Roger Traviss is a classicist, a gamer, and a professor at the University of Connecticut. He is also the Demiurge that oversees what may be the first Roleplaying Course (RPC), called Operation KTHMA. Like a great Olympian Dungeon Master, he looks down from the starry heavens upon the characters created and played by his students, through which those students will discover and perhaps come to understand the games the ancient classical masters were playing — as well as what it was like to live and think in the ancient past.
From the blog’s own text:
One of the directions the Main Quest of this blog will eventually go is into Herodotus and Thucydides, who I believe were playing games they designed themselves based on the homeric bards’ AAA titles Iliad and Odyssey. I think that these games were in a genre similar to Sid Meier’s Civilization series.
Back in grade school, I made an RPG/tactical wargame as part of a presentation on the Vietnam war. The class was broken into squads, given an objective, and then dropped into jungle warfare for the 40 minutes. Lots of casualties, lots of enthusiasm and sudden immersion from students I didn’t expect to give a shit about the material, but there they were, worrying about the survival of their characterized pawns and using military lingo they’d picked up just minutes earlier as I taught them the simple rules for movement and conflict resolution. They faced threats like booby traps, snipers, and landmines, in addition to an actual skirmish with Charlie. (If you called in an airstrike, I played clips from Apocalypse Now and Forrest Gump on the classroom TV.)
I remember that, like all RPG scenarios, we accomplished just a fraction of what I wanted to get done in the session, but I think it made an impact. And for sure I agree with Professor Travis when he writes,
I’ve come to believe that when correctly practiced game design and instructional design are really the same thing. It’s time to see if I’m right.
Indeed, Professor, let’s do!
I’ll be keeping an eye on Professor Travis’s exploits in experience points and lesson plans for future mental digestion, and I thought you might want to do the same, dear readers.
It’s not the World’s First — I think people have been running RPGs in Denmark for course credit for some time now. Robin could tell you more, most likely.
I recalled RPGs used in classes over there, but I’m waiting to see if Professor Travis’ “RPC” (Roleplaying Course) does become something new, hence the “may be.” I’d love to get more information over here on RPGs in the classroom, though!