Games & Education
Edited by David Millians
Paideia School
1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
Internet: dragon@netcom.com
Summer 1995
Volume 2, Number 2
Dragon Dreams
In this issue we have several interesting articles. Brian David Phillips
offers his ideas for specific uses of games in English conversation
classes. John Grantham and Seth Plockelman describe their ideas for games.
Terry Ballard catches us up with Escape Ventures Playtest Association.
There are also several announcements and questions from publishers. We
have expanded our Communications section to include responses from me, your
editor, but I also encourage you to write in with your ideas.
Due to my schedule and a financial crunch, I shall not be able to attend
Origins in Philadelphia. I'm disappointed, but I encourage any and all who
do attend to try to get together to share their ideas and most recent
discoveries. Then, please, share these with me so they can be included in
the next newsletter.
I will be at Gen Con in August. My workshops will be at 10 a.m. Thursday
is Games and Young People, an examination of developmental issues as they
affect game groups, educational or otherwise. Friday is Games and
Education, where we can explore the range of topics. Saturday is Games and
Prejudice, which explores the social biases that we bring to or find within
games and how this affects the players. I hope to see you there.
It appears that this newsletter will be going to a twice yearly
publication schedule. This is based on costs and the volume of material
available for publication. What do you think of this? We want to maintain
an ongoing forum for ideas. Do you have something to share in these pages?
If so, please send it it! We would very much like to hear from teachers
about how they are using games in their classrooms. We would very much
like to hear from publishers with their questions about classrooms and the
education market. How can this newsletter best serve your needs?
Send in those game reviews!
O, yes, why the name change for the newsletter? It has to do with having
nouns in parallel forms. Perhaps I've taught enough grammar for this
school year. Have a wonderful summer!
David
Methodology for Using RPGs in English Conversation Classes
by Brian David Phillips
(Department of English, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan)
My own primary experience with using RPGs in the EFL (English as a Foreign
Language) classroom has been with conversation students. For their initial
exposure to the method of playing RPGs, I decided a system in the fantasy
genre would be ideal. The game system I originally chose for my class was
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (the system was later abandoned as being too
complicated for the immediate purposes of my Freshman level students but it
served as a model for what followed). In hindsight, I would recommend that
the teacher considering using classroom RPGs use a different system: Call
of Cthulhu, Fringeworthy, Ghostbusters, and Star Wars are all excellent for
the beginner. Very basic systems which may be appropriate for lower-level
language classes include the TSR's First Quest, Basic Dungeons & Dragons
Set, Dragon Quest, TWERPS, and Hero Quest.
In order to introduce the basic concepts of RPGs to the students, I
brought in example games, dice, adventures, and literature based upon
various games - trying to represent several genres. Since students in
Taiwan have little experience with this kind of game - most of them only
know of RPGs in relationship to their computer game background, I felt it
useful to bring in
several examples (as well as books, comic books, and computer games -
particularly the AD&D games). As part of this orientation to the games, I
gave my own version of what Pierre Savoie calls "The Talk" which he uses as
a guide whenever he is teaching the basics to newcomers to his own gaming
groups (this is a fifteen minute preparatory talk normally given just prior
to an introductory D&D game). Any basic introduction to RPG concepts would
be fine though. Most teachers would do well to adapt the introductory
"What Is Roleplaying" section of their favorite game system to situations
and examples from genres the students prefer (just asking them what their
favorite films are usually gives enough to go from - I usually end up using
Indiana Jones and City Hunter type examples). In a brief message on the
Internet, Laird Popkin gave a very succinct summary of key points for the
beginning RPGer to remember when just "Starting Up," in the hobby.
Briefly, Popkin's main points are: (1) create a few sample characters and
play sample combat first, (2) don't get overly elaborate for your first
games, (3) don't worry about the rules
(bending them if necessary), (4) keep an eye on pacing, (5) don't let dice
rule the game, (6) there are many different styles of gaming and different
people like different things, (7) make NPCs (non-player characters)
interesting (even imitating cartoon characters if that
helps), and (8) don't spend too much time preparing but be prepared to
improvise.
Once my students were given a brief explanation of the fundamentals of
the game, they played a sample game with the teacher as game master.
Because there were too many students for the one game to be played well
with everyone in the standard interactive style, the class was divided into
two groups of eight students. Since the class meets for two hours each
week, one group played the game in the first hour and the other group
played during the second hour of one class day. This allowed the students
to get a more realistic idea of how to play.
It is important that the teacher use a very basic introductory scenario -
typically, a "save the princess from the dark tower" story might work.
While an average RPG game among serious hobbyists may lasts four to six
hours, and involves five to ten players and games may be played as
frequently as several times a week, teachers usually cannot make those
kinds of demands upon students - however, for my student hobby group, we
usually play every other week and will play for an average of seven to ten
hours. Most teachers will typically use the activity a few times in a
semester, often only scheduling it for a few partial class-periods.
Scenarios must be limited in
complexity for them to be suitable for the time constraints of a classroom
activity.
Once my class of sixteen was introduced to the concepts and mechanics of
Role-Playing Games, the students were asked to created their own adventures
for their classmates to play. Within the remainder of the semester, the RPG
activity was scheduled four times. Each time, the activity took up one hour
in the two-hour period. At each time, the students were divided into small
groups of four, each with one student acting as GM and the remaining three
playing PCs. Each time the activity was scheduled, the students were
placed in different groups and new students became GM. In this way, each
student in the class was able to "play" with each of the other students -
and all of them had the opportunity to GM their own game. Under this
system, the RPGs quickly became the students' game and not the teacher's.
Michael Cheng, another NCCU teacher experimenting with RPGs in conversation
classes prefers to run the games himself and to use short professional
scenarios (we have found that some of the short first edition Chill
adventures are perfect for play within the constraints of our classrooms,
particularly the Evenings of Terror collection "hosted" by Elvira).
Despite its popularity among hobby gamers, AD&D proved too complicated a
rules system for a university freshman class (despite it's rating of being
for ages ten- to-adult). My students readily abandoned the complex rules
and developed a free-form system, following the AD&D model. If I had known
of the Dragon's Quest or had access to the Basic D&D books at the time, I
probably would have used them - at the beginning of my project I only had
access to the AD&D rules though. I will note here that my upper level
student hobby group played AD&D and GURPS witha passion. Currently, for
most of my lower level or literature classes that incorporate RPG- type
exercises, I use a simplified version of GURPS and use standard GURPS rules
for my upper level RPG class and for the student hobby group.
Once students have discovered the concept, the actual rules system used by
the teacher is not particularly important. While I would strongly
encourage teachers unfamiliar with RPGs to purchase at least one of the
commercial systems, there are alternatives for classroom use.
For those students with Internet access, there are several systems which
are public domain and freely available. These include ARM, Anarcha
Australis, Brand X, Extexo, FUDGE, Mage to Mage, System One, URP, and
others. While many of these systems are less complicated than many of the
commercial systems, they are often more difficult for the beginner to start
with as they do not provide role-play information.
Some teachers who have used RPGs in the EFL classroom have developed their
own systems - or allowed the students to do so on their own (with proper
guidance, this is an excellent option). Scott Orr's approach with his Czech
students was of this type:
I let each of them name 4 or 5 skills he was good at, and then roll a d6
[six-sided die] todetermine just how good. Then I just used the die for
skill checks . . . I kept it extremely simple - I don't think we ever had
any combat - in order to stress the role-playing than the "reality". If
you've got the time to prepare, you may want to do something a little more
complex - maybe a few basic attributes (the four used in GURPS - strength,
dexterity, intelligence, and health - are good . . . .). You also might
want to make the skills a little more complex, although I think a simple
system like mine should do just fine . . . let them be best in the skills
they like best.
My own spin-off project has been to develop a Basic English Role-Playing
System (BERPS) specifically intended for EFL students. Peter Adkison,
president of Wizards of the Coast Game Company, tells me that he has begun
work on development of RPGs for general educational purposes - which should
still be useful to the EFL instructor. Also, Dave Nalle's TCT games have
obvious educational uses as well as some of Greg Porter's BTRC systems.
Actually quite a few games are readily adaptable to the language
classroom. Now that I've provided this overview, perhaps some others would
like to share their own views.
Dear David,
Do you receive Tad Pierson's LARP newsletter for Barking Mad Productions?
Recently, they had a piece on live gaming as it applies to teaching
Emergency Rescue. Similarly, my mother is completing scenarios as part of
her ER course in Alaska, which are similar to my own experiences in
Lifesaving training. It is striking how role-playing and live role-playing
is and has been an integral part of the course. Although this is
primarily adult education, you may wish to obtain Tad's article for
reprint in your newsletter, or alternately I could contact him and then
write a piece combining his, mine, and my mother's experience with my own
Red Cross training experience to write a more "Gaming and
Education"-focused piece.
Sandy Antunes
Dear Mr. Millians:
I'm part of Black Gate Publishing, a small Virginia RPG publisher. We
publish LEGACY: War of Ages and the soon-to-be-released WARLOCK: Black
Spiral, as well as supplements for both games. I think role-playing games
can be a strong positive influence on young people: they were a good
influence on me, and gaming continues to have a positive effect on my life.
I think using role-playing games in education is a great idea, and I was
happy to learn about G&E. Our games stress characterization and character
motivation, as well as placing current events in a historical context. Both
creative writing and history would seem to be subjects where our games
could be useful.
Unfortunately, I have no idea how to introduce our games into a school
setting, or even how to approach local schools about it. I'm afraid, living
as we do in thebackyard of the Christian Broadcasting Network, that local
schools will not be open-minded about having Those Games anywhere near
children. The lies and misinformation spread by BADD has, sadly, found
fertile soil around here.
I would like to send you a couple of our books, so that perhaps you could
pass them along people in the education field who could objectively
evaluate whether they would be a useful addition to the classroom. Would
this be appropriate? If so, please let me know, and where to send them.
If you have a listing of companies who give preferential rates to
educators, please add us to that list. Any teacher or school (in the USA)
that orders our books gets them at a 40% discount, and we pay postage. (We
also donate copies to local libraries, should you keep a record of such
things.)
Brandon Blackmoor
Black Gate Publishing
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Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 22:11:59 -0500
To: dragon@netcom.com
Subject: Gaming & Education Newsletter
Those of us at Board Enterprises have long believed that role-playing
games were good for the development of young adults. Typically teaching
math, problem solving, communication, and socialization skills,
role-playing can often reach people that may otherwise miss out on some of
these skills. We wish to encourage the next generation of gamers for the
good of all of
us.
As a publisher of fantasy role-playing games, Board Enterprises often is
forced to "scrap" books due to printer errors. Like most factory seconds,
the problem is often negligible, but still prevents the book from going to
retailers. Any SCHOOL group wishing to receive a "scrap" book FREE should
send us $3.50 to cover postage. All we ask is a promise to teach as many
young adults as you can. Write to us at: Board Enterprises, P.O.Box 239,
Elmhurst, IL 60126.
John Josten
Board Ent@aol.com
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Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 12:46:45 -0500
To: dragon@netcom.com
Subject: Re: Gaming & Education Newsle...
Please print the letter I sent to you. I apologize for not being more
specific. The main game that we publish is Legend Quest. We had assumed we
would be sending copies of the rule book out to anyone who requested them.
We currently have 12 supplements (6 city supplements and 6 adventures). If
we happen to have any scraps of these, I will throw them in with the rule
book. Unfortunately, I do not know of any specific examples of teachers that
are using our system. We have many parents who come back to us every year at
conventions looking for our newest products for their children, but I do not
believe any of them are teachers.
If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to talk with you.
John Josten
boardent@aol.com
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Date: Mon, 20 Mar 95 16:44:00 UTC
To: dragon@netcom.com
Subject: EVPA REsponse (At Last)
X-Genie-Id: 6185141
X-Genie-From: EVPA
About The EVPA
The EVPA is an elite group of more than a thousand experienced game
designers and players from around the globe. The members' invaluable input
helps shape the future of the many products that they have the opportunity
to playtest. They quickly discover that there is no experience quite like
the sense of pride and accomplishment in seeing one of their ideas make it
into the final version of a game. In addition to the fun of playtesting
new ideas, there is also the satisfaction of receiving recognition and
credit for their contribution.
Playtest material (rough material still not ready for final production)
includes RPGs, board games, playbymail. Test-drives (finished material)
include many magazines and a few computer games. You can usually find a
list of our current playtest and demo materials on our internet location
evpa@ev.com (http://Market.NET)
CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
Most of the manufacturers we represent require members to sign and return
a Confidentiality Information Agreement. We recommend that our members
return it with their initial packet response, providing them unlimited
access to all of our playtesting packets. This confidentiality agreement
essentially says that you agree to keep information about the products
confidential and will not try to steal the game idea yourself and produce a
similar game.
PLAYTESTING
Members study the material they receive, play the game (any number of
people), and fill out the Player Response form. They also choose their
next packet by completing the EVPA Packet Request and return all forms to
the EVPA. Our goal is to have a new packet in your hands in two weeks. In
the event that it takes longer than 3 weeks from the postmarked, e-mailed
or faxed date, we will extend your membership appropriately. You should
always follow the directions on the playtest request sheet. You should
always list your preferred 3 choices in order. We will always try to send
you your first choice, but by nature of being playtest material, copies are
quite limited on some items. In an effort to be certain that your next
package is not delayed, please only request items on the list and be
certain to request more than one item. If you did not get your first choice
and the item is still on the request list, please request the item again as
we must be expecting another shipment of that product. The EVPA staff
'grades' the depth of each member's response. Grades are based on:
thoroughness of answers, detailing of problems pin-pointed, constructive
suggestions for any problems found, additional suggestions for rule
clarity, supplemental material, etc. The object of playtesting is to find
out not only whether they liked the concept, but to help locate any flaws
in the game. The member's average response grade is calculated and used by
some manufacturers to determine whether or not particular members to demo
their products. Also, the EVPA awards semi-annually a three month
membership extension to the 'Hottest Playtester' (i.e., the member with the
highest average grade for that 6 month period). Members may use their own
word processor or stationary when summarizing their playtesting results
using the questionnaire as a guide. Other members of the group who
playtested the game may also fill out copies of the questionnaire to add
their input if they would like. We are always eager for as much input as
possible. Responses may be faxed or e-mailed for a quicker turn-around.
There are no limits to how many games you may play during the year. As
soon as you finish and return your response and next packet request, we
will send you your next package. With receipt of your registration, we
will automatically ship you Element Masters RPG, a player response sheet,
sign up sheets for referrals and you new packet request form. If for some
reason, you absolutely do not want to play-test Element Masters, you may
ship it back with your new packet request form and we will adjust your
membership start date when we ship the requested package. Note that there
is no deadline for returning a package. You just won't be able to get a new
one until you finish the last.
GROUP RATES
With the exception of educational groups, we do not offer special deals
for groups only because each game sent is played with a group of people and
since the material becomes your property, you may pass it freely between
the other members of your group. Along with your playtest packets, you will
receive some blank sign up sheets that you should write 'Referred by:
______' on and hand out. For each referral who joins, you will receive and
additional 2 months membership. As stated before, if the other people who
play the game with you would like to send back reviews, we are always happy
for the additional information.
Educational Groups: With proof of active grades 4-12 teacher's
certification and current employment for an EVPA applicant, the membership
works exactly the same as usual except that we will provide more than one
copy of the requested packet and will send additional player response
sheets which must be completed by the students of the appropriate age
group.
The EVPA DEMO PROGRAM
The Demo Program is a separate opportunity (you do not have to participate)
for our members who have completed their initial playtest packet and
returned their Player Response. Members may send Demo Requests any time
after completing the initial packet's Player
Response. Each request sent must be for a particular product at a
particular event, be it a retail shop, club meeting or other. A demo MUST
provide a minimum of 12 player responses to be returned to the
manufacturer. The demo can be run multiple times, if necessary, to provide
the minimum number of responses. Upon approval of the event by the
manufacturer, the manufacturer will send the member a copy of the material
needed for the event. The EVPA will send a demo package which includes a
T-shirt, demo instructions and suggestions, 12 player response forms, 1
host evaluation form and a GM synopsis form, pencils and mints. Prizes and
their instructions for distribution may also be included from either the
manufacturer or EVPA. After the demo, all responses are then returned to
the EVPA and the member keeps everything else. If a demo event is
declined, the member is be notified by postcard.
TO REGISTER:
If you would like to join the EVPA, you can use the Registration Form
found at evpa@ev.com (http://Market.NET) or supply the information
requested below and e-mail, fax (804/479-1397) or snail-mail to: P O Box
65077, Virginia Beach VA 23464. The cost is $25.00 for US residents please
contact us for non-domestic rates.
Send: Name, Address (Street, City, State & Zip), Birthdate, Gender, Phone
(including area code), Internet address, List of gaming magazines you
subscribe to, conventions you attend and where you first heard about the
EVPA. For all but postal mailings, include credit card information (Visa
or Mastercard #, Name of cardholder, and expiration date). If you are
sending regular mail through the postal service, you may send check or
money order.
Again, my heart-felt apology for the delay and a promise that you^?ll
see things returning to normal shortly. Thank you for your patience.
Hope to be hearing from you soon. Happy Gaming!
Sincerely,
Terry Ballard
Administrative Coordinator, EVPA
If you have further inquires, contact me at:
EVPA
P.O. Box 65077, Virginia Beach, VA 23464
(804) 479-1397 (For 24-hr fax and to leave a message)
evpa@ev.com (http://Market.NET) or EVPA@GENIE.GEIS.COM
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Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 00:22:37 -0500
To: Dragon@netcom.com
Subject: Raven Star - 1000
Hi David,
I have received your newsletters - Gaming and Education, and have sent a
copy of our Raven Star -1000 about a month ago. I hope you had a chance to
play our game with your students. Our next product Get Fitted For The
Frontier - 1100 will be out at the end of this month. I hope you get a
chance t review our game, if you have any questions or comments please send
me a e.mail
RSGD1@AOL.COM
Thank you,
A. Siddiqui
Game Designer
Raven Star Game Designs.
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Date: Mon, 2 Jan 95 06:54:00 UTC
To: dragon@netcom.com
Subject: Game Review
X-Genie-Id: 6817495
X-Genie-From: J.WARD18
David,
I have a review of RoboRally here. Before I start, could you please send me
a contact address for the Adult Gamer magazine? Thanks!
John Ward St. John's Academy 1-1-95
3127 So. Kittredge Way 930 Acoma St. 4th Grade
Aurora, Co 80013 Denver, Co 80204 Instructor
(303) 699-8812 (303) 893-3735
RoboRally Wizards of the Coast
P.O. Box 707
Renton, Washington 98057-0707
One of our favorite games at my Friday afterschool game days is RoboRally
by Wizards of the Coast. You and your opponents play factory computers
participating in an obstacle course race across the factory floor. You
each have several "copies" (lives) of your racing robot in storage, in case
one gets blown up. Among the obstacles are conveyor belts, pits, cutting
lasers, and crushers. Along the way, you can find a repair station or even
have options (extra gadgets) put on your robot.
To begin a turn, everyone is dealt nine cards. You pick the five cards
you want your robot to follow and place them in a stack IN ORDER. A sample
order might be: move forward 2, turn right, move backward 1, turn left,
move forward 1. When everyone is ready, you all simultaneously flip your
first card. The players move in descending order of an index value printed
on the card. The speed index is more or less keyed to the move. (970
would be a move forward 3, 20 would be a U-turn.) After everyone has gone,
the "board movement" includes moving conveyor belts and firing laser
cutters. After five phases (moves) you re-deal. As a special bonus,
anyone landing on a two-wrench icon on phase five can have a special fitted
option (faster reverse speed, gyroscopic stabilizer, defense shield, more
powerful laser).
A nice feature of this game is that damage doesn't ruin your robot, but it
limits your choices. For each point of damage, you receive one less card.
For example, with 2 points of damage to your robot, you receive only 7
cards to choose from.
I found this game was great for spatial imaging. The students have to
plan the moves that their robot will take, often taking conveyor belts or
being pushed by other players into account. Interestingly enough to me,
strategy came from both extremes of the age set. The sixth-graders quickly
figured out that following other people was good (the robots have
front-firing lasers) for dealing out damage, and that pushing opponents
into pits was sometimes more fun than racing for the first goalpost. On
the other hand, a second-grader realized that by ending up on the "options"
icon four or five turns in a row, he gained enough special options to make
up for the time he had lost.
I recommend this game for students from third (late) to adult, and quick
students at second grade can handle this easily.
John Ward
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Date: Sun, 11 Dec 1994 09:05:28 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Article
To: dragon@netcom.com
Here is the article for your paper. It needs a lot of editing. :)
For an important part of my grade in my Junior year mythology class I
needed to make a presentation related to the King Arthur Legend. After
hearing about the game Pendragon by Chaosium games, I was inspired to run a
quick one class King Arthur Role Playing game. The game had no rules
because I prefer to have a solid half hour of character interaction instead
of fifteen minutes of rolling dice and fifteen minutes of actually
playing. The presentation started off with some explanation about what
Role Playing was all about, considering the fact that most of the people in
the room had never heard about it. I explained what it was all about and
they asked questions. Overall the class understood the concept of role
playing as a group of people playing the characters in the form of
developing a story.
I set the game up to have three deferent characters, while the rest of
the class watched and participated when they thought of something to help
along. The two known characters were Lancelot and Guenever, and the smaller
character was a simple Squire who's sole responsibility was to inform
Lancelot of anything that may go wrong. To the surprise of the playeers,
something did go wrong. While Lancelot and Guenever sat up in their room,
whispering sweet nothings in one another's ears, Arthur comes back to the
castle unexpectedly. The Squire runs off to tell Lancelot and barely
reaches them before Arthur shows up. From then on both the Squire and
Guenever had to fast talk there way out of the situation. The whole class
got into it and gave advice to the characters. In the end, Guenever sends
Arthur away and Lancelot comes out of the closet where he was hiding. A
small successful little skit.
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