CnC in English with Taiwanese kids

[papercut]

Okok,

So after a few weeks, it finally happened. I ran an hour long game of CnC with two 10 year old Taiwanese kids. This was the second half of their English lesson (I think it will be 30 mins in the future, but they just had their midterms). A blast was had by all. Basically the PCs were two 1st level warriors on an escort quest of a cow to a farm at dusk. They were ambushed by 5 goblins and we had a big old fight. The kids were pretty quick to pick up the ideas of how to play the game. Some of the mechanics were new to them but I walked them thru it all.

It was groovy, one kid kept on trying to kill everything, the captain, stray dogs, the farmers daughter- and I pretty much let him try, but some favorable rolled 1s kept the game from going haywire.

I stripped the game way down to initiative, attack, damage, and siege rolls. I will slowly make the game more complex, but as is it is a good time and I genuinely feel the kids learned a bit. I continually made them tell me what they were doing, what they rolled, how they felt, all in complete sentences.

Good times, if anyone has any advice, let me know.

Here is my original thread about the idea:
http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames
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[Troll Lord]

Now this is news worthy news!!!!! If you are interested in doing a full write up for us about how you came up with the idea, how it went and your afterthoughts I would love to see it included in the Crusader.

Steve
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The High Lord, Coburg the Undying

He who sits on the elephants back

Castle and Crusade Society
troll@trolllord.com

[Fat Dragon Games]

papercut wrote:
It was groovy, one kid kept on trying to kill everything, the captain, stray dogs, the farmers daughter

That's pretty much how half of my group has played for the last 25+ years. I need new friends...
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Thomas A. Tullis

Fat Dragon Games
www.fatdragongames.com

Castles & Crusades...more D&D than D&D.

[Tadhg]

papercut wrote:
Good times, if anyone has any advice, let me know.

Papercut, thats great. I applaud your efforts.

One thought I had about the kid trying to kill everyone, it might be good to have some devices in place to discourage this. I assume the kid is playing a good alignment and is just being exuberant and having fun, but he could wreck the game or set a tone that the other kids may either not like or even worse ~ begin to emulate.

Ive had and still have one young nephew in my game, so I have things ready for errant behavior. Gods, leprechauns, gnomes, magic, etc. that would stop a character from going crazy on other PCs or NPCs.

Perhaps the farmers daughter has a magic dagger that she suddenly pulls out and throws (Id give high bonuses to her she has grown up practicing with it) to hit the errant PC. Or the captain (with high bonuses) succeeds in subduing or arresting him.

Then they put him in the stockade for a few days to get rotten vegis thrown at him. Then to jail, then thrown out of town roll up a new character.

Just a thought, not trying to have you teach them morality issues, but it might be a good opportunity for that.

Also, I dont have women and children monsters in my world, so the issue of killing or not killing them doesnt come up.

Otherwise, Im glad to hear about young kids learning the game.

Enjoy!

_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[serleran]

Quote:
Also, I dont have women and children monsters in my world

Where do they come from?
Neat idea. Hope you'll take Steve on the offer.

[papercut]

This is basically an alpha testing of some curriculum I hope to standardize on some level. Because DnD and CNC are somewhat complicated, I hope to slowly build up the children's vocabulary and gaming experience. Eventually, create some kind of simplified player's handbook/lesson plan and a CK/DM/ Teacher's guide.

These 2 kids seems to really enjoy it, after I work out some kinks, I'll try to find more. There are already two or three gaming stores that are willing to give me some table space during the weekdays. It is somewhat possible if I continue on with this project that I could become a minor celebrity over here. The media loves new things, and brother, this is new/exciting.

On a serious note, there is some body of academic research that shows role playing is a very good tool for learning languages. I could link it, but the google overlord is better versed than I am.

I would love to put something in the Crusader, give me a bit more time to firm this all up (and finish my masters thesis lol).
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Someone send me some dice!

[Treebore]

Very cool experience! I wish you success with your plans.
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The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

[papercut]

Update #1

We ran out weekly gamelet last night (30 minutes) and it went very well. The kids wanted to play at the very beginning of the 2 hour class, but I limited it to 30 mins at the end (we ran over too, hehe, it was too much fun). They love the dice and are starting to understand how to play.

They had some reading homework that would have introduced primes and a few other concepts, but it was not read due to some miscommunication. Next week we will use primes. 2 level ones with 17 AC versus 5 orcs and 1 chief.

So, the game is going fine, I even took a kid down to 0 on the orc boss which made things dramatic at the end.

Cheers
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Someone send me some dice!

[papercut]

Hello again everyone!

This is my two month update:

The kids are still loving this game, they really enjoy the fun factor and the drama a pen and paper rpg introduces to language learning. For the past few months I have been running a game with theses kids once a week for between 30 minutes to an hour at the end of our 2 hour lesson. They love it!

At first I had planned to create a kind of curriculum around the game, but that has not really been the case. Other than an intro reading assignment I wrote, we pretty much have just been running the game. I never really GM'd much back when I was regularly playing but it seems I have a certain way of doing things and it is comfortable for me. For CLs, I use the 15 mod and if the players have a prime they add 5 to their rolls. This keeps things nice and simple and the game moving forward.

I compiled an adhoc DM/Monsters/Players guide from a few things, here is a list:

CnC quick start guide- no brainer- enough material to basically get started

Treasure Type pdf- also includes magic treasure and experience table

M&T preview- enough for the basics

TSR 9047- M&T assortment- This thing is great for getting ideas and monsters on the fly. It has stats (blocks!) for monster encounters and random treasure tables for levels 1-9. The only problem is there are no pictures, which make me wonder if I should print out the 2e MM (very cheap to print in Taiwan). I also draw some pics as well. Wonderful resource for on the fly GMing: http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizard ... rce=search

DM screen stats pdf-forgot I printed this, but concise rules explanation

The above pdfs are all compiled in a handy little book which is great for all my needs. I bought the rules cyclopedia (printed) as well as the creature catalog (just printed) but the streamlined book seems to be the best way to GM on the fly. TSR 9047 has the stat blocks for monsters and the CC and RC have the flavor text and some pictures

I use a 3.5e Dm screen (only one I could find) to hide the dice from the players, sometimes it adds drama to roll in front of the screen though, hehe.

Looking forward to the basic set coming out, see how it meshes with my little tome. I don't think I need much more material but rule improvements and a centralized resource might be helpful. In addition, I would like to support the Trolls financially. (edit- just bought the PHB pdf, its great!)

I also browse thru the 1e DMG, Enon Tor, A Lion in the Ropes, The Rising Knight, Night's Dark Terror, Hommlet, and the Shady Dragon Inn for ideas every once in awhile. I believe I paid for all those on Paizo.

I will be running twice a week with these kids this summer, I think it is time to roll up some thieves- their warriors are just about at level 4. Anyone have any advice on some good rouge modules to recommend?

Edited for content and syntax- prob missed some errors too
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Someone send me some dice!

[papercut]

Eh?!? Whats this?

PHB pdf for $10? My $ was just sent through the nether.
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Someone send me some dice!

[Indigo Rose]

Troll Lord wrote:
Now this is news worthy news!!!!! If you are interested in doing a full write up for us about how you came up with the idea, how it went and your afterthoughts I would love to see it included in the Crusader.

Steve

Me too! That is uber-cool...

I wish one of my teachers had let us play RPGs as an assignment when I was a kid; if we had done that in Spanish class, I might have actually retained some of the language after it was all over!
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Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.

[papercut]

Closing this thread out, the next one will be in the proper place (campaign section).

The small Borderlands like storyline has come to a proper resting place, the fighters saved the farmers from the orc/goblin/undead caves and escaped with the help of a band of brigands.

Then they had a minor moral dilemma when they found a blood covered sleeping man with a slashed open pig at the farm (this was after a full moon). He appeared to be a werewolf (he was becoming one at least) and the farmers wanted him dead. But the fighters with the help of the npc cleric mediated the matter and all was well. Kids like playing fighters!

Next stop: Thief campaign (which is already going really, really well!)

P.S. The 2e arms and equipment guide and MM are big hits with the kids, all the pictures make things easier to grasp. What exactly is a mace? Kobald? Groll? They like the books so much they are even trying to read the books of their own volition!
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Someone send me some dice!