Course Content
Unit 1 Introduction to Role-playing Games
This course explores foundational concepts and practices to consider when designing for transformative impacts. In addition to lectures, discussions, and journals, you will be designing a game.
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Unit 2: Introduction to Transformative Role-playing Game Design
In this unit, we will discuss three different types of contexts: transformative leisure, therapeutic, and educational role-playing games.
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Unit 3: Transformative Role-playing Game Design in Practice
In this unit, we will share our model of transformative role-playing games
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Unit 4: Character, Culture and Mechanics Design
In this unit, we will provide some techniques and additional considerations when adding these facets to your game.
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Unit 5: Myth, Symbolism, Ritual and Magic
In this unit, we will discuss some of the factors that can make role-playing games such powerful and transformative experiences, including the use of mythic structures, symbolic images, and ritual activities within games and also in the act of play itself.
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Unit 6: Culture and Conflict in RPGs
In this unit, we deepen our understanding of culture, thinking about it as something surrounding games and also embedded within them.
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Unit 7: Designing Safety Structures
In this unit, we will deepen into concepts related to safety design. Several issue that can arise with regard to psychological safety during games.
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Unit 8: Game Technologies and RPGs
By its very name, analog role-playing emphasizes interactions between people unmediated by technology, but of course in reality, we often use technologies during play.
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Unit 9: Offering and Receiving Design Feedback
In this unit, you will be providing feedback on the scenarios of other students. Figuring out the best way to give feedback can be difficult.
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Transformative Role-Playing Game Design

Discussion Forum Instructions

When writing your initial post in the discussion forum assignments, answer all questions with 1 paragraph per numbered question cluster, making sure to answer all subquestions within the cluster. Assignments will have 3-4 overall question clusters. A paragraph is 4-6 sentences.

For all discussion forum assignments, reply to at least two (2) of your peers using the Ask a Question, Answer a Question format:

  • Reply to your peers with at least five (5) substantive sentences based upon the content of their post. Sentences like “Hello” and “Good post” do not count toward this length requirement. 
  • When possible, seek out students who have not yet received a response.
  • One of these sentences should ask a question of each peer to generate further discussion. This question should be related to the substance of their post.
  • Check the discussion forum throughout the week.
  • When your peers respond to your posts, answer their questions, then ask a question in return to further the conversation.
  • Similarly, when you ask a question, monitor the thread for responses, answer their question, and ask another question in return, etc.
  • When responding to your peers, search for posts that do not yet have replies rather than focusing on specific people.
  • Please respond in this manner throughout the week to build community in the online classroom.