New Orleans as a D&D Campaign

Catalog description

The central conceit of this course is that all participants build characters for, and participate in, a Dungeons and Dragons (styled) adventure that is based around collaborative storytelling, problem solving, the building and development of critical analytic skills, and the discovery of identity. This course will employ the city of New Orleans – and the Tulane Campus – as the “world” in which these new adventures discover themselves. The students will begin this course by building “character sheets” based on who and what they are (Identity location markers) and what they bring to the adventure. This part of the class will encourage students to articulate their own strengths and – areas of themselves upon which they are working. We will partner with The Office of Multicultural Affairs to engage these students in a discussion of identification (self-identification and how we identify others). The students will be sent on an adventure during which they will have to learn to use the resources available to them in the Tulane University Library System. The students will be asked to go through Audubon Park (and Audubon Zoo) to find creatures and treasures. The students will be asked to go to the French Quarter and have specific foods that are specific to New Orleans Culture and listen to music that was created here in New Orleans. The students will be asked to take pictures and sample sounds as “proof” that they have completed their quests. The students will be asked to “scribe” and reflect upon their adventures. The students are going to be asked to consider the relationship between “game” and “real-life” when we talk to local New Orleans Health and wellness programs (CrescentCare). This course will be rooted in the concepts of discovery, and gaming, and responsibility for choosing one’s own adventure. We will also read at least on “fantasy” novel and discuss the nature of the narrative itself. We will discuss how the idea of women and female characters function in the book. We’ll talk about how the book depicts the idea of the protagonists, as well as, the “traditional” trope of male as default in much of fantasy fiction – and what that means. We will discuss how the novel utilizes and incorporates the concept of “race.”