Storytelling in the Modern Board Game: Narrative Trends from the Late 1960s to Today (Studies in Gaming)

Expertly written, covered a lot of history and worth the cost. Highly recommended.

A great look at the modern board game history. The author lays out some interesting points and uses some great examples. The book is well organized. Goes in-depth on more difficult areas. If you are a gamer, this needs to be in your library!

Mr Arnaudo does a fantastic job covering the important story telling component in many games. Beginning in the middle ages to today. What makes these games stand apart, what works and what does not.Recommended for those who love to play boardgames.

This book is a refreshing survey of the intersection between traditional narrative literary analysis via narratology and the ludic elements of board games.The author does the reader a great service in the early parts of the book by defining the kinds of games he is specifically addressing. One can engage with the definitions he uses and the elements that define the category of games that he considers fit his view; however, the definitions are nuanced enough that there is little to quibble about. I never felt that he strayed from the central thesis of the book, namely that story telling and board games have been hand in glove partners for centuries.The individual chapters tackle the gamut from a concise yet engaging history of games as story telling devices, and then starts us in the sixties with the emergence of Tolkien and other fantasy authors in common culture overlapping with the wargaming hobby and the eventual creation of Dungeons and Dragons (among many others) in the seventies.From there it is an interesting narrative journey to explore how the design of board games has embraced the emergent narrative as a vehicle for creating a shared experience at the table top.There was a distinct period where board game designers and publishers deliberately eschewed the narrative board game, narrowly defining narrative to the literary realm and games strictly to the ludic realm, but the modern board game era has firmly come back full circle.The author mentions roughly a hundred different games throughout the book and demonstrates how the ludic elements from those games contribute to the narratological intersectionality with the literary world.It was a delight and pleasure to read, and I hope that more books are on the way.Highly recommended.

I've been a fan of Marco Arnaudo's wonderful board game video reviews for years. When I found out that he was writing a book on storytelling in board games, I was especially excited because he combines thoroughness, dedication, and joyful enthusiasm in his treatment of games.I wasn't disappointed. Storytelling in the Modern Board Game is a delight. It somehow manages to provide an account which covers decades of games and the nuances of game studies and narratology without ever feeling heavy or dryly academic. Arnaudo's deep knowledge and love for board games is palpable, and makes reading each chapter illuminating and satisfying. Special highlights (for me) included his introduction's treatment of narrative uses of the Tarot in the Renaissance, his treatment of the influence of Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons on board game storytelling, and his overview discussing the tensions and productive clashings between ludology (game studies) and narratology (studies of story). His conclusion, "How We Stopped Worrying About Replay Value and Learned to Love the Story" is both up-to-date and provocative.In all, this book is a joy to read and a must for dedicated story-oriented board gamers and students of story in games -- I can't imagine a better guide.

Storytelling in the Modern Board Game is a delightful romp through the early days of Board Games that were influenced by the narrative style and substance of Role Playing Games. I happened to live through these early days, and greatly enjoyed the trip down memory lane.But this is no mere retrospective. It is a serious examination of the impact of one art form on another. How the strength of story telling in Role Playing Games created a unique opportunity for contemporary board games to borrow the immersive advantages of creating a narrative arc, while still offering the structure and scope of a board game.Arnaudo is an academic, and this comes shining through in his verdant, if occasionally overgrown prose. He is also obviously passionate about the subject, and this also shines through and instills the book with warm depth and loving care in its details.

The author did an excellent job of giving an overview of narrative in games, as well as excellent guidance for game designers. It also offers advice for gamers like myself to find games we'd enjoy. I loved the examination of how role-playing games altered how boardgames can be approached. I also enjoyed the trip down memory lane, as I am old enough to remember playing many of the games he discusses (like Dark Tower). I love when board games manage to feel immersive, and he illustrates well how this can be done, and which games have done it well.

Outstanding treatise on modern boardgaming. A must for every boardgamegeek.com member.

I've been fascinated by the intersection of ludology and narrative for many years, and so was excited about a history book of board games combining these concepts within their designs. I was not prepared for how clear, progressive, and useful this book is. Many authors writing about the history of board games might have come across in an academic, overly articulate manner but Marco Arnaudo managed to avoid narrative dissonance with a style that is luminous and makes the book thoroughly enjoyable while still detailed.The narrative arc of the book strikes at the heart of why the top-rated hobby board games are story-driven and enthusiastically shows what makes them the most exciting genre of games across all mediums, for me. In this sense, I can see how it would be very helpful for designers thinking about the elements of successful games, where this usefulness is not always clear with history books.For all of this, I think this book will serve as a foundational text in the future study of games.