You can all blame Jared Sinclair for this.

At the beginning of December he posted Anti-Syllabus, a reading list/primer for philosophy and art. While it includes RPG material and touches on how the topics can relate to games, it mostly emphasizes the non-RPG aspects and encourages you to just interact with the listed works as a human being absorbing knowledge for the joy of it.

It made me think about how we RPG folk all have our own areas of expertise, but rarely get to really dig in and share because our main points of contact with each other are games. We talk about games and play games and, surprising no one, our various other niche interests just don't come up in that context very often.

We can all write a syllabus though.

Take a moment to think about what your specialty is, what texts shaped your understanding of it, and put it in a reading list. We're all full of hard-won obscure knowledge, let's share it. What better way to start 2021 than by yelling about the things you love and learning in return?

IN SHORT:

• Create a reading list of what you consider the formative/go-to resources for your particular area of expertise.
• Doubling up on topics is fine. You may have a useful source that hasn't been shared in other lists, so don't hesitate if you see someone else has already posted something similar to your interest.
• Got more than one specialty? No problem. Make as many lists as you want!
• The topic doesn't need to tie into games, but can if you want.
• Lists may include any sort of media, not just books.

Technical spec rules:

1. Make it a list. You can have introductions, explanations, and suggested reading orders of works; but let the reader consume at their own pace and draw their own conclusions.
2. If your main topic isn't immediately obvious from title, include it in a tagline so people can find things easily.
3. Include content and NSFW warnings where needed. Err on the side of caution. 
4. Respect people's preferences about questions and contact.
5. No fascism or bigotry of any kind.

We start on New Year's day and run through March (or longer if we're having fun). Get thinking!