RPGs for Acquisition in the WL Classroom – an idea whose time has come?

Eric Herman recently posted an interesting video in which he compared TPRS to a Role Playing Game. You can watch the video here.

The basis for the comparison was the nature of collaborative storytelling, which everyone does. Sometimes we do it informally in normal conversation. One person begins a story, and the interlocutor asks questions about what happened: Who was there? Where was it? When did it happen? What happened next? Other times, we do it “formally”; that is, we consciously create a story, whether it is via MadLibs® or some other format.

The video took me back to a class I had a number of years ago. It was a combined German 3-4-AP class (most of my “upper level” classes are mixed level), and when we got to the medieval unit, we did a lot of story creation. We introduced some fantasy elements, such as a dragon, but the setting was thoroughly grounded in both the physical and social setting of the Middle Ages. One of my students even picked up the name of “Thor Drachentöter” (Thor Dragon Slayer) for the rest of the year. There was also “König Ralph”, but he had gotten his name earlier.

Both I and my students enjoyed this class a lot. My students enjoyed creating and telling their stories, and I enjoyed being a “Game Master” with them. “Game Master” (or, since I used to play Dungeons and Dragons®, “Dungeon Master”) is a role that I have enjoyed for many years. I have run campaigns that lasted for years, and they were always story based. In fact, the players often commented on how different my “dungeons” (not everything takes place inside an enclosed underground space) were from the usual hack-and-slash, amass wealth, and gain experience points games their friends played –and how much they enjoyed the difference. It gave the players an opportunity to create well-rounded characters and invest them with personality.

Perhaps this propensity for storytelling is part of what drew me to TPRS.

Subsequent classes weren’t quite ready to embrace the full role-playing game idea, and for several years I have gotten away from what Ben Slavic called “The Realm”. This year, though, I think I have students who will take to it, so when we do the medieval unit in the spring, I’m going to see if we can create the magic again. Of course, it will be different, but that’s part of the fun. We will have to play to find out what happens.

How subversive: run an RPG game in school as part of the curriculum.

I’ll keep you posted when I start and let you know how it goes. Coming Spring 2017: Role Playing Games for Acquisition in the WL Classroom. (Sounds like a great proposal for a conference session.)

This is just a new twist on the concept of “gamifying”, right?