Living Pedagogies of a Game-Master: An Autoethnographic Education of Liminal Moments

Abstract

This study presents the concept of the pedagogy of the game-master. Written from a bricolage of autoethnographic perspectives, a fractured narrative was (de)composed out of the author’s dual experiences as educator and game-master of fantasy tabletop-role-playing games. The narrative seeks to evoke the blurred boundaries of what it means to occupy each role, dwelling between fantasies, (teaching) realities, and player/person/persona identities (Waskul & Lust, 2004), constructing and remaining in the middle of a bridged pedagogy which spans education and tabletop role-playing. From the narrative, the latter section of this manuscript presents a discussion of how the liminal duties of the game-master might help draw educators to and beyond the boundaries of what is possible in education.