My summer camp games have ended, and while I'm planning for the coming school year and my own weekend game with my regular group of adult gamers, my game-brain is working on Gen Con. I'll be offering a few Heroquest scenarios, including a short one just to introduce the game mechanics, and I will also have a Games and Education seminar on Saturday, August 6, at 1 pm in the afternoon. I'll bring my ideas and information, and I hope many other people will share their insights as well. Blogs and online chats (like this one) are all well and good, but there's nothing like the insights that occur when we get together face to face.
It would be great fun to meet anyone interested in talking games and education, whether at the seminar or otherwise during the convention!
David
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Summer Camp
I'm back from some early summer traveling and now leading a morning activity at my school's middle school summer camp called "Games for the Imaginative Mind." We may get into some game design and such or some writing later this week or next week, but the kids mostly want to play in a game. I have four boys and two girls, and I started them out nominating ideas for genres and settings.
One lad, who also likes to write, came up with high fantasy and zombie apocalypse right off the bat. There was an extended discussion of location, elements, and possible characters, and then I opened it up for a vote. The quietest participant, one of the girls, nominated zombie apocalypse, and everyone agreed that this idea interested them the most. We settled on World War II Sicily for our location, and they set to work on characters.
I said characters could be anyone form anywhere in the world that fit the early forties. We ended up with a local mafia don, his main lieutenant, a Canadian doctor, a Belgian pastry chef, a local auto enthusiast, and an expat Japanese baseball star. Wow. Thrown together by wartime circumstance, they find themselves together in Licata, on the southern coast of Sicily, on Wednesday, August 4, 1943. The last elements of the Third Infantry pull out for the north suddenly, leaving the locals to get back to their normal lives. The doctor has a badly mauled toddler and his mother at her home, and the Don seems to be in the first moments of a turf war with his old rivals. Where did that little kid go?
It's fun. They're creating up a storm, co-leading the game with me in wonderful ways. As one of them said early on, "We could write this as a book by the end of the week!" It does all lead me to take a look at how to add more of this kind of thing to my school-year writing program.
Definitely, to be continued!
David
One lad, who also likes to write, came up with high fantasy and zombie apocalypse right off the bat. There was an extended discussion of location, elements, and possible characters, and then I opened it up for a vote. The quietest participant, one of the girls, nominated zombie apocalypse, and everyone agreed that this idea interested them the most. We settled on World War II Sicily for our location, and they set to work on characters.
I said characters could be anyone form anywhere in the world that fit the early forties. We ended up with a local mafia don, his main lieutenant, a Canadian doctor, a Belgian pastry chef, a local auto enthusiast, and an expat Japanese baseball star. Wow. Thrown together by wartime circumstance, they find themselves together in Licata, on the southern coast of Sicily, on Wednesday, August 4, 1943. The last elements of the Third Infantry pull out for the north suddenly, leaving the locals to get back to their normal lives. The doctor has a badly mauled toddler and his mother at her home, and the Don seems to be in the first moments of a turf war with his old rivals. Where did that little kid go?
It's fun. They're creating up a storm, co-leading the game with me in wonderful ways. As one of them said early on, "We could write this as a book by the end of the week!" It does all lead me to take a look at how to add more of this kind of thing to my school-year writing program.
Definitely, to be continued!
David
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Long Time No See!
It's taken me longer to get back to this blog than I would have expected or wished, but I should have more to say in the coming months than in the last several. I'm working with several game publishers once again, and I will be attending Gen Con in Indianapolis and Dragon Con in Atlanta this summer, where I plan to play games, meet with members of the game industry, and, hopefully, have a chance to meet some of you. I'll be running games, some short and introductory for only an hour and some for a full three or four hours, at both conventions. I'll also be speaking about games and education at Gen Con, at one in the afternoon on Saturday, August 6.
My ongoing classroom game, Tut, a simulation of life in the court of King Tutankhamun, has just ended with a new regent, several assassinations, and a new military coalition. The kids have enjoyed it very much and are sorry to see it come to a conclusion. Tomorrow (Monday) we are spending an hour on debrief, when we will share some of the many story lines and reveal secrets.
My Friday afterschool game, set in the world of Glorantha, ends this coming Friday, also our last day of school, so it will be a fun way to see many of my gamer-students one more time. I will be running a two-week roleplaying game of some kind as part of my school's new summer camp for middle schoolers. I'll let you know how that goes.
In less than a fortnight, I'm leading a group of high school students to China for three weeks. In many ways, it reminds me of planning a campaign and gathering a party of adventurers!
Thanks, Bill, for the nudge!
David
My ongoing classroom game, Tut, a simulation of life in the court of King Tutankhamun, has just ended with a new regent, several assassinations, and a new military coalition. The kids have enjoyed it very much and are sorry to see it come to a conclusion. Tomorrow (Monday) we are spending an hour on debrief, when we will share some of the many story lines and reveal secrets.
My Friday afterschool game, set in the world of Glorantha, ends this coming Friday, also our last day of school, so it will be a fun way to see many of my gamer-students one more time. I will be running a two-week roleplaying game of some kind as part of my school's new summer camp for middle schoolers. I'll let you know how that goes.
In less than a fortnight, I'm leading a group of high school students to China for three weeks. In many ways, it reminds me of planning a campaign and gathering a party of adventurers!
Thanks, Bill, for the nudge!
David
Friday, February 18, 2011
Jane McGonigal
It's been a bit since I posted. You may have heard or seen her speak in the last year, but I've just discovered Jane McGonigal on TED and on NPR's "Science Friday". Her research and work concentrate on online games, but her ideas and optimism apply to tabletop role playing games as well, in fact, to any kind of game.
Dr. McGonigal is thinking big, and her work is big too, but her ideas also apply to many of the aspects of gaming, learning, and friendship that are near and dear to my heart. She describes four primary traits that occur in gamers.
• Urgent Optimism - "the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success"
• Weaving a Tight Social Fabric - It takes trust to play a game with someone.
• Blissful Productivity - "We're happier working hard."
• Epic Meaning - attachment to something much larger than ourselves.
This results in "Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals." I certainly know exceptions to these traits and results, but I think she's on to something, and her research backs her up.
Dr. McGonigal goes on to call for more gaming in our lives, six or so hours per week, in order to develop the skills and attitudes to change the world. I think her ideas are inspiring.
What do you think?
Have fun!
Dr. McGonigal is thinking big, and her work is big too, but her ideas also apply to many of the aspects of gaming, learning, and friendship that are near and dear to my heart. She describes four primary traits that occur in gamers.
• Urgent Optimism - "the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success"
• Weaving a Tight Social Fabric - It takes trust to play a game with someone.
• Blissful Productivity - "We're happier working hard."
• Epic Meaning - attachment to something much larger than ourselves.
This results in "Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals." I certainly know exceptions to these traits and results, but I think she's on to something, and her research backs her up.
Dr. McGonigal goes on to call for more gaming in our lives, six or so hours per week, in order to develop the skills and attitudes to change the world. I think her ideas are inspiring.
What do you think?
Have fun!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Brochures & Links
Just a brief note this time but a good one! I have all four of my GAMA brochures upload, and you can access them below.
Brochure One - Nuts & Bolts
Brochure Two - Language Arts & Literature
Brochure Three - History & Social Studies
Brochure Four - Math & Science
I also want to share a link to a post on Bill Walton's Escapist blog. He in turn has links to two articles and uses them to point both the miraculous creativity of role playing and its mundane, safe nature. Thanks, Bill, for once again infusing the conversation with common sense!
Have fun, everyone!
David
Brochure One - Nuts & Bolts
Brochure Two - Language Arts & Literature
Brochure Three - History & Social Studies
Brochure Four - Math & Science
I also want to share a link to a post on Bill Walton's Escapist blog. He in turn has links to two articles and uses them to point both the miraculous creativity of role playing and its mundane, safe nature. Thanks, Bill, for once again infusing the conversation with common sense!
Have fun, everyone!
David
Friday, December 24, 2010
Book Review: The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games
Greetings!
I've just finished reading Michael Tresca's new book, The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, and I wanted to share my thoughts. It's a grand history of both role-playing in its many forms and Tresca's own games and explorations over the last several decades. His love of games and imagination rings clearly throughout his perceptive analyses and clear, cogent descriptions of games, ideas, and behavior. He brings a thoughtful, theoretical background, based in his own wide experience in gaming and his graduate work examining the behavior of online gamers.
Tresca and I are about the same age, so it was a fond parallel reminiscence to follow his stories of white box D&D, early computer games, and the possibilities and frustrations of various forms of role-playing, but I was most fascinated by the academic frameworks that he discusses in his Introduction and then applies throughout the rest of the book. He presents ideas about Media Richness (p. 5), Anonymity (p. 7), Frames of Reference (p. 8), Time (p. 11), and Culture (p. 12) and then goes on to employ these ideas succinctly for at least eight, depending on how you categorize and count them, different forms of role-playing.
Tresca spends the first chapter exploring the narrative elements of The Lord of the Rings and fantasy literature in general as a foundation for Dungeons and Dragons and the other early tabletop role-playing games that drew inspiration from it. There is brilliant literary analysis here. Some of this chapter, especially the sections on classes and such, reads at first as if Tresca is applying structures not natural to Tolkien, but in doing this, he nicely elucidates the elements within the master's work that flowed directly into modern role-playing games.
The next chapter incongruously discusses miniature wargaming and collectible card games in almost the same breath. While I found the chronology a little hard to follow, it did illuminate me to the similarities, co-evolution, and convergences of these two seemingly different types of games. The interactions of the various branches and types of games is a theme Tresca returns to again and again in later chapters. Some might argue that these two kinds of games are not really role-playing, but another focus in Tresca's work is to view games on various spectra of media and engagement.
The third chapter examines tabletop role-playing, my favorite form, in the greatest detail, focusing primarily on the ongoing development of Dungeons & Dragons. Again, he casts links back to Tolkien and miniatures and forward to the evolution of computer, online, card, and live-action games. He also demonstrates the ways in which this game has expanded from its wargaming, victory-based roots to be a platform for many kinds of games and game settings. In the twenty-first century, with its fourth edition, Dungeons & Dragons has returned to some of the elements that founded it. Tresca cites Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson many times, allowing for their massive influence on the game's origin and development but also acknowledging the many other hands that have affected role-playing. Dungeons & Dragons is the big game, but while a few other games like Tunnels & Trolls and Chivalry & Sorcery receive mention, I would have enjoyed a careful exploration of the various developments in the wider field of tabletop role-playing games. Perhaps that is for another book.
Subsequent chapters explore play-by-post and browser-based games, gamebooks and computer-based interactive fiction (IF), multi-user dungeons (MUDs), computer role-playing games, massive muliplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and live-action role-playing games (LARPs). My own background does not include some of these areas in any meaningful way. Sure, I've lived in the hobby world during the last forty years, but I have found plenty enough entertainment and intellectual challenge in traditional, tabletop role-playing. I do write academic LARPs for my own classroom and others, and my work with GAMA in the past has exposed me to many wonderful ideas in everything from dice games to console scenarios, from miniatures to massive online games, but Tresca is able to bring his deep experience to bear on this wide range of game types, illuminating their interrelated and distinct qualities and showing how role-playing continues to evolve.
An aspect of role-playing that Tresca explores only briefly in his introduction (p. 12) is the way in which one's native culture affects the development of role-playing. He cites Britain's Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and elements within Japanese computer role-playing games, but this would be a fascinating topic to discuss further. It would probably take collaborators from many countries, looking at their own and each other's games for insight. Again, another book.
I highly recommend The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games for both its historiographical content and its exploration of the theoretical boundaries of various forms of role-playing and our sprawling hobby overall.
Tresca has a wonderful and frequent blog, where you can read more of his diverse ideas on a daily basis. You can reach McFarland Publishing on the net or by phone at 800-253-2187.
Have fun!
David
I've just finished reading Michael Tresca's new book, The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, and I wanted to share my thoughts. It's a grand history of both role-playing in its many forms and Tresca's own games and explorations over the last several decades. His love of games and imagination rings clearly throughout his perceptive analyses and clear, cogent descriptions of games, ideas, and behavior. He brings a thoughtful, theoretical background, based in his own wide experience in gaming and his graduate work examining the behavior of online gamers.
Tresca and I are about the same age, so it was a fond parallel reminiscence to follow his stories of white box D&D, early computer games, and the possibilities and frustrations of various forms of role-playing, but I was most fascinated by the academic frameworks that he discusses in his Introduction and then applies throughout the rest of the book. He presents ideas about Media Richness (p. 5), Anonymity (p. 7), Frames of Reference (p. 8), Time (p. 11), and Culture (p. 12) and then goes on to employ these ideas succinctly for at least eight, depending on how you categorize and count them, different forms of role-playing.
Tresca spends the first chapter exploring the narrative elements of The Lord of the Rings and fantasy literature in general as a foundation for Dungeons and Dragons and the other early tabletop role-playing games that drew inspiration from it. There is brilliant literary analysis here. Some of this chapter, especially the sections on classes and such, reads at first as if Tresca is applying structures not natural to Tolkien, but in doing this, he nicely elucidates the elements within the master's work that flowed directly into modern role-playing games.
The next chapter incongruously discusses miniature wargaming and collectible card games in almost the same breath. While I found the chronology a little hard to follow, it did illuminate me to the similarities, co-evolution, and convergences of these two seemingly different types of games. The interactions of the various branches and types of games is a theme Tresca returns to again and again in later chapters. Some might argue that these two kinds of games are not really role-playing, but another focus in Tresca's work is to view games on various spectra of media and engagement.
The third chapter examines tabletop role-playing, my favorite form, in the greatest detail, focusing primarily on the ongoing development of Dungeons & Dragons. Again, he casts links back to Tolkien and miniatures and forward to the evolution of computer, online, card, and live-action games. He also demonstrates the ways in which this game has expanded from its wargaming, victory-based roots to be a platform for many kinds of games and game settings. In the twenty-first century, with its fourth edition, Dungeons & Dragons has returned to some of the elements that founded it. Tresca cites Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson many times, allowing for their massive influence on the game's origin and development but also acknowledging the many other hands that have affected role-playing. Dungeons & Dragons is the big game, but while a few other games like Tunnels & Trolls and Chivalry & Sorcery receive mention, I would have enjoyed a careful exploration of the various developments in the wider field of tabletop role-playing games. Perhaps that is for another book.
Subsequent chapters explore play-by-post and browser-based games, gamebooks and computer-based interactive fiction (IF), multi-user dungeons (MUDs), computer role-playing games, massive muliplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and live-action role-playing games (LARPs). My own background does not include some of these areas in any meaningful way. Sure, I've lived in the hobby world during the last forty years, but I have found plenty enough entertainment and intellectual challenge in traditional, tabletop role-playing. I do write academic LARPs for my own classroom and others, and my work with GAMA in the past has exposed me to many wonderful ideas in everything from dice games to console scenarios, from miniatures to massive online games, but Tresca is able to bring his deep experience to bear on this wide range of game types, illuminating their interrelated and distinct qualities and showing how role-playing continues to evolve.
An aspect of role-playing that Tresca explores only briefly in his introduction (p. 12) is the way in which one's native culture affects the development of role-playing. He cites Britain's Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and elements within Japanese computer role-playing games, but this would be a fascinating topic to discuss further. It would probably take collaborators from many countries, looking at their own and each other's games for insight. Again, another book.
I highly recommend The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games for both its historiographical content and its exploration of the theoretical boundaries of various forms of role-playing and our sprawling hobby overall.
Tresca has a wonderful and frequent blog, where you can read more of his diverse ideas on a daily basis. You can reach McFarland Publishing on the net or by phone at 800-253-2187.
Have fun!
David
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
GAMA Brochures
I haven't posted much of late, busy with this and that, but I have come across the digital versions of the four Games and Education brochures that I produced under the auspices of the Games Manufacturers Association back in the 90s with the aid of Mark Simmons and Richard Martin-Leep.
Some of the games discussed or reviewed within these pages are now out of print, but there's still plenty of good nuggets to be found. I'd enjoy hearing updates or ideas from anyone!
Games & Education 1 - Introduction
Games & Education 2 - Language Arts & Literature
The remaining two (Games & Education 3 - History & Social Studies, Games & Education 4 - Math & Science) are being pesky about uploading. I'll work on this, but in the meantime, if you'd like copies, send me a message, and I'll be happy to send them off to the email address of your choice.
Have fun!
David
Some of the games discussed or reviewed within these pages are now out of print, but there's still plenty of good nuggets to be found. I'd enjoy hearing updates or ideas from anyone!
Games & Education 1 - Introduction
Games & Education 2 - Language Arts & Literature
The remaining two (Games & Education 3 - History & Social Studies, Games & Education 4 - Math & Science) are being pesky about uploading. I'll work on this, but in the meantime, if you'd like copies, send me a message, and I'll be happy to send them off to the email address of your choice.
Have fun!
David
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