Keep Ruby Weird 2017
Dungeons & Collaboration: A Player's Handbook on How To Work With a Distributed Team
#remote-work
#game-development
#software-development
#team-dynamics
#collaboration
#storytelling
#empathy
Dungeons & Collaboration: A Player's Handbook on How To Work With a Distributed Team
by Rolen LeThe video titled "Dungeons & Collaboration: A Player's Handbook on How To Work With a Distributed Team," presented by Rolen Le during the Keep Ruby Weird 2017 event, explores the intersection of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and effective collaboration within distributed teams. Rolen, portraying the role of a wizard, uses the fun and imaginative context of RPGs to convey valuable lessons for working together across distances.
Key points discussed throughout the session include:
- Understanding Tabletop RPGs: An introduction to tabletop role-playing games, characterized by collaborative storytelling rather than competition. Rolen explains that RPGs revolve around narratives facilitated by a Game Master (GM) and player characters.
- Choosing the Right Game: Emphasizing the importance of selecting games that align with players' expectations and the behavior that the game rewards, Rolen shares his experience with "Dungeon World," which fosters growth through both success and failure.
- Setting Expectations: Prior to starting an RPG session, just as in professional settings, establishing clear expectations through a session zero is crucial. Discussions around personal objectives and game tone help prevent misunderstandings.
- Collaboration Techniques: Techniques such as reframing ideas rather than shutting them down promote a collaborative environment. Players are encouraged to ask questions about ideas to adapt and innovate freely.
- Remote Communication: The session highlights the need for empathy and thoughtful communication when working with diverse individuals across time zones. Rolen adapts his communication style to accommodate varying references and backgrounds.
- Game Mechanics in Practice: As they embark on their adventure, Rolen leads a collaborative gameplay example, demonstrating how characters interact and how player engagement is essential to prevent anyone from dominating the storytelling. He illustrates the importance of teamwork and aligning actions toward shared goals.
- Learning from Gameplay: The group engages in activities that mimic real workplace scenarios, such as active listening and knowledge sharing, reinforcing how these skills are transferable to software development and project planning.
- Conclusions: Rolen concludes by discussing key learnings from their game and encourages camaraderie, thanking participants for supporting the session. He shares his contact details and expresses a desire for participants to collaborate in the future.
Overall, the session presents RPGs as a metaphor for distributed teamwork, encouraging creativity, adaptability, and respect among team members, resulting in enhanced collaborative efforts.
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Welcome to Dungeons and Collaboration, a player's handbook for working with distributed teams.
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I'm Rolen Le, and you'll find me online as Troll and Tilly. I'm based in Washington, DC.
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I do a lot of rhyming, and I'm also a software developer at Aetna. Most importantly, I'm a level 9 wizard.
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So, show of hands, who here knows what tabletop role-playing is?
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Cool, cool! Now, where are my real nerds at?
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Regardless of whether you’ve played before or this is your first time hearing about it, we're going to have a session zero.
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In this session, we will set expectations and get on the same page.
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So, what is tabletop role-playing? Is it like a board game? Sort of, you take turns and make moves, but there's no winner.
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Is it like a video game RPG? Kind of! You tell stories with characters, but you're only limited by your imagination, not by the story in the game. I would say it’s collaborative storytelling governed by a set of rules.
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We have three to five players who take on the roles of main characters, and one specific player plays as the game master or Dungeon Master.
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The Dungeon Master facilitates the story, while the players act as supporting characters, terrain, and monsters. They also adjudicate the rules.
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The goal isn't to win, but to create a compelling story using rules as a narrative device.
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Now that we're all on the same page about what an RPG is, I want to walk you through my journey.
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It begins with playing the right game with the right people, much like having the right culture in a company; this can spell success or failure.
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We'll tackle the easy part first: the right game. At their core, games reward behavior. Scrabble rewards having a great vocabulary, while Risk rewards military strategy.
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RPGs are the same, just with different focuses. Some reward combat, while others focus on storytelling. My approach to a problem changes based on how I'm rewarded.
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This led me to the game Dungeon World, created in 2012 by Sejal Tora, a senior test engineer at Google, and Adam COBOL, a professional GM.
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Adam refers to it as hipster Dungeons & Dragons. It shares the same genre conventions—wizards and elves—but is mechanically different.
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This is because it’s powered by the Apocalypse, a different game system. RPGs are varied with many forks and variations, just like programming.
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The distinct feature of Dungeon World is its 2d6 mechanic, which means players will describe an action, such as 'I slash the baddie.'
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The GM will then prompt the player to roll two six-sided dice, similar to rolling dice in games like Monopoly or Catan. If the player rolls a sum of ten to twelve, they succeed.
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If they roll a seven to nine, they get what they want, but at a cost—and if they fail (two to six), they fail completely, but the game gives them experience so their character can grow.
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The game teaches the player that they can either succeed at their actions or learn from their failures.
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Now, let’s talk about the process of finding people to play with. This can be tricky.
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Here are all the different meetups where I could play Dungeons & Dragons in the Metro area. Unfortunately, there are no dungeon troll meetups in DC.
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So, how do I find people to play with when there’s nothing available locally? I went online and discovered a website called Roll20.
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Roll20 is a platform where RPG players can collaborate; it’s akin to Google Hangouts, but includes a whiteboard and dice rolling.
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I found a group there and was able to play Dungeon World at a time that worked best for me.
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However, just because I had a group doesn't mean it was the right group, and that’s what we have to work towards.
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This starts with having the right expectations—whether it’s starting a new job or embarking on a new project.
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Understanding what you’re getting into really helps with happiness. Like before, we have a session zero.
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In this meeting, we discuss our personal goals and figure out what the tone of the game will be.
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For instance, if one expects a game like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, but the other players want something completely different, that could lead to problems.
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If I think we're going to Mordor to drop off the ring, but then my teammate suddenly betrays me, that’s not going to be a good time.
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Just like professionally, being adaptable is key. I might still be playing an enjoyable game online.
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Here's a great example: let's say a player wants to be a pirate, but the GM says that’s a dumb idea because the game is set in a desert.
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That brings us to an important piece of advice in RPGs: never start with 'no.' Always ask 'why?'
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If the idea gets shut down and everyone is at a standstill, reframe it by asking 'why do you want to be a pirate?'
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The response could be 'I want a sweet boat.' What if, instead, your boat travels on sand dunes rather than water?
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This way, instead of getting entrenched in the original idea, we focus on creating collaborative solutions.
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I use this technique a lot when discussing feature development with product teams and other developers.
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Now, let's get into some gameplay. I’m going to kick this off by introducing the party.
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Here's our game master, played by John from Florida. We have Hawthorne, our cleric who heals people, played by Luz from Australia.
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Then we have Kaiba, our thief, played by Josh from Texas.
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Don't hold it against him that he’s from Dallas.
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Next is Wisteria, our druid who shape-shifts, played by Lucy from California.
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And finally, we have me—Rolen Le from DC, wizard extraordinaire and lover of fireballs.
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We’re five players across four time zones and two continents, so the bare minimum we can do is respect each other's time zones.
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We play from 5 PM to 9 PM Eastern on Sunday nights. For me, that means Luz is playing from 7 AM to 11 AM Monday morning.
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If she needs an extra couple of minutes to get ready, she deserves it.
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When nine o'clock rolls around, I also need to get ready for the next day.
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We're three men and two women of different races and ethnicities, in our 20s, 30s, and 40s.
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So, when considering how we communicate, it’s important to be empathetic.
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In my old group, we were all just 20-something dudes sharing the same jokes and humor, which was fine.
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But when I started playing online with people I didn’t know, I became more thoughtful in how I expressed myself.
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For example, if I said, 'the dragon looks like a Charizard,' I can't assume everyone will understand that reference.
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It's important to establish a common understanding.
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So, who here knows what pair programming is?
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Great! And mob programming?
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Okay, yeah. This is where you collaborate with more than one person.
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Today, we're going to do something a bit unusual: we'll mob GM in this game together.
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I’ll ask a question like, 'What color is the dragon?' and everyone can contribute.
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The dragon could be green, red, or even turquoise!
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Let’s say our party has just slain a turquoise dragon and they’re ready to celebrate their hard-earned victory.
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Where are they celebrating? At the Alamo Drafthouse, enjoying good food and drinks.
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Everyone is having a great time until suddenly, a hooded figure walks in.
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The party recognizes him; if he's around, things are probably not good.
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He approaches the party and says, 'The town's guard and Duke have been kidnapped. We need your help to rescue him.'
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He tells them that the Duke is stuck in a cabin in the woods but to stop by ADA, the shopkeeper, for supplies for their perilous journey.
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The party nods in agreement and accepts the challenge. The GM encourages players to use vivid language when describing situations; this helps create a shared vision.
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It's similar to software development, where good stack traces provide better feedback than just saying 'it's broken.'
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The group makes a polite exit from the conference they were attending and heads to ADA's shop.
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As they approach the small shop, which is 10 yards by 10 yards, they notice the counter wraps around the room with shelves filled with basic supplies.
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There, they spot a specific item: a double-bladed axe displayed on the wall. As they approach the counter, ADA greets them.
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'Hello! I'm ADA. Is there anything you need? It's on the house.' Hawthorne replies, saying she needs new boots because the hike is going to be challenging.
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ADA smiles and agrees that they need good foot protection. However, as she hands over the boots, the players notice she's missing a finger.
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ADA’s hand shows signs of scarring that could only come from battle. She hands the boots to Hawthorne and reassures them to be careful in the woods.
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Hawthorne uses healing magic to reduce some of ADA’s scarring, saying, 'I want you to feel less pain.' ADA thanks her and offers advice about the dangers in the woods.
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She advises them to keep an eye out for anything hiding in the trees or bushes and emphasizes the importance of active listening.
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Active listening is a technique used in conflict resolution where the listener paraphrases what the speaker says. This is especially useful in software development and RPGs.
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Knowledge sharing and understanding lies at the foundation of any successful collaboration.
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Once the party leaves the shop, they prepare for their adventure.
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They spend a day hiking and decide to make camp for the night. Hurry is on watch while everyone else sleeps.
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During his watch, he thinks about the adventure ahead and decides he can handle a simple rescue mission.
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As he heads to the cabin, he sees two goblins on patrol—obviously the thugs who kidnapped the Archduke.
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Hurry decides to cast fireball, rolling an eleven, thus succeeding!
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The goblins turn around, surprised. Thinking about how easy this will be, Hurry gets closer to the cabin.
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He reaches the cabin and notices two goblins guarding the entrance.
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Without hesitation, he casts magic missile, and while he partially succeeds, he manages to take one Goblin down.
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However, the remaining Goblin tackles his other hand, causing him to lose focus.
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In a moment of cleverness, he decides to punt the Goblin, resulting in success!
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Opening the door, he shouts, 'I’m here to save you!'
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However, it’s crucial in gameplay to prevent dominating the narrative.
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While Hurry’s encounter can be thrilling, the other players could check out if they don’t engage.
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As with programming, we should not aim to be cowboys or rock stars in RPG sessions.
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Bursting through the door, he's met with the smell of something cloying; what does he do?
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Holding his breath to cover his mouth, he rolls a six and passes out.
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Cutting back, the rest of the party awakens to the sound of an explosion—something like a fireball.
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Understanding the imminent danger and the shopkeeper's warning about the woods, they are on guard.
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Hawthorne decides to transform into a bird to scout for any threats and discovers two goblins hiding.
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Overhearing them stumble over Hurry and the wizard casting spells, she figures the best way to attack is by getting the drop on them.
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Kaiba, eager to try out his new double-bladed axe, says he wants to go take them both out with a swing.
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Rolling a twelve, he successfully takes them both down!
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Hawthorne then uses her spell to speak to the dead Goblins. She needs some answers.
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Rolling a seven, she’s able to ask three questions. She starts with, 'Where’s Hurry?'
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The Goblin replies that a mind flayer has him and that he’s stuck in a cabin.
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Then she asks, 'Who is the boss?' to which they confirm it’s a mind flayer.
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Finally, she inquires about defeating this foe. 'He is afraid of spiders' sounds like an important hint.
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And there’s a magical double-bladed axe somewhere in the forest that could finish him off with one hit.
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Encouraged, the party discusses their next steps with this valuable intel.
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One player suggests transforming into a spider for stealth and to scare the mind flayer.
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They sneak into the cabin, where both Hurry and the Archduke are still unconscious.
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The mind flayer looms over them, completely unaware of the unfolding rescue.
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As a spider, a player jumps onto the mind flayer’s tentacles, causing panic.
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With all the commotion, Cabo takes the opportunity to sneak in through the door.
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He charges forward, ready to strike!
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Finally, Hawthorne hastily heals both Hurry and the unconscious Archduke.
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It's crucial to play off each other’s strengths, just like in programming.
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The Archduke shares that he was previously researching the forest before being captured and offers the group stones to communicate.
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These stones allow communication across vast distances.
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The players are grateful for the rescue and start making plans to return to the city.
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Before wrapping up our four-hour session, Dungeon World encourages us to engage in a ritual.
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We ask three questions, and for every 'yes' answer, we gain a point of experience.
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Did we find a memorable treasure? Yes, we got the stones of far speech!
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Did we overcome a notable enemy? Yes, the mind flayer was defeated.
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And did we learn something new about the world today? Yes, we gained new techniques to collaborate better.
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In conclusion, I want to express my gratitude to John, Josh, and especially Lucy.
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She did all the artwork for this presentation and taught me so much about effective collaboration.
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Here’s my contact information. You can reach me on Twitter or via email. If you ever want to connect with Lucy, here’s her email.
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Thank you for your time!
