Rollenspiel als Missing Link der Fantastikgeschichte und -forschung

2024 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons and the fortieth anniversary of The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge), making it an ideal time to review the influence of role-playing games on the dissemination and shape of the fantastic as we know it today. This influence has been largely overlooked or ignored. The same is true the research into role-playing games, which has been scattered across a wide range of disciplines. This forum demonstrates in an exemplary way that role-playing games are a missing link for the history of the fantastic as well as for the research of the fantastic.