Roleplaying the Occult Imagination – 2-Session Workshop

In this 2-session workshop, Peter Bebergal and Gareth Branwyn explore the occult-gaming link to introduce new magical techniques. They start from the premise that all magic involves roleplay, while roleplaying requires the will to temporarily inhabit a new (often magical) consciousness. Magic as a spiritual practice is regularly devoid of meaningful imaginative play; roleplaying often misses the depth of real enchantment. Therefore, each has something to teach the other.

To demonstrate how, Peter and Gareth will lead a comprehensive discussion on the magical-gaming connection, and teach several exercises and practical workings. They will even introduce their technique for devising Solominic-like planetary sigils using polyhedral dice.

Please bring a complete set of polyhedral dice, notebook, pens/pencil and tracing paper.

Peter Bebergal is a writer on occulture who has been playing roleplaying games for over 40 years. He has written game material for Chaosium, and is the author of Season of the Witch and Strange Frequencies.

Gareth Branwyn writes about fringe media, culture, spirituality and technology. An avid tabletop gamer for over 40 years, he is a gaming writer for Boing Boing. His 13 books include The Happy Mutant Handbook (with Boing Boing editors) and Borg Like Me (and Other Tales of Art, Eros, and Embedded Systems).