Germany: ESC: Youth Development through RPGs in a European Context

About the local hosting organization

The Dragon Legion is a European role-playing network founded in Germany. The group members are interested in making intercultural learning experiences together, and in keeping their minds engaged on a high intellectual level. A few years ago they started getting involved in youth work, determined to offer younger people new and exciting ways of learning and shaping their personality. Activities included theater, improvisation events, and role-playing games. With their activities the group members have successfully offered a stark contrast to traditional youth work and have managed to get a large number of young people interested in social learning activities. The Dragon Legion is a non-profit organization that regularly runs role-playing events for young people. The events are highly motivational and have a stealth learning effect on the participants. We often choose an interesting location in Europe and immerse ourselves in its history, mythology and culture, turning it into a game setting. All of the events focus on intercultural learning because players experience role-playing situations in mixed teams, and they are confronted with decisions that are based on fundamental value discussions. However, apart from the intercultural learning the events teach and train a number of skills and knowledge, such as history, mythology, language skills, social skills, communication skills, craft skills or the skill to work in international teams. More importantly we create international communities in which young people understand the importance and the opportunity of a unified Europe with close cooperation and collaboration. Participants of our events stay in touch after the events and keep communicating in an international network. We have also managed to attract a lot of disadvantaged youths who feel safe and welcome in our open-minded and supportive community. In our experience role-playing is especially well-suited for those with social disadvantages who have become outsiders in their societies. Taking on a new role and connecting with other youths that share interests and encourage them seems to have a tremendous effect that lets these people bloom and changes their world completely. Die Dragon Legion ist ein in Deutschland gegründetes europäisches Rollenspiel-Netzwerk. Die Gruppenmitglieder sind daran interessiert, gemeinsam interkulturelle Lernerfahrungen zu sammeln und ihre Gedanken auf einem hohen intellektuellen Niveau auszutauschen. Vor einigen Jahren haben sie angefangen, sich in der Jugendarbeit zu engagieren, um jüngeren Menschen neue und aufregende Möglichkeiten zum Lernen und Gestalten ihrer Persönlichkeit zu bieten. Zu den Aktivitäten gehörten Theater, Improvisationsveranstaltungen und Rollenspiele. Mit ihren Aktivitäten haben die Gruppenmitglieder erfolgreich einen starken Kontrast zur traditionellen Jugendarbeit geschaffen und es geschafft, eine große Anzahl junger Menschen für soziale Lernaktivitäten zu interessieren. Die Dragon Legion ist eine gemeinnützige Organisation, die regelmäßig Rollenspiele für junge Leute durchführt. Die Veranstaltungen sind hoch motivierend und haben einen Stealth-Learning-Effekt auf die Teilnehmer. Wir wählen oft einen interessanten Ort in Europa und tauchen in seine Geschichte, Mythologie und Kultur ein und verwandeln ihn in eine Spielumgebung. Alle Veranstaltungen konzentrieren sich auf interkulturelles Lernen, da die Spieler in gemischten Teams Rollenspiele erleben und mit Entscheidungen konfrontiert werden, die auf fundamentalen Wertediskussionen beruhen. Abgesehen vom interkulturellen Lernen vermitteln und trainieren die Veranstaltungen jedoch eine Reihe von Fähigkeiten und Kenntnissen wie Geschichte, Mythologie, Sprachkenntnisse, soziale Fähigkeiten, Kommunikationsfähigkeiten, handwerkliche Fähigkeiten oder die Fähigkeit, in internationalen Teams zu arbeiten. Vor allem schaffen wir internationale Gemeinschaften, in denen junge Menschen die Bedeutung und die Chance eines einheitlichen Europas in enger Zusammenarbeit und Zusammenarbeit verstehen. Teilnehmer unserer Veranstaltungen bleiben nach den Veranstaltungen in Kontakt und kommunizieren in einem internationalen Netzwerk. Wir haben es auch geschafft, viele benachteiligte Jugendliche anzuziehen, die sich in unserer aufgeschlossenen und unterstützenden Gemeinschaft sicher und willkommen fühlen. Nach unserer Erfahrung eignet sich das Rollenspiel besonders für Menschen mit sozialen Nachteilen, die in ihrer Gesellschaft zu Außenseitern geworden sind. Eine neue Rolle zu übernehmen und sich mit anderen Jugendlichen zu verbinden, die gleich Interessen teilen und sie ermutigen, scheint eine enorme Wirkung zu haben, die diese Menschen aufblühen lässt und ihre Welt vollständig verändert.

Presentation of the programme

This project aims to build upon and expand Dragon Legion’s previous community building, language learning, and development of youths through Role-Playing Games. We want to help our youth volunteers develop their self-reliant project work skills and determination to realize self-set goals together. The international setting of allows for guidance from experienced youth workers from all over Europe and the realization of innovative and creative project ideas. Over the last few years, we have grown a network of active young people across Europe and are starting to have a local impact in many countries. We believe it is vital to keep this network active, and we need your help to create continuous engagement. Bringing volunteers to our headquarters in Cologne allows us to engage them intensively and focus on our three main objectives.
 Together we will use RPGs to offer young people amazing personal development opportunities. See https://dragon-legion.com/dragon-legion-volunteers/

About the accomodation

Volunteers will live together as a group of 4 in an apartment in the city of Cologne. You will each have your own room but a shared kitchen. Each month you will receive money for food so that you can arrange your own meals. You will also get a ticket that lets you use all trains and buses (and even rent bikes) for free. The city of Cologne has a good public transport system, so you will be able to get everywhere quite easily. For easier organisation, we prefer candidates who stay a full year.

About the leisure activities

You will learn to create RPG approaches that can engage young people and help them train skills along the way. You will have many opportunities to grow your skills and develop in your chosen direction. We will support you in your work and give inspiration to possibilities, but this opportunity requires you to work proactively with little guidance. You are expected to actively come up with ideas and create new approaches. For instance, you could focus on using RPGs in school projects or to connect youths on an international level in events. You could also train your social media skills.

Requirements

The Participant profile: Our office language is English because we work in international teams. It might be useful to learn a little German as well. One thing that is important for us is teamwork. We want to create work structures in which several volunteers grow into efficient teams. See it as an opportunity to have a major impact on creating something like an RPG publisher and helping hundreds of young people. Possible tasks: organizing RPG events working with schools (language learning, social learning, training of skills) creating RPG concepts creating a magazine Managing social media Creating Content like YouTube videos etc.Deadline: