Andrew Aguiar and Nicole Shiosaki

Zoom, Google Docs, and a die are all it takes to make a new adaption of an old activity. The online tabletop RPG adaptation resulted from addressing problems with careful planning around limited technology. This fun, flexible, morale-boosting online tabletop RPG is great for online classes.

How the RPG works

The online tabletop RPG is formulaic. First, introduce students to the scenario, the map, and the objective. Then group the students in Zoom breakout rooms. These groups make a general plan using the scenario’s map and objective. After that, the game begins. Students use Google Docs to propose steps. The teacher rolls a die and gives a result in the Google Doc. The students read the result and adjust their plan. The propose a step, get a result phase continues until the students complete the scenario.

The Google Doc

Google Docs makes this activity possible because everyone with permission can edit a shared Doc. For the RPG activity, three groups participate in one Google Doc. This is for space reasons. For more groups, share another copy of the RPG Google Doc.

A blank version of the RPG Google Doc

The Google Doc has six columns and any number of rows. Each group has two columns. Students write their proposed steps in the left column. The teacher reports the roll and the result in the right column. Add more rows as the RPG proceeds.

Proposing Steps

The students’ proposed steps must have one action because the teacher can only give one result. For example, an appropriate step would be “punch the guard.” It has one action so it requires one result. However, if a student proposes a complex multi-action step, like “punch the guard, take the key, go four blocks west by motorcycle and use the key on the door,” the teacher cannot give a result because there are too many actions to address. Discourage students from making these complex multi-action steps.

Rolls

Everything is decided by the roll of a die in tabletop RPGs. The online adaptation is no different. The die, whether virtual or physical, still decides if the players’ plans pass or fail. If the roll is high, the plan passes. If it is low, the plan fails. Degrees of success and failure add excitement. Rolling a six or a one is a very good or a very bad result. Rolling a four or a three is a neutral result leaning towards a positive or negative. 

The Teacher’s Role

The teacher has many responsibilities. They must roll the die and make results for every group. They also must control the progression pace of each group. Furthermore, like a traditional tabletop RPG, the game master’s imagination is a huge factor in a scenario’s success. Teachers need to make exciting results and add suspense to make this activity shine.

Managing Multiple Groups

Managing multiple groups seems burdensome. Seeing when the students’ next steps are ready is the most difficult part of the activity. However, teachers can see every group in one place—Google Docs. Through the Google Doc, one teacher can see at least three groups at the same time. With multiple screens, the teacher could manage even more groups.

Controlling Progression Pace

Different groups proceed through a scenario at different rates. Some groups have Internet connection problems. Some groups have weak students. Some groups have their next step planned almost immediately after reading the result, while other groups take time to plan each step. Regardless, running an RPG in Google Docs makes controlling progression pace easier because the teacher can see and address multiple groups at the same time.

However, for extreme rate differences, cheating is the best solution. Students never see the die roll—they only see roll results in the Google Doc. Take advantage of this online opacity to fabricate rolls if necessary. Slow down quickly progressing groups through a series of low dice rolls, but be careful not to make that group feel progress is futile. Likewise, slower groups can have more successful rolls to help them move at a reasonable rate. The teacher must carefully help or hinder progress to balance the paces of groups proceeding through the scenario.

Adding Excitement and Suspense

The RPG lives or dies by the teacher’s role of reacting to die rolls. Teachers must think quickly and consider the students’ plans and the roll when making a result. The results need to be short, but leads to new possibilities for the students. Additionally, the teacher should try to make overarching plots for each groups’ scenario progress. Giving plots gives the students anticipation for future events in the scenario. These factors are essential for making an exciting scenario.

The teacher does not use spoken voice to give results to the students—they use text. However, since everyone sees words as they are being typed in Google Docs, teachers can mimic a voice. Use this voice to create suspense. For example, delay sharing rolls using dots, slowly type key words during tense moments, or pause mid-sentence before presenting a twist. The students are watching and they will react.

Prerequisites

Students need familiarity with Zoom and Google Docs for the online RPG activity to work. Additionally, Google Classroom makes this activity proceed smoothly because it is a centralized location for students to access required files. Other learner management systems would work just as well.

Certain language items should be covered prior to running a scenario. For example, key English for the game mechanics include verbs, prepositions, future tense, past tense, modals of possibility, conditionals, modals of obligation, and numbers. Other language items that can be covered and reviewed through running different themed scenarios.

Variations

The online RPG activity is versatile. The teacher can have any theme for a scenario. It could be a snack shopping scene from a textbook. It could just as easily be a scenario that takes place in space. Teachers can design scenarios to fit their available time. A scenario could take less than 40 minutes or it could span several classes. The chosen scenario only needs to match the instructor intentions.

The RPG activity’s complexity can vary as well. Teachers can make simple scenarios with simple mechanics for classes not familiar with tabletop RPGs or young learners. Teachers may design scenarios with additional mechanics, such as character skills, for students familiar with tabletop RPGs.

Simple Version

A simple tabletop RPG activity has four to five students controlling a single character. They work together to move their character through a scenario. As there are many possible ways through a scenario, the students need to decide together how they want to proceed.

EXAMPLE: DIAMOND HEIST

The Diamond Heist is an introductory scenario. The objective is to steal a diamond from a museum. The students have a museum map showing the museum’s layout and the diamond’s location. They also know two security guards are somewhere in the museum. The scenario takes less than 40 minutes to complete.

Complex Version

Adding more mechanics from tabletop RPGs, such as inventories and character skills, adds more complexity. An inventory mechanic gives students a chance to find, store, and use objects to help them progress.  Student-generated characters with skills let students form a party instead of controlling a single generic character as a group.

Students create their characters using a character sheet prior to the activity. Each character needs a name, an age, a biography, and a picture. This information gives students an opportunity to practice writing about likes, dislikes, occupations, physical descriptions, and hobbies. This information does not add to the RPG’s mechanics, but it does help immerse students into the activity. 

Character skills, on the other hand, do change the game mechanics. Students give skills to their characters by putting limited skill points into skills. For example, the sample character sheet includes five skills: mechanical, technology, athletic, social and observation. Each character has eight skill points to distribute between the five skills. However, each skill has a three point limit. These skills make each character help their party in a unique way.

Students decide the best character for their party’s next action by considering skills. For example, if students decide to talk to a non-playable character (NPC), they should use a character with a high social skill. A party without a social character either risks conversation without a social skill roll or makes a plan that does not involve a social roll.

CHARACTER SKILLS AND HOW THEY AFFECT ROLLS

In typical tabletop RPGs, character skills add additional die to a roll. However, adding the total skill of a character to the roll is simpler and faster. Speed is essential when managing multiple scenarios at the same time.  

Since skills are involved, the maximum possible roll is 9 instead of 6. Thus, the basic mechanics require adjusting to make a 9 worthwhile and a 1 something truly horrendous. It also raises the threshold for a passing roll. A 1 is still a critical fail, but now the terrible result can be extra terrible as rolling a 1 is completely avoidable. Rolls of 2 and 3 are moderate failures. The proposed step will fail and something bad will happen. Rolling a 4 or a 5 are bare failures. The step will fail, but nothing too bad will happen. Rolling a 6 is a bare success. The step will succeed but nothing extra will happen. A 7 or an 8 is a moderate success. The step will succeed and something good will happen. Finally, a 9 is a critical success. The step will succeed and something amazing will happen.

EXAMPLE: ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

The Zombie Apocalypse scenario’s objective is to escape from zombies by travelling from Jinju Castle, a tourist location in the city of Jinju, South Korea, to Jinju Station. The students start with a scenario prompt and a map of Jinju. The starting inventory is a picnic basket, smart phones, and kimbap (rice and vegetables rolled in laver). The scenario takes around an hour to complete.

Big Maps Versus Small Maps

Students preferred the Diamond Heist scenario’s small scale to the Zombie Apocalypse scenario’s city-wide scale. This preference seems related to map complexity. As the Zombie Apocalypse scenario map was a print screen from Google Maps, the students had too much information. As a result, the number of paths available overwhelmed the students and made it difficult to navigate from point A to point B.

If a scenario involves a big map, simplify it. Use maps with enlarged landmarks. For example, use a tourist map highlighting famous attractions in Paris. These tourist maps are simpler as they emphasize the landmarks instead of the roads. Alternatively, colouring and labelling zones on a city map might simplify it enough to be approachable.

Follow Up Activities

Once the scenario is complete, bring the students back to classwork. There are many ways to finish a lesson after running an RPG scenario. For example, the RPG activity links to summary practice. Students choose the defining moments in the scenario and put them into writing. If the teacher is a good game master, the students’ summaries could become short stories reflecting a basic plot diagram. Just make sure the scenario matches the purpose of the lesson.

Students can also make their own scenarios. These could be used in future class RPGs where the students run the activity on their own. The students would gain ownership over the activity and become more invested as a result. They could also use their scenario with their friends outside of class—it is fun and adheres to social distancing.

Lasting Memories

The most important part of this activity is giving the students lasting positive memories from their pandemic dominated year. Achieving student bonding seems less straightforward in an online environment with no shared physical space. Students may go through the whole semester without seeing each other. However, that does not mean that students cannot share good memories with their online classmates.

If done properly, the students will have lasting memories tied to the dramatic events in their RPG scenarios. Bring the students through the ups and downs of an epic adventure. Make them worry. Make them laugh. Make them feel despair. Above all else, make sure that the students have something they can remember fondly.

Resources

Want to try the example scenarios from this article? Here are files you will need.

Note: These downloads are all .docx files. You need to upload them to your Google Drive and convert them into a Google Doc if you want to use them.

Diamond Heist

Google Doc for a Simple RPG Scenario

Scenario Prompt and Museum Map

Zombie Apocalypse

Blank Character Sheet

Google Doc for a Complex RPG Scenario

For the Zombie Apocalypse scenario, make a map and prompt based on an area familiar to your students. Here is an example based around Jinju, South Korea:

Zombie Apocalypse Example Prompt and Map

About Authors

Andrew Aguiar is the head of the SLE Curriculum Committee at Gyeongsang National University. He has background in TESOL-MALL (Multimedia Assisted Language Learning).

Nicole Shiosaki is an experienced professor currently teaching at Gyeongsang National University. She has background in TESOL-MALL and interest in gamification and interactive fiction.