Transformative Play Initiative

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! The Implementing Transformative Role-playing Games textbook is now available for free download and print on demand! The book is the second in a series of two developed by the EDGE Consortium, an Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership, featuring authors from Uppsala University, Dragons' Nest, Avalon Larp Studio, Chaos League, and Turku University of Applied Sciences. The peer-reviewed book has been published in the Transformative Play Research Series within Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis at Uppsala University.

Link here: https://books.uu.se/uup/catalog/book/55

Table of contents:

Preface
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Simon Brind, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas

Chapter 1:
The Basics of Implementing Transformative Role-playing Games
Sarah Lynne Bowman

Chapter 2: Implementing Transformative Role-playing Games in Specific Applied Contexts
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Angie Bandhoesingh, Elektra Diakolambrianou, Felipe García-Soriano, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Josefin Westborg

Chapter 3: Production and Logistics for Transformative Role-playing Games
Simon Brind, Halfdan Keller Justesen, Sarah Lynne Bowman, Alessandro Giovannucci, Felipe García-Soriano, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas

Chapter 4: Theory and Practice in Facilitating Transformative Role-playing Games
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Angie Bandhoesingh, Simon Brind, Elektra Diakolambrianou, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Felipe García-Soriano, Alessandro Giovannucci, Josephine Rydberg, Josefin Westborg

Chapter 5: Cultivating Safer Transformational Communities
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Nikola Sekulić

Chapter 6: Theory and Practice in Playing for Transformation
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Guus Quinten van Tilborg, Simon Brind, Alessandro Giovannucci, Nikola Sekulić, Josephine Rydberg

Chapter 7: Playtesting and Researching Role-playing Game Implementation
Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Joshua Juvrud, Sarah Lynne Bowman, Josefin Westborg, Guus Quinten van Tilborg, Felipe García-Soriano, Josephine Rydberg

Synopsis:

This textbook explores implementation practices for running transformative analog role-playing games, such as transformative leisure, educational, and therapeutic applications. We foreground central considerations for hacking existing games, framing, scaling up existing designs, adapting to the needs of specific populations, creating functional groups, and working with stakeholders.

Additionally, the textbook covers many practical considerations when producing and running logistics. Examples include project management, organizational teams, establishing the setting, character writing, location logistics, as well as tech, interaction, and sensory design. We offer suggestions for communication, casting, documentation, guiding player preparation, workshop design, and onsite logistics.

Next, the textbook discusses different facilitation roles and responsibilities. We describe several skills associated with good facilitation and recommendations for working in different settings. Additionally, the textbook presents general principles for cultivating safer and more accessible transformational communities surrounding play. We discuss ways to address physical and psychological risks in implementation for both organizers and players, such as injury, psychological overwhelm, and inappropriate behavior in the community.

The textbook also features theories connected to the play experience, including motivation, creative agendas, and labor. Then, we present several concepts related to transforming one’s self concept, social identity, relationships with others, and spiritual development through transformative play. We include various practical recommendations for working with preparatory activities, steering, bleed, different types of immersion, interpersonal dynamics, group dynamics, and gathering play experiences through feedback and documentation.

The textbook closes with a chapter offering practical advice for playtesting, iteration, and conducting research on transformative play, including study design, ethics, data gathering, and analysis. We conclude with a list of studies offering empirical evidence for the affective, cognitive, and behavioral benefits of these games.

We recommend also reading the first book in this series, Transformative Role-playing Game Design, edited by Bowman, Diakolambrianou, and Brind.

Learn more about Erasmus EDGE: https://erasmusedge.eu/

Learn more about the Transformative Play Initiative: https://tinyurl.com/t8ba637d

Learn more about Turku University of Applied Sciences' Game Lab: https://www.turkugamelab.fi/

Like Avalon Larp Studio on FB: https://www.facebook.com/avalonlarpstudio

Like Dragons' Nest on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dragonsnestgr/

Like Chaos League on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/yc73r4jy

Graphic design by Kate Blomgren, Daria Shpak.
Layout by Bora Haxhirai.




https://books.uu.se/uup/catalog/book/55

EDGE – Empowering Game Design Education Guidelines for integrating various types of technology into the analog role-playing experience, including pros, cons, and best practices

ROCKET at Nordic Larp Research Seminar 2026! 👥💬

The ROCKET project team presented at this year´s Nordic Larp Research Seminar as part of AWIG Knutpunkt 2026! Here, ROCKET´s Alexandra Schreiber, Sarah Lynne Bowman and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas introduced the ROCKET Erasmus+ project and the choice and design of research methods to examine courses for students, teachers and administrative staff, followed by a discussion with the audience and expert reviewers.
It was great to be part of this exciting research seminar! 📖🤩



Uppsala University | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen | University of Groningen

We are humbled to announce that TPI member Sarah Lynne Bowman was awarded the 2026 Distinguished Teaching Independent Award for Assessment that promotes student learning at Uppsala University for the online Master's in Transformative Game Design at Department of Game Design! The news item reads:

Sarah Lynne Bowman has demonstrated considerable teaching skill, with a particular focus on the areas of transformative game design and Live Action Role Play (LARP). As programme coordinator for the online Master’s programme in Transformative Game Design, she has developed new forms of assessment that incorporate continuous feedback as a key part of the students’ learning process. Sarah is a passionate educator who is always willing to go the extra mile to provide support in a teaching process that consistently strives for the highest possible quality.

Winners of the 2026 Distinguished Teaching Awards selected – Uppsala University Camilla Ekwall, the recipient of the Teaching Award in Medicine and Pharmacy, received flowers and congratulations from Deputy Vice-Chancellor Coco Norén. On the far right is Helena Lindqvist, Educational Developer at the University Administration. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University.

We are delighted to announce that our book, Role-playing Games for Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations, has now been translated into Spanish for EHU Press by Cristo Leon and Antonio Casado da Rocha! The original book is part of the CIRCUS Interdisciplinary Insights series at Uppsala. Edited by Sarah Lynne Bowman and Josefin Westborg, it features three essays about the use of games to practice interdisciplinarity and 4 scenarios, with one extra available on the website. Authors include Doris Rusch, Bowman, Westborg, Kaya Toft Thejls, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, and Josephine Baird.

Enjoy!

https://tinyurl.com/mpewbv7t

TPI members Sarah Lynne Bowman and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas had a wonderful time running a lecture, larp, and workshop, at History@Play hosted by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History at the University of Luxembourg! Huge thanks to Sandra Camarda and Jean Botev for their fantastic hospitality and stimulating conversation. We were happy to share transformative role-playing game design content from EDGE and our first democratic design workshop from Larpocracy, as well as a revised version of the edu-larp The Committee designed by Westborg, Sarah, and Kaya Toft Thejls, with revisions by Sandra to focus on museum curators deliberating over how to handle controversial archival material. We hope for more collaboration opportunities in the future!

We had a wonderful time co-organizing the Edu-Larp Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden with University of Gothenburg / Chalmers University on April 15! We had 14 excellent program items from appox. 26 educator practitioners.

We were given amazing care by Cecilia Bjursell, Natasha Bianca Mangan, and Michael Heron. Special thanks to our team Josefin Westborg, Gijs van Bilsen, Alessandro Giovannucci, Rian Rezende, Lindsay Wolgel, and Kjell Hedgard Hugaas for helping out with last minute tasks. It was also wonderful to cross-organize with Joffe Rydberg and Hanne Grasmo for the Larp Research Seminar

For our part, we were excited to share a presentation and textbooks from Erasmus EDGE! This community is a large part of why we do this work.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXKNV4lNGsR/?igsh=MXFlNjFsamlxZzVnaw%3D%3D

Where imagination meets education 👾🧑‍🏫 Gothenburg provided the perfect backdrop for this year’s Edu-Larp Conference. It was all about connecting with fellow educators, game designers, and researchers to explore the power of immersive experiences. What was your biggest takeaway from the sessions? 📖 Let us know in the comments! 💎 #EduLarpConference #LarpCommunity #EducationalGaming #ImmersiveLearning #Knutpunkt2026