Since the COVID pandemic started in 2020, many people, especially college students, are forced to stay in their homes and do their studies online. Many of them experienced stress and anxiety due to the lack of social activities and events, and as a result, they connected through playing games. Unfortunately, many of the players turned it into a toxic place. While teamwork is needed to accomplish most of the games, a lot of unpleasant experiences happen due to their destructive symptoms, such as blaming each other, making hateful comments, and being short-tempered. This phenomenon can affect college students’ mental health, academic performance, and social well-being. On the other hand, the popularity of board games has been increasing, especially tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPG) such as Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, and more. These games can be played with family and friends as well, as they have both teamwork effort and freedom for the players to explore.
Another problem that has been an issue is the education of Indonesian culture. The formal education system has not developed to attract college students with new methods. This makes college students not interested in Indonesian culture. They prefer to be interested in other cultures because the media that carry them are more unique and fun, especially with games. The formal education system still fears putting games as a medium to educate and learn, as playing games is still considered an activity that is far from studying. Based on the underlying idea of Visual Communication Design (DKV) and Board Games, as well as qualitative and quantitative research, this study is assessed utilizing the matrix approach. This study intends to develop a board game design capable of changing the toxic behaviour between students and the nature of a rigid education system. It aims to re-introduce Indonesian culture, let them easily understand the content, and change their mindset about Indonesian culture.
Keywords: Indonesian Culture, tabletop role-playing game, college students, The Wrath of Noesangkara