Skip to main content

RPG as a Teaching Tool

A game, in its most basic form, is a model for successes and failures, for incentives and consequences.  The interaction of the player or players within this model generates successes and failures that build the story of play.  This is true for every game from solitaire to D&D to board games to video games.  Specifically in RPGs, where players put themselves into the roles of other people, these models for successes and failures, become a mental model for what the character should or shouldn't do and for how things interact in the game world.

What never ceases to amaze, is that as soon as this model is put in place, the players, without mathematical rigor or even openly stated analysis, begin finding their way to the optimal configurations of characters for the types of interactions they want to focus on.  Give the man some advice, and he'll ignore it.  Give the man a puzzle with some rules, and he'll find the right answer every time.  Struggling to fine the optimum?  Don't worry -- the other players will jump right in and help you.

Given this unique power that puzzles have over people and that people have over puzzles, it seems logical to extend the realm of RPGs into areas where we can use realistic models for real-life.  Take, for example, human health.  Doctors know enough about human health to be able to give advice to people as to what they should and shouldn't do.  The world is filled with articles about how to defeat every disease and health risk that comes along, yet the population continues to battle with these things.  What, if instead of offering advice, we offered a game with a realistic model for human health.

Now the players of this hypothetical game -- let's call it "Live Forever" -- get to make decisions on how to outlive the other players, both by making good decisions themselves and trying to get the other players to make bad decisions.  The human brain builds the model, starts optimizing it, and ultimately incorporates it into their day-to-day thinking patterns.

How many other areas of human knowledge could we reinforce and optimize by simply exposing people to games?  So here is the challenge this week.  Find a topic you care about where people are making poor choices -- global warming, STDs, terrorism, censorship, whatever.  Build a realistic, yet simple model of how the decisions of humans influence the success and failures.  Then build it into a FUN game.  Rinse, lather, repeat, and unleash a plethora of games on the world to do good.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5E Starting Gold and Equipment for Higher Levels

The DMG has a rough recommendation for starting gold and equipment for higher levels, but with my groups running one-shots, we wanted to nail it down to level by level. Here's my DMG-inspired table. Generally I allow equipment to be traded in during character creation for half book value, where applicable. I also, as a GM, offer to make custom magic items for players who can't choose. A list of magical items by rarity can be found here  with stats available in the DMG. I also generally allow players to buy healing potions (2d4+2) for 50gp and greater healing potions for 250gp (4d4+4). PHB items are available at book cost at creation. I do not allow other equipment to be purchased except in game. This is generally based off the "high magic" campaign. Level Starting Gold Starting Equipment / Magic Items 1 - 160gp  OR Standard starting equipment 2 210gp Standard starting equipment 3 285gp Standard starting equipment 4 365gp Standard sta
2 comments
Read more

Rules for Flying Creatures in 5E

I'm not one for just throwing my players willy-nilly into something new without an idea of how it would work.  Flying races are on the horizon for one of my games, so here are my clarifications for flying creatures: A flying creatures requires a minimum space of at least 3 times their height in all directions in order to flight. For example, a 6 ft tall flying creature requires a room to be at least 18 ft in all dimensions before they can fly in it. A flying creature can attempt to grapple a creature.  If the the target or grappler are flying, grapple attempts are at disadvantage. If neither are flying, grapples are per RAW.  The state of flying or walking is determined by the last square you have moved.  To change between walking and/or flying, you must use at least 1 space of movement.  Movement rules per RAW apply (PHB pg 190 "Using Different Speeds") A successful grapple check by a flying creature can allow the flying creature to potentially carry the creature
Post a Comment
Read more

Exploiting Weakness in D&D 5e: A Guide for the Evil Plotting GM

I wrote a similar article to this on Pathfinder, and though this is a pretty evil topic, it has been of use to a lot of folks out there.  So, now, I think, is the time to start a similar article for D&D 5e.  This will be a living document to be updated with suggestions and more information as I find better methods. In general, 5e is a lot more challenging for a GM, because the classes are reasonably balanced and because the game mechanics don't have a lot of scale over the 20 levels. Here's a general list of things to increase the difficulty for the party: Increase the number of foes and the CR (ignore the book CR system if it isn't offering a challenge) Spells against the PCs low saves.  A high level sleep spell, for example, could take out a party with no elves. Drag out the opportunity for the long rest.  After 2 short rests, the 3rd battle of the day is tough. Hit the most vulnerable PC first. It almost always forces another teammate to take an action to a
1 comment
Read more