“You discover 1d4 ancient relic(s)”: Archaeological Outreach through Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Digitizing Archaeological Practice: Education and Outreach in the Archaeogaming Subdiscipline" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

From the very origins of tabletop roleplaying games, creators like Gary Gygax turned to scholarship of the ancient world as a wellspring for fantasy worldbuilding, in-game quests, and tradition-rich non-player characters or legendary creatures. Through this lens, gamers took an active role in exploring and learning about a perceived ancient past, a past which, as noted by Peter Hiscock (2012) in his study of the depiction of archaeology in movies, is frequently imbued with supernatural power. Unlike movies, however, tabletop roleplaying gives players an opportunity checked only by their imagination to yield that power for themselves. It is well past time for archaeologists to take up that power to engage the public in an understanding of archaeological practice and past human cultures! This poster will discuss preliminary results from in-class exercises built around tabletop roll-playing mechanics to engage students in an archaeological world empowered by their own choices, yet grounded in anthropological data rather than fictional lore. As “tabletop” gaming spaces increasingly move to the digital platforms, these methods open the possibility for far reaching educational outreach in archaeology, while maintaining engagement that reaches to the individual level.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Digitizing Archaeological Practice: Education and Outreach in the Archaeogaming Subdiscipline   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37327.0