EDGE

Empowering Game Design Education

Course Content
Course Information
This course explores specific concepts and practices to consider when designing for transformative impacts.
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Welcome! Start Here for Important Information from Your Instructors
Schedule & Instructions
Course Calendar
Assessments & Deliverables
Policy on Generative AI
Learning Objectives and Success Criteria
Course Materials
Unit 1: Role-playing Game Design Basics
This course explores foundational concepts and practices to consider when designing analog role-playing games for transformative impacts.
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Overview: Role-playing Game Design Basics
Discussion Forum Instructions
Orientation Quiz
Sign up for Your Playtest and Feedback Group
Discussion 1: Introduce Yourself and Connect!
Discussion 2: Tabletop Role-playing Games — Design Basics
Discussion 3: Live Action Role-playing Games (Larp) — Design Basics
Unit 2: Transformative Leisure Role-playing Game Design
These types of games are not necessarily played for an educational or therapeutic purpose, but they can be designed with specific goals in mind and players might find them transformative in a variety of different ways.
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Overview: Transformative Leisure Role-playing Game Design
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discussion 4: Workshop Design Brainstorming
Instructions for Major Assignment 1: Playtest Scenario and Playtest Plan
Playtest 1: Return to #Feminism
Discussion 5: Designing Transformative Leisure Role-playing Games
Unit 3: Therapeutic Role-playing Game Design
These types of games are designed for a therapeutic purpose or to help participants develop social skills.
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Overview: Therapeutic Role-playing Game Design
Discussion Forum Instructions
Reflection Journal 1: Emotional Debriefing and You
Discussion 6: Therapeutic Role-playing Game Design
Unit 4: Educational Role-playing Game Design
These types of games are designed for an educational purpose according to specific learning objectives, such as curricular materials or helping participants develop social skills.
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Overview: Educational Role-playing Game Design
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discussion 7: Learning Objective, Workshop, and Educational Debrief Brainstorming
Submission of Major Assignment 1: Playtest Scenario and Playtest Plan
Schedule Playtest 2: Playtest and Feedback Session
Instructions for Major Assignment 2: Framing Transformative Game Design
Discussion 8: Educational Role-playing Game Design
Unit 5: Research and Design Specifics
We will discuss ways to design and iterate role-playing games, but also how to take that process a step further.
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Overview: Research and Design Specifics
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discussion 9: Specifics of Researching Role-playing Games
Discussion 10: Specifics of Role-playing Game Design
Playtest 2: Playtest and Feedback Session
Reflection Journal 2: Reflection Models and You
Unit 6: Styles and Cultures of Design
As we have discussed before, role-playing games emerge from specific design and play communities.
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Overview: Styles and Cultures of Design
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discussion 11: Styles and Cultures of Role-playing Game Design
Submission of First Complete Draft of Major Assignment 2: Framing Transformative Game Design
Peer Review Instructions for Major Assignment 2
Unit 7: Ritual, Symbolism, and Culture in Game Design
In this Unit, we will deepen into specific practices for designing rituals, narratives, and symbolism in role-playing games.
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Overview: Ritual, Symbolism, and Culture in Game Design
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discussion 12: Culture, Ritual, and Symbolism Design Brainstorming
Reflection Journal 3: Cultural Role-playing and You
Submission of Peer Reviews for Major Assignment 2
Unit 8: Role-playing Game Design and Conflict
As with our first class, this unit will cover both conflicts surrounding certain facets of game design within gaming communities.
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Overview: Role-playing Game Design and Conflict
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discussion 13: Conflict in Role-playing Game Design
Unit 9: Representation and Tech Ethics in RPG Design
In this unit, we will primarily focus on the way disabilities are represented in role-playing game design.
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Overview: Representation and Tech Ethics in RPG Design
Reflection Journal 4: Representation, Tech Ethics, and You
Unit 10: Framing Transformative Game Design
Welcome to our last unit on your reflections and analysis of the transformative game design process.
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Overview: Framing Transformative Game Design
Reflection Journal 5: Transformative Game Design and You
Submit Final Draft of Major Assignment 2: Framing Transformative Game Design
Transformative Game Design 1

Overview: Role-playing Game Design Basics

Welcome to Transformative Game Design 1! This course explores foundational concepts and practices to consider when designing analog role-playing games for transformative impacts. In addition to lectures, discussions, and journals, you will also be playing at least one game, as well as designing a workshop and debrief for a nanogame you have designed.

The instructions are mostly the same from Introduction to Transformative Game Design, with these exceptions:

  • You must playtest the framing design for your game and receive feedback from your peers on your game once during this course. 
  • Each group member’s playtest should be a maximum of 50 min — maximum of 40 min for workshop, game play, and debrief and 10 min total for feedback. 
  • You will also have another session where you will play a nano-game together, so plan for a minimum of two (2) sessions total.

Please familiarize yourself with the contents of the course including the syllabus, the calendar, and the units, then take your Orientation Quiz, which is linked in this Unit.

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Unit 1 Overview

In Unit 1, we will discuss role-playing game design basics for tabletop, freeform, and larp. Some of you may be highly familiar with this content, whereas for others, it will be new for you. Our hope is that this basic introduction will give you much of the vocabulary needed to understand the rest of the content in this course and future courses in the Transformative Game Design Master’s. We also want you to consider these concepts in terms of transformative impacts and goal-setting, as game design can enhance or inhibit these processes depending upon the circumstances.

In this Unit, we will cover:

  • Traditional Tabletop Role-playing Game Design Basics
  • Indie Tabletop Role-playing Game Design Basics
  • Traditional Larp Design Basics
  • Experimental Larp Design Basics
  • Alibi
  • Role-playing Game Mechanics
  • Structured Goal Setting

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Note: Some of the materials below may not be available outside of this course. We are providing them as part of your education within this course. Do not distribute PDFs. 

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Required materials:

Videos:
Readings:
  • Balzac, Stephen R. 2013. “The Use of Structured Goal Setting in Simulation Design.” In Wyrd Con Companion Book 2013, edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman and Aaron Vanek, 18-21. Los Angeles, CA: Wyrd Con. (3 pages)
  • Koljonen, Johanna, Jaakko Stenros, Anne Serup Grove, Aina, D. Skønsfjell, Elin Nielsen, eds. “” In Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences, edited by Johanna Koljonen, Jaakko Stenros, Anne Serup Grove, Aina D. Skønsfjell, and Elin Nilsen, 411-419. Copenhagen, Denmark: Landsforeningen Bifrost. (8 pages)
  • Stenros, Jaakko, and Markus Montola. “Basic Concepts in Larp Design.”In (Download) Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences, edited by Johanna Koljonen, Jaakko Stenros, Anne Serup Grove, Aina D. Skønsfjell, and Elin Nilsen, 16-21. Copenhagen, Denmark: Landsforeningen Bifrost.
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