I am a huge advocate for technology. Look at my tech resume, and you will see what I mean. Technology is an extremely powerful tool to help improve the human experience, but at the tabletop game setting, it can be extremely detrimental if not used in very controlled ways. This article provides a few pointers on how to keep technology your friend in such settings, and the worst of the pitfalls to easily be avoided.
We have grown so quickly, we really need administrative volunteer help for about 4-5 hours a week! 2 years ago we were were helping people with just 10 volunteers & 1-2 programs per month. Now we've hit volunteer #115, and WE NOW PROVIDE A DOZEN PROGRAMS A WEEK! 99% of our volunteers are helping directly with the programs as game masters, facilitators, transcriptions, software development, etc. NOW WE REALLY NEED ADMINISTRATIVE VOLUNTEERS A FEW HOURS PER WEEK! We desperately need people willing to help about 4-5 hours per week
For those looking for tables to join, remember that Spark Central has Drop In and RPG on the 2nd & 4th Fridays each month from 4-7 pm through the end of April.
New theory topic of the week begins today: Introduction to Tuckman's theories on small group formation, communication, & dynamics in relation to RPGs, Part 1. Tiers 1-3 GM training schedule this week.
THREE-DAY WORKSHOP · TUE FEB 11 – THU FEB 13 • 7 – 9:30 PM. Ages 10 – 105. RPG Research at Spark Central Spokane: Becoming A Better Player: Character Creation for Fantasy Role-playing Games.
The year in review.
Any of you following our 10 or so streams per week have probably heard RPG Research's founder Hawke Robinson state time and again that RPG publishers have set an unnecessarily high barrier to entry due to dependence on the mass-loading and mentor model in about 99% of role-playing games. This generally means that the vast majority of the world population is left out of the benefits of RPGs. We're fixing that, without dumbing down the game systems and their benefits!
Two years ago we were at volunteer number 10, as of December 4th we've hit 103!
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We are helping raise funds for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals by streaming gaming for 25 hours! Both tabletop and electronic role-playing games on Youtube and Twitch respectively. Please donate today, and you can join in the fun too!
We're back from the long RPG Tour and American Therapeutic Recreation Association's national annual conference in Reno, Nevada. We were on the road from September 11th through 20th, and are now catching up. We provided ATRA CEUs accredited workshops on role-playing games.
Warning and fraud alert about the Larp group calling themselves "Dragon's Haven".
Notes for the shor, in case needed.
As has been discussed in many of our weekly broadcasts, research meetings, talk shows, and board meetings, we haven't been happy with D&D 5e's introductory approach for people that have never role-played before. After years of experimentation, months of debate, and weeks of training, we're officially beginning the transition to use BECMI's Basic D&D as introduction to RPG instead of D&D 5e for ages 10+. For ages 4/5+ we're happily still using No Thank You Evil (NTYE).
From 1983 through 2015 it was just Hawke working with other organizations. Then just about 2 years ago we were at just volunteer number 9, now we have hit 70! And it is looking very likely we may hit or exceed 100 before the end of the year! And spanning multiple continents!
RPG Research's founder & president, Hawke Robinson, is going to be unavailable for several weeks, except for emergencies, from June 25th through July 20th, 2019. Please note the other contact options listed during his absence.
First in a series by Erik Mitchell on Role-Playing Games and the concept of "Bleed".
Been 15+ years, since founding the RPG Research Project in 2004, leading up to the national conference, and now it is official!
These are brief excerpts from some of my papers on the neuroscience of learning and relevance to role-playing games. Complete versions are available to Patreon supporters, research staff and RPG.Education students.
Starting with each of the different Dungeons & Dragons versions back to Original D&D.
Please come help 501(3) non-profit charity, RPG Research, May 31st, 2019, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.
As was warned a few weeks ago, due to lack of any security or privacy with Discord's platfor, we are moving all of our private chat to the Role-Playing Gamers Social Network (RPGSN.net). The public & patreon-special channels will remain on Discord for now.
RPG Research was nominated as a "Difference Maker" for upcoming event taking place April 19th in Spokane, Washington.
Sunday, March 24th, we began the process of moving all but one of our programs from Twitch.tv/rpgresearch back to Youtube.com/rpgresearch.
We recently sent 3 presentation proposals for the upcoming 2019 American Therapeutic Recreation Association's annual conference.
Variations of this happen so often that I generally don't bother posting about it anymore. Typically anywhere from once per month to once per week, I encounter something in the ballpark of these negative attitudes about role-playing gamers/gaming from the inculcated myths. But this past Friday was exceptional, with 3 separate families forbidding their children!
A lot of larps are either more combat oriented or more freeform oriented. We're looking for something that is as close to a heroic, "good guys only", tabletop role-playing game, but includes moving around physically, but does not allow any physical contact, and isn't overly focused on combat. Anyone know of something actually published, with adventures, that fits these criteria? This is for atrisk and incarcerated populations.
Until recently, it seemed pretty standard to use TRPG, but in the last few years, for some strange reason an increasing number of people are starting to use TTRPG with 2 Ts. Why?
A brief summary of role-play as a construct and its researched benefits.
Once again someone has become (or apparently was for some time) persona non grata because of some terrible words or deeds. I'd never had any awareness of this person, but have seen over the past week a LOT of threads discussing. This lead me to wondering, is there anywhere someone outside of these insular community in-groups could find information about the controversial figures in various fandoms?
