October 2025

Play Story Press is excited to release The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Disney Villains, edited by Marie Shanley. It’s a safe bet that for every Disney fairytale we loved as a child, there was a villain that kept you on the edge of your seat. Or you may have admired a baddie whose motivations perplexed you so much, that you grew to appreciate their cunning wit and charming disposition despite it pushing your favorite hero away from their good goals. The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Disney Villains dives deep into our understanding of what it means to be bad, in a...

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Chrono Triggered: Time Travel, Identity, and Emotion in the Greatest RPG Thirty years ago, Chrono Trigger changed gaming forever. With its nonlinear storytelling, multiple endings, and sweeping tale of courage, friendship, and fate, it set a new standard for emotional storytelling in games. Its characters, ranging from a frog-knight to a robot from a climate-ravaged future, continue to resonate with players decades later, inviting reflection on mortality, memory, and choice. It also offered a sweeping tale of time travel and sacrifice that resonated deeply with players and helped establish the golden age of Japanese RPGs. This volume invites psychologists, philosophers,...

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Schell Games, one of the most innovative full-service game developers in the US, and our First Founding Society Member, has increased their support of Play Story Press. Their generous philanthropic donation as a Collaborating Society Member supports the open development and dissemination of knowledge that has a positive impact. We're an independent non-profit organization powered by input and involvement from the consortium, our contributors, and the community at large. We invite people to participate so that we can explore and create a better future together. Thanks to Schell Games for their continued support!

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Play Story Press is excited to release The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Legend of Zelda, edited by Annayah M.B. Prosser. The Legend of Zelda series captivates millions of players worldwide. We have followed Link, Zelda and Ganon through many quests, timelines and consoles. What can playing the Legend of Zelda games teach us about ourselves, others, and our place in the world? In this collection, eleven expert scholars from across psychology and the social sciences shed light on these questions. A must-read for fans of the games and budding social scientists alike, The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Legend...

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Play Story Press is excited to release Roll with Advantage: Creative, Collaborative, and Critical Responses to Dungeons & Dragons, edited by Edmond Chang and Suzanne Richardson Roll with Advantage: Creative, Collaborative, and Critical Responses to Dungeons & Dragons is an interdisciplinary, multi-genre, mixed-form anthology featuring poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, personal essays, interviews, and analytical scholarship about and inspired by D&D—the game, the legends, the media, and the people. The book is a playful, imaginative, and critical response to D&D’s pop cultural renaissance, particularly during and after the global pandemic, with its appearances on television shows like Stranger Things, Community, and...

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