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RPG Talk ( In Sites Worth Mentioning)

There is a great resource on Discord for the gaming community called RPG Talk.  It's an active chat community centered around tabletop roleplaying games. They have casual play-by-post games, and channels to talk about your favorite game.  You can also find dedicated channels for lfg (looking for group), pug (pickup groups), crowdfunding, game production and gaming with a whole lot more.

Some of you might remember the community from it's time on Slack.  However recently the community has moved to Discord to take advantage of it's unlimited chat logs.  I personally find it a fun place to hang out with other tabletop gamers.

I hangout on RPG Talk fairly often, so it's a great way to chat with me as well.

Some starting tips for RPG-Talk:

• After signup you'll automatically join a few channels like #general, #introductions and #off-topic.  Once you log-in for the first time, make certain to say hello in #introductions.  Chances are someone will ask you what games you enjoy playing, it'a a great way to get your toe in the water.  
• Type /channels in any channel.  You'll get a private message from the RPG Talk Bot with the current channel list.  Joining channels is easy, just type /join channel_1 channel_2 channel_3 etc.  Incidentally I'd keep an eye on that list, it's updated frequently.
• Don't be afraid to chat with people.
• Be patient.  Sometimes the channel members you'd like to talk with might be tied up with work or real life.  Other times they might live in other time zones around the world.  If you are trying to get the attention of a specific person in a channel, start by typing @ and their name.  As you type a window will pop up and you can select them.  They'll get a notification that you mentioned them specifically.

Taking a look at the Discord widget below, you can see who is online right now.  But below that is the Connect button, you can click it join.  One last thing:  Although Discord has great support for voice chat, most members of RPG-Talk only uses text-chat.

There is a great resource on Discord for the gaming community called RPG Talk.  It's an active chat community centered around tabletop roleplaying games. They have casual play-by-post games, and channels to talk about your favorite game.  You can also find dedicated channels for lfg (looking for group), pug (pickup groups), crowdfunding, game production and gaming with a whole lot more. Some of you might remember the community from it's time on Slack.  However recently the community has moved to Discord to take advantage of it's unlimited chat logs.  I personally find it a fun place to hang out with other tabletop gamers. I hangout on RPG Talk fairly often, so it's a great way to chat with me as well.   Some starting tips for RPG-Talk: After signup you'll automatically join a few channels like #general, #introductions and #off-topic.  Once you log-in for the first time, make certain to say hello in #introductions.  Chances are someone will ask you what games you enjoy playing, it'a a great way to get your toe in the water.   Type /channels in any channel.  You'll get a private message from the RPG Talk Bot with the current channel list.  Joining channels is easy, just type /join channel_1 channel_2 channel_3 etc.  Incidentally I'd keep an eye on that list, it's updated frequently. Don't be afraid to chat with people. Be patient.  Sometimes the channel members you'd like to talk with might be tied up with work or real life.  Other times they might live in other time zones around the world.  If you are trying to get the attention of a specific person in a channel, start by typing @ and their name.  As you type a window will pop up and you can select them.  They'll get a notification that you mentioned them specifically. Taking a look at the Discord widget below, you can see who is online right now.  But below that is the Connect button, you can click it join.  One last thing:  Although Discord has great support for voice chat, most members of RPG-Talk only uses text-chat. 

Roleplaying as an Educational Tool ( In Opinions & Ramblings)

I have a firm belief that new gamers can be found anywhere. A great example of this theory can be found in the work of Shaun “Jim” Low.  He's an educational therapist who works with students typically 10-17 years of age, many with learning disabilities.  Jim's educational therapy program uses roleplaying games to teach skills and subjects his students are having problems understanding.  

If you are an educator with an interest in Jim's methods, be sure to follow his blog at Swords & Stationery.

I have a firm belief that new gamers can be found anywhere. A great example of this theory can be found in the work of Shaun “Jim” Low.  He's an educational therapist who works with students typically 10-17 years of age, many with learning disabilities.  Jim's educational therapy program uses roleplaying games to teach skills and subjects his students are having problems understanding.   I recently took in a new student  let's just call him — J — who's fast becoming one of my favourite students. J is a bright fellow, but he has an impulsive and rather rebellious nature (basically a youth at-risk), so we spent the first few lessons just talking and getting to know each other. I often like to use games and RPGs to teach concepts, so I figured I'd use one with J. I decided I'd start our first term together by showcasing genre types outside of the norm to broaden his view of the world. Thus, we watched Mad Max Fury Road (which he loved) and played Atomic Highway. Our first session, to my surprise, was a hoot. One of the best things about RPGs, in my experience, is that it often brings out the innate traits of a person, and with J, it was no exception. Underneath the tough guy exterior was someone wanting to do right and straighten out wrongs. Not only that, but I got to see some absolutely creative problem solving even with the odds stacked against him. After that session, he just couldn't stop asking me when our next session would be. For someone who had never played many games in his life, and was always more of a sporty, extroverted kind of person, J was surprisingly very much into the game. In fact, since that day, he's always been motivated to come for class. We don't always play (our next session is scheduled to be on the following week), but that first game had opened up a lot of opportunities for incidental learning. This is not my first success story in using games for therapy, but perhaps one of the most notable ones, as I had had doubts it would work. The exterior is what we as adults usually see, but what's inside can be different. I've always believed RPGs to be an effective tool in mirroring the innate qualities of people, youths and children included, and this little anecdote certainly did help further that belief. What are your opinions? Do you have any similar stories? I'd love to hear them. If you are an educator with an interest in Jim's methods, be sure to follow his blog at Swords & Stationery.