For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
I explained parrying vs. unarmed attacks, and used my house rule (1/2 damage).
Recap
I did the short recap again, but kept it short.
Play
We started with the Unknown Soldier by the pool. He advanced to the oncoming sound with his candle. Something lunged out of the darkness - a loose-skinned white-eyed undead of some kind, dragging a stiff leg. They fought - he slashed it a couple of times while parrying it, and it palmed aside his sword thrusts.
He then realized (IOW, was advised by the GM) that it's harder to parry a sword bare-handed if the person swings. So he did that, cutting the thing. It hit back, twice, but its nails couldn't penetrate his mail. He held his breath each time his DR 4 was tested by the undead's 1d cutting nails.
He finally put it down with a hard sword swing that broke its spine. He advanced past it without hesitation.
He made his way down a narrow and low tunnel (5' tall, 3' wide) for about 10 minutes or so. He eventually found a larger cave, and sucked along to the right wall with his hand. Good thing for him - ahead was a steep drop off that would have forced him to climb or suffer damage.
He found another tunnel, which split - right and up, left and down. He chose left, maybe for the first time. He started down the tunnel and heard a growling ahead. He decided to go back and up.
Back and up eventually lead to a cave where he saw flickering flames and heard a whistling breeze on and off.
So he use Stealth to sneak up slowly, wanting to see if people were there.
Instead, he saw a trail of coins and gems leading to a pile. On top of the pile was a 20-22' dragon, sleeping. The flickering fire and whistling were the dragon's snoring and jetting flame.
I figured the money might tempt him. Not at all - he walked past a spill of gold, silver, and gems, and sneaked past the dragon.
He eventually found daylight and was out into the wooded hills near the fortress. He headed back to his base back in civilized country.
And that's where the mini-campaign ended.
Notes:
There was a bit of a magician's choice here. The escape route was linear - any way he chose would eventually have led him out or dead-ended him and sent him back to the way out. Sandboxes are nice, but railroads get you to the destination you need to get to. Besides, freedom of path isn't a big deal to me - freedom of how to handle that path is, especially in a classroom! Had he went down the growling critter's path, he would have faced a bear guarding its cave and could have fought (or run past it) to escape. The other way, the dragon with the twin troubles of needing to sneak and the temptation of treasure.
All in all, he seemed to enjoy the game. He got some good listening and speaking practice in. I gave him optional summer reading homework - his own copy of his PC and of GURPS Lite. Truly optional - I just want him to have it, not tell him to read it. School could take the fun out of anything.
This was a lot of fun. I'll keep doing this if he comes back in the Fall, and I'll modify the game a bit to get more speaking and so on in there.
Showing posts with label GURPS Lite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GURPS Lite. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Thursday, June 8, 2017
GURPS Lite in the Classroom, Session #8
For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again, a bit longer.
Play
We last left the Unknown Soldier heading back the way he'd originally escape from. Instead of veering back toward his cell, he took a disused and cobwebbed corridor going the other way. He felt his way down the corridor, in the dark, wounded, as the fortress's soldiers looked for him on the upper levels.
He eventually felt a door on his left, and opened it. Inside was a faint glow.
He opened the door wide, then stepped in and closed it. There was a small room beyond, with a hairy man sitting by a table with a candle on it, reading a book. The man said hello, asked who he was, but really just wanted to sit and read his book. The Unknown Soldier drew his sword and tried to wave him away from the candle, wanting to take it for light. The strange man grabbed the candle and turned away, continuing to read.
So the Unknown Soldier slashed him with his sword. The man tried to dive aside but was cleanly hit for 11 cutting damage. The candle hit the floor - I said it would stay lit on a 1-2 in 6, and rolled a 4. It went out.
The Unknown Soldier felt around until he found the candle, and his flint and steel, and lit it. The man was gone - no blood, no nothing. The PC ignored the book, etc. and left the room and continued on his way.
(So much for the helpful NPC who could tell him how to escape, help him in various ways, etc. Chop! Die, I need that candle! Heh.)
The Unknown Soldier headed down the corridor until it widened out into a cave. He stuck to the right wall until it lead to a watery cave lit by phosphorescent slime. He stopped and bound his wounds and ate his looted food.
Until he head a scratch-stomp, scratch-stomp, of something coming!
Notes
Geez, PCs will kill anyone. I should possibly have made the NPC more obviously helpful, but I figured he'd ask some questions, not just right for "kill him for the candle." Oh well.
One more session, possibly ever, next time. I'll put in another way out past the creature that is coming, so we can end this campaign on a good place to end and/or restart when the next school year comes.
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again, a bit longer.
Play
We last left the Unknown Soldier heading back the way he'd originally escape from. Instead of veering back toward his cell, he took a disused and cobwebbed corridor going the other way. He felt his way down the corridor, in the dark, wounded, as the fortress's soldiers looked for him on the upper levels.
He eventually felt a door on his left, and opened it. Inside was a faint glow.
He opened the door wide, then stepped in and closed it. There was a small room beyond, with a hairy man sitting by a table with a candle on it, reading a book. The man said hello, asked who he was, but really just wanted to sit and read his book. The Unknown Soldier drew his sword and tried to wave him away from the candle, wanting to take it for light. The strange man grabbed the candle and turned away, continuing to read.
So the Unknown Soldier slashed him with his sword. The man tried to dive aside but was cleanly hit for 11 cutting damage. The candle hit the floor - I said it would stay lit on a 1-2 in 6, and rolled a 4. It went out.
The Unknown Soldier felt around until he found the candle, and his flint and steel, and lit it. The man was gone - no blood, no nothing. The PC ignored the book, etc. and left the room and continued on his way.
(So much for the helpful NPC who could tell him how to escape, help him in various ways, etc. Chop! Die, I need that candle! Heh.)
The Unknown Soldier headed down the corridor until it widened out into a cave. He stuck to the right wall until it lead to a watery cave lit by phosphorescent slime. He stopped and bound his wounds and ate his looted food.
Until he head a scratch-stomp, scratch-stomp, of something coming!
Notes
Geez, PCs will kill anyone. I should possibly have made the NPC more obviously helpful, but I figured he'd ask some questions, not just right for "kill him for the candle." Oh well.
One more session, possibly ever, next time. I'll put in another way out past the creature that is coming, so we can end this campaign on a good place to end and/or restart when the next school year comes.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
GURPS Lite in the Classroom, Session #7
For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again.
Play
When we last left the Unknown Soldier, he had knocked out - possibly killed - the hyena-dog. He ran down the stairs. He went down, through one of the doors in the wall interior level, and felt his way down it in the dark. He reached a door and opened it quietly.
Good thing - two men and an orc were in the room (9 or less for an encounter, 1d6-3 min 1 guys, roll a 6). They had lights and he was quiet, so I rolled Per for all three. They all failed badly and continued on their way up.
He went in and then out the way they came. Bad luck - he ran into a straggling orc in a door way. It demanded to know who he was. "I'm (gave player's name here)." The orc said, "The prisoner!" and drew his scimitar. So he closed the door on the orc and got ready to stab him. This orc opened the door and took a sword in the guts for 8 injury. He was wounded but passed his knockdown check. They fought, and twice the orc slashed the Unknown Soldier and wounded him, first for 6 injury and then for 3 more. He's at 4 HP out of 13 HP, so he's at half-Move and Dodge. He managed to stab the orc again for a lot of injury and drop him, probably dead.
He looted a box of food and stuck beef jerky in his mouth and went down the stairs. He found himself where he'd escaped to back in Session #3.
We stopped there.
Notes
That's it for a few weeks. I'm a little concerned that he's got no idea how to get out. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it. He had a few clean chances to get out and has really just explored by running room to room.
Now he's badly wounded, deep in the dungeon, and in an alert fortress. I'm not sure he actually can get out. I have some ideas of ways I can put in front of him, though, so we can move on to more challenging language tasks than "search the crate!" "open the door!" and "go down the stairs!"
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again.
Play
When we last left the Unknown Soldier, he had knocked out - possibly killed - the hyena-dog. He ran down the stairs. He went down, through one of the doors in the wall interior level, and felt his way down it in the dark. He reached a door and opened it quietly.
Good thing - two men and an orc were in the room (9 or less for an encounter, 1d6-3 min 1 guys, roll a 6). They had lights and he was quiet, so I rolled Per for all three. They all failed badly and continued on their way up.
He went in and then out the way they came. Bad luck - he ran into a straggling orc in a door way. It demanded to know who he was. "I'm (gave player's name here)." The orc said, "The prisoner!" and drew his scimitar. So he closed the door on the orc and got ready to stab him. This orc opened the door and took a sword in the guts for 8 injury. He was wounded but passed his knockdown check. They fought, and twice the orc slashed the Unknown Soldier and wounded him, first for 6 injury and then for 3 more. He's at 4 HP out of 13 HP, so he's at half-Move and Dodge. He managed to stab the orc again for a lot of injury and drop him, probably dead.
He looted a box of food and stuck beef jerky in his mouth and went down the stairs. He found himself where he'd escaped to back in Session #3.
We stopped there.
Notes
That's it for a few weeks. I'm a little concerned that he's got no idea how to get out. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it. He had a few clean chances to get out and has really just explored by running room to room.
Now he's badly wounded, deep in the dungeon, and in an alert fortress. I'm not sure he actually can get out. I have some ideas of ways I can put in front of him, though, so we can move on to more challenging language tasks than "search the crate!" "open the door!" and "go down the stairs!"
Thursday, May 18, 2017
GURPS Lite in the Classroom, Session #6
For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again. It felt like it got the ball rolling properly.
Play
When we last left the Unknown Soldier, he had barred a tower door behind him. He spun, and saw a spiral staircase going down, a ladder going up to a trap door, and in the corner was a chained-up cross between a hyena and a dog. The hyena-dog lunged at him, and its chain was just long enough to grab someone on the stairs or the bottom of the ladder.
He wanted to go up or down, and heard banging at the doors to the tower. So he threw his torch at the hyena-dog, missing it. But it flinched away, so he took a running jump and grabbed the ladder! He shimmied up to the top, sheathed his sword, and opened the trap door. He went right up - lucky for him no one was waiting.
At the top was a crenelated set of tower battlements, a tripod-mounted heavy crossbow with stubby bolts, and no much else. He saw orcs and men trying to get into the tower from both doors. (This was important, as he forgot I'd said both doors.)
He saw he was about 40' or so up off the ground, and climbing would be a little tough.
So he climbed back down halfway and jumped to the other door. The hyena-dog lunged at him and missed. But the doors were being battered, and the alarms were going crazy. He realized he couldn't leave that way.
So he ran to the stairs to go back down, deeper into the now-alert fortress. The hyena-dog lunged at him and bit him, failing to penetrate his armor but getting a grapple on him for 2 CP. He tried to hit it with his sword and missed. It tried to haul him down and failed - his Wrestling skill is solid. So he hit it for a lot of damage - 9 cutting against its 1 DR. It was wounded but still up. It tried to bite him but missed, and he hit it again for 9 cutting. It staggered and fell. He quickly ran down the stairs.
We stopped there.
Notes
So my 2-3 session "escape the fort" is turning into 7+ "explore the alert fort at a full run." Players will do that.
What starts as: "You are at point A. Point B is there. You need to get there at all costs as fast as possible."
Becomes: "Okay, I'll explore point A for a while. Hey, it's harder to get to point B now. Uhm, I'll look for some totally unrelated point. Perhaps someday, I can come back to point B, maybe when I'm better equipped. Maybe not."
Heh.
Honestly I'm not sure what I'll do. It's getting more and more likely he'll be surrounded, cut off, and captured again. Which means I need to think of another "escape" scenario to run. I won't kill off his guy unless he kills off his guy (or the dice randomly dictate he's totally dead.) It's English practice, and he'll get more by surviving than by making up a new guy.
Rules Explanations
None today.
Recap
I did the short recap again. It felt like it got the ball rolling properly.
Play
When we last left the Unknown Soldier, he had barred a tower door behind him. He spun, and saw a spiral staircase going down, a ladder going up to a trap door, and in the corner was a chained-up cross between a hyena and a dog. The hyena-dog lunged at him, and its chain was just long enough to grab someone on the stairs or the bottom of the ladder.
He wanted to go up or down, and heard banging at the doors to the tower. So he threw his torch at the hyena-dog, missing it. But it flinched away, so he took a running jump and grabbed the ladder! He shimmied up to the top, sheathed his sword, and opened the trap door. He went right up - lucky for him no one was waiting.
At the top was a crenelated set of tower battlements, a tripod-mounted heavy crossbow with stubby bolts, and no much else. He saw orcs and men trying to get into the tower from both doors. (This was important, as he forgot I'd said both doors.)
He saw he was about 40' or so up off the ground, and climbing would be a little tough.
So he climbed back down halfway and jumped to the other door. The hyena-dog lunged at him and missed. But the doors were being battered, and the alarms were going crazy. He realized he couldn't leave that way.
So he ran to the stairs to go back down, deeper into the now-alert fortress. The hyena-dog lunged at him and bit him, failing to penetrate his armor but getting a grapple on him for 2 CP. He tried to hit it with his sword and missed. It tried to haul him down and failed - his Wrestling skill is solid. So he hit it for a lot of damage - 9 cutting against its 1 DR. It was wounded but still up. It tried to bite him but missed, and he hit it again for 9 cutting. It staggered and fell. He quickly ran down the stairs.
We stopped there.
Notes
So my 2-3 session "escape the fort" is turning into 7+ "explore the alert fort at a full run." Players will do that.
What starts as: "You are at point A. Point B is there. You need to get there at all costs as fast as possible."
Becomes: "Okay, I'll explore point A for a while. Hey, it's harder to get to point B now. Uhm, I'll look for some totally unrelated point. Perhaps someday, I can come back to point B, maybe when I'm better equipped. Maybe not."
Heh.
Honestly I'm not sure what I'll do. It's getting more and more likely he'll be surrounded, cut off, and captured again. Which means I need to think of another "escape" scenario to run. I won't kill off his guy unless he kills off his guy (or the dice randomly dictate he's totally dead.) It's English practice, and he'll get more by surviving than by making up a new guy.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
GURPS Lite in the Classroom, Session #5
This was a shorter bit of gaming - lots of non-gaming work to do, so much that I had to cram it in.
For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
How cutting damage deals with DR, and crippling injuries, came up. So did quick contests and critical hits!
Recap
I did the short recap again. It felt like it got the ball rolling properly.
Play
When we last left, the PC was face to face with a guard in a tower full of stuff including ropes, boxes, poles, etc.
He had a lot of options - the one he chose was to yank the door closed. The guard tried to stick his foot in the way - we had a Quick Contest of DX. I stated the guard's DX was 11, and I rolled a 9, so he made it by 2. The PC rolled an 8, had a 12 DX, and made it by 4. The door was slammed.
He jumped back, waiting for the guy to open the door and be vulnerable to attack! Good idea, but the guard saw a mail-armored foe out of nowhere so I made a roll for him. He chose to bar the door and sound the alarm.
The player had his unnamed guy run back to the first tower. He ran right past the stairs as the guard he'd bypassed was coming up. He went out the other door - and saw a guard coming at him. So he charged, figuring he could get past that guy.
He did, actually - they fenced for a few seconds, and the unnamed PC rolled a 4 and cut his foe's hand! Sadly he rolled 3 damage, minus DR, equals 3 injury. Enough to get his foe to miss, but not to put him down. He blocked a shot and then rolled and hit again - this time doing 6 damage (7 injury) and crippling his foe's hand. The guard dropped his sword, dropped to his knees (Knockdown and Stunning). The PC ran past, slammed the door and bolted it in the third tower and turned around . . . and that's where we left it.
Notes
Fun segment of gaming, here. PCs never do any of the things you expect. He could have talked, run, fought the first guard and taken rope so he could escape, jumped, fought the guard coming up the stairs . . . whatever. He chose none of those. Gaming is great.
For the previous session, click this link.
Rules Explanations
How cutting damage deals with DR, and crippling injuries, came up. So did quick contests and critical hits!
Recap
I did the short recap again. It felt like it got the ball rolling properly.
Play
When we last left, the PC was face to face with a guard in a tower full of stuff including ropes, boxes, poles, etc.
He had a lot of options - the one he chose was to yank the door closed. The guard tried to stick his foot in the way - we had a Quick Contest of DX. I stated the guard's DX was 11, and I rolled a 9, so he made it by 2. The PC rolled an 8, had a 12 DX, and made it by 4. The door was slammed.
He jumped back, waiting for the guy to open the door and be vulnerable to attack! Good idea, but the guard saw a mail-armored foe out of nowhere so I made a roll for him. He chose to bar the door and sound the alarm.
The player had his unnamed guy run back to the first tower. He ran right past the stairs as the guard he'd bypassed was coming up. He went out the other door - and saw a guard coming at him. So he charged, figuring he could get past that guy.
He did, actually - they fenced for a few seconds, and the unnamed PC rolled a 4 and cut his foe's hand! Sadly he rolled 3 damage, minus DR, equals 3 injury. Enough to get his foe to miss, but not to put him down. He blocked a shot and then rolled and hit again - this time doing 6 damage (7 injury) and crippling his foe's hand. The guard dropped his sword, dropped to his knees (Knockdown and Stunning). The PC ran past, slammed the door and bolted it in the third tower and turned around . . . and that's where we left it.
Notes
Fun segment of gaming, here. PCs never do any of the things you expect. He could have talked, run, fought the first guard and taken rope so he could escape, jumped, fought the guard coming up the stairs . . . whatever. He chose none of those. Gaming is great.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
GURPS Lite in the Classroom, Session #4
This was a shorter bit of gaming - lots of non-gaming work to do, so much that I had to cram it in.
For the previous session, see this link.
Rules Explanations
None. Nothing new came up.
Recap
I decided to do a quick, 30-seconds to 60-seconds Dragonball Z recap each session just to get things rolling, ending with, "Now, what do you do?" I'm a big believer in game-starting ritual.
Play
Nothing really interesting happened, but it was a good test of my student's ability to reason and explain.
He went up the stairs from the basement of the tower, and found a room with two boxes set up to make a table, two chairs, a burned-out candle, and some dice. He heard pacing footsteps above the enclosed staircase. He checked the boxes and found rolls of cloth (but didn't think to open them - I realized he didn't know cloth rolls usually aren't packed in boxes) and rations.
He headed up to the next level, intent on going straight up to the level above that - bypassing the guard. I gave him a 50/50 shot that the guard wouldn't see him, contingent on a successful Stealth check. He made that exactly, and the dice came up that the guard was around the wrong side of the stairs. He made it past him undetected.
From there, he made it out onto the battlements. Another guard waved at him as he went to the next tower in the box-shaped fortress. He moved into the next tower . . . and came face-to-face with another guard in a tower packed with stuff.
We stopped there. I told him - as a hint of what the game could be - that he could attack, try to trick the guard, talk to him, whatever he wanted to try. We'll see. There is sufficient gear in the tower ahead to allow him to escape. If he does, I have some ideas of what I'd like to do with him next. Either a dungeon, or a town adventure - perhaps something like Caravan to Ein Arris, modified to fit the world as I'm imagining it.
For the previous session, see this link.
Rules Explanations
None. Nothing new came up.
Recap
I decided to do a quick, 30-seconds to 60-seconds Dragonball Z recap each session just to get things rolling, ending with, "Now, what do you do?" I'm a big believer in game-starting ritual.
Play
Nothing really interesting happened, but it was a good test of my student's ability to reason and explain.
He went up the stairs from the basement of the tower, and found a room with two boxes set up to make a table, two chairs, a burned-out candle, and some dice. He heard pacing footsteps above the enclosed staircase. He checked the boxes and found rolls of cloth (but didn't think to open them - I realized he didn't know cloth rolls usually aren't packed in boxes) and rations.
He headed up to the next level, intent on going straight up to the level above that - bypassing the guard. I gave him a 50/50 shot that the guard wouldn't see him, contingent on a successful Stealth check. He made that exactly, and the dice came up that the guard was around the wrong side of the stairs. He made it past him undetected.
From there, he made it out onto the battlements. Another guard waved at him as he went to the next tower in the box-shaped fortress. He moved into the next tower . . . and came face-to-face with another guard in a tower packed with stuff.
We stopped there. I told him - as a hint of what the game could be - that he could attack, try to trick the guard, talk to him, whatever he wanted to try. We'll see. There is sufficient gear in the tower ahead to allow him to escape. If he does, I have some ideas of what I'd like to do with him next. Either a dungeon, or a town adventure - perhaps something like Caravan to Ein Arris, modified to fit the world as I'm imagining it.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
GURPS Lite in the Classroom, Session #3
For the previous session, see here:
GURPS Lite in the Classroom #2
Rules explanations:
This session I got to explain Impaling damage, Cutting damage, Crushing damage (at least in brief), Stunning, defenses, and Damage Resistance. That's quite a lot to go over.
I went over it as needed. I didn't explain anything that the player didn't need to do, but I did tell him the rolls of the opponent (but not why) and then rolled against them.
Play
We started with the still-nameless PC jumping out at the sleepy orc guard with a shiv. He didn't have Knife skill (oops, my bad) so he defaulted it to DX-4 for an 8, and missed. The orc stumbled back and drew his sword. Nameless chased him and stabbed, but the orc failed to parry him and took 3 impaling damage and was Stunned and fell back against the wall. Nameless stabbed him again, this time for 4 impaling, and the orc had to roll HT to stay up - he rolled a 13, and failed.
The orc was too tired and confused and foolish to call for help. This left Nameless in the hallway. He took the orc's sword, made sure he was really knocked out, and saw he was in a corridor going right about 20' to a door, left as far as he could see, lit by torchlight. There were more cell doors but they were open. He checked the door and found it padlocked. He thought about kicking it down but decided it was too noisy, so he went and got the keys.
Sure enough, one let him in. He pulled a torch off the wall and searched the room. His Search roll was so-so, so it took him a few minutes to find his equipment and get into it (mail, shield, sword, pack, personal basics, etc.) and determine the other things were old and uncared for.
He headed back and to the left. There he found a T-corridor with doors. He started to the right but heard what might be voices. So he went left. He passed the doors and found another T, and heard booted footsteps. He moved as quickly as he could move while being quiet (which called for a Stealth check, made by 2) and found the corridor sloped up. He eventually made his way to the base level of what his experience told him was a tower, with spiral stairs up.
We cut it there - it's hard to get a lot done in a 10-15 minute slot in a classroom and I can't spare any more.
Notes:
I ran the orc as a weak orc assigned crappy duty, so he was ST 11, HP 13, HT 11. 14 injury was enough to make him check for consciousness and he failed! The dice helped me out, here - we rolled on the table and I announced the needed rolls before I made them. Yet the orc with Broadsword-13 and a ready weapon got shiv'ed a couple of times and went right down.
It's fun watching someone strain to express what they want to do, and then pull it off in a way I can clearly understand. That's great English practice. My Japanese would be better if I could play RPGs in it, for sure. We'll see where this goes.
GURPS Lite in the Classroom #2
Rules explanations:
This session I got to explain Impaling damage, Cutting damage, Crushing damage (at least in brief), Stunning, defenses, and Damage Resistance. That's quite a lot to go over.
I went over it as needed. I didn't explain anything that the player didn't need to do, but I did tell him the rolls of the opponent (but not why) and then rolled against them.
Play
We started with the still-nameless PC jumping out at the sleepy orc guard with a shiv. He didn't have Knife skill (oops, my bad) so he defaulted it to DX-4 for an 8, and missed. The orc stumbled back and drew his sword. Nameless chased him and stabbed, but the orc failed to parry him and took 3 impaling damage and was Stunned and fell back against the wall. Nameless stabbed him again, this time for 4 impaling, and the orc had to roll HT to stay up - he rolled a 13, and failed.
The orc was too tired and confused and foolish to call for help. This left Nameless in the hallway. He took the orc's sword, made sure he was really knocked out, and saw he was in a corridor going right about 20' to a door, left as far as he could see, lit by torchlight. There were more cell doors but they were open. He checked the door and found it padlocked. He thought about kicking it down but decided it was too noisy, so he went and got the keys.
Sure enough, one let him in. He pulled a torch off the wall and searched the room. His Search roll was so-so, so it took him a few minutes to find his equipment and get into it (mail, shield, sword, pack, personal basics, etc.) and determine the other things were old and uncared for.
He headed back and to the left. There he found a T-corridor with doors. He started to the right but heard what might be voices. So he went left. He passed the doors and found another T, and heard booted footsteps. He moved as quickly as he could move while being quiet (which called for a Stealth check, made by 2) and found the corridor sloped up. He eventually made his way to the base level of what his experience told him was a tower, with spiral stairs up.
We cut it there - it's hard to get a lot done in a 10-15 minute slot in a classroom and I can't spare any more.
Notes:
I ran the orc as a weak orc assigned crappy duty, so he was ST 11, HP 13, HT 11. 14 injury was enough to make him check for consciousness and he failed! The dice helped me out, here - we rolled on the table and I announced the needed rolls before I made them. Yet the orc with Broadsword-13 and a ready weapon got shiv'ed a couple of times and went right down.
It's fun watching someone strain to express what they want to do, and then pull it off in a way I can clearly understand. That's great English practice. My Japanese would be better if I could play RPGs in it, for sure. We'll see where this goes.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Gaming in the Classroom underway
So at long last I'm getting to use RPGs in the classroom again.
I have a solo young student who particularly needs speaking practice, yet has a solidly high level of English. So I've introduced him to RPGs. It's kind of the perfect tool for the job - his challenge is finding the English words to express what he's trying to express. Give him a paper man, and have try to solve the paper man's problems with his words and some dice.
So I made up a character using GURPS Lite.
The system is simple enough - roll low to accomplish things, roll high for effect. Four stats. Four secondary characteristics. A few skills. A way to roll for skills you don't know.
His guy is a warrior in a generic TL3 world which may or may not be the same one with Felltower on it.
We didn't have a lot of time. I made three mistakes:
- I forgot to do any prep until right before class. I remembered to bring my stuff, but I really did need a little more prep. I'm not sure he noticed but it would have been more smooth if I had more than just a character and a rough idea.
- I should have just started off playing with less explanation.
- I gave him his character sheet all at once instead of revealing stats and elements as needed.
I decided I'd make it a fantasy game, start him off as a prisoner (make him focus on what to do, not what he has) and let him escape from a simple area. Once that's done,
The situation was that he's a warrior-scout who wants to be a great and famous warrior, and he and some other men were scouting the borderlands where the orcs live. They were attacked and he was knocked out. When he came to, he was a prisoner in a 10 x 10' cell and shackled to the floor, and an orc told him he'd be back later. We started there.
(I started him as a prisoner as I figured he'd be less likely to play "find the thing to roll against" given that he had nothing to try and use. I was right.)
He quickly searched around, making a Search roll, and examined the shackle. He found the shackle was meant for his ankle but they'd clamped it around his wrist. He said he wanted to try and work it free. A default Escape roll taught him about trying things you don't know how to do, he made it, and he got free.
(I had decided on these details as I described the room. I was pleased with how quickly he went from "What on this sheet is the answer?" to "Check everything around me and try stuff that makes logical sense." And how well he expressed the idea in English, which is the entire point of the exercise.)
He moved to the bar-windowed wooden door and decided to kick it open. I pointed out that he could do this but it would be noisy - still okay?
No! He decided to listen at the door, and quietly check if it was locked. He heard nothing, and it was locked . . . but peering through the keyhole he could see a snoozing orc guard with the keys on a stool just across from the hall.
That's where we ended. He's got a couple weeks to think it over, and I told him we'd spend 10-15 minutes on this each class if he's finished his other work. Given that he's an enthusiastic and hard worker, that should be no issue.
I figure I'll let him escape from the (small) orc-held fortress and then let him go on adventures with some hired help or recruited soldiers at his side. Maybe I'll use S1 In Search of the Unknown*, or a modified Caravan of Ein Arras, or just make up my own small dungeon or outdoor area to explore.
Oh, and because I get lost in GMing just like players get lost in gaming, I ended up running a bit long. It was like, "What do you do? Oh, wait, think it over until next time, class ended a while ago." Next time I'll keep it tighter. Fun, though, and it's a place and student for whom I think gaming is really ideal.
I briefly considered S&WL or even D&D5, but I decided those would take more explanation than GURPS Lite does given pregenerated characters. Besides, I could run it with no books, no lookups, no nothing - and it's about speaking practice more than gaming. The fragile lethality of S&WL and the complexity of character details of D&D5 seemed like they could get in the way of him getting the speaking practice I want.
Fun, and we'll see how it goes. You may see more updates on this as long as I can easily file off the details enough to avoid any privacy issues.
* Speaking of which, what the heck edition is that for? My two copies, 1st and 2nd edition, are for Basic Set. Yet both feature a Dwarf (race-as-class) with 18/54 Strength, which is an AD&D or OD&D Greyhawk feature (where Dwarf is a race but not a class.) What the?
I have a solo young student who particularly needs speaking practice, yet has a solidly high level of English. So I've introduced him to RPGs. It's kind of the perfect tool for the job - his challenge is finding the English words to express what he's trying to express. Give him a paper man, and have try to solve the paper man's problems with his words and some dice.
So I made up a character using GURPS Lite.
The system is simple enough - roll low to accomplish things, roll high for effect. Four stats. Four secondary characteristics. A few skills. A way to roll for skills you don't know.
His guy is a warrior in a generic TL3 world which may or may not be the same one with Felltower on it.
We didn't have a lot of time. I made three mistakes:
- I forgot to do any prep until right before class. I remembered to bring my stuff, but I really did need a little more prep. I'm not sure he noticed but it would have been more smooth if I had more than just a character and a rough idea.
- I should have just started off playing with less explanation.
- I gave him his character sheet all at once instead of revealing stats and elements as needed.
I decided I'd make it a fantasy game, start him off as a prisoner (make him focus on what to do, not what he has) and let him escape from a simple area. Once that's done,
The situation was that he's a warrior-scout who wants to be a great and famous warrior, and he and some other men were scouting the borderlands where the orcs live. They were attacked and he was knocked out. When he came to, he was a prisoner in a 10 x 10' cell and shackled to the floor, and an orc told him he'd be back later. We started there.
(I started him as a prisoner as I figured he'd be less likely to play "find the thing to roll against" given that he had nothing to try and use. I was right.)
He quickly searched around, making a Search roll, and examined the shackle. He found the shackle was meant for his ankle but they'd clamped it around his wrist. He said he wanted to try and work it free. A default Escape roll taught him about trying things you don't know how to do, he made it, and he got free.
(I had decided on these details as I described the room. I was pleased with how quickly he went from "What on this sheet is the answer?" to "Check everything around me and try stuff that makes logical sense." And how well he expressed the idea in English, which is the entire point of the exercise.)
He moved to the bar-windowed wooden door and decided to kick it open. I pointed out that he could do this but it would be noisy - still okay?
No! He decided to listen at the door, and quietly check if it was locked. He heard nothing, and it was locked . . . but peering through the keyhole he could see a snoozing orc guard with the keys on a stool just across from the hall.
That's where we ended. He's got a couple weeks to think it over, and I told him we'd spend 10-15 minutes on this each class if he's finished his other work. Given that he's an enthusiastic and hard worker, that should be no issue.
I figure I'll let him escape from the (small) orc-held fortress and then let him go on adventures with some hired help or recruited soldiers at his side. Maybe I'll use S1 In Search of the Unknown*, or a modified Caravan of Ein Arras, or just make up my own small dungeon or outdoor area to explore.
Oh, and because I get lost in GMing just like players get lost in gaming, I ended up running a bit long. It was like, "What do you do? Oh, wait, think it over until next time, class ended a while ago." Next time I'll keep it tighter. Fun, though, and it's a place and student for whom I think gaming is really ideal.
I briefly considered S&WL or even D&D5, but I decided those would take more explanation than GURPS Lite does given pregenerated characters. Besides, I could run it with no books, no lookups, no nothing - and it's about speaking practice more than gaming. The fragile lethality of S&WL and the complexity of character details of D&D5 seemed like they could get in the way of him getting the speaking practice I want.
Fun, and we'll see how it goes. You may see more updates on this as long as I can easily file off the details enough to avoid any privacy issues.
* Speaking of which, what the heck edition is that for? My two copies, 1st and 2nd edition, are for Basic Set. Yet both feature a Dwarf (race-as-class) with 18/54 Strength, which is an AD&D or OD&D Greyhawk feature (where Dwarf is a race but not a class.) What the?
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