Ludoverse Lab: Jesse Burneko’s “Dungeons and Dilemmas” Weaves a Web of Moral Questions

The Ludoverse Lab completed the summer trilogy with Jesse Burneko and his Kickstarter Zinequest project titled “Dungeons and Dilemmas.” The core idea is to use the appealing format of the classic dungeon delve but to inject it with a hive of ethical puzzles for the characters to grapple with. Jesse gives us the tools to transform some of the bedrock components of fantasy rpg into perils that have an emotional and moral weight. I was impressed by the way that he avoids a heavy-handed approach: His puzzles raise a number of pressing questions, but it is up to the players to reason things through and to formulate a response. At one point, Jesse talks about his approach as an experiment: He provides the volatile materials and components, but it is the players who catalyze things and who decide upon the ultimate outcomes. 

I’ve edited our sessions, which you can watch by clicking the links below. The videos are long, but I provide text headings to give viewers an easy way to skip around.

• Part 1: Our first session, which involves a quick character creation, a review of the streamlined game engine (an rpg called Strain Basic), and the opening of the adventure.

• Part 2: Our second session, which involves confronting a vampiric mother, a demon child, and a ruthless bandit. Editing Note: I had recording problems with the start of this video, so we miss the introduction of the players. Of special note is the fact that Tracy Wazenegger, who teaches chemistry and global studies in Pennsylvania, has joined in.

• Part 3: A debriefing, where Jesse lays out the thought process and techniques driving “Dungeons and Dilemmas.” Note the rich and varied sources that he points to: Ann Radcliffe, Dogs in the Vineyard, and Bluebeard's Bride. That may seem like an unexpected trio of influences, but you definitely see their fingerprints on Jesse's project.

Teachers interested in leveraging roleplaying games in the classroom should especially heed Part 3. Jesse has a wealth of gaming experience behind him, and he has distilled and refined his approach. His explanation of how he pulls off the magic is lucid and organized, and he has a system in place which teachers and scenario designers can quickly leverage for their own purposes. 

One key feature of our Ludoverse Lab adventure that gave it teeth is the fact that the “monsters” were the outcome of tragic histories. Jasna, the vampire mother, for example, became a member of the undead as the result of an abusive marriage, and she is subsequently abused again—this time at the hands of a ruthless bandit who is exploiting her for her vampire children. And Various is a demon child who is now in a codependent relationship with his mother, whom he loves. We didn’t delve into the background of Tristan, the bandit, but it seems likely that his character was impacted from a life of destitution. 

These fraught histories are then tied to a “dungeon”—in our case a boarded-up keep which has been retrofitted to be a prison for the monsters and a hideout for the bandits. As a result, the dungeon is more than a physical place—it is a kind of shell inside of which are nestled layers of previous events. The architecture and layout of the building are intimately related to the histories of the characters and monsters who have resided there. 

Jesse thinks about room locations in terms of narrative nodes. In other words, an entry point into the keep is considered as the identifiable beginning of a sequence of events that will then be connected to subsequent events sparked by the passageways and rooms that radiate out of that entry point. The keep has a number of possible entrances, but in each case, Jesse reflects upon the spaces immediately connected to those entry points, and his dungeons take form through interconnected narrative nodes that will produce new pieces that can build on each other.

Jesse also has some interesting things to say about that old staple of the dungeon delve—the trap. In constructing a trap, Jesse thinks about the character who created it and the use to which it is put. He talks about these devilish devices as instances of foreshadowing. In other words, when the players encounter a trap, they should be confronting a concrete example of the personality that devised it. In the case of our adventure, the demon-child named Various created animated raven sculptures as a trap, and the nature of this obstacle was very different from the spiked pit-trap set by the ruthless bandit named Tristan. In both cases, the traps were reflective of their creators.

One other key to the success of “Dungeons and Dilemmas”: Jesse resists defining a “right solution” to the moral questions that spin out of his scenario. He notes in the debriefing that he is happy to observe different groups thinking through and resolving the moral problems in different ways. He is content to set up his adventures as engrossing experiences and springboards for reflection.

The Ludoverse Lab’s “Fantasy RPG Summer Trilogy” has given me much food for thought, and I’m looking forward to taking some of the ideas from Richard Ruane, Ryan Windeknecht, and Jesse Burneko into the high school classroom and the game club I sponsor. Expect posts in the coming months to provide you with updates. 

As always, I encourage comments and reactions to the Ludoverse Labs.

And what else can you expect from the Ludoverse heading forward? 

The school year has started for me, and I’m giving much thought to what COVID-19 means for those of us engaged in gamification and game-based learning. So I’m considering one or two roundtable discussions with other educators to talk about how we are modifying our approaches to deal with the world of hybrid classrooms, social distancing, and remote learning.

Partly as a result of the events over the summer, I’m also interested in delving into games that focus on the experience of marginalization. I know a number of roleplaying games where the players take on the roles of classes, groups, and fantasy races that are ostracized, demonized, or exploited. That might make for some interesting sessions in the lab.

Finally, I’m still hoping to pull together a summer workshop devoted to games in education. My idea is to create a dialogue between game designers and educators in a way that will provoke an ongoing conversation between these two groups. The world of COVID-19 has set up some obstacles for that project, but I’ll be looking for ways to overcome those hurdles.