I'm going to teach a spring course at my university devoted to the history and theory of RPGs. Cool, eh?
Each class will consist of lectures and a tutorial. I plan on using the tutorial to introduce students to old school character generation,(very basic) random senario generation, and then finally play.
Have you come across any materials on blogs, forums, or websites that layout either character generation (including character development) or basic encounters for beginners? I need materials that assume no prior knowledge.
I know there's stuff out there, it's just a matter of finding the right introductory materials.
Oh, man, where were you when I was an undergrad?
ReplyDeleteThat is as cool as the course my wife took on 'Singers and Lyrics in Rock and Roll.'
ReplyDeleteI'm with Sean on this one. :D
Very cool. One of my teachers during my undergrad did a class like that, but I was abroad so I couldn't take it. Sounds like fun. Mind if i sit in online?? you should post your course materials to your blog.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I can help with any resources, but really, they can probably get it pretty easily. Labyrinth Lords works easy enough for that :)
Yes, I've contacted Dan Proctor and he has been his usual awesome.
ReplyDeleteI still need to find an interesting ways of explaining character generation to newbs.
um. 3d6, six times, in order.
ReplyDeleteThat is very very cool. I wish you much fun in your new teaching adventure.
ReplyDeleteHi Greg, I have a collection of one/two encounter adventures called Starter Adventures that I developed to provide scenarios/situations for people who are learning the basic mechanics of the game. Email me if your interested.
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I am interested to hear how this develops; I could see myself doing something similar at my university as an honors seminar.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, a character - at least a good one anyway - is more than the sum of the parts (3d6 in order). I want to introduce character generation in a way that encourages character/personality development.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Now if I could only find a way to make it fly as a Psychology course ...
ReplyDeleteI've encountered 6-10 psych articles, most dated now. They tend to begin with a stereotype of gamers, and then conclude that they're just like everybody else.
ReplyDeleteMy DM teaches computer game design at our old college, and for one of his classes he has the class play dnd. If you want I can pass on your e-mail to him, he may have some pointers/ideas.
ReplyDeletelet me know (evil.ben1 at gmail (dot) com)
ps-
Came for the "hot elf chicks", stayed for the content. Any blog with enough humor to post something like that is one I want to check out :)
Cheers Ben!
ReplyDeleteSOunds like a great course, wish I could be there to take it!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about teaching a "Writing for RPGs" course as a special topics section in the next few years. I'd be really interested in seeing your syllabus and/or a course outline, and to hear how things are going once the class is underway.
ReplyDeleteI'll be teaching a Digital Narratives course this fall--the first time I will teach it, although my colleagues have been teaching the course for a number of years. It's aimed at computer games more than anything, as it is a course required in both our Animation and our Video Game Design majors. I'm still in the process of pulling together my syllabus, but the outline for the class is here:
http://www.jccc.edu/home/course_outline.php/default/ENGL150