In Which The Warlock Contemplates a Class Change...

One of the neatest things about my real-life day-job is the amount of carryover between being a good GM and being a good teacher.  Believe it or not, the best practices that one carries behind the GM screen often are the same best practices advocated within a classroom setting.  Engagement, active description, differentiation, and varied methodology are all buzzwords that frequently flit about the classroom, but they similarly have a great degree of importance at the game table as well.

As such, game design and game management theory have become a fairly regular part of my curriculum, in terms of addressing macro-educational concepts.

Case in point:  my early days of teaching, at a local charter school.  Paired with an experienced social studies teacher, we often crossed over Risk and Monopoly games to demonstrate the relationship between economics and military strategy.  Students arrange into teams, which must co-ordinate their efforts between both boards, in the hopes to take over a certain set of territories.

You want a GMing challenge?
Try running this for a classroom of ADHD students!

It's at that same school that I experienced the ultimate challenging in GameMastery.  You see, that charter school focused specifically in educating students with ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome, with the majority of the population having multiple diagnoses.  However, as an experiential introduction to a science-fiction unit, I decided to run a simplified session of Paranoia for those students.  And, let me tell you:  there is NO greater challenge in GMing than running game for 16 ADHD teenagers.

However, the challenge of keeping all 16 students engaged and interested, coupled with the greater conceptual goal of addressing paranoia and fear of the "other" as a literary concept, made for a great lesson plan, which students were able to expand upon through essays and a larger assessment project.  I did something similar with a homemade game I called "Grail Quest"--no relation to the actual game-book series--in which students emulated roving bands of knights hoping to find various Arthurian relics, including the eponymous Holy Grail.

An ancient gameboard...
...but one perfect for The Crusades!

This all lead to today, wherein I got to use a game that I've been aching to pull out in a classroom setting:  Risk: Godstorm.  Using the board from Godstorm, groups of my seniors attempted to retake the Holy Land, following the Crusader rhetoric of Pope Urban II.  The activity ran fast and furious, with alliances taking shape over both ideological and political lines--precisely what I was hoping for!  The game ran smoothly, even though time limited us to a 30 minute rushed version of the rules.

As I've been working on expanding The Pendulum Method--y'know, when I'm not teaching, gaming, writing on Cold Steel Wardens, or doing any number of other multitasking--I've been looking seriously at including an essay on this very topic:  the use of educational theory in gamemastery.  Should be fun, children! I'm hoping for it to be out this year or next!

Oh, and this weekend?  We wrap up "The Flood"!  Water's gonna rise, children!

In Which The Warlock Concludes the Previews...

Whew!  This is the last set, I promise.  With 39 total events on the docket, we're out in force for this year's Origins Game Fair. 

If you missed the previous preview links, check them out here:
Set I:  In Which The Warlock Posts Some Previews...
Set II:  In Which The Warlock Posts More Previews...

Title: Sovereigns of the Sea
System: Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space
Sessions: Wednesday, 7pm and Saturday, 7pm
Description: The Doctor and his companions have found themselves aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge under the command of Blackbeard the Pirate. But little does the infamous scoundrel know that the ancient treasure he's been searching for belongs to an alien species that doesn't take kindly to pirates. (Featuring characters from the Doctor Who television show. Rules taught, new players welcome!)

Title: Stargate SG-1—Shifting Loyalties
System: Savage Worlds
Sessions: Thursday, 7pm
Description: The Goa’uld Klorel, son of Apophis, has contacted the SGC and says that he wishes to defect to the Tok'ra. It's up to SG-1, Bra'tac, and Jacob Carter to determine if they've found a new ally against the System Lords or if this a clever ruse to discover the location of the Tok’ra secret base. (Featuring characters from the television show. Rules taught, new players welcome!)

Title: Stargate Atlantis—No Man Left Behind
System: Savage Worlds
Sessions: Friday, 7pm
Description: Todd, the Wraith scientist, has contacted Atlantis with an interesting discovery: Michael has captured Lt. Aiden Ford and hopes to discover how the Wraith enzyme interacted with him so that he can make an army of super-soldiers. It’s up to John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Teyla, Ronan, and Carson Beckett to rescue their former team member and work with Todd to thwart Michael’s plans. (Featuring characters from the television show. Rules taught, new players welcome!)

Title: Lord of the Rings Risk
System: Lord of the Rings Risk—Trilogy Edition
Sessions: Friday, 7pm
Description: The classic game of strategy, set in Tolkein’s Middle Earth.

Title: Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle
System: Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle
Sessions: Saturday, 7pm and Saturday, 9pm
Description:  Crawl up the corporate ladder in Dilbert’s wacky world of bureaucrats and corporate chaos. Get rid of all of your cards to win!

Title:  What’s Summoned in Las Vegas…
System: Scion
Sessions: Wednesday, 7pm and Thursday, 7pm
Description: On your thirteenth birthday, you found out that the world wasn’t quite what you thought it was. As it turns out, one of your parents is actually a God, and you have been blessed with some of their abilities. Life for a scion isn’t easy, though: now that you’ve been recognized by your holy parent, you’re basically at their beck and call, fixing any problems that might pop up. You’re basically a magical fixer, but with crummy pay and little appreciation.  One day, your godly parent tells you that there’s trouble brewing in Las Vegas. Someone is trying to summon a titan, which is one of the great enemies to the Gods. But the Gods have rules about when they can and can’t interfere, so you end up being sent along with a group to stop this person before they can summon the titan. 13+, rules taught.

Title:   Road of Trials and Tribulations
System:   Blue Rose d20
Sessions: Friday, 7pm and Saturday, 7pm
Description:  Aldis is a country which prides itself on its excellent education system. One of the schools is in the capitol city of Aldis, where the best and brightest train to become top-notch Shapers (magic-users). And wouldn’t you know it, but it’s exam time at the Aldean Academy of Magic, and the Shapers all have to complete some pretty tough tests. One group of Shapers in particular has an especially tough set of tests. This group is made up of the top Shapers from each area of study, and they will have to work as a team to help a group of weary travelers go from a nearby village to the capitol city. There will be many trials and tribulations waiting for them, but if they succeed then they might just get that A they’ve been looking for. 13+, rules taught.

In Which The Warlock Wants to Sink Atlantis...

My preference in games is pretty well documented here:  I tend towards full-on cooperative games as well as my more usual complement of player-vs-player games.  However, there's always been one PvP game that's been an Achilles' Heel for me:  Risk.  Games always seem to take so long, with so little variety between turns, that I often get bored and seek out other entertainment, even while playing the game!

But, there was one variant--in amongst the many that exist--that really intrigued me.  Risk: Godstorm. 

The premise is simple.  Instead of portraying generals, invading the various nations of the modern world, you take on the role of one of the ancient pantheons:  Greece, Babylon, Egypt, Celtic or Norse.  From there, you wage your war across Ancient Europe, complete with the lost Atlantean continent! 

If the differences were only that much, I probably wouldn't have been sold on this varient.  Board Game Karen brought over Lord of the Rings Risk over the Christmas holiday and, while the game was fun, I found the changes it brought to the Risk game to be minimal.  While I enjoyed going to war against Chaotic Karl, Will the Man-Man, and BG Karen, it was essentially just Risk, only in Middle-Earth.



Risk: Godstorm in play

Godstorm changes the game almost violently.  Dead soldiers don't just die, they are returned to their respective Underworld, where their conflict continues over the shrines and crypts in the battlefields there.  Each turn, players get "Faith Chips" which allow you to summon incarnations of the various gods into the world, where they aid your armies in conquest.  Different gods offer different aid--Hades prevents others' soldiers from entering the Underworld, while Thor lets your advancing hordes win ties in combat.  Or, if you so choose, you can purchase Miracles. 

Miracles are really where the biggest changes come into play.  Usually costing Faith to put into play, Miracles allow you to destroy enemy armies with fire and brimstone, call upon relics like Excalibur and the Babylonian Tree of Life, or...destroy the continent of Atlantis. 

When I had heard this, my mind was blown!  Destroy an entire continent?!  Change the face of the game entirely, with one card?!  That's my kind of game! 

I must say, I was not disappointed.  In a short game with The Professor, Mrs. Professor and Will the Man-Man, my Norse warriors managed to invade Hyrkania and Atlantis (without having it sink, luckily!).  Will, unfortunately, got trapped with The Professor in Europa proper, which sent most of his men into the Underworld.  Mrs. Professor, though, pulled out a massive win, spreading out her Celts across Asia Minor and North Africa.

The changes made in Godstorm make it a totally unique game.  While the base mechanics of Risk are the same--advance your armies linearly, 3-vs-2 die combat--the changes that Godstorm provides make it a really innovative addition.  I look forward eagerly to my next game...