Gaming for Justice

“Our hands-on training blends traditions and practices of local indigenous people and technologies of today and empowers young people with the skills they need to thrive tomorrow in a climate just world.”
Gaming for Justice is a 1.5-hour educational live action role-playing game (RPG) that uses Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) mechanics to introduce climate activism. Players choose mythical characters to fight environmental injustices at the pollution-spewing Potion Manufacturing Plant. As they progress through the game, they gather evidence of air pollution, roll a giant inflatable 20-sided die to determine outcomes, and use spells and shared resources to shut down the harmful facility before it is too late. Each decision shapes the game’s trajectory, requiring players to collaborate and think critically to achieve a common goal: save our planet!
The novelty of Gaming for Justice lies in its simplicity; the players unite to save their home, fostering teamwork as a natural and essential part of play. Through this process, they build confidence to become active leaders in their own communities while developing empathy, collaborative skills, and a sense of agency to tackle real-world problems. The Mycelium Youth Network embeds climate literacy in education by framing Gaming for Justice as an act of environmental activism. The game helps facilitate difficult conversations about climate change rather than leaving students to confront these issues alone. Through fantasy and role-play, it fosters problem-solving, imagination, hope, and climate advocacy. The game’s designer and lead storyteller, Marcy Brown, created Gaming for Justice with two core goals: for players to gather evidence and take direct action. There are endless possibilities within the D&D model of gameplay for how players can complete these goals. Pam Punzalan, the game’s writer, skillfully integrates the gameplay and its underlying rhetoric, using rules and mechanics to show how individual climate action can unite into collective climate action.
The embodied play element lets students unleash their imagination and develop resilience. Sebastian Ellington Flying Eagle Ebarb tied the game altogether with his visionary model in game and theater designs. The students don costumes, dramatize fictional worlds, and interact with real-world issues through live action role-playing. This game fosters memorable learning, development, and critical thinking. Ebarb’s contributions bring endless creativity to the game, helping the students create their characters’ identities, potions, and problem-solving capabilities through gameplay and theatrics.
Gaming for Justice takes a cross-disciplinary approach to climate change and can be integrated into discussions within education such as Indigenous Studies, Civics, and Eco-Systems. The game’s central conflict—the looming threat of the Potion Manufacturing Plant—drives a series of quests to save the world from air pollution. Through these storylines, the game addresses climate change, ecological systems, and the local community’s experiences while incorporating STEM concepts throughout.
©2026 ClimateLit (Lauren Abplanalp Ozaydin)
More.
- Find the game page here: Gaming for Justice
Publisher: Mycelium Youth Network, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Pages: 1.5 Hours
Format: Games and Other
Topics: Activism, Climate Literacy, Collective Climate Action, Empathy, Hope, Individual Action, Pollution, Resilience