Resources & Links
External resources for TTRPG-based education.
Organizations
TabletopEDU
501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing TTRPGs in education. Co-directed by Garrett Munro and Maryanne Cullinan, PhD. Excellent resources, community, and their book Adventures in Teaching and Learning with TTRPGs is essential reading.
Game to Grow
Nonprofit using TTRPGs for social-emotional learning, particularly with neurodiverse youth. Different focus from Narrative Crossroads but valuable allied work.
Conventions & Professional Development
ChaosiumCon
Annual convention hosted by Chaosium (publishers of Call of Cthulhu, Basic Roleplaying). Education-friendly programming. I’ve presented here on TTRPG pedagogy.
Gen Con Trade Day
Annual Trade Day programming includes educator sessions. Major networking opportunity for TTRPG education community.
Game Systems
For Classroom Use
| System | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| No Thank You, Evil! | Monte Cook Games | Designed for kids; excellent for intro/scaffolding |
| Basic Roleplaying | Chaosium | Flexible and adaptable to almost any setting |
| Fate Accelerated | Evil Hat | Narrative-focused; emphasizes character aspects |
| Fiasco | Bully Pulpit Games | GM-less; structured dramatic scenes; good for ELA |
Educational Adaptations
- Classcraft — Gamification platform with RPG elements (not a TTRPG but related)
- Mythic — GM emulator useful for solo or small group play
Starting Cheap: Games by Cost
Almost everything you need to run Narrative Crossroads is free. This tier list comes from the Quest-Based Learning handout; prices are approximate, so confirm before buying.
Free — start here
Several of these publish an SRD (System Reference Document): the reusable core of a game’s rules, released under a license that lets anyone build on it. An SRD is the whole game’s engine, free and legal to adapt — which is why they make good raw material for a classroom.
| Resource | What it is |
|---|---|
| Lasers & Feelings | John Harper’s one-page, endlessly hackable RPG |
| Grant Howitt’s one-page RPGs | Dozens of complete games, one page each |
| D&D free rules | The basic rules, free to read |
| Ironsworn | Free, and built for solo play — the closest cousin to this method |
| Fate SRD | The Fate system’s SRD |
| Dungeon World SRD | The Dungeon World SRD |
| Blades in the Dark | Rules reference, free to read |
| Descended from the Queen | Alex Roberts’s For the Queen SRD, free under CC BY 3.0 — build a prompt-card game for any text or relationship. “Descended from the Queen” is the shared branding for games built on it. |
| itch.io physical games | Filter for free or pay-what-you-want |
| DriveThruRPG | Same, with a larger back catalogue |
Free safety tools are in Safety Tools below, and the educator communities are under Organizations above.
Low-cost — a few dollars
| Resource | Approx. | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| The Quiet Year | $13 | Build a community’s world together before you analyze it |
| Microscope | $20 | Collaborative, nonlinear history-building |
| For the Queen | $15 | Relationship prompts — or build your own free from its SRD, linked above |
Worth paying for — depth, or ready to run
| Resource | Approx. | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Fiasco | $25 | GM-less stories of ordinary people making bad decisions with consequences |
| Wanderhome | $25 | Gentle, GM-less; strong for multilingual learners and younger students |
| No Thank You, Evil! | $50 | A complete, kid-friendly RPG in a box |
| Adventures in Teaching and Learning with TTRPGs | — | The educator’s book (TabletopEDU, 2025). Get the PDF — it’s better edited than the original print run |
Everything in the free tier is enough to start.
Safety Tools
Consent and calibration tools that let a student step away from content without having to explain why. Worth establishing before any roleplay — and especially with the threshold moments this method is built around, which are chosen precisely because they are difficult.
TTRPG Safety Toolkit
Compiled by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk. A free, regularly updated collection of safety and calibration tools — Lines and Veils, Script Change, the X-Card, and others — with a printable guide and cards. The standard reference on the topic; start here.
X-Card
John Stavropoulos’s one-page tool: any participant can tap the card to remove content from the scene, no explanation required. The lowest-overhead option, and the easiest to introduce to a class in under a minute.
Books & Publications
Practitioner Guides
- Munro, G., & Cullinan, M. (2025). Adventures in Teaching and Learning with TTRPGs. TabletopEDU Inc.
- Peterson, J. (2012). Playing at the World. (History of D&D and wargaming)
Academic
- Bowman, S. L. (2010). The Functions of Role-Playing Games. McFarland.
- Cover, J. G. (2010). The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. McFarland.
Online Communities
Discord Servers
- TabletopEDU Discord (see their website for invite)
- Various game-specific education channels
Social Media
- #TTRPGEducation on Twitter/X
- Facebook groups for TTRPG educators
Tools
Virtual Tabletops
- Roll20 — Free tier available; widely used
- Foundry VTT — One-time purchase; highly customizable
- Owlbear Rodeo — Simple, free, no account required
Character Sheet Tools
- D&D Beyond — Digital character sheets (D&D-specific)
- Google Sheets templates (various creators)
Mapping
- Dungeondraft — Map creation
- Inkarnate — Fantasy maps
Narrative Crossroads
- Website: narrativecrossroads.org
- Repository: github.com/geoffreysperl/narrative-crossroads
- Creator: teaching.geoffreysperl.com
Have a resource to suggest? Contact geoffrey@geoffreysperl.com