PlaGMaDA...That's a mouthful - an acronym for the Play Generated Map and Document Archive, and it's a collection of some of the dorkiest mementos that I've seen and been privy to: original Dungeons and Dragons maps, modules, character sheets, and other ephemera.
Timothy Hutchings has been gathering this material for a few years and has begun making the items available online and in print, finally giving large(r) exposure to things that were never quite meant for prime time exposure. The archive has an admittedly simple interface, but the idea that these keepsakes are worth preserving is an interesting one, something akin to the outsider art movement.
I don't know that I'll be buying one of their books or throwing in with their kickstarter program to publish their second book, but I will be perusing the archive from time to time as it - hopefully - continues to grow.
...on further research, I found a number of meatspace exhibitions that have offered viewings of parts of Hutchings's collection:
- Adventurer Conqueror King - video with game designer describing his original RPG
- Everything is Dolphins - PlaGMaDa's first book, an RPG "hovering somewhere between side scroller video game, talking animal fairy tale, and triptastic fun."
- 'Space Invaders' exhibit - stretching the collection to video game maps
- PlaGMaDa selections in a lightbox
- Two composite maps from PlaGMaDa project
- Selections from PlaGMaDa
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