Volume 11, Issue 3, 2024
Perspectives on RPG Studies from Latin-American Scholars
Articles
- Role Playing Games as an Educational Stimulation
This study assesses the effect of Table-Top Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) on students' mathematical and social science learning in the Engineering classes of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), Mexicali campus, with students in their first and second semesters of Differential Calculus, Linear Algebra, Integral Calculus, as well as the propaedeutic courses of the Faculty of Medicine of the UABC, Mexicali campus. Two methods were used to measure this impact: first, questionnaires were distributed to students to gather their feedback and perceptions, and second, the academic performance of two distinct groups was analyzed: students who engaged in TTRPGs and those who did not. By comparing these two groups, the study aims to determine the influence of TTRPGs on students' academic achievements.
- Exploring Cultural Narratives Through RPG Design: The 4th Bootcamp
This article offers an account of the Bootcamp #PascualChallenge project led by a team of professors from Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo. The Bootcamp #PascualChallenge focuses on challenge-based learning (CBL) immersing students in authentic, real-world scenarios relevant to their professional domains. The fourth iteration of the Bootcamp #PascualChallenge—titled "Social Fictions and Role-Playing Games"—asked students to create a role-playing game (RPG) to test their narrative and graphic text generation skills while incorporating regional myths and legends related to their Colombian identity. This event served as an opportunity for educators to review both practical and theoretical aspects of role-playing design. Simultaneously, students acquired general competencies in addressing specific issues, as evident from the learning outcomes.
- Tabletop and Digital Rituals in Dungeons & Dragons
This study analyzes the shifts and changes in the ritual elements in the playing of Dungeons & Dragons as players moved to virtual tabletops like Roll20. The essay draws on the formal elements of Randall Collins's Interaction Ritual Chains and the ritual categories of Arnold van Gennep's work. The study looks at two Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition game groups playing during the pandemic—one a "traditional" table game and the other played remotely on the Roll20. The study's methodology is based on observations of participants and in-depth interviews with the players of the two game groups, establishing a total of 80 game sessions between both tables.
- Constitutive Factors of Mega-Campaigns in TTRPGs: A Systematic Literature Review
This paper examines Table-top Role-playing Games (TTRPGs) in order to define the term Mega-campaigns and identify the constitutive factors within the TTRPG context. This paper will begin by providing background information on TTRPGs and their characteristics. It will then outline the methodological perspectives adopted in this study, followed by a systematic literature review. This comprehensive review will identify common factors relevant to Mega-campaigns in TTRPGs as well as outline the implications and significance of these factors within the context of Mega-campaigns.
- A Tri-Heuristic Ontological Approximation of Tabletop RPGs
This article aims to renew the theoretical framework surrounding the guiding question: What are role-playing games? In other words, setting up the propaedeutics for an ontology of RPGs or a discourse of their essence and existence. Despite the apparent simplicity of the query, it is elusive and intricate. Addressing it is not only prompted by the inertia RPGs are gaining in popular culture but also a need for an integral view of the advancements produced by each discipline dealing with the phenomenon. The ultimate goal is to contribute to developing a genealogy and taxonomy (classification) of RPGs that distinguishes between different manifestations (such as tabletop RPGs and live-action RPGs or LARP).