The Forbidden City (with teens): Session Four

While the rest of the class got started on several other activities, session four saw the surviving six members of the first expedition to Bawal Bayan entering the crater to begin exploring the ruins of the city.  The party was composed of three elves, a pair of dwarves, and a lone knight.

Before we began, we went around the table and I asked each student to say one thing that they had learned from our first three sessions of Dagger.

"Don't split up."

"I picked up a spear."

"And don't be first in line."

"Yeah, don't be in the front or you'll get killed!"

"But I was in the front on the bridge and I didn't get killed."

"Why do you think your dwarf lived through the bridge ambush when so many other explorers didn't?"

"Cause I just ran across and started killing those goblin-things and didn't fall."

"Okay, but what about your armor class?  It's a 17, right? [Dagger introduces both ascending and descending AC]  So on a 20-sided die, what's the percentage chance of getting hit?"  It took them a while to work out the percentage.

"Yeah, so you should be in the front!"

From this discussion a very basic sense of dungeon crawl tactics began to emerge -- my students were starting to Learn the Dungeon.  Soon we had a marching order settled and we were on our way out of the Black Canyon and into the crater itself.

"I like this better [than playing with the whole class].  You can just describe what you want to do."

"Yeah, it goes a lot faster."

"You have more choices."

Soon they arrived at The Wall, a palisade-topped heap of stones and masonry that constituted the final barrier between the explorers and the floor of the crater.  An elf spied some Mongrelmen as they skulked behind the wall.  In a classic display of middle school diplomacy, the party began showering them with arrows and a magic missile as the dwarves and knight drew weapons and dashed to the foot of the barrier to begin scrambling up.

Despite their fearsome appearance, the mongrelmen fled at once.

"They're running from us."

"Yeah, they're scared of us."

I was curious to see if any of the six players might ponder whether these strange creatures were actually hostile or not, but for them strange = dangerous (which is usually true, so who can blame them?).

Having the panoramic map spread out in front of them with various encounter areas already named made the leap from console gaming to tabletop much easier I think.  In old titles like Monkey Island as well as newer ones, having chunks of the game world pre-named in ways that establish theme or give hints about the contents are an effective shorthand way to trigger choice and immersion.

It also reminds me of the old side-view map from Holmes Basic D&D.  How evocative was THAT when you were eleven?  Stone Mountain for the Win!

The Fallen Colossus

As the explorers set off for the remains of the giant statue I had only the vaguest notion of what they might find and nothing scripted or written down.  I figured that the giant bronze feet would be green with age and hollow.  One foot would be filled with rain water (perhaps with some treasure hidden in the silt at the bottom).  The other wouldn't be, meaning that it must have a drain hole somewhere that would give clever students a hint that there was a secret cavity beneath the fallen statue.

"How are we going to get up in there?"

"It's metal.  I bet it's like, really hot.  You are going to get burned."

"I'm not climbing up there.  I bet it's a trap."

"Let's leave."

"Yeah, let's go somewhere else."

And so, just as quickly, the Colossus was abandoned.  

"Let's head over to the caves instead."

"It will be hot in there."

"No, it will be cooler."

Next up ... The Caves

Some Character Portraits by my Students

I'll post about our continuing adventures later on, but in the meantime, here are some keen character portraits created by my students!

Five elves and a knight (lower left)

Middle School Teens Narrate their First Adventure

Here are some quotes I cherry-picked from the written accounts my students created when narrating their first tabletop roleplaying adventure:

"Bawal Bayan, the Forbidden City. A handful of warriors and I were going there to find plenty of loot! There were knights, wizards, dwarves, and elfs ... like me! ... a very talented elf I was. I knew magic and archery!"

Did you pick up on the complex plotline there? Nothing wrong with back story and sophisticated character motivation, but these kids just seemed to intuitively get that this story was about explorers taking risks to win treasure -- nothing more complex required at this stage.


"We entered the Black Canyon and hit a crossroads. One of the dwarves spotted a secret doorway. Almost everyone wanted to go inside; those curious souls. I went [via] the main trail, though there were only a small group of us that went [by] the main route, and I'm glad I did!"

The dungeon teaches some harsh lessons. -- one of them is caution!

"I entered the eastern tunnel with the rest of the group. There were vines, and on top of a shelf were little bat-looking goblins with arrows. As I started to climb the vines, a goblin shot me and I took 6 hit points!"

Ah, the loss of a first character -- a very special moment! This player was a wizard (4 hit points) so the arrow spelled an abrupt end to her career. This student wrote her account 4 days later ... and she still remembered the damage roll! Incidentally, I never identified the attacking critters (tasloi) by name, but just showed an illustration on the Smartboard -- this student settled upon "goblins" on her own.

"I went to investigate the sand, but out of the corner of my eye I saw [a knight] run away. I turned around to see what he ran from and it was a giant praying mantis!"

Again, I never called the enemy an "ankheg"; that would rob the encounter of some of its mystery and reduce player agency (there's power in being able to name things). Also, its just fun to see what players make of various monstrous oddities.

"Our mission was to make it to the crater [wherein] lies the city. Sadly, I died before I got the chance to see if everyone lived to tell this tale, or if the tale died with them ..."

I thought this rather poetic; an elf speaking from beyond the grave.

"I followed a few of my fellow comrades past the lake, to the east, into a room with flower demons! Sadly, I was dumb enough to try and move past one, until it sprayed me with its gas and spores. I lay there ... hoping that one of my fellow comrades would come to save the day, but they didn't. Thanks y'all. :) -scene-"

Musk Creepers become "flower demons." I like it! Another hard lesson in dungeon survival -- don't ignore the details. Also, loyalty among middle school kids tends to be thin at very best!

The Forbidden City (with teens!): Session Three

Today we wrapped up our introductory pulse of Dagger tabletop role-playing with my middle school class (you can read a review of the game here).

I had observed that last time, despite the simplicity of the system, there were still kids who weren't sure how to proceed when asked to make a saving throw or weren't clear on which die to roll for damage (Dagger uses 1d6 for everything), so we started class off with a rules recap.  We then jumped back into the action and over the next 60 minutes or so, resolved turns 13 through 20.  The party had split and we continued to alternate between locations.  

In the southern cavern, while elves showered the ankheg with arrows, the knight who had forced the vault door at the top of the stair proceeded cautiously, wary of traps.  He was confounded however when a plucky female elf darted past him to snatch the jade masks found atop the crumbling altar in the room and retreat toward the battle below!

The ankheg, now below half its (40) hit points regurgitated a horrible gout of acid across three of the explorers, killing two and injuring a third (who made his 15+ saving throw).  The beast wasn't long for this world, however, for the knight soon descended the steps, successfully navigated the quicksand, and felled the vile thing with a flurry of blows.

Meanwhile, back at the tasloi ambush, another knight who had gained the top of the cliff began to scythe through the diminutive creatures even as his fellows broke off the attack to dart ahead into the unknown.  The tasloi soon broke and ran (Dagger has no morale rules -- one of my favorite parts of the 1981 Moldvay Basic D&D rules that were my first intro to role-playing -- so I just improvised).

Soon we moved out of melee-based turns and to a quick narrative segue as surviving members of both parts of the expedition reunited.  This shift didn't really seem to throw the kids at all.  The final encounter of the Black Canyon expedition was the dreaded rope bridge.  As soon as I peeled back the electronic "shade" on the Smartboard to reveal the bridge there were several groans.  "It's gonna get cut yo, and you are all gonna fall!"  Heedless of these risks, most of the 13 survivors did indeed begin to hastily cross the bridge, taking no real pains to coordinate with each other.  "What are you doing?  There's too many of us!  The bridge is going to break!"  Presently the party came under fire from the tasloi gathered on the far side of the bridge and well as those lurking atop a shelf overlooking the chasm. "They're gonna cut the bridge!"  Several dwarves and elves dashed forward and began striking the tasloi down in droves, but not before one of the hemp cables supporting the bridge was cut.  Everyone on the (now crowded) bridge had to roll a save or fall.  A second failed save meant a deadly plunge ... you can see the results below ...

And so, with the tasloi again routed, we came to the end of our first named adventure area with six of the original 23 characters surviving.  A student (whose dwarf had drowned in quicksand) recommended that survivors should be awarded 100 experience points and I gladly accepted his suggestion.  By consensus, next time we will begin a session within The Forbidden City itself featuring only the six survivors.  Once I've DMed them for a class I will move to the next batch of interested players, taking on more conventionally-sized groups of 4-8 players at a time.

Next Post ... student narratives.

The Forbidden City (with teens): Session Two

Must ... split ... the party ...

dungeon explorers are like lemmings: default = "plod recklessly forward"

I've been here before with adventuring parties much smaller than my current 23 players.  Heck, even in the bearded-adult role-playing game that I run about every fortnight the guys are merciless about splitting up and getting into various sorts of trouble while I scramble to spin plates and keep things from getting dull (it's largely about knowing exactly when to cut to the other scene).  So when prepping session two I could reasonably guess where things were going and have some challenges and Smartboard slides awaiting my intrepid middle schoolers.

I opened class by sharing their own feedback and analysis of the last session and engaged the kids in trying to solve the problem of pace (though two students did observe that we moved faster the longer we played).  Several kids suggested having a second referee, so that we could adjudicate orders and narrate at roughly twice the pace -- very cool ... they want to grow new DMs ... isn't that really the ultimate Victory Condition for this exercise in role-playing / pedagogical mash-up?  Help them reach a stage where there can be four or five sessions running simultaneously while I float to support and oversee?

I had three volunteers and chose one brave young lady (non-gamer, no former tabletop experience) to jump in and assist.  

The party quickly put the beat-down on the remaining two killer crocs and then, as predicted, promptly split the party -- one group paddling east across the pool and the others heading south -- each group with some vague notion that their route seemed the most likely way down into the crater and The Forbidden City.

Handling the Split Party:

Actually, this was much easier than in a tabletop RPG with a more normal sized group of players.  There I  think constantly about dramatic pacing (when to cut the scene) and player boredom.  Here, we simply switched back and forth between each turn.  Here I'll relate what happened to each group separately however.

The Southern Tunnel: "What Could Make Tracks Like That?"

The southern group skirted the croc pool and came to a broad, sandy cavern with a tempting set of steps leading up to a closed door.  Showing more caution than I would have guessed, they carefully skirted the marked, damp portion of the floor, opting to try to cling to the eastern wall and climb to the foot of the stairs.

I hadn't considered that option, but figured, "Why not?"  Because Dagger characters have no ability scores, their saving throw (15+ on all checks for every class at first level) became the skill check for the two plate mail armored explorers who tried it.  One succeeded, the other fell into the ... da-da-da-dummm quicksand!

"I knew it!  I knew it!  That's why I didn't go there!"

While this one guy started gather crocodile bones from the heap they found near the mouth of the cavern in hopes of making a bridge of some kind, a few of the cagier elves began rolling search checks (1-2 on 1d6), hoping to score a little loot.  Instead they found some strange tracks -- huge clawed tracks with wide placement, as if some arthropod of great size had ...

"I check the ceiling."

"I make a listen check."

"I make a fire-arrow and shoot it toward the shadows at the back of the cave."

"I go back to where the other group is."

Just as one plucky knight (that's what fighters are called in Dagger) and his elf companion manage to reach the steps and two other elves work to pull an explorer from the quicksand, danger pounces!

I wanted to draw a creature with an ankheg in mind, but ran short of prep time and couldn't get to a scanner, so I grabbed an internet pic.  The kids were suitable impressed and there were groans and perhaps even a squeal or two when I displayed a 5' x 5' view of this image, attributed to Matt Bulahao.

While three explorers tried to sneak away to the south (and found a dead end) and three more ignored the monster to pound open the stuck door and look for treasure, the rest proceeded to kick the tar out of the monster.  I gave it AC 15, 3 attacks/round, and 40 hit points.  It was down by about half and getting ready to use its acid-regurgitation attack when class ended.  [BTW, that's a pretty good sentence to be able to write about a middle school class]

The Eastern Tunnel: "The Walking Dead Taught Me What Happens When You Act Like a Hero"

The Eastern tunnel group found their way into a cavern of their own, this one dimly lit by an opening far above.  Though a few more Yellow Musk Creepers were clearly marked on the map, at least one hapless elf strayed too close, failed his save and became our first casualty.  Soon, however, it became clear that mere recklessness wasn't to blame ... someone on a shelf at the eastern end of the cave was actually pelting the Creepers with stones in effort to get them to release their deadly pollen over the party!

It was the pesky tasloi of course, and when the party didn't retreat they soon added javelins and hurled stones to their barrage.  The dice were rolled openly and were quite vicious.  In but a few rounds both wizards and an elf were down and two more explorers were wounded.  The group faltered, then one young lady (non-gamer) decided to throw her self at those vines in an effort to climb up and take the fight to the "gremlins".  

Perhaps inspired by her courage, my lone hard-core gamer student (he's played console RPGs quite a bit and quickly categorized this as a "dungeon crawl") did something unexpected: he dashed to the center of the cave and, noticing that my illustration of the tasloi had large, sensitive ears, he began shouting and banging his shield to draw their attention while his fellows climbed up the trailing vines.  He endured the first volley of about five rolls unscathed (and there were some cheers) but the second brought him down with hits from two heavy stones.

As the class ended, the first three explorers reached the top of the shelf and quickly began dispatching their foes (knights get 2 attacks / round in Dagger).

Next Time:

We will open again with discussion on Monday and I'll give short, reflective writing assignments to the four players of deceased characters while we move to the final encounter area (rope bridge) and the Eastern end of the Black Canyon.

The Forbidden City (with teens!): Session One [Part 2]

4. The Adventure Begins:

For motive, plot, or story line I went minimalist old-school: find the most treasure and get back out alive.

"Look at the map.  This is the stockade.  What does stockade mean?  Yeah, it can also mean a simple fort surrounded by wooden walls.  This is the base camp for explorers.  It's where you start and is also where you can come to rest and get resupplied.  See the crater?  What's down in it?  What else do you see?  That's right -- the natives call it 'Bawal Bayan' -- that means the 'Forbidden City'.  What is all around the crater?  That's right, it's surrounded by jungle!" 

I started them off at the mouth of the Black Canyon and mentioned that it was the main way to get down into the crater, though there may be others ... the mission: find treasure and live long enough to get it back out.

In Dagger dwarves detect secret doors merely by proximity, so right away I revealed that behind some thick vines, north of the canyon mouth, there was a second, much narrower tunnel.

"Okay, so your basic options are to explore the main tunnel, explore the northern tunnel, hang back and wait to see what happens, or do something else."

5. Taking Turns:

Students were instructed to write out their orders on a post-it (they had to use complete sentences with proper punctuation and capitalization!), attach their post-it to their character sheet, and deliver their sheets to me.  Whoever got their orders in first would act first in the coming turn!

A mad scramble ensued.  I had intended to set a timer for 4 minutes to give students time to get their orders in, but in each case all 23 kids had their orders submitted in about 90 seconds!

After all the orders were in I would adjudicate each character's actions, usually including a snippet of narration or allowing them to re-position their characters on the Smartboard / tactical map.

At the end of the turn, I'd give another snippet of narration and outline two or three of the more obvious choices.

6. Monsters!

In short order about half of the party plunged down the northern tunnel where they immediately encountered a Yellow Musk Creeper and three Yellow Musk Zombies!

The lead dwarf got a face full of Creeper Pollen, failed a saving throw, began streaming bright mucous from his eyes and nose, and collapsed to the tunnel floor ... an awed silence followed ... "So, he's dead?  Just like that?"  A quick healing spell by an elf saved the dwarf's life, but there was the sudden, delighted sense that we would be playing this game for keeps!  After the creeper vines were slashed and burned and the zombies pounded into oblivion the northern crew blundered into a pit trap (another wounded dwarf) and found their way to where their tunnel rejoined the main canyon.

Meanwhile, in the main tunnel another dozen or so explorers found their way to a deep pool where several fragile-looking reed boats were moored.  A brave wizard and her dwarf side-kick bravely boarded a boat and paddled ahead while the others scouted along the shoreline to investigate some ripples and soft splashing sounds.

Several fierce crocodiles were discovered, but a volley of arrows and magic missiles soon slew one and wounded another.

7. Wrap up and Analysis:

In about 50 min we took four complete turns and the students submitted orders for a fifth turn.  Each turn went a bit faster as we went along.  At the end I asked the students to write me a short paragraph answering these questions:

1. On a scale of 1-10 (10 = awesome) how much did you like this activity?
2. Do you want to do it again / next time?
3. What could we do to make it better?
4. What was the best part?

Results - Making the Grade:

The mean rating of the activity was a respectable 8.08, with a median 7.5 and mode 7.  In other words nine of the 23 kids rated the activity a "9" or higher while only two were ambivalent (one 5, one 6).  They liked it!

All 23 said that they wanted to play again next class (I want to "continue and see what happens.").

The main feedback, not too surprisingly, was that they wished the game could move faster (9 students mentioned this).  Some suggested having fewer players to speed things up, but weren't willing to step aside themselves.  Others wanted more monsters to fight, one even requesting a dragon!


Other Thoughts:

I'm really keen to increase the pace (though 93 character-actions in 50 minutes ain't bad)

• PvP: Kids asked if they could attack other characters three times!  I resisted the temptation to make this an experiment in grudges and Dungeon Darwinism.  Probably just a feature of being 13 years old.
• I used a fancy erasable shadow effect on the Smartboard that revealed the map little by little.  It was cool but I'll probably scrap it to go with something simpler and faster.
• I never thought I'd be able to pull this off with 23 players simultaneously!  What a great bunch of kids!
• Novelty is worth it's weight in gold.  I'd better keep it fresh and exciting (new monsters, new settings, or their attention will flag very quickly)
• Not sure what I'll do with the players of deceased characters yet -- probably a short writing assignment told from the perspective of their fallen explorer.
• The wizard players wanted at-will casting!
• I wonder how splitting the party will change play pace -- not quite sure how to deal with that yet -- use "callers" perhaps?
• Snap decision; I've been awarding experience immediately (as soon as a monster is killed).  This really seems to jazz the kids up and was clearly the right way to go.

Session two coming up tomorrow ...

The Forbidden City (with teens!): Session One [Part 1]

Okay, so today marked my very first attempt to simultaneously engage an entire (albeit small) class of 23 middle school students in tabletop role-playing.

Short Version: My students were very good natured about the whole experiment.  It was a success and they enjoyed it, though they felt the pace was too slow (though not slow enough to spoil the experience).

Long Version:

1. A Careful Start:

I began cautiously, by explaining that we were going to try something new today as I  distributed copies of Dagger, an ultra-lite old-school RPG by Brave Halfling Publishing, available for free here.  I then asked my class to read the rules to themselves, inviting some students to work with a partner if they so chose.  I allowed about 15 minutes to read the six pages of rules -- that may seem excessive, but the reality is that their reading aptitude varies quite a bit and while some finished in that time not all did.

Next we talked about what we read; I led with questioning and they responded ...

• "It mentions ability scores right here in the first sentence, but doesn't say what they are.  What do you think the writer is talking about?"  
• "It gives three different character classes here.  What's each one particularly good at?"  
• "What do you think hit points are?  What do you think happens when you run out?"
• "What first level spells are available?"

A clear division quickly emerged -- those who play console games and those who do not.  Hit points, character class, and leveling up are of course all part of today's gaming legacy thanks to that odd little game by Gary and Dave ... though I must admit that "saving throw" stumped them at first.


2. Making a Choice:

From there I hurried them along into choosing from four iconic character classes (knight, wizard, elf, dwarf).  All classes come pre-packaged with starting equipment and I pre-determined hit points by class (knight & elf 5, wizard 4, dwarf 6).  The elf, who brings the only ranged weapon to the mix, was the clear favorite with 11 of 23 kids initially wanting to go that route.  Wizard was the loser, with only two takers (both non-gamers, both girls) ... was there a "wizards = Harry Potter = little kids' stuff" stigma that made this choice less attractive I wonder?


3. Getting to the Big Screen:

As my students broke for lunch, I scrambled to get a post-it stuck to each character sheet and to update my Smartboard file.  I pulled a small photo from the internet for each character, generally pulling pictures of painted miniatures, and labeled it with the player's initials.  When the kids returned, I shared their
 "miniatures", let three kids choose rumors from the list (they picked 1, 7 and 14), and got the action started at the mouth of the Black Canyon!