Role Playing Games for Learning and Sharing History

My professional work with the T3-Method The Team Tale is focused mainly on organizations: analyzing dynamics, improving collaboration, and helping teams unlock their hidden potential. But the power of role-playing is not confined to meeting rooms or workshops. It is a versatile tool that can transform how we approach culture, education, and even the way we engage with history.

This was the case with the Bibliothèque-Médiathèque de Sierre (BMS). I was the one who proposed the initiative, and the BMS accepted with enthusiasm, choosing to support it.

History as a Lived Experience

I personally designed the sessions, drawing inspiration for the themes and scenarios directly from books available in the BMS collections. The idea was simple but ambitious: to allow participants to live history instead of just reading about it.

The sessions were open to adults and spanned different historical periods that shaped the Valais region:

1. the Roman invasion of the Rhône Valley,

   
   

2. the witch hunts that scarred the region in the 15th and 16th centuries,

   
   

3. and the early 1900s in the Lötschental, with its peculiar customs and folklore.

In each case, participants were not passive listeners. They were characters inside a story, forced to make choices, face dilemmas, and collaborate to navigate through the complexities of another time.

A Light Version of the T3-Method The Team Tale

For these sessions, I used a light, adapted version of the T3-Method, specifically developed for this cultural goal. Unlike in my consulting projects, the purpose was not to measure team performance or to map organizational behaviors. The aim was different: to spark passion, curiosity, and personal engagement with the past.

If I had to summarize the experience with a single word—one that is very popular in corporate contexts—it would be: motivation.

Because motivation is not only about achieving results at work; it is also about igniting the inner spark that makes us want to know more, discover, and connect with something larger than ourselves.

Why Role-Playing Works Here Too

Role-playing works because it is immersive. You don’t just hear about the Roman invasion—you feel the tension of defending your village. You don’t just study the witch trials—you experience the fear of suspicion, or the courage of standing up for others. You don’t just read about the valleys of the early 20th century—you live their rhythms, their struggles, and their beauty.

Participants left the sessions not only entertained, but also motivated to deepen their understanding of local history. And thanks to the resources of the BMS, they could immediately follow up, exploring books and archives to continue their journey of discovery.

The Bigger Picture

This experience confirmed something I have long believed: role-playing is more than a tool. It is a bridge. A bridge between knowledge and experience, theory and practice, individual curiosity and collective memory.

And it also showed me how the same principles at the heart of the T3-Method—creativity, psychological safety, and shared purpose—apply just as well to cultural mediation as they do to organizational performance.

Whether in a boardroom or a library, the real goal is the same: to bring people together, to motivate them, and to create an environment where curiosity and collaboration can thrive.

P.S. 1: When I was a very young teenager, already passionate about RPGs, I proposed—through my mother, a literature teacher at the secondary school level—to organize role-playing sessions to help students learn history. The proposal was immediately rejected :) Evidently, the times were not ready, and I was not yet the professional in business consulting I am today. I mention this to show how now the times are mature, and RPGs can be presented as a tool for meaningful educational or professional purposes, not just for entertainment.

P.S. 2: The sessions at the BMS were so successful that they also inspired a cultural initiative: the founding of an association dedicated to the history, folklore, and values of the Alpine region. The project is called Alpinéea and aims to promote engaging, live experiences to explore and celebrate Alpine heritage. More information at Alpinéea

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