danielhkwan
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Roll with Advantage: When TTRPGs and Museums Meet
🕑 Added 2019-04-27 01:21:33 +0000 UTC*This is the extended version of the editorial I wrote for Sam Hotchkiss' Skill Point zine. I was given permission to share it for you wonderful patrons!
INTRODUCTION
Roleplaying games can serve as powerful experiential learning tools for fostering development of the skills required to both interact with traditional curricula and navigate the world outside of the classroom. These include, but are not restricted to: mathematics, history, science, art, literacy, communication, self-reflection and advocacy, critical thinking, and resiliency. The museum is a unique catalyst through which this is all possible.
From 2011-2019, I was an Instructor at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) - Canada's largest cultural and natural history museum. My role as an educator there was far from conventional as my primary teaching tools were tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs). This was a position that married my love for natural and cultural history with tabletop games. Tabletop roleplaying games are used by my teaching team and me to add a new level of understanding to the world inside and beyond the museum. By connecting game content and worldbuilding practices with hands-on educational experiences, learning is made even more interactive and accessible. My training began in 2000-2004 when I was a student in the program. It's where I learned how to play Dungeons & Dragons and developed an intense passion for using games to engage my curiosity about the world. From 2005-2010, I also served as an assistant in the program under two amazing educators named Anthony Harrison and Kevin Armstrong. I earned a Bachelor degree in biological anthropology in 2011, and a Master of Science in archaeology in 2013.
Now that the stage is set, how do tabletop roleplaying games and a museum come together?
The answer is simple: the combination of structured discussion-based learning and tabletop roleplaying proves to be a powerful means of creating affinity spaces – places where informal learning takes place.
I run 7 programs throughout the year: three 8-week Saturday morning, afternoon, or full day programs, a single March break program, a 4-day winter holiday program, and two 2-week and one 1-week (9 am-4 pm) programs in July/August. Here's a breakdown of average day in the Dungeons & Dragons program at the Royal Ontario Museum:
- 9 am- Lesson/gallery discussion
- 10:15 am - Break
- 10:30 am - Gaming
- 12 pm - Lunch
- 1 pm - Lesson/gallery discussion
- 2 pm - Gaming
- 4 pm - Dismissal
Drawing upon my background in biological anthropology and archaeology, lesson plans and outlines are written by me prior to the start of each program. However, the content is never set in stone and purposefully changes to accommodate student curiosity, special exhibitions, and current events outside of the museum. Despite the name of the program ("Dungeons & Dragons"), my staff team and I employed a variety of tabletop RPGs including: Dungeons & Dragons (editions 3.0, 3.5, & 5.0), Pathfinder, Starfinder, Coriolis, Tales from the Loop, Mutant Year Zero, Spycraft, Cold Steel Wardens, Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, Trudvang Chronicles, Lady Blackbird, Dread, and the staggering variety of Powered by the Apocalypse games like Dungeon World, Night Witches, Ross Rifles, and Urban Shadows.
MATHEMATICS, HISTORY, & SCIENCE
In an unpublished dissertation,(removed written by) Alice Pitt (1995, Ontario Institute of Studies in Education - OISE) noted that “learning about content is not the same thing as learning from it. In other words…learning is something more than a series of encounters with knowledge; learning entails, rather, the messier and less predictable process of becoming implicated in knowledge” (p.298). Indeed, genuine learning comes about through experience. The best way to cultivate experience in a learning space? Teaching students to care about their experiences at the table and dig deeper into game content.
Traditionally "crunchy" games like Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons (editions 3.0/3.5) are incredibly powerful tools for the informal development of mathematic skills. Aside from those specific titles which my program used extensively during the first 5 years of my tenure, all roleplaying games that involve dice rolling offer staggering ease of engagement when it comes to basic geometry, shape recognition, and the four basic operations of arithmetic. Why? Because the use of dice rolling to mediate outcomes and risk provide direct opportunities for math to be used in a way that feels immediately beneficial. Players roll dice to resolve narrative action, do the math at their own pace, and own the outcome.
From ancient histories to natural wonders, everything encountered by players in a game of Dungeons & Dragons is informed by the world around us. For instance, the arms and armour you see in the Players Handbook? All inspired by artifacts housed in the same building my classroom calls home. Curious about archery? Let's meet up with curators or a curatorial technician to shoot historical bow and arrows. Having trouble describing how you'd wield a weapon? Let's find an expert in the building to provide us with an answer. Curiosity-driven discovery is heavily augmented by the material culture housed within the museum and my academic background. This also isn't limited to fantasy RPGs. Games like The Warren and TimeWatch are excellent examples of how science can come to life through classroom gaming. Ross Rifles, a First World War Powered by the Apocalypse game I co-created with Patrick Keenan and Daniel Groh (both alumni of the ROM Dungeons & Dragons program), is my own contribution to developing an understanding of history through play. Microscope takes it a step forward and allows students to explore a history of their own creation on a grand scale. Fueled by structured lessons, discovery-based learning, and engaging with educational content through play, students develop culturally relative worldviews. With these, they craft inclusive and diverse fictional worlds and tales inspired by their educational experiences.
SOCIAL SKILLS
In storytelling games like Dungeons & Dragons, practicing helpful behaviour is commonplace - with every session involving structured collaborative problem solving that helps develop students abilities to communicate, reason, learn from failure, and connect.
Communication in tabletop roleplaying games is everything. It's how we create shared narrative experiences and mediate conflict. By creating vivid experiences through storytelling, students are encouraged to craft clear and engaging messages that all can understand.
Now let's talk about failure - one of the most important aspects of life one needs to experience in order to grow. Most think it's bad. But that isn't always the case. Sometimes, failure is to be expected and accepted. When experienced in structured settings like a gaming session, failure can be better articulated, reflected upon, and appropriate responses can be developed through the structured problem solving intrinsic to every session. Participants must recognize and define problems, explore options, consider strategies, execute their plans, and reflect on the process and outcomes. Games like Dungeons & Dragons allow players to learn and adapt from failure. Games like Dungeon World take it a step further and reward player failure through "experience". By doing so, players are committed to learning from their mistakes. By embracing the lessons of failure and taking ownership of mistakes, students become more resilient and better equipped to react constructively. The ability to learn from problems is directly related to a students ability to understand patterns, evaluate possibilities, and make decisions. As such, the player agency granted by tabletop roleplaying games provides context-specific means of practicing pattern recognition and reasoning related to in-game behaviours.
From all of this comes connection - a student's ability to understand themselves, empathize, and influence others. Tabletop roleplaying games encourage them to recognize and manage their own feelings, and understand how they affect those of others. By playing cooperative games in a shared physical space (i.e. the gaming table), understanding and interpreting appropriate responses to the physical, verbal, and emotional reactions of those participating in said space becomes critical to collective success.
Connection also comes in the form of leadership. Due to the highly collaborative nature of RPGs, playing them facilitates highly democratic learning where pro-social behaviour is encouraged by fellow players and the positive outcomes provided by the facilitator. As a form of informal apprenticeship, the relationship between the facilitator and students is a natural venue for leadership skills development – particularly with regards to distress management, peer education, and inspiring constructive emotions in others.
The majority of my paid staff and volunteer team is comprised of former program participants. I have implemented a scaffolding of responsibility that starts when a student demonstrates interest in joining the program as a volunteer. Those who have been with the program for a number of years will have developed a high degree of proficiency in game systems and classroom practices. During character creation and gameplay, senior students are encouraged to share their knowledge and help those newer to the program or game. Upon "aging out" at 15, students are encouraged to enroll in the museum's leadership summer program where they will be given further experience in volunteer responsibilities. Once completed, students are given the opportunity to volunteer as teaching assistants in the Dungeons & Dragons program and ultimately develop their skills to the point of employment. I myself was a student, volunteer, and assistant with this very program. Anthony Harrison, who I mentioned in the beginning of this piece, was my instructor. Upon earning my bachelor's degree, I took over the program. When I ultimately move on, one of my staff - also a former student in the program - will take over and continue to innovate. This scaffolding of responsibility not only ensures continuity of the high quality programming, but also creates a highly positive environment for the development of real-world leadership skills.
CONCLUSION
Education through experience is the underlying goal of the Dungeons & Dragons program at the Royal Ontario Museum. This program is not meant to only prepare students for the classroom, but for the world beyond it. Experience and play are central to successfully incorporating tabletop roleplaying games into educational contexts - even those outside the definition of a traditional classroom. Through innovative educational programs like this, we can educate the next generation of innovators. More programs like this are needed in the world, and this is but one blueprint.
WORKS CITED
Pitt, A. (1995) “Subjects in tension: engaged resistance in the feminist classroom’, Unpublished Dissertation, OISE/UofT, Toronto, ON.
Comments
Toni Kraja
You are doing such a great and inspiring work, thanks for giving some insight.
