Reenacting the Scientific Revolution: RPGs in the Ancient and Early Modern Worlds

It is 1633. Galileo stands trial before the Roman Inquisition, charged with committing heresy for advocating the Copernican belief that the sun lies at the center of the universe. It is up to you to decide the outcome. Should Galileo's books be banned? Should he be placed under arrest, or even worse? In this course you get to rewrite history. The main part of this course involves the role-playing game 'The Trial of Galileo' developed using the Reacting to the Past format. You will also help design a new microgame based on the Roman Inquisition's Index attempt to place Lucretius poem on ancient atomism on the Index of Forbidden books.