All A-Board Game for Marine Science Learning
By: Taylar Christianson
Tags: Neurodiversity, Youth, Marine Science, Education, Games

The words “Dungeons & Dragons” may bring to mind images of fantasy creatures and dice being rolled around a table, or maybe the inter-dimensional monsters from Stranger Things. The classic tabletop game has been kids’ and adults’ adventure game of choice for decades. But tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) can serve many diverse purposes — for example, helping youth explore new career paths in Marine Science.

In collaboration with Aspiring Youth, foundry10 is creating a marine science-themed tabletop role-playing game. Aspiring Youth works with young people ages 8–18 who have autism, ADHD, anxiety, and other difficulties with social interaction. The Aspiring Youth team creates positive environments where youth can develop social skills and form communities, often through D&D and other multiplayer tabletop games. To support this mission, foundry10’s Marine Science and Games and Learning teams worked with Aspiring Youth to create a marine-themed D&D-based role-playing game for neurodiverse middle schoolers.

In traditional D&D, players choose their own characters and act out adventures led by a game master, solving problems and overcoming obstacles as a team. Instead of the classical fantasy setting, the game is set on a marine science research vessel. It features mechanics that will be familiar to anyone who’s played D&D, with character classes that determine the players’ jobs and skills, all set in motion by rolls of a virtual 20-sided die and led by a game master. D&D inspired many of the components in the marine TTRPG, including classes like chemist, navigator, biologist, and underwater videographer, and equipment options that would be found on a research vessel. The gameplay is designed to take place virtually for safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, using online platforms like Zoom, Roll20, and Google’s dice roller so players can talk to one another face-to-face and roll the (computer-generated) dice. The game will also be facilitated with neurodiverse youth in mind — narration of the gameplay will be clear and friendly for those who have trouble with metaphorical or vague language, and youth with emotion regulation challenges will be encouraged to problem-solve with facilitators so that they feel comfortable in the group.

As the game progresses, players will get a sense of what it’s like to have a career in marine science. Colin Katagiri, a Marine Science Program Developer at foundry10, hopes that the game will communicate the sense of fun and adventure that can be a big part of marine science work. “I think the scenarios that we’re playing off of are things most people probably don’t hear about when they’re generally thinking about environmentalism,” says Katagiri.“When you’re hearing in the media about climate change or ocean acidification, there’s not a lot of ‘what is the context for that?’ or ‘what does that really mean?’” Katagiri hopes that exploring marine science through role-playing will make that ambiguity clearer, and give youth an idea of what marine science jobs can actually involve — from concrete decision-making to unexpected problems to the excitement of a research vessel mission.

Many of those real-life scenarios appear within the marine science TTRPG, unfolding as the players decide how to solve the problems that arise. Situations can start off simple, like a search for a shipwreck. Players might then stumble upon an area full of diverse marine species and decide to advocate for the creation of a wildlife reserve, working together with the public and the government to protect the ecosystem they’ve discovered. This is just one direction that the game can take, but there are myriad ways to tell the story (if you and your students want to try it yourself, reach out to games@foundry10.org!). Each player can bring different skills to the table and work together to solve the problems that arise throughout their mission.

Teamwork is a key component of the marine science game, as well as the tabletop games it’s based on. Ginger, a high school sophomore, has been playing classic D&D virtually with her friends since quarantine began in the spring. One of her favorite things about D&D is working together with other players to shape the story and world of the game: “It’s not just me sitting in my room thinking about something, but we’re all together in it and we’re all interacting with it and we all give a little bit to that world.” Ben Wahl, founder of Aspiring Youth, emphasizes the benefit of tabletop games in developing social skills and teamwork, and anticipates that the marine science TTRPG players “are going to connect with good community; they’re going to have a lot of fun [and] improve social skills, because Dungeons & Dragons is collaborative storytelling.”

The goal of the game is to have fun — youth are already dealing with new challenges from remote learning, and the development teams hope that the game will allow players to explore their interests in a fun environment, rather than having to memorize or meet standards for a test. Wahl says that Aspiring Youth has “run hundreds of [D&D] groups, and it just speaks to the fact that kids learn when they’re storytelling and [playing] games when it’s interactive, rather than just being lectured at.” Wahl is also excited about how the game uses marine science, a STEM topic that kids may already be interested in, to encourage social-emotional learning and social skills. Similarly, Wahl is enthusiastic about using TTRPGs, a popular area of interest among his young clients, in order to draw them to marine science.

The marine science TTRPG is planned to be tested with youth in January 2021. Players who are intrigued by the situations they encounter in the game may also be interested in another new foundry10 project: The Ultimate Guide to Underwater Work, a collaboration between local science professionals and foundry10’s Marine Science Team, and spearheaded by foundry10 Marine Science intern Alijah Benbrook. The Guide is full of resources for youth who are interested in marine science and other ocean-related careers, and includes in-depth interviews with professionals in those positions. The Marine Science Team hopes that the Guide will give youth a way to continue exploring career paths they’re excited about, including ones they may have found particularly interesting while playing the marine TTRPG.

The teams at Aspiring Youth and foundry10 are excited about the game’s potential, both for encouraging young people to explore marine science and in making that exploration accessible and meaningful for neurodiverse youth. “What we know is that if we design learning to help folks with autism, [for example,] it helps everyone, and that’s very important to highlight,” says Wahl, pointing out that ramps meant for wheelchair users also benefit the elderly, parents pushing strollers, and others for whom stairs are inconvenient. “When we make learning more accessible or society more accessible, it’s not just about including a subset of people, it’s just making society better for everyone,” he says. “Anything we can do to make learning less anxious, and anything we can do to make it more engaging, is pretty exciting.”

Taylar Christianson is a 2020 high school graduate and foundry10 intern. She’s loved writing and art since she was little, and has been fortunate to work in the arts throughout her school career. In her free time, she writes, spends time with her sibling and her cats, and analyzes TV shows way more than they ever needed to be analyzed.

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