Education and Role-Playing Games: Teachrpg - Tabletop Role-Playing Games in the Classroom, Vol II

Education and Analog Role-Playing Games: TeachRPG -Tabletop Role-Playing Games in the Classroom, Volume II brings together a diverse group of educatorsand scholars who are using tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) intheir classrooms to foster deeper engagement, build community, and supporttransformative learning. While educational games are increasinglyavailable, many are created by designers without classroom experience oremphasize gamification through points and badges rather than the creationof immersive, gameful environments tied to real learning outcomes.

This volume fills a critical gap by centering the voices of practitioner-scholareducators who adapt RPGs to fit their unique disciplines, institutions, and student needs. Contributors share how these gamesenhance cognitive and affective learning, support marginalized students, and offer meaningful pedagogical opportunities for both instructors andlearners. Striking a balance between practical strategies, empirical insight, and personal narrative, Teach RPG provides adaptable models for integratinganalog RPGs into a wide range of classrooms. It moves beyondtheory or anecdote to show how role-playing can be a rigorous, relational, and inclusive educational practice.

Susan Haarman Ph.D., is Associate Director at Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Engaged Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship. She facilitates the university’s service-learning program and publishes on community-based learning. Her real love is her research on the capacity of tabletop role-playing games as formative tools for civic identity and imagination. She serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Role-Playing and is also a professional improviser and a licensed therapist.