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I started giving seminars at exactly the same time I started running college role-playing conventions. The topics and venues expanded when I became the the Computer Columnist for The Detroit News back in 1979. Eventually I was called on to deliver classes, workshops and lectures at various universities, leading to my stint as Visiting Lecturer in Game Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.



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Erick Wujcik's Listing of Seminars


Electronic Game Industry Topics.

The world economy is a rapidly changing place, and no more so in the game industry, where revenues generated have already exceeded those of more traditional media, and where some governments are recognizing that an early investment in the game industry can lead to a share of a global market that will soon be measured in hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars.

Game Design Topics.

In spite of being the creative skill that drives a multi-billion industry, the study and teaching of the techniques of game design is still rare, and all too often confused with issues of programming or art. It's one of my missions in life to get people thinking, imagining and creating better game design, better gameplay and better game stories.

Role-Playing Game Topics.

The role-playing games topics here aren't the computer type. Each seminar has to do with 'paper' or 'face-to-face' role-playing, a non-electronic form of gaming. More art form than media, over the years I've tried to reach out to gamers and encourage better play, better Game Mastering (the Game Master, or GM, directs the role-players), as well as improved techniques for designers and writers.



    Electronic Games Industry Topics

  1. Cultivating Design Talent in China. August 29th, 2007. Venue: 2007 GDC Shanghai, Outsourcing and Next Generation Games Track, Shanghai International Convention Center, Shanghai, China.
    • Synopsis. Essentials of recruiting, training, and cultivating the careers of Chinese game design professionals. Includes: Recruiting game design professionals in China; Training for creativity; Developing self-instruction programs, group exercises, and best practices for stimulating imagination and novel problem solving in game design; Proto-typing and play-testing; Game industry team building.
    • Takeaway. Westerners learn the differences between Chinese and Western game design staff. Chinese managers and trainers learn career development pathways necessary for creative, imaginative and productive game design teams, including tips for integrating senior Western game designers with young Chinese game designers.
    • Intended Audience. Senior game design staff, producers, as well as those executives who are responsible for managing game designers, level designers, and other creative game design staff.
  2. Global Gaming: Culture, Profession and Societal Impact in New Interactive Media. December 1st, 2006. Venue: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
    • History and Development of Games. How interactive entertainment has grown from board games, miniatures and role-playing games into an international internet-based industry.
    • Prototyping and Play-Testing. How the mechanics and techniques of non-electronic games can be used to create new kinds of electronic games.
    • Opportunities for Employment and Opportunities for Enrichment. Where and how to find success in interactive media.
    • Global Gaming Poster
  3. Creating Games & Games of Creation: Creativity, Innovation & Techniques of Collaboration in Multimedia Technology & Design. October, 2003. Describing the convergence of emerging technology, as well as the pace of change, with the newly evolving IP-based economics, our guest Erick Wujcik will describe how games and other Intellectual Properties (IP) are destined to become major engines of national and international productivity, as well as charting how those of different disciplines, from both technical and design backgrounds will come to work together in the collaborative 'Creation Teams' of the future. Venue: BMIT seminar, School of Information Technologies, The University of Sydney, Australia.
  4. Farewell Seminar in Game Design, Part 1, Fall 2003: Opportunities East & Opportunities West. In terms of revenue, the electronic games industry has overtaken the movie business, and projections show that massive growth will make games a large part of our lives, and an even larger part of the global economy. How can Hong Kong game developers profit?
    • Playing the Billion Dollar Lucky Draw. How does a Hong Kong game maker avoid failure, and increase the chances of a lucky draw? Note: 'Lucky Draw' is the Hong Kong term for 'Lottery.'
    • Proto-Typing & Modeling. How can a small company prove themselves without massive investment? And how can an investor evaluate the worth of a proposed game product?
    • Hidden Wealth. How literacy in Chinese, and the mythology of Old China can become the wellspring of ten thousand games.
  5. Farewell Seminar in Game Design, Part 2, Fall 2003. Building the Hong Kong Games Industry
    • Building on Cantonese. A unique culture, a unique language, can be a huge engine for creation. How can Hong Kong profit from Cantonese?
    • Hong Kong: City State or Colonial Playground? An analysis of Hong Kong's strengths and how they can be used to create the 'critical mass' necessary to become a major games producer and exporter.
  6. The Future of Role-Playing Games and their Impact on Electronic Games and Globalization. Discussion on the future of (paper) role-playing, how it is - and will be - influencing the future of electronic games - and how electronic games will be influencing global economic development.
    • History & Development of Paper Role-Playing Games. How RPGs have grown from their miniatures and boardgame roots into a wide artform with hundreds of product designs.
    • Parallel Development of Electronic Games. How electronic game genres evolved into the current market segments, and their basis in non-electronic games.
    • Future Opportunities for Paper Role-Playing Game Designers in Electronic Games. The future value of role-playing creativity, and use of ethnic mythology, in the upcoming electronic game industry.
    • Venue: 2004 RopeCon Gaming Convention, Espoo, Finland.
  7. The Games Industry & Emerging Government Policy. A talk on how the growth of the international games industry is triggering responses from various regional and national bodies, and well as discussing the reletive value of different government initiatives.
    • IP-Based International Economics and the Growth of Games. As intellectual property economies become the successor to resource-based or manufacturing-based economies, the importance of a games industry as a generator of content.
    • The International War Over Games. How the games industry is becoming a platform for ethnic, national & international cultural battles.
    • Exploitation & Colonialism. When consuming a dominant gaming culture cuts off the opportunity for growth.
    • National & Regional Policy Initiatives in Gaming. South Korea's success & how it influences the emerging pattern of government involvement.
    • Venue: Queensland Game Developers Cluster, Austrade, Brisbane, Australia.
  8. How to Lose Big Money in Electronic Games: The Art of Designing Last. Design is critical to creating a successful video games, yet it is often neglected as the industry rushes toward technological improvements. While publishers are attracted to the 'guarantee' of sales from licensing movie properties, or spawning sequels to already successful games, the greater potential profit from creating original intellectual properties is all too often ignored. Venue: May, 2002, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
  9. Investing in Games: The Money and Jobs of the Expanding Game Industry. 4th Seminar in Game Design, 21st November 2002, The fourth of a series of five seminars on Game Design, “Investing in Games?is a survey of the current state of the Games Industry. He’ll discuss how changes in technology have consistently driven changes in the business of making and marketing games, as well as how games are being received in the modern marketplace. Topics include:
    • The Scale of Industry. Increasing demands for quality by the consumer are pushing budgets higher and higher, as well as requiring ever increasing staff.
    • Game Platforms. A few years ago games for Windows-based personal computers dominated the market, but game-specific machines from Sony, Nintendo and even Microsoft have totally changed that model.
    • On-Line Gaming. The prospect of making money month after month, from an internet audience that’s still growing at such a huge rate, meant a boom in the number of companies building Massively Multi-Player (MMP) games, and may mean there’s a new kind of bust coming around the corner.
    • Games & the New Wireless Frontier. A huge new industry was born with the advent of mobile telephones. What happens next?


    Game Design Seminars & Lectures

  1. Practical Game Design. 1st Seminar in Game Design, 1st November 2002, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The first of a series of five seminars on Game Design, “Practical Game Design,?describes the real-world workings of the Games Industry. The content isn’t just for aspiring Game Designers, but also for Programmers, Digital Artists, Animators, Producers, Educators and even Managers.
    • Personal Projects and Demonstration Programs. How to convey technical competence through a well-designed “Proof of Concept?and how to show (instead of tell) your skills and abilities to potential employers.
    • Game Types & Genres. Defining games; and translating non-computer games to computers (and vice-versa).
    • The Business of Fun. What Makes a Game Playable?
    • Ten Games That Shook the World! What can be learned from previous ground-breaking, cutting-edge, but not necessarily high technology games?
  2. Hands-On Creativity: An Introduction to Role-Playing Games. 2nd Seminar in Game Design, 7th November 2002, an introduction to the whole genre based on the idea of the player taking on the ‘role?of a fictional character. The Role-Playing Game (RPG), from primitive single-player computer games, through group-based “paper?RPGs like “Dungeons & Dragons,?“Rifts?and “Vampire,?through to the Massively-Multi-Player On-Line Games (MMOs and MMRPGs) of tomorrow, are still young, still developing, but are already having a major impact on popular culture worldwide. Topics include:
    • Role-Playing Techniques for Design & Testing. Face-to-face role-playing experiences can be used as ‘test-beds?to try out the viability of concepts, to test ideas and procedures (to destruction, if desired) and to quickly reveal flaws in storyline or character. All for a budget of no more than a few hours of those involved in the test.
    • Imaginary Worlds. How creativity drives Role-Playing, in creating whole new universes, races of peoples and stories.
    • A Survey of the Role-Playing Game Market. There’s a huge market in electronic games (including computer, console and mobile), but many role-playing games are sold as books, or even just passed along as ideas.
    • Licenses & Intellectual Properties. RPGs, like other games, can be based on movies, books and comics, but the reverse is also true, that movies, books and comics can be based on original RPGs.
  3. Gaming & Simulation. 3rd Seminar in Game Design, 14th November 2002, The third of a series of five seminars on Game Design, “Gaming & Simulation?describes how games have evolved over the last century from military tools (the German Kreigspiel) to an obscure form of entertainment based on children’s toys (“Little Wars?by H.G. Wells), to a new form of media rapidly overtaking movies and television as a dominant economic force. Topics include:
    • Gaming as a Simulation. The ratio of simulation (replicating the real world) with abstraction (invented arbitrary rules) provides an infinite number of plausible ways of designing games.
    • Gaming as a Tool. Since the invention of military games, there’s been an on-going debate about their validity as a predictive device. However, there’s not much doubt that people can learn strategies and tactics from games that are applicable to the real world.
    • Gaming as an Entertainment. The more advanced the brain of a mammal, the more it ow creativity drives Role-Playing, in creating whole new universes, races of peoples and stories.
    • The Future of Gaming & Simulation. RPGs, like other games, can be based on movies, books and comics, but the reverse I also true, that movies, books and comics can be based on original RPGs.
  4. Investing in Games: The Money and Jobs of the Expanding Game Industry. 4th Seminar in Game Design, 21st November 2002, The fourth of a series of five seminars on Game Design, "Investing in Games" is a survey of the current state of the Games Industry. Erick discusses how changes in technology have consistently driven changes in the business of making and marketing games, as well as how games are being received in the modern marketplace. Topics include:
    • The Scale of Industry. Increasing demands for quality by the consumer are pushing budgets higher and higher, as well as requiring ever increasing staff.
    • Game Platforms. A few years ago games for Windows-based personal computers dominated the market, but game-specific machines from Sony, Nintendo and even Microsoft have totally changed that model.
    • On-Line Gaming. The prospect of making money month after month, from an internet audience that's still growing at such a huge rate, meant a boom in the number of companies building Massively Multi-Player (MMP) games, and may mean there's a new kind of bust coming around the corner.
    • Games & the New Wireless Frontier. A huge new industry was born with the advent of mobile telephones. What happens next?
  5. Functional Writing: How to Communicate Instructions in Design Documents. 5th Seminar in Game Design, 28th November 2002, The fifth of a series of five seminars on Game Design, "Functional Writing" describes the writing process as it relates to giving directions and instructions. Since the main function of a Electronic Game Designer is to create "Design Documents" that define how a game is to be programmed, illustrated, laid out and animated, it's vital that the writer can communicate step-by-step guidelines. The techniques described are also useful for scriptwriters and screenwriters, fiction writers, journalists and even computer programming documentation. Topics include:
    • One Idea at a Time. All too often the writer is an hurry to explain everything at once while a reader can really only follow directions that are clear and linear.
    • Visualization. Every writer needs to imagine the subject, building a mental picture of what needs to be communicated.
    • The Writer’s "Voice." Just because the subject is dry, doesn't mean reading has to be painful. When it comes to Design Document, or any other written communication, adding the human element not only increases the chances of a document being read, but comprehension as well.
    • Understanding the Reader. While writing is often a solitary process, the end result has to be establishing a channel for communication, and that's a lot easier if the writer understands needs and limitations of the end user.
  6. Mythology & Games: It's Just One Apocalypse After Another. Part One of a series discussing mythology and game design, with an overview of world mythology, including a discussion of the source of the division between Western and Eastern Mythology.
  7. Eastern Mythology: The Endless Cycle of Birth & Death. Part Two of a series discussing mythology and game design describing the various mythologies, legends and hero types of various Eastern Mythologies, including those of Ancient China, Japan and India.
  8. Western Mythology: End Times & Catastrophes. Part Three of a series discussing mythology and game design, where various Western Mythologies are described and mined for their usefulness in games, as well as how the icons and legends of the West reverberate with contemporary gamers.
  9. Teaching Game Design Around the World. An overview of game instruction, with an emphasis on how the techniques of teaching game design must be put in a cultural context.
  10. Art+Game. How artists are being influenced by gaming culture and vice versa, including an overview of the emerging 'game artist.'
  11. Crushing the Pyramid. Trends in multimedia business organization & the games industry and how the traditional organization chart is getting flatter and wider.
  12. John von Neumann, the Theory of Games and Game Theory. John von Neumann, the formalization of game theory, 'von Neumann machines,' and 'von Neumann devices,' all critical background issues for the formulation of contemporary games.


    Role-Playing Topics

  1. The Art of Villany. Gencon 1995. Setting up the bad guys, in any role-playing campaign, requires a systematic approach that has to take into account the needs of each player character. Erick Wujcik (otherwise knows as the Ming-the-Merciless of Game Masters) shows how to invent adversaries that complement and expand the role-playing experience. (2 hours)
  2. Colonialism, Role-Playing & the Electronic Game Industry. Necronomicon, 2003, Sydney, Australia. There is a global economic war starting, and the stakes are hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars. How is that relevant to role-players? (30 minutes)
  3. Cool Pseudo-Science. Gencon 1995. How does a Game Master get across a sense of real science in a role-playing campaign? Fake it! Starting from a briefing on some of the coolest new research and the latest technology, Erick Wujcik shows you how to apply a few simple principles and come up with believable Pseudo-Science! (2 hours)
  4. Drastic Design. Gencon 1994, Gencon 2000. Interested in designing the next generation of role-playing systems? Erick Wujcik describes the conceptual tools needed for inventing, evaluating and applying new ideas in role-playing.
  5. The Future of Role-Playing Games and their Impact on Electronic Games and Globalization. Ropecon 2004, Finland. See Electronic Game Industry Topics for details.
  6. Game Mastering Through Cruelty & Compassion. Gencon 1995. Starting with the premise, "the only good GM is an evil GM," Erick Wujcik talks about the responsibilities of the Game Master to the role-player. Another in his series of "Excellence in Game Mastering" seminars.
  7. Game Mastery. Gencon 1989. Achieving excellence in the art of conducting role-playing games.
  8. High, Higher, Highest Technology. Gencon 1993. Use movie-making techniques to improve the art of game mastering a role-playing game! Learn how the tricks of the clever screen writer/director, including foreshadowing, character exposition, and visualization can be applied to any role-playing adventure.
  9. How to Win a Role-Playing Game. Gencon 1988/1989/1992. Can you win a role-playing game? Veteran GM and game designer Erick Wujcik says yes! A frank talk about winning through superior role-playing. Tips for players (not game masters) on how to stay alive, how to play smart, and even (gasp!) how to psych out the game master. Yes, you too can become any game's most popular player!
  10. Lights! Camera! Action! Gencon 1990. System Designer & Writer; Science Fiction Role-Playing Campaign Design, Entropy, Detroit, 1982.
  11. Limitless Arenas & Unlimited Role-Play. Gencon 1995. Talk about how Game Masters and role-players can take advantage of discarding rule limitations (and dice) and other stuff, to expand the role-playing experience. In other words, "less rules = more fun!"
  12. Long-Term Campaign Design - Role-Playing Without Limits or Borders. Gencon 1988/1993. For game masters only, how to design a campaign with durability. Erick Wujcik will describe how the groundword laid back in 1978 is still being used every Thursday night in 1988. Topics will include: "Choosing the Big Conflict" and "Top-Down Campaign Design" along with tips for keeping player interest alive.
  13. Metaphysics in Role-Playing. Gencon 1993. A dictionary definition of Metaphysics is "the study of ultimate causes, and the underlying nature of things." Erick Wujcik talks to Game Masters about how to create intriguing role-playing universes, and how to get players wondering about how things work.
  14. Mortal Fear & The Role-Player's Dilemna. Gencon 1999. Erick Wujcik, author of Amber Diceless Role-Playing, talks about what happens when Game Masters connect with role-players, and how to get the very best out of a role-playing campaign. In a time when computer role-playing games make death commonplace, with spectacular graphics, how can the face-to-face encounter compete? A discussion of tricks, skill and more RPG tricks.
  15. No Dice: Zen & The Art of Role-Playing. Gencon 1988/1989. Is it possible to achieve a higher state of role-playing involvement? Erick Wujcik will present strategies for eliminating rules, procedures, conventions, and even getting rid of dice, in an attempt to perfect the process and skills of game mastery.
  16. One on One Role-Playing. Gencon 1992. Face to fact confrontations, a powerful but neglected tool in the Game Master's arsenal. How, when, where, and why to engage in single-player role-playing sessions. Using the technique for campaign building, character development, and even, possibly, for applications beyond the confines of gaming.
  17. Piercing the Veil. Gencon 1994. An epic role-playing experience is when disbelief vanishes. How can a Game Master break through to the player's imagination? Another in Erick Wujcik's series of "Excellence in Game Mastering" seminars.
  18. Radical Futures. Gencon 1990/Gencon 1995. Where are role playing games going? What will be the games of the 90's and beyond? A look forward to the features of the possible mind-bending RPGs of the 21st Century, including neural self-programming, multi-dimensional imaging, virtual realities, and psycho-social simulations.
  19. Redesigning the Human. Gencon 1993. Yes, you can role-play a scenario in the future, when bio-technology and genetic engineering are realities. But should the characters be human beings? Erick Wujcik discusses role-playing "Nova Humans."
  20. A Role-Player's Manifesto. Gencon 1993. "I demand to have fun!" How can you get what you really want from role-playing? You can't unless you understand what you want, and how to get if from your Game Master. Erick Wujcik's sequel to last year's "How to Win a Role-Playing Game."
  21. Role-Playing Design: A Mechanic's Guide. Gencon 1990, Gencon 1995. Want to design a new role-playing game? Learn how to strip down and analyze any RPG. Once the pieces are pulled out and labelled, we'll build, and play-test, a brand new RPG by group consensus. After all, Doctor Frankenstein didn't build his monster until he performed a few autopsies... Be sure to bring your own ideas for a little group critique. Initially conducted as a two-hour seminar, but expanded in 1995 as three two-hour classes.
  22. Role-Playing for Zealots. Gencon 1994. Erick Wujcik talks about the pros and cons of fanatical role-playing. What are the ethics and morality of role-playing? And just how deeply involved should we get in role-playing?
  23. Spontaneous Fun: Role-Playing on the Fly. Gencon 1991. How is it that some game masters seem like they can pull a well-rounding, fully-developed, and exciting story out of seemingly random encounters? Here's a look at how to take any combination of characters and events, and turn it into an epic tale that'll involve players into total emotional involvement.
  24. Tactics of Terror. Gencon 1992. The arts of war, strategy, tactics, weapons and battles, are deeply rooted in role-playing. Yet they are rarely used as effective components by Game Masters. Erick Wujcik presents an overview of military thought, followed by how war stuff can be used in role-playing.
  25. Wild Science: Mind-Bending, Cutting-Edge Role-Playing Possibilities. Gencon 1991. How to turn the latest buzzwords into pulse-pounding excitement in a role-playing game. Let's talk Nano-technology, Buckyballs, Genetic Engineering, Cellular Automata, Virtual Reality, and what it means to the happening game master.

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