CONTENTS -- LETTER FROM THE SERIES EDITOR -- FOREWORD -- INTRODUCTION -- Part One: Shadow of the Past -- CHAPTER 1 KING FOR A DAY-THE ROLE-PLAYING APPEAL -- Who Was that Masked Man? -- Hunting the Great American Gamer -- They Hunger -- Two Camps, One Goal -- The (Un)usual Suspects -- The Player's the Thing -- Exercises -- CHAPTER 2 THE OFT EXPECTED PARTY-A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GENRE -- Of Little Wars and Returning Kings -- Dungeons & Dragons: Where Worlds Collide -- Tennis for Everyone: The Technology Is Born -- Spacewar! -- Cartridges and Consoles: Gaming Finds Its First Home -- Zorking in the Underground Empire -- Mystery House: A Game with a View -- Ultima: Rule Brittania -- Wizardry and the Part Line -- DraQue: RPGs in the Land of the Rising Sun -- Ultima Underworld: RPGs Enter a New Dimension -- The Final Symbiosis -- Exercises -- CHAPTER 3 DEFINING THE PERFECT BEAST-THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE RPG -- My Guy: The Roots of Role-Playing -- The Defining Ingredient: Developing the Role of the Player Character -- The Lesser Seven Ingredients of the Classic RPG -- The Big Picture -- Exercises -- Part Two: The Designer's Domain -- CHAPTER 4 WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW-DESIGNERS AND THE TEAM -- The 10 (or 15) Virtues of a Good Game Designer -- Working with a Team -- Meet the Team -- Exercises -- CHAPTER 5 THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE ROLE-PLAYING TITLE -- The Idea Asylum: Letting Out Those Crazy Concepts -- Dreams for Sale -- Appeals to the Higher Powers: Crafting the Proposal -- Plans for World Domination: The Design Document -- Walking Frankenstein: Building the Prototype -- Death March of the Sugar Plum Fairies: Getting through to the End -- Epilogue: To Market, to Market -- Exercises -- Part Three: Workshop of the Gods -- CHAPTER 6 IT'S ALIVE!!! ALIVE!!! ELECTRIFYING YOUR GAMEPLAY -- The Anatomy of Games -- The Dance of Shiva: Rules, Structures, and Balance.

Exercises -- CHAPTER 7 SOCKET WRENCHES OF THE GODS-BUILDING LIVING WORLDS -- Evicting the Elves: Honoring the Spirit of Worldbuilding -- Describe the Universe, and Give Three Examples -- Realty 101 -- Exercises -- CHAPTER 8 THE ARCHITECTURE OF FANTASY-PUTTING THE ELEMENTS TOGETHER -- Going behind the Cybernetic Curtain -- The Proposal -- The Design Document -- The Game Script -- Conclusion -- Exercises -- Part Four: The Games -- CHAPTER 9 JOHN CUTTER: BETRAYAL AT KRONDOR -- CHAPTER 10 CHRIS TAYLOR: DUNGEON SIEGE -- CHAPTER 11 TRENT OSTER: NEVERWINTER NIGHTS -- CHAPTER 12 SARAH STOCKER: POOL OF RADIANCE 11: RUINS OF MYTH DRANNOR -- CHAPTER 13 JON VAN CANEGHEM: MIGHT & MAGIC I-IX -- CHAPTER 14 CARLY STAEHLIN: ULTIMA ONLINE -- Part Five: Appendixes -- APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY -- APPENDIX B: THE PROPOSAL-BETRAYAL AT KRONDOR -- APPENDIX C: THE DESIGN DOCUMENT-EXCERPTS FROM NOX -- APPENDIX D: THE WORLD LAYOUT-EXCERPT FROM FALLOUT -- APPENDIX E: THE GAME SCRIPT-EXCERPTS FROM BETRAYAL AT KRONDOR -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Z.