Albrecht, Bob.

"The Adventurer's Handbook: A Guide to Role Playing Games" 1984

(ISBN: 083590167X)
This is an introduction to role-playing games in general and to Chaosium's basic
roleplaying system in particular.

Archer, Peter. (editor) "30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons"
2004 (ISBN: 0-7869-3498-0)
A retrospective on the development and play of the game D&D, with various
interviews and essays by authors of the game.

Barrowcliffe, Mark. "The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange"
A humorous autobiography about growing up in 1970s England with the hobby of
Dungeons & Dragons.

Brown, Timothy and Lee, Tony. "Official Price Guide to Role-Playing Games".
Ballantine Books, 1998.
This is a handbook for collectors of role-playing game products, suggesting prices
for rare items, limited prints, etc.

Butterfield, John; Parker, Philip; and Honigmann, David. "What is Dungeons and
Dragons?". Harmondsworth 1982-1984, Puffin Books (ISBN: 0446322121).
This is one of the earliest book about role-playing games. It is both a description
of D&D for newcomers to the game as well as detailed background notes, hints
on play and dungeon design, strategy and tactics.

Desborough, James and Mortimer, Steve. "The Munchkin's Guide to Power Gaming".
Steve Jackson Games, 2000. (ISBN 1556343477)
A humorous look at power-gaming, rules-lawyering, cheating, and other juvenile
RPG tricks. While the main intent is clearly humor, the parody is a reflection on
RPG styles.

Fannon, Sean Patrick. "The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible". Prima Entertainment,
1995. (ISBN: 0761502645)
This is half an in-depth introduction to what tabletop RPGs are like, and half a
history of published tabletop RPGs.

Fannon, Sean Patrick. "The Fantasy Role-Playing Gamer's Bible, 2nd Edition". Obsidian
Studios, 2000. (ISBN: 0967442907)
A revised edition of the previous book. It adds additional material covering new
roleplaying games since 1995, and also re-edits many of the original essays.

Fine, Gary Alan. "Shared Fantasy: Roleplaying Games as Social Worlds" University of
Chicago Press. 1983. (ISBN: 0226249433)
An academic study of the roleplaying subculture in the late 70's and early 80's. It
is not about the games per se but rather the particular social contexts that the
author studied.
Gade, Morten, and Thorup, Line and Sander, Mikkel (editors). "As Larp Grows Up -
Theory and Methods in Larp". BookPartner. 2003. (ISBN: 87-989377-0-7)
A collection of essays on RPG theory, published in Denmark in connection with
the Knudepunkt 2003 convention. The complete text for this book plus two
additional essays are now available online at
http://www.laivforum.dk/kp03_book/.

Guthrie, Wade. "Game Mastering Secrets". Wade Guthrie Press, 2000.

This is a large (8.5"x11") 136-page book which has an assortment of tips for
game-mastering. It's emphasis is on first-time GMs.

Gygax, Gary. "Role-Playing Mastery: Tips, Tactics and Strategies", Grafton Books,
London 1989. (ISBN: 0399512934)
This book explores the nature of roleplaying games, and defines a number of
distinctions about types and styles of games. It's distinctions are different than
many later writers, and often specific to D&D, which Gary Gygax was an author
of.

Gygax, Gary. "Master of the Game". Perigee Books, 1990. (ISBN: 039951533X)
A continuation of his other book, this focusses on the game-master.

Harrigan, Pat and Wardrip-Fruin, Noah (editors) "Second Person: Role-Playing and Story
in Games and Playable Media". MIT Press, 2007. (ISBN-10: 0-262-08356-6 / ISBN-13:
978-0-262-08356-0)
An academic work gathering a diverse group of writers to consider the
relationship between "story" and "game," as well as the new kinds of artistic
creation (literary, performative, playful) that have become possible in the digital
environment. Table of Contents and sample chapters are available online.
Holmes, John Eric. "Fantasy Role Playing Games". Hippocrene Books, New York 1981.
(ISBN: 0882545140)
A semi-official book which describes roleplaying games to non-players, authored
by a TSR writer.

Laws, Robin D. "Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering". Steve Jackson Games, 2002.
(ISBN 1556346298)
A comic-book sized 32-page guide on gamemastering techniques for established
gamemasters. It concentrates on categorizing players and tailoring your game and
game preparations to satisfy them.

Livingstone, Ian. "Dicing With Dragons: An Introduction to Role-Playing Games".

Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982. (ISBN: 0452254477)
An introduction to role-playing games, which includes a complete solitaire
adventure using a system it calls "Fantasy Quest." It was first published in
England in 1982 by Routledge & Kegan Paul. It was reprinted in America by
Plume the next year and again by Signet in September, 1986.
Lowder, James. (editor) "HOBBY GAMES: THE 100 BEST"
An anthology of essays where designers, authors, and publishers in the hobby
games field write about the most enjoyable and cleverly designed games of the
last fifty years. These include board games, collectible card games, and miniatures
games as well as role-playing games.

Mackay, Daniel. "The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art" McFarland,
2001. (ISBN: 0786408154)
This is a very academic analysis of role-playing games as a performance art. The
author uses a theoretical framework of theater studies. His data is primarily from a
long-standing AD&D campaign that he played ran for several years.

Montola, Markus, and Stenros, Jaakko (editors). "Beyond Role and Play: tools, toys, and
theory for harnessing the imagination" Solmukohta 2004 partners, 2004. (ISBN: 952-91-
6842-X)
A collection of 28 essays on the theory of role-playing -- drawing on many
disciplines, ranging from psychology and theater studies to anthropology. It is
primarily from writers in Scandanavian with an emphasis on live-action role-
playing events. However, much of it is widely applicable.

Nephew, Michelle Andromeda Brown. "Playing with power: The authorial consequences
of roleplaying games (H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien)". The University of Wisconsin -
Milwaukee, 2003. (ISBN: 0-496-61656-0)
A doctoral dissertation on role-playing games as an aspect of modern literature. It
suggests that as a group endeavor, players author a complex structure of fantasy
that addresses Freudian concepts of dreams and wish-fulfillment. In this way,
roleplaying addresses identity, including questions of performance, spectatorship,
and gender construction. It can be purchased online through UMI ProQuest as
Publication AAT 3114163.

Nexus, Johnny. "Game Night"

A humorous novel based on role-playing gaming, set in a fantasy world where the
gods have decided to play an RPG.

Plamondon, Robert. "Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers' Handbook". Reston

Publishing, 1982. (ISBN: 0835976874)
This was written as a practical guide to running an RPG campaign. It covers
creating and playing characters, creating a game world and game-mastering,
hosting a good game session, common pitfalls and how to avoid them, and even
painting miniature figures.

Rilstone, Andrew. "Interactive Fantasy: the journal of role-playing and story-making

systems". Hogshead Publishing, 1994-1995. (ISSN: 1356-6520)
 A short-lived journal of academic-style essays on role-playing theory and
practice. It had four issues, the first of which was entitled "Inter*Action" but legal
difficulties forced them to change the title.

Schick, Lawrence. "Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games",

Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., 1991. (ISBN: 0879756535)
This is primarily an enormous catalog of most RPG items to date, including not
only the basic RPG systems but also their supplements. It has occaisional notes on
the history and definition of RPGs from selected authors.

Swan, Rick. "The Complete Guide to Roleplaying Games". St. Martin's Press, 1990.
(ISBN: 0312050607)
This is primarily an enormous catalog of short reviews, with some general notes
about what RPGs are.