexander, Justin. “Rulings vs Fiat” and “Thought of the Day: Evolution of Session Zero.” The Alexandrian. https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/10681/roleplaying-games/thought-of-the-day-rulings-vs-fiat
• Andresen, Martin Eckhoff, and Martin Nielsen. “The Mixing Desk of Larp.” Analog Game Studies, November 2016. https://analoggamestudies.org/2016/11/the-mixing-desk-of-larp-history-and-current-state-of-a-design-theory/
• Annison, Becky. “How to Write a Megagame Part 8: Teams.” BeckyBecky Blogs. https://beckybeckyblogs.com/game-design/megagame-design-8-teams/
• Asch, Solomon E. “Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments.” In Groups, Leadership and Men, Carnegie Press, 1951. https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
• Baker, Vincent. “The MC Agenda and Principles” (Apocalypse World). lumpley games, 2016. https://gnomestew.com/the-gms-agenda-and-principles/
• Bartle, Richard. “Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs.” Journal of MUD Research 1(1), 1996. https://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
• Bernareggi, C., et al. “Twine Screen Reader.” Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2022), Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-22298-6_37
• Blackwell, Angela Glover. “The Curb-Cut Effect.” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2017. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect
• Bockman, Petter. “The Three Way Model.” In As Larp Grows Up, 2003. http://www.laivforum.dk/dk3_2/external/seminars/algu_threewaymodel.pdf
• Boss, Emily Care. “Bleed” (introduced at Ropecon 2007). Nordic Larp wiki. https://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Bleed
• Bowman, Sarah Lynne. “Returning to the Real World,” “Post-Larp Depression” (with Evan Torner, 2014) and “Post-Play Activities for Larp” (2018). nordiclarp.org and Analog Game Studies. https://analoggamestudies.org/2014/08/post-larp-depression/
• Brederoo et al. “AScapeD: an escape room for autism inclusion.” 2021. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8294642/
• Brown, Maury. “Creating a Culture of Trust through Safety and Calibration Mechanics.” nordiclarp.org, 2016. https://nordiclarp.org/2016/06/14/creating-culture-trust-safety-calibration-mechanics-larps/
• Chen, Fadong, and Ian Krajbich. “Biased sequential sampling underlies the effects of time pressure and delay in social decision making.” Nature Communications 9, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05994-9
• Crawford, Jeremy. “The first rule of D&D is that the DM adjudicates the rules.” 2019. https://x.com/JeremyECrawford/status/1151295401791651840
• Czege, Paul. “The Czege Principle” (2003). RPG Museum. https://rpgmuseum.fandom.com/wiki/Czege_Principle
• Easley, David, and Jon Kleinberg. “Mafia: The Game of Information Asymmetry.” Cornell, 2014. https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2014/09/27/mafia-the-game-of-information-asymmetry/
• Edwards, Ron. Sex and Sorcery (Lines and Veils), Adept Press, 2003, and “System Does Matter” / GNS theory, 1999. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_theory
• Fatland, Eirik. “The Open Door,” and (with Markus Montola) “The Blockbuster Formula.” nordiclarp.org, 2015. https://nordiclarp.org/2015/02/02/the-blockbuster-formula-brute-force-design-in-the-monitor-celestra/
• Finch, Matt. A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming. Mythmere Games, 2008. https://archive.org/details/old-school-primer
• Grasmo, Hanne. “Taking Care.” Playground: The New Wave in Roleplaying no. 2, 2011.
• Gygax, Gary. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide. TSR, 1979. https://archive.org/details/advanceddungeons0000gyga
• Hamilton, Ian, and contributors. Game Accessibility Guidelines. 2012. https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/
• Heron, Michael. “Meeple Centred Design: A Heuristic Toolkit for Evaluating the Accessibility of Tabletop Games.” Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/audio/meeple-centred-design-a-heuristic-toolkit-for-evaluating-the-accessibility-of-tabletop-games
• Holmes, Kat. Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design. MIT Press, 2018.
• Hon, Adrian. “Here’s what makes jubensha different.” mssv.net, 2025. https://mssv.net
• Hugaas, Kjell Hedgard. “Investigating Types of Bleed in Larp.” nordiclarp.org, 2019. https://www.nordiclarp.org/2019/01/25/investigating-types-of-bleed-in-larp-emotional-procedural-and-memetic/
• Jamieson, Amber. “Performers And Staffers At ‘Sleep No More’ Say Audience Members Have Sexually Assaulted Them.” BuzzFeed News, January 2018. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/sleep-no-more
• Karau, Steven J., and Kipling D. Williams. “Social Loafing: A Meta-Analytic Review and Theoretical Integration.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65(4), 1993.
• Kim, John H. “The Threefold Model” (formalising the rec.games.frp.advocacy discussion), 1997.
• Koljonen, Johanna. “Safety and Calibration Design Tools and Their Uses.” nordiclarp.org, 24 January 2018. https://nordiclarp.org/2018/01/24/safety-calibration-design-tools-uses/
• Latane, Bibb, Kipling Williams and Stephen Harkins. “Many Hands Make Light the Work.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(6), 1979.
• Laws, Robin D. Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering. Steve Jackson Games, 2002. https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/theory/models/robinslaws.html
• Le Texier, Thibault. “Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment.” American Psychologist 74(7), 2019.
• Loqace, Chiara. “Linguistic and Geographic Localization for Puzzles and Riddles.” Medium, 2025. https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/linguistic-and-geographic-localization-for-puzzles-and-riddles-overview-solutions-and-suggestions-de4f2b3bf229
• Mace, Ronald L., et al. “The Principles of Universal Design, Version 2.0.” NCSU Center for Universal Design, 1997. https://web.stanford.edu/class/engr110/2007/PUD.pdf
• Machon, Josephine. Immersive Theatres: Intimacy and Immediacy in Contemporary Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
• Milgram, Stanley. “Behavioral Study of Obedience.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67(4), 1963. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14049516/
• Miller, Travis. “Subtleties of Rulings, not Rules.” Grumpy Wizard, July 2023. https://grumpywizard.home.blog/2023/07/13/subtleties-of-rulings-not-rules/
• Nicholson, Scott. “Peeking Behind the Locked Door: A Survey of Escape Room Facilities.” 2015. https://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf
• O’Szabo, Rebeka, Sandeep Chowdhary, David Deritei and Federico Battiston. “The anatomy of social dynamics in escape rooms.” Scientific Reports 12, 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13929-0
• Oliver, Mike. Social Work with Disabled People. 1983 (coined the social model of disability). https://www.sense.org.uk/about-us/the-social-model-of-disability/
• Pohjola, Mike. “The Manifesto of the Turku School.” 2000. https://nordiclarp.org/wiki/The_Turku_Manifesto
• Quade, Lu. “Stars and Wishes.” The Gauntlet, 22 August 2018. https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/blog/stars-and-wishes
• Ringelmann, Max. “Recherches sur les moteurs animes: Travail de l’homme.” Annales de l’Institut National Agronomique, 1913.
• Shea, Mike (Sly Flourish). “Running Session Zeros.” 2021. https://slyflourish.com/running_session_zeros.html
• Sheldon, Brie Beau. “Script Change RPG Toolbox.” 2013 (revised 2019, final 2023). https://briebeau.com/thoughty/script-change/
• Spira, David (Room Escape Artist). “Players Per Escape Room” (2015), “Split Team Challenge Structures” (2023) and “The Split Team Regrouping Problem” (2019). https://roomescapeartist.com/2015/06/25/players-per-escape-room/
• Stark, Lizzie. “How to Run a Post-Larp Debrief.” leavingmundania.com, 2013.
• Stavropoulos, John. “The X-Card.” 2013. http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg
• Stenros, Jaakko, and Markus Montola, eds. Nordic Larp. Fëa Livia, 2010. https://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Nordic_Larp_(book)
• Striner, Alina, Andrew M. Webb, Jessica Hammer and Amy Cook. “Mapping Design Spaces for Audience Participation in Game Live Streaming.” CHI 2021. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445511
• Twice, Erik. “The ‘alpha player’ in coops is a symptom, not the disease.” eriktwice.com, 12 March 2021. https://eriktwice.com/en/2021/03/12/alpha-player-cooperative-games-symptom/

Research basis

Consulted while writing; not cited in the text.

• Accessibility standards and toolkits (ADA reach-range guidance; WCAG 2.1; EN 301 549; EN 17210:2021; CAST’s UDL Guidelines; Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit; the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design; UK Equality Act 2010 guidance; epilepsy and photosensitivity guidance).
• Megagame design and reports (Megagame Assembly “The Traitor Problem”; Mechanics Are Easy on objectives; “Megagame,” Wikipedia; Megagame Makers UK; PAXsims; SW Megagames role guides; after-action reports for Den of Wolves, Crisis in Elysium and Mirrorshades; Wallman, It’s Only A Game).
• Larp safety, casting and aftercare background (nordiclarp.org on pre-larp workshops, player chemistry, ars amandi and aftercare; Fair Escape on casting; No Proscenium and Fast Familiar on consent and ethics of interactive theatre).
• Escape-room operations and accessibility (Room Escape Artist on colourblindness, hint systems, cold starts and immersive-theatre rooms; The Logic Escapes Me on colour and lighting; Escape Room Era / Mission Escape / 60out on the game-master role; ER Champ and The Escape Roomer on the championship; SJ Chen on “Shoot for the Stars”; Cohen et al. on escape rooms and team cohesion).
• Social-psychology background (Janis, Victims of Groupthink; museum-visitor research by Falk and Dierking).
• Hidden-role and social-deduction context (“Designing Games with Hidden Roles,” Minifiniti; Easley and Kleinberg on Mafia).
• Treasure and cipher background (Wikipedia on the Beale ciphers, Fenn treasure, The Secret, Masquerade, Oak Island and Cain’s Jawbone; The Digital Antiquarian on Kit Williams; CrimeReads on Cain’s Jawbone).
• Cicada 3301 background (Wikipedia; The Face).
• Jubensha background (Wikipedia; Chronic Insanity).
• GM-assistant and session-prep guides (Roleplaying Tips; Colville’s “Pitching Your Campaign”; Storybrewers on playtesting; “The Origins of Rule Zero,” Playing at the World).
• Immersive-theatre productions (Sleep No More and Punchdrunk via Wikipedia and Future of Storytelling; Then She Fell via Third Rail Projects and BroadwayWorld; You Me Bum Bum Train, Wikipedia).
• Free Kriegsspiel Renaissance primer. https://fdisk.quest/fkr/