Roll Initiative
Where are my
nerds, my gamers, my lovers of fantasy?
This one's for you.
I love
tabletop RPG's. An evening of
collaborative storytelling, acting, food, and fellowship is my favorite way to
relax and have fun with friends. There are many moving parts to an RPG, and
each player at the table might enjoy a different facet of the game. A more analytical mind might love parsing out
their character's stats- using math to build the best set of abilities for how
they want to play and what they want to accomplish. I'm more about the role play and story; writing a back
story and personality for a character, then getting into their head space and
making decisions based on that back story and personality. I like not only giving them abilities- but
reasons they're good at them.
My favorite
campaign to date, a home-brewed Pathfinder adventure that lasted four years,
has recently come to a satisfying conclusion.
This game has seen me through some pretty crappy happenings in my
personal life, and to an extent it's kept me sane. This game met like clockwork every other
Thursday, a constant to look forward to when everything else was changing. I
had guaranteed time with my friends when I needed support. It was both a way to escape and a way to
heal.
The character I built for this game was a rogue-ish bard, out to build her own inter-city Thieve's Guild. She was resourceful, brilliant, and calculating- neither a villain, nor a hero. She was Robin Hood, Indiana Jones, George Cooper, and Rosto the Piper all rolled into one opportunistic survivor. Her name was Pearl, and she helped me both in the game and out of it. Role-playing Pearl and getting into her mindset enabled me to be a whole lot tougher than I really am. So, there were times when I took her for a walk outside of the game. Any time I needed to do something frightening, make a hard decision, or even just talk about what had happened to me, I "put on Pearl" so to speak.
There was a period in my life when I needed to disappear. Doctor's orders- no kidding. She wanted me to get away from home so I could look back at it with a clear head, and stay away from someone who had done me quite a bit of harm. For three weeks I couch surfed among trusted friends. I needed to constantly plan my next move- where would I sleep that night? Or the next? What was my route to get to work? All of that planning, calculating, roaming, being able to effectively "disappear"- that was something Pearl could easily do.
So, as I was
ruminating on how this particular hobby has helped me cope, I began wondering
how it's helped others. I asked a couple
of my GM's for their take on it. Both
are long-time gamers to my relatively short four years. First up is my friend Drew, the GM for the Pathfinder
game mentioned above.
How did you get into role-playing?
I did some
role-playing back before I was even in high school. My older brother and his friends had the
original D&D Basic Edition starter box, which was my first introduction to
role playing. This was back around 30
years ago, when D&D Basic was just about the only RPG available. My friends and I wanted to play, but we
didn’t have the rules, so we just engaged in free-form role playing with made-up
rules for a while after that.
I did manage
to play a few scattered games with the actual rules on weekends while in high
school, but nothing that lasted more than a few sessions.
In my first
year of college, I was looking for social groups to join. There was a board gaming group in one of the
college dorms that I checked out, but it didn’t hold my interest long. In the next room over there was a role playing
group playing Champions, a superhero RPG.
They needed another player, so one of them just came over to the room I
was in, grabbed me, and dragged me over to join their game. I met several long-term friends there,
including the woman I eventually married.
How long have you been gaming?
At least 30
years. I don’t even remember how old I
was when I started, in my mid-teens I think.
What aspect of the game do you enjoy
the most?
Gaming has
two different aspects that I really enjoy, two different goals which are
usually considered opposed in most analysis of gaming styles.
First,
there’s the aspect of roleplaying. Being
able to play the role of a character who isn’t me, but who I control and who is
effectively my avatar in a shared fantasy world, allows me to overcome some of
my own crippling social anxiety and shyness, the level of indirection of
playing a character allows me to relax and have fun. I’ve been able to explore social interactions
and characters in situations that I’ll never be in, play out lives and stories
that have taken me to unexpected places.
It’s fun, and helps me engage in a fun social activity that I might have
otherwise been too shy to do.
Then there’s
also the engineering, min-maxing side of me that enjoys the mathematical
interaction of the rules, of finding ideal combinations of choices in building
a character. Min-maxing is usually
looked down on among players, and I don’t generally find a pure optimized build
with no personality all that interesting.
I enjoy looking for unexpected combinations, character build options
that you wouldn’t expect to work well together, ways other than the obvious to
make an effective character. It really
pleases the puzzle-solving part of my brain to work out what the mathematical
options for building a character are, and figure out the optimum solution. I do also sometimes enjoy the challenge of playing
a sub-optimal character, but if I’m going to I prefer to know that they are
sub-optimal and make them that way on purpose.
What aspect
of the game has helped you the most?
I have used
role playing games to help develop and practice my social skills, and to meet
new friends. I met my eventual wife and
a number of other long-term friends in college through gaming, and other
friends in gaming groups since then.
There was also a time after I was out of college where I had essentially
no human contact outside of work and my wife for far too long, at which point I
deliberately reached out to friends and joined a gaming group because I knew
that while I could live without human contact, it wasn’t a good idea and I
really needed to spend some time around other people. I tend towards severe introversion if I don’t
push myself to keep spending time with other people, and I know that it’s not
healthy for me psychologically to shut off from everyone completely. Gaming is a way I can make myself spend time
being social with people, while the role playing aspect lets me overcome my own
social anxiety. Granted, my social
anxieties have become much less bad in recent years, but there was a time they
were crippling.
For my second interview, I chose my friend Scott. Scott is a long-time gamer and a high school science teacher who uses his home-brewed Savage Worlds setting as a teaching tool for some of his students.
Why did you
decide to introduce tabletop gaming to your students?
I primarily
teach students with Asperger’s. Social relationships are always a challenge. Role playing games emphasize social interactions with specific rules for conduct
and obvious foreseeable results for following these guidelines. They promote
peer interactions and positive collaborative techniques. These are skills I
strive to develop in my students and frequently have difficulty cultivating them in some individuals. Lastly role playing offers a safe escapist universe,
where the students can be heroes and successful in their endeavors without
being derided for social shortcomings, criticized for a propensity for
introversion, or denigrated for personal idiosyncrasies.
What were
the educational goals of the game?
I think the previous question hit this. When I started I also envisioned a dynamic method to teach history and a little science. However I must admit this was never fully realized. Game play superseded any historical or scientific vignettes that the plot might open up.
I think the previous question hit this. When I started I also envisioned a dynamic method to teach history and a little science. However I must admit this was never fully realized. Game play superseded any historical or scientific vignettes that the plot might open up.
Did you see
any changes in your students?
I’m involved in quite a number of peer interactive groups (Odyssey of the Mind, role playing, my classes, various electives I teach, robotics program). My students tend to pick many of the courses I teach. As a consequence it is not unusual for me to have them for several periods a day. My general teaching style is emphasizing creative endeavors though peer interactions. Role playing is one facet of this instructional model. As such I can say I have seen demonstrative skill development. However I would not hold role playing solely responsible for this development.
The one social skill that I can say role playing has been the greatest contributor in teaching is crisis resolution. Role playing is conflict centered endeavor (combats, disagreements on actions at the tale, debates and diplomatic missions). I have seen students endeavor to support and work towards resolving one central plan of action as they move through a mission. They do not work so collaboratively in the beginning. Some never truly change from their own individualized goals. However many became more attuned to the group needs and wants and how best to solve things as a team.
Did you
learn anything GM-ing for young players?
Younger players a little more
narcissistic and slightly less able to be attentive. Consequently it helps to
keep the action going and make sure that every player seated at the table has
an opportunity for their character to express themselves.
What advice
would you give other educators considering RPG's as a teaching tool?
I think in districts you need to be sensitive to certain topics and current events. Religious beliefs obviously, violence sometimes, misogynistic behaviors, alcohol use and even some mild elements of sexuality. These are elements that have been emphasized to various degrees in a traditional role playing environment. It helps to know your population, what their parents find acceptable and what your administration is comfortable with. If you feel you are working outside these parameters permission slips and a frank dialogue with your administrator is wise, so there are no awkward conversations later.
So, my Lovelies, my gamers, bring me your stories! I want to know- Has role playing helped you?
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