"I Was Told There'd Be Homebrew": Using Open Resources to Build No Cost/Low Cost Campaigns
Summary:
Material costs for TTRPGs like D&D 5e present access barriers to some players. This presentation shows how educators and librarians can use open resources to welcome all to the gaming table.
Description:
While tabletop roleplaying games like D&D 5e are more popular than they have ever been, access barriers still exist for some players hoping to get into the game. The cost of game materials such as rule books, dice, and minis can prevent some people from playing. This presentation gives an overview of open resources and low-cost/no-cost materials that librarians, educators, community event planners and others can use to eliminate barriers and welcome all gamers to the table. We will describe how Wizards of the Coast’s open gaming license, the System Reference Document, virtual tabletop systems, and other resources can eliminate or minimize the cost required to build homebrew campaigns. This presentation is perfect for budget-conscious TTRPG planners and those who want to make their game sessions more accessible and inclusive.
Boss Monster, the hit dungeon-building card game from Brotherwise Games, has been an evergreen seller for the past decade. In this session will discuss what’s next for the Boss Monster universe.
Description:
Boss Monster, the hit dungeon-building card game from Brotherwise Games, has been an evergreen seller for the past decade, and hobby retailers have been the biggest part of that success. In this session will discuss what’s next for Brotherwise and Boss Monster, including the 10th Anniversary Edition, our upcoming spin-off Monster Kart, and Overboss Duel, the latest in the Boss Monster universe. We’ll also talk about how to become a Brotherwise featured retailer, and what that can mean for your store!
We will play an Intercultural Learning activity based on numerous variants of Seiji Kanai's Love Letter, which I developed as an introduction to a college course on East Asian History and Culture.
Description:
Frustrated with many of the existing intercultural learning activities I found, I decided to develop my own for an introduction to a college class on East Asian History and Culture. I. used Seiji Kanai's game Love Letter as a base, teaching the students the base game then dividing them up into groups and having them play variants with specific rule changes. I then had them send "ambassadors" from their group to the others to attempt to learn more about their "cultures" through playing their version of the game.
All Work & No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy: Gaming In Higher Education
Summary:
A discussion on how educators can use gaming to increase student engagement & highlight the use of specific games in several different management courses as experiential learning activities.
Description:
We’ll bring together management researchers and industry professionals to explore the use of gaming in management education. Guided by the facilitators, and through active participation, attendees will use games to illustrate course material.
Join a panel of designers and researchers as they discuss using the public domain for historical gaming and educational assets.
Description:
A wealth of public domain material exists that can be ideal for designers and educators’ projects. Yet navigating the public domain for the purposes of games assets presents its own set of challenges. Join Patrick Mooney (Lead Designer, Nations & Cannons) and a panel of experienced designers and art history researchers as they discuss the benefits of using the public domain for historical gaming and education.
Blend Landscape Geology with RPG Storytelling to Supercharge Both
Summary:
Role-playing games can provide active, authentic experience of earth science, which in turn adds originality, detail, and challenge to gameplay. Explore strategies and our GM/educator resources.
Description:
Scott Rice-Snow is a professor emeritus of geomorphology, with more than 40 years of experience in teaching and field research. He has promoted the benefits of accurate landscape science for games and storytelling in university classes, Gen Con seminars, and field tours. Our application-focused resource products include ground4inspiration.net, a web compendium of intriguing natural scenes, and a new book, “Landscapes for Writers and Game Masters: Building Authentic Natural Terrain into Imagined Worlds” (McFarland Press).
Board Game Academics (BGA) is pleased to present our first annual academic journal presentation on tabletop gaming.
Description:
BGA is a new journal and conference dedicated to the exploration of critical issues within the distinct yet overlapping communities of tabletop board and role-playing games.While these communities are expanding, players, creators, and scholars of tabletop board and role-playing games have traditionally been late to addressing and including diverse representations and perspectives. Our combined publication and academic presentation aims to contextualize, historicize, and challenge the harmful ideologies rooted not just within gaming materials, but also their communities at large.
Bringing NASA Science and Technology Down to Earth
Summary:
Throughout the years, NASA has pioneered amazing advancements in science and technology. Join me as I take you through my journey of bringing these advancements down to Earth through games and apps.
Description:
This session will take you through my process of discovering how to take high level science and technology topics described typically in papers or on websites and make them more engaging with games. Links will be provided so that attendees can download the games for further exploration and free use.
A discussion and workshop that will discuss how you (an educator, librarian, and/or retailer) can work towards building up your local gaming community.
Description:
Are you starting from scratch, or do you already have a thriving gaming community that you want to keep strong? Regardless of your current situation, this workshop will present to you ideas and resources that can be used to establish, build, and maintain a great and healthy gaming community! As a bonus, we will also discuss technologies and virtual spaces that can add to, and enhance, your communities.
Choose Your Own Adventure: How to Help Students Lead Their Education
Summary:
Learn how to teach the course objectives while letting students pick how they accomplish them. Stop struggling to choose what to keep and cut. It’s time to let your students take charge and choose.
Description:
“Choose Your Own Adventure” books were some of my favorites. The author gave options and the reader got to pick, create a story based on their curiosity and desire. So, why could I not do the same for my students? The pandemic hit midway through the term, with many projects and learning objectives to go, and I couldn’t teach it all. Or could I? Students would be disappointed if I cut their top picks. So, scrambling to re-imagine my course with my students’ feelings in mind changed the way I teach forever. In 2020, I adapted all of the projects online by creating a system for them to select their pathway from several options. Now, utilizing Gamification and Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, learn ways to facilitate students leading their own educational journey, which increases engagement and retention. Format includes presentation, discussion, and workshop of your own materials