Narrative Crossroads

Character Analysis through Roleplaying for Literary and Historical Study

Narrative Crossroads helps students analyze literary characters and historical figures from the inside out. Instead of observing characters from a distance, students step into threshold moments — points where a character could genuinely have chosen otherwise — and write a few sentences in that character’s voice.

Then the room pools its readings and answers the one that does the real work: which reading does the text support, and what’s your evidence?

That is close reading. It just doesn’t feel like it.

You don’t need to be a gamer to run this. It’s a solo journaling game played by everyone at once — one class period, a text your students have already read, and nothing to win or lose.

Quickstart — one class period Browse all free materials Read the Solo Framework SRD

Everything on this site is free under CC BY 4.0 — download it, print it, adapt it, use it with your students. No account, no email, no paywall.

The Method’s Three Lenses

Every student reads the same moment through one of three lenses. This is the vocabulary the rest of the site runs on — the modules, the worksheets, and the framework all assume it:

  • Confrontation — Read it as a clash: what are you up against, and what does facing it cost?
  • Comprehension — Read it as a realization: what do you understand now that you didn’t a moment ago?
  • Connection — Read it through the bonds: who is this really about, and what do you owe them?

Lenses are ways of reading, not skills or stats — nothing is ever rolled against them. Students pick one, or roll a die to spread the room. The die only decides which way in you get; it never decides how anything turns out.

Who Is This For?

Teachers looking to engage students in deeper character analysis through structured roleplay. Works particularly well with:

  • Reluctant readers who find traditional literary analysis alienating
  • Multilingual learners who benefit from scaffolded, collaborative activities
  • Students who respond to game-based learning structures

Researchers interested in TTRPG-based pedagogy, gaming literacy, or play-based learning.

Game designers curious about how TTRPG mechanics can serve educational objectives.

About the Creator

Narrative Crossroads was developed by Geoffrey Sperl, an ELA/ESL teacher at Hamtramck High School in Michigan, as part of his MAT thesis at Wayne State University (2025).

Geoffrey sponsors his school’s tabletop gaming club and presents on TTRPG pedagogy at conventions including ChaosiumCon. His work bridges tabletop gaming and literacy education, with a particular focus on multilingual learners.