Post-colonial scholarship on Tabletop RPGs observes a clear problem with Dungeons & Dragons; that its system, setting, and rules utilize and reinforce colonial frameworks, primarily race and civilization, for the purpose of entertainment and storytelling. Developing fields of scholarship on Tabletop RPGs, however, emphasize the ability of Tabletop RPGs to inspire critical thinking and challenge pre-conceived ideas that players accept about race, identity, and culture. This disconnect is in part due to the narrow focus on Dungeons & Dragons as the primary, if not sole, system put to analysis. This thesis begins by committing a different system, Greg Stafford’s RuneQuest, to analysis, with the goal of analyzing the discourses of imperialism present within RuneQuest’s primary narrative of the Hero Wars. Utilizing the British conceptions of liberty provided by Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill, the ways in which the Lunar Empire and the Kingdom of Sartar undermine their own conceptions of liberty become clear. In combination with the indeterminate telos of the Hero Wars, and the deconstructive properties of mysticism that drive the Hero Wars, RuneQuest demonstrates resistance to the idea of a transcendental signified, and thereby engenders decolonization through instability of meaning.
","abstract_html":"<p>Post-colonial scholarship on Tabletop RPGs observes a clear problem with Dungeons & Dragons; that its system, setting, and rules utilize and reinforce colonial frameworks, primarily race and civilization, for the purpose of entertainment and storytelling. Developing fields of scholarship on Tabletop RPGs, however, emphasize the ability of Tabletop RPGs to inspire critical thinking and challenge pre-conceived ideas that players accept about race, identity, and culture. This disconnect is in part due to the narrow focus on Dungeons & Dragons as the primary, if not sole, system put to analysis. This thesis begins by committing a different system, Greg Stafford’s RuneQuest, to analysis, with the goal of analyzing the discourses of imperialism present within RuneQuest’s primary narrative of the Hero Wars. Utilizing the British conceptions of liberty provided by Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill, the ways in which the Lunar Empire and the Kingdom of Sartar undermine their own conceptions of liberty become clear. In combination with the indeterminate telos of the Hero Wars, and the deconstructive properties of mysticism that drive the Hero Wars, RuneQuest demonstrates resistance to the idea of a transcendental signified, and thereby engenders decolonization through instability of meaning.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Nelson, Thomas W."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA) in English: Literature","degree_level":"Thesis: EWU Only","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:07Z","subjects":["Social Psychology and Interaction","Sociology of Culture"],"languages":[],"rights":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/938","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Nelson, Thomas W."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis: EWU Only"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA) in English: Literature"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Social Psychology and Interaction","Sociology of Culture"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/938"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Post-colonial scholarship on Tabletop RPGs observes a clear problem with Dungeons & Dragons; that its system, setting, and rules utilize and reinforce colonial frameworks, primarily race and civilization, for the purpose of entertainment and storytelling. Developing fields of scholarship on Tabletop RPGs, however, emphasize the ability of Tabletop RPGs to inspire critical thinking and challenge pre-conceived ideas that players accept about race, identity, and culture. This disconnect is in part due to the narrow focus on Dungeons & Dragons as the primary, if not sole, system put to analysis. This thesis begins by committing a different system, Greg Stafford’s RuneQuest, to analysis, with the goal of analyzing the discourses of imperialism present within RuneQuest’s primary narrative of the Hero Wars. Utilizing the British conceptions of liberty provided by Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill, the ways in which the Lunar Empire and the Kingdom of Sartar undermine their own conceptions of liberty become clear. In combination with the indeterminate telos of the Hero Wars, and the deconstructive properties of mysticism that drive the Hero Wars, RuneQuest demonstrates resistance to the idea of a transcendental signified, and thereby engenders decolonization through instability of meaning.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Liberty, Post-Colonialism, and RuneQuest: the discourse of Imperialism in tabletop RPGs"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Nelson, Thomas W."],"dc:description.abstract":["Post-colonial scholarship on Tabletop RPGs observes a clear problem with Dungeons & Dragons; that its system, setting, and rules utilize and reinforce colonial frameworks, primarily race and civilization, for the purpose of entertainment and storytelling. Developing fields of scholarship on Tabletop RPGs, however, emphasize the ability of Tabletop RPGs to inspire critical thinking and challenge pre-conceived ideas that players accept about race, identity, and culture. This disconnect is in part due to the narrow focus on Dungeons & Dragons as the primary, if not sole, system put to analysis. This thesis begins by committing a different system, Greg Stafford’s RuneQuest, to analysis, with the goal of analyzing the discourses of imperialism present within RuneQuest’s primary narrative of the Hero Wars. Utilizing the British conceptions of liberty provided by Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill, the ways in which the Lunar Empire and the Kingdom of Sartar undermine their own conceptions of liberty become clear. In combination with the indeterminate telos of the Hero Wars, and the deconstructive properties of mysticism that drive the Hero Wars, RuneQuest demonstrates resistance to the idea of a transcendental signified, and thereby engenders decolonization through instability of meaning.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/938"],"dc:rights":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"],"dc:subject":["Social Psychology and Interaction","Sociology of Culture"],"dc:title":["Liberty, Post-Colonialism, and RuneQuest: the discourse of Imperialism in tabletop RPGs"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis: EWU Only"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA) in English: Literature"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:07Z"}