TRPG wiki writing: Creating a paratext

Tabletop roleplaying games (TRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons are characterised by their changing and evolving storyworlds. The kernel of these worlds often comes from the game books or are inspired by fiction in other media such as novels or television. But it is the collaborative process of play which shapes and grows that storyworld into a unique one experienced by a particular group. Some of these worlds are played in for years or even decades (Macgregor 2022) and understanding how these worlds are formed, shaped, and changed is of interest to scholars of game studies. I am interested in theorising about how the mechanism of collaborative play shapes the storyworld of the game over time. This essay is focused on one particular tool that many player groups use to shape and grow their storyworlds, that of the gameplay wiki. I shall look at how TRPGs can be treated as text and thus how the different ways wikis can work as a paratext to help players collaborate and shape their storyworlds.