Watch Well Games (Special): Issue #41
A rare 5th Friday edition.
Welcome to a rare 5th Friday edition of the newsletter!
🙋♀️ Hi, I’m K.J.
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📖 Read
As promised, today’s newsletter covers Magnus Seter’s Outside the Box: How Sweden conquered the world of role-playing games (from publisher Fandrake, 256 pages). I avoid major spoilers and granular details that make this book worthwhile, so please enjoy this review:
OVERVIEW
In Outside the Box, Magnus Seter effortlessly leads readers through the fascinating history of the RPG landscape in Sweden. He weaves in interludes with portions from his own journey between the four major parts of the book. These brief interjections are some of my favorite parts of the book.
In Part One, Seter begins the story with a young gamer named Mikael Börjesson in 1977. The highlights of this chapter for me are being introduced to many individuals I’d never heard of (and now have immense respect and appreciation for) and learning about the game conventions and gaming clubs that were integral during this time.
The scene swiftly transitions from Börjesson to an even younger gamer - Fredrik Malmberg. (If you do not know this name, this is even more reason to buy this book.) Seter smoothly crafts Malmberg’s biographical story so well, I find that I cannot read this book fast enough to find out what happens.
As I continue to turn the pages, I discover those around Malmberg who continue to influence the Swedish RPG landscape. Two names mentioned early in the book that I truly didn’t anticipate seeing were Steve Perrin (RuneQuest) and Greg Stafford (Chaosium), as these are both titular role-playing designers from the U.S. - not Sweden.
After learning so many details about the beginning of both Target Games and Ädventyrsspel (which Seter uses Target Games throughout the book as a catch-all for both companies to avoid confusion), I realize that I’m only two chapters in (a little over 50 pages). At this point, I also realize that Drakar och Demoner (what gamers in the U.S. or other English-speaking parts of the world may know as Dragonbane) was the tip of the spear that Target Games created to win over RPG fans in their own country. While Dungeons and Dragons was pretty much what anyone in my tiny neck of the woods had ever heard of (and sadly nothing else during that time), Swedish RPG fans recognized that DoD - not D&D - was THE role-playing game to play.
Until 1984 and the RPG called Mutant - which I read about its fascinating origins, as well as KULT’s - in chapter 4. Seter tells readers about the powerful writing duo Michael Petersén and Gunilla Jonsson. While Target Games released other games, none until Mutant compared to Drakar och Demoner’s success and popularity. In this same chapter, Seter lays out the finer details as to why D&D didn't "steamroll the Swedish gaming market early on, much like it did elsewhere." Almost 100 pages in, I'm rewarded with 16 pages worth of art and photos. Finally, readers can put faces with names (and I’m the type of reader who will go back multiple times to connect these dots!) - and my sincere appreciation for these pioneers and their efforts to build the RPG realm grows.
Then Part 2 comes. After 120 pages, Seter delivers news that I’m not sure I want to read. This may sound silly, as it’s real-life history that has already happened, but I’ve grown attached to these people who have laid a foundation for games that I’m a fan of. How can I possibly go on and learn about the “slow and painful death” that chapter 5 wants to tell me about?
I can - and I do - because I’m only halfway done with this book - and RPGs do live on! Plus, chapters 5 and 6 are short (making Part 2 around 20 pages), and Seter still has much to say as he leads us to Part 3 (which is around 25 pages).
At this part of the book, I think a lot of RPG fans reading Outside the Box may begin to recognize more of the games, names, and companies - Riot Minds (created in 1999) and Trudvang Chronicles (with a 2016 Kickstarter), for example.
Part 4 brings readers into the last decade (more or less) of Swedish RPG history. Fria Ligan (or Free League) is introduced, with Seter recounting its origin point as being a group of friends who started Järnringen (The Iron Ring). Between chapters 9 and 10, there is more artwork and photos to appreciate before the final chapter. (At this point, I highly recommend re-reading the Forewords - along with the Afterword, About pages, and Epilogue at the end to tie everything together before closing the book).
FINAL THOUGHTS
For me, what sets Outside the Box apart from other non-fiction books about role-playing games are the true stories contained within. Some of the events and situations Seter relays to us seem to defy gravity. Among the billions of people that populate our planet - over several years and across countries (and continents), these seemingly small or insignificant meetings and introductions connected up-and-coming game designers with major titans in the business. This amalgamation of individuals (and at times, even companies) has provided us with some of the very best games we could ever play.
I often found myself re-reading several passages just to let some of those gravity-defying stories soak in. Honestly, I felt more inspired by reading about the short-comings and failures rather than the success stories - not because I was celebrating someone else’s pain or suffering - but because reading those creators’ recollections resonated with me. They were just passionate individuals who wanted to make games, and so many of them admitted that they had no idea what they were doing when they landed some significant contracts. They figured out how to do things along the way. This leads me to the next section of this review.
TOP-TEN QUOTES
Here are just some of the most amusing, inspiration, or interesting quotes from various individuals that I made note of (aside from the author’s own musings and observations, as I find Seter’s story-telling very appealing):
Fredrik Malmberg: “I thought the rules for Dungeons & Dragons were trash, even outdated.”
Michael Petersén: “We hadn’t really done any design when Fredrik asked us to create Mutant.”
Malmberg (about Mutant - aka Old Mutant to Swedish RPG fans): “I took a red marker and crossed over the dragon entry, writing ‘No dragons here!’ in the margin.”
Malmberg (talking about the 2008 Mutant Chronicles movie): “It took 15 years from start to finish, from meeting Ed Pressman for the first time to a finished movie.”
Joakim Bergström (talking about Martin Grip learning illustration): “Martin learned the craft as we created the game.”
Anders Muammar: “...role-playing games inspired me to draw and to create my own rendition of what I experienced.”
Johnsson Haake: “…we decided to just make our fantasy game the way we thought it should be done.”
Francesco Nepitello: “The game master can feed them rumors and clues, but ultimately it is the players who decide on how the campaign progresses.”
Kosta Kostulas: “Our guiding principle is to make the games we want to play, and that has taken us to where we are today.”
Björn Flintberg: “I want to be creative; I want to make games that appeal to me, not just games that make money. It has to be fun, otherwise why bother?”
Maybe these pique your curiosity. Once you read Outside the Box, let me know what you think about these quotes and the ones that you personally find interesting.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Outside the Box is a delightful read for fans of RPGs, especially those who appreciate historical and biographical perspectives. Seter’s talent for storytelling shines through, making this a worthy addition to any bookshelf.
Publisher: Fandrake
Author: Magnus Seter (award-winning game designer)
Cover: Johan Egerkrans (critically acclaimed artist)
Design: Dan Algstrand (brilliant layout artist for more creations than I can possibly list here, but primarily connected to Free League’s RPGs)
Forewords: Francesco Nepitello & Matt Forbeck (both award-winning game designers)
ISBNs: 978-91-988868-2-5 and 978-91-986942-8-4
Language: English
📚Shipping for the physical book is restricted to Sweden for now. International shipping is being coordinated, so keep an eye out for updates. You can, however, purchase the ebook/PDF right now.
🧠 Tips & Tricks
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