This essay is part of the On the Shoulders of Cloud Giants project which studies citation practices in tabletop role-playing games. This post follows a first post published last year.

Some method adjustments

Coding of variables

The encoding of the variables was compiled in a CSV file deposited in the OtSoCG project on GitHub. The file is updated as it goes. R scripts will retrieve data from this file.

I changed the way of encoding variables. For example, for the epigraph type, instead of putting all the types together in the same column (ex: lahr) I put each of them in a separate column (ex: column l, column a, column h, etc.). I am following the advices of our data librarian who has relayed the Tidy data principles from Hadley Wickham.

Note: I would have to learn to use Jupyter notebooks to build code dictionaries for variables (name, format, selection, etc.).

Variable names

Exclusions

The following items were excluded from the survey :

First results

Some remarks during this review work.

Layout of epigraphs

In role-playing games, most epigraphs have a similar formatting :

Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo (2006), p. 5

Misquotations

In my teachings, I often warn my students against misquotation so that they do not make the mistake of including them in their work. For them, it is an immediate loss of credit since it proves they did not verify that the author of the quote really said one thing and in what document.

What was my surprise to see a (probable) false quotation from Einstein in Faery’s Tales Deluxe (p. 1) and in Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo (p. 89)!

A librarian at the Library of Congress investigated this false quotation.

Graphic epigraphs

Sometimes I've come across quotations from comic book boxes (Prince Valiant, The Four of Baker Street), or captioned prints (Baron Munchausen).

Source : Prince Valiant : The Story-Telling Game (1989)

Quantitative data

The R code to produce the results below can be found here: https://github.com/pmartinolli/OtSoCG/blob/master/R/OtSoCG_epigraphs.R
It can also be run online from this page (where I posted most of the scripts: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1gb9XBBNy3qniJ-aRlq1r_LtAue0wBNxy

Intra-diegetic invented epigraphs

Some games make extensive use of epigraphic quotes invented by the game's designers. The main goal is to increase the immersion in the game world by adding a touch of verisimilitude. Indeed, they are intra-diegetic epigraphs giving voice to non-player characters.

Games     Edition Number of invented epigraphs
Nobilis 1st. ed. 373
Earthdawn Classic 242
Earthdawn 3rd ed. 111
Rogue Trader
99
Champions The New Millenium 92
Corporation
92
Cyberpunk 2020 84
SLA Industries 1.1 (2000) 73
SLA Industries 1st ed. (1993) 73
Nephilim 20e anniversaire 64
                                    Top 10

 Confusion between real and fictional works

Edgar Alan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft liked to mix fictional works (e.g. the Necronomicon) with real works (Harnušek 2013). No doubt to produce an effect of verisimilitude of fictitious works, to disturb the reader, to play with him and to put him in a state of confusion.

Some games invent fictional books and mix them up with existing books. For example Call of Cthulhu takes up what Lovecraft was doing by listing books of Mythos with existing occult books. Or Baron Munchausen 3rd ed. mentions a dozen fake book titles with a clever mix of humor and geek scholarship.

However, the essence of this literary process is taken up in the epigraphs. Indeed, I spotted 21 epigraphs of invented works mixed with epigraphs of existing works, or pseudo-historical quotes from historical figures who have existed alongside actual quotations from other historical figures. Most of these games can be categorized as urban fantasy or contemporary horror genre.
Source : Godlike: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 1936-1946 (2001)
Games Edition
Achtung Cthulhu!
Armageddon: The End Times 2nd ed.
Bitume 10e anniversaire
Changeling: The Dreaming 1st ed.
Corporation
Cypher System
Fanhunter, el juego de rol épicodecadente
Godlike
In Nomine Satanis – Magna Veritas 1ere éd.
In Nomine Satanis – Magna Veritas 4e éd.
Nephilim 3e éd.
Nephilim 20e anniv. (4e)
Nephilim English
Orpheus
Over the Edge 2nd ed.
Retrofuture
Sorcerer
Space Master 2nd ed.
The Laundry
Werewolf: The Apocalypse 2nd ed.
Z-Corps
List of the 21 games mixing real epigraphs with invented fictitious epigraphs

Epigraphs of existing works

Among the existing works, the most represented types of epigraphs (in general, see note below) are :

Types Number of time represented
literature 125
academic 69
historical 58
franchise 44
religious 39
music 38
cinema 31
confusing mix 21
bd, comic, manga 20
game 17
unknown 10
videogame 1
I did not indicate the proportional% of each type because there can be several types for the same game.

Note: I did not count the number of each type of epigraph. I think this is a mistake because I could have had finer and more relevant coding. I didn't do it believing I would save myself time, but in the end I don't think it would have created more work for me.

Games Edition Number of epigraphs of existing works
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game
410
Sengoku Revised ed. 310
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game
273
Arcana Mvndi
125
Mage: The Ascension 1st ed. 112
Vampire: The Masquerade 1st ed. 93
A Game of Thrones
92
The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game
91
Miles Christi
90
The One Ring Roleplaying Game Adventurer’s book 90
Top 10 games that cite the most existing works

Future avenues of research

But why all this?

References

rdrr.io : how to embedded R code in a webpage

Harnušek, Ondřej. « Lovecraft and Poe: Masters of the Macabre of Providence ». B.A. English Language and Literature, Masaryk University, 2013. https://is.muni.cz/th/361731/ff_b/Lovecraft_and_Poe_Masters_of_the_Macabre_of_Providence.pdf

Rothman, Joshua. « How Does Science Really Work? » The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/how-does-science-really-work. Consulté le 15 avril 2021.

Szalai, Jennifer. « Modern Science Didn’t Appear Until the 17th Century. What Took So Long? » The New York Times, 7 octobre 2020. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/books/review-knowledge-machine-irrationality-created-modern-science-michael-strevens.html.