A Foray into Tabletop Role-Playing Games Over IAP 25'

    This IAP, Christian 27’ and I organized a role-playing game with interested members of the house. To our pleasant surprise, a full 13 people (including us), expressed a desire to play, filling up two adventuring parties for Saturday and Sunday evenings. Nobody in the house had ever played, our experience with role-playing games was pretty much limited to the first five minutes of Stranger Things. To say the least, we were a little nervous, but the result blew away all expectations we had. 

The Magic of Role Playing Games

I started playing Magic: The Gathering in fourth grade, which turned into an obsession with Warhammer: Age of Sigmar in high school. These days I spend my time reading the instruction manuals of board games I will probably never play. The point is, I’ve played my fair share of board, card, and video games, but never have I engaged in an experience as unique as game-mastering a tabletop role-playing game. Allow me to share a bit of game from our second and third sessions:

After stealing a lockbox from a zombie pirate and fleeing from a Kraken, the party was ambushed by pirates, threatened by a humanoid draconic pirate wizard to open athe magical lockbox or else. After acquiring an arcane drill, Saurus the orc broke the seals of the lockbox, arousing an ancient demon lich from a 10,000 year slumber. In exchange for their help, the lich killed the threatening pirate, teleporting the dragonborn’s quite dead body to the forest clearing where my adventurers found themselves. Needing to dispose of the body, Woggle the thief suggested they throw it down a mineshaft, and one fooled dwarven guard later, the party skipped town, having both killed the most dangerous pirate of the Shimmering Seas and unknowingly commencing the apocalypse in the form of the demon lich Thradak’narr. 

What other piece of media can evoke such emotional highs, cinematic moments, and downright goofy shenanigans in the span of two hours? Best of all, the above game was entirely improved on my part as the game master. Going in, I was convinced the party would fight the dragon pirate, I had even planned a fun sea-battle. But the resulting narrative was miles more interesting than anything I could’ve dreamed of. 

Role-playing games are unique in that literally anything is possible. The game master allows for the players to react to the world in whatever way they chose, presenting a possibility space that is unparalleled even by the largest open-world video games or bloated Kickstarter board games. As a game master, I was constantly allowed to put players in interesting situations. Each session, I found myself preparing less and less content, gaining confidence in my players to propel the narrative with their own ideas. Sure, I had a general idea of a story in mind and possible encounters, but at the end of the day, the players were the ones who controlled the world, I simply wove together what they gave me. At any crossroads, I chose whatever was coolest, and when a bit of lore about our world came up, I turned to my players. “Althea, how widespread is the church of Theyrad?”, “Saurus, how do Orcs feel about magic?” This resulted in a simultaneously natural and engaging narrative. As I am writing this there are around 24 hours until my group’s final session, and I have only prepared about half a dozen bullet points of fun things that could occur. 

A Brief Aside: Dungeon World is really very good

I am by no means qualified to review this game. Dungeon World was my first foray into the hobby, and I have played for less than ten hours in total as only the game master, but still I feel compelled to say that this game is incredible. The game allows for an emphasis to be placed on what matters most: Having cool characters do cool things. By unburdening itself of the complex systems of other games, players can focus more on the collective theatre of the mind rather than the rules of the game. Players are focused on each other rather than the rules sheet in front of them. Every part of Dungeon World effortlessly propels the story forward, the Powered-By-The-Apocalypse system allowing things to happen

In Conclusion…

Role-playing games have a bit of a PR problem. Generally, these games tend to be perceived as complex affairs of many-sided dice, long tables, and rulebooks that look like fantasy spreadsheets. Sure, some games are like this, and those games have their respective audiences, but at the end of the day, role-playing games are about telling incredible collective stories. Anyone can enjoy these games, all that is required is a broad imagination and a willingness to be a little uncomfortable. And for those who think they could be a game master, I’d suggest going for it; there is truly no parallel experience in all of gaming. 

GTL Germany 2025 Blog

I can't believe that GTL Germany is over. Part of me feels sad that the program has concluded, though I remind myself that I need to return to MIT and go back to taking classes and doing research. It was an unforgettable, fun, and rewarding experience. I not only learned a lot about science pedagogy, but also learned a lot about Germany. Another great part of GTL Germany for me was making friends with the other MIT students in my program and the people at the university. 

Project Overview 

For GTL Germany, I was assigned to teach chemistry and science lessons at St. Marien's Gymnasium, a Catholic school for girls in Regensburg, Bavaria. The project was a collaboration with the University of Regensburg's Chemistry Didactics Department, which consisted of two professors and two college students who intended to become chemistry teachers. There were 6 MIT students, including me, at Regensburg. Instead of host families, we lived in the dorms. The university collaboration and large group made our GTL Germany experience unique, as most GTL Germany assignments involve two students at one high school teaching classes alone. 

Teaching 

Unlike other GTL Germany assignments that are three weeks long from 1/6 to 1/24, ours started on Thursday 1/9 because of Epiphany and student holidays. We taught chemistry for 10th-grade students, and English for 10th-grade and 12th-grade. The chemistry topics included the following: surface tension, electronegativity, dipole molecules and interactions, solubility, water's properties, density, etc. For the English classes, we prepared lessons discussing science and technology. The lessons included artificial intelligence (real vs fake), space exploration, and gene editing. The English classes were more focused on discussions and debates on recent science topics instead of talking about the technical details. 

It was a delightful experience to teach the students. In the English classes, they were engaged in the debates about whether AI-generated art is real art, and also shared their thoughts on the ethics of space tourism. I was impressed by their fluency in English because students in the U.S. can learn Spanish or French ever since middle school, but do not acquire true proficiency by graduation. 

For the chemistry classes, I learned a lot about how to properly design lessons. Going over the lesson plans with the university professors was very helpful, as I got constructive feedback and had a deeper understanding of how to teach high school science effectively. My approach to teaching science this year was better compared to GTL Italy, as my partner and I used the think-pair-share method, and we went around to check on the students when they were doing the practice problems. One main takeaway I got from the teaching experience was teaching at a more reasonable pace and not pressuring myself to cover so many topics in a short timeframe. 

High School 

One thing I found interesting about the school was its bell schedule. Class started at 8:00, and ended at 12:50, which is insanely early. In the U.S., most high schools end between 3-4 p.m., depending on the start time (8-9 a.m.). The reason that students get out early is that they have six periods, and each period is 45 minutes long. There is no 5 or 10 minute passing period between classes except for the 20-minute midday break after third period. I don't really get why classes don't have a passing period, as it takes a few minutes for teachers or students to switch classrooms and settle down. 

Although lunch isn't served at school because students go back home to eat lunch, the school has a kiosk that sells breakfast and snack items. At the kiosk, I got to try Leberkäse (Bavarian meatloaf) with sweet mustard for the first time. 

What stood out about the high school was the murals in the hallways, as my high school did not allow murals. The murals added some color and vibrancy to the interior, which I liked. 

Travels 

Although I only had two weekends to travel to other places in Germany, I was happy I got to see the places I wanted to see. On the first weekend, my GTL friends and I went to Munich and saw the iconic sights. We did standard touristy things like eating a Bavarian meal at the famous beer hall. One of the highlights of Munich was visiting the Munich Residence, a palace for Bavarian dukes. I was amazed by the architecture and room decorations, especially the antiquarian. 

Marienplatz in Munich 

On the last week, we went to Nuremberg on Monday afternoon. The place was incredibly beautiful, and we spent a lot of time taking photos on top of the Imperial Castle because of its stunning panoramic view. The streets were quaint, and the river view was picturesque. 

View of Nuremberg from top of the Imperial Castle 

A local "travel" we did was exploring Regensburg by participating in the city tour and brewery tour. I learned a lot about Regensburg's history from the end of the Roman Empire to the present day. The view of the Danube River at Regensburg was scenic and pleasant, and so were the cobblestone streets near the bridge. Winter has its own charm, though I would love to visit Regensburg again during the summer. 

The Danube River 

Food and Drink 

Before coming to Germany, I realized that I had little to no exposure to German food growing up. The only time I ate at a German restaurant was in this historic German town in Australia as a kid. I remember little except for the large portion sizes. Overall, I liked the food in Germany. I got to eat pork shoulder, schnitzel, and white sausage. I am not much of a meat person, but they were well done. Besides meat, I really liked the bread in Germany. It wasn't until I ate the bread and pastries here that I realized how much better the baked goods in Germany are compared to the U.S. Also, they are cheaper, as each item was between €1-3. I am going to miss the baked goods in Germany. 

Pork shoulder and knödel at the beer hall

I also loved the sweets aisle in the supermarkets, despite the fact that I didn't really buy any chocolates for myself. After eating the German chocolate brands like Ritter Sport and Merci, I realized that the chocolate I ate in the U.S. is overly sweet and doesn't have enough cocoa. On the other hand, the German chocolates have a more balanced taste. I am still astounded by the countless number of chocolates on the aisles, from Milka to Toblerone to Kinder. 

In terms of alcohol, I got to sample beer at a local brewery in Regensburg, and got to learn about the differences between light and dark beers and noticed subtle differences in their tastes. Beer is a big part of Bavarian culture and daily life, so much so that the university cafeteria and dorm has a beer vending machine, something that I never imagined before coming here! In Germany, the drinking age for beer and wine is 16, while spirits is 18. Also, a standard beer drink is 500 mL, whereas in the U.S. it is 350 mL. Besides sampling beer, I got to enjoy some cocktails I had at restaurants and bars. 

The Negroni that became an inside joke

Culture 

One special aspect of GTL Germany is the cultural exchange. The questions that the German students and professors had about the U.S. made us laugh because they revealed problems in the U.S., like health insurance and gun safety. These discussions made me look at my country from an outsider's point of view. I can't think of any culture shock, though some small things stand out, like how Germany does a good job with recycling, something that the U.S. can really learn from. One other difference was that people in Germany don't really talk on buses or trains, or if they do, it is at a whisper level. On the other hand, I feel like people in the U.S. aren't aware of their volume, or don't really care if others hear their conversations.  

Now that I have thought about this question more, I guess the biggest culture shock was that a lot of stores on Sunday close, like supermarkets and pharmacies. Although one could argue that this makes life more inconvenient, one could counter that by saying that you can do all the shopping on Saturday so you can truly relax and do nothing on Sunday. 

Conclusion 

GTL Germany was one of the best experiences I had at MIT, and I say this without any exaggeration. I became close friends with the other MIT students within a couple of weeks, and I got to immerse myself in a different culture. GTL Germany has once again reminded me that there is so much to learn from other people around the world, and that I benefit a lot from global experiences.