IAWA - roleplaying at school.

[Marianne]

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Marianne,

If I'm not mistaken, the reason there've been no replies is that all of us are staring, slack-jawed. That is amazing.

I don't know if it will work with so many kids, but in smaller groups, multi-person representation of a given character works well when enjoying a good resolution system. Perhaps ... OK, here's my idea.

Bring five players forward for each "side" of a given fictional conflict. Their jobs would be to come up with what this character is driving for the hardest. Everyone else can be brought into a kind of gladiatorial semi-circle around these two "inner" groups.

It might be useful to change out the membership of the groups and even have people who were against a given character earlier be on their side later in some other conflict.

Best, Ron

[Christoph Boeckle]

Hi Marianne

For what it's worth, Ron is right. I read your account and thought it was fantastic, then was at a complete loss as to what to say (I've no experience playing with kids, let alone a class of kids). I will be following this and potential future threads though.

Cheers

[lumpley]

Slack-jawed it is. This is amazing.

I don't think you need player conflicts with 6-yos either, I think you're right about that.

If you're feeling a lack of dice - if you're feeling like resolution is settling entirely on your shoulders, with no game-rules support for how to do it - I have some thoughts and recommendations. Are you?

-Vincent

[Marianne]

Heh, thanks chaps!

If I'm not mistaken, the reason there've been no replies is that all of us are staring, slack-jawed. That is amazing.

I don't know if it will work with so many kids, but in smaller groups, multi-person representation of a given character works well when enjoying a good resolution system. Perhaps ... OK, here's my idea.

Bring five players forward for each "side" of a given fictional conflict. Their jobs would be to come up with what this character is driving for the hardest. Everyone else can be brought into a kind of gladiatorial semi-circle around these two "inner" groups.

It might be useful to change out the membership of the groups and even have people who were against a given character earlier be on their side later in some other conflict.

Hey that's not a bad idea at all!  Rather than using it as a standard I think it'd fit in nicely with exploring characters that we do in literacy.  I'll have a think about it as I reckon it's something that would work well with a smaller group of more able children (say 10 or so kids).  I'll plan it in with the next story and let you know how it goes:)

Slack-jawed it is. This is amazing.

I don't think you need player conflicts with 6-yos either, I think you're right about that.

If you're feeling a lack of dice - if you're feeling like resolution is settling entirely on your shoulders, with no game-rules support for how to do it - I have some thoughts and recommendations. Are you?

-Vincent

I'd definitely be interested, I think the concept of dice as a resolution system may be a bit difficult for some of the children at this age, but then again as adults we're always underestimating what children are capable of, so it might be worth some kind of simplified version. Also I'd like to give the children the impression that it is collaborative rather than "teacher says" as this always gives them more of a sense that they are as important in creating an exciting story as I am.

Thanks for the replies:o)

Marianne

[lumpley]

Are you familiar with Zak Arntson's game Shadows? In it, the player says what's the good outcome, and what's the bad outcome, and you roll dice to see which comes true.

Something like that could work pretty well, using dice as a hinge for events, if you see what I mean, instead of as an arbiter of bad consequences as IaWA does. De-emphasize the "good" and "bad," maybe. Get the kids to shout out what different things they think might happen, edit them yourself down into 2 or 3 interesting directions the game could go, and roll to find out which way it does go.

-Vincent

[Meguey]

This is awesome! I do agree that we tend to underestimate the imagination, creativity, and capacity of children.

Have you seen The Big Night? It has some pretty solidly good conflict-resolution stuff for playing with kids. Basically, it's that a child who has a roll go bad gets to say how it goes bad. I'll find it and write it out for you if you like.

[Luke]

Get the kids to shout out what different things they think might happen, edit them yourself down into 2 or 3 interesting directions the game could go, and roll to find out which way it does go.

You don't even need dice. Flip coins (heads one way, tails the other) or draw cards (highest draw takes the direction they want). You can be the resolver -- you can flip the coin and let the kid call it or you can draw a card and a kid-nominated representative can draw against you. This way, you have a full process -- situation plus options plus resolution to new situation.

-L

[Ry]

Wow.  Slack-jawed amazement over here.

[Marianne]

Get the kids to shout out what different things they think might happen, edit them yourself down into 2 or 3 interesting directions the game could go, and roll to find out which way it does go.

You don't even need dice. Flip coins (heads one way, tails the other) or draw cards (highest draw takes the direction they want). You can be the resolver -- you can flip the coin and let the kid call it or you can draw a card and a kid-nominated representative can draw against you. This way, you have a full process -- situation plus options plus resolution to new situation.

-L

Fab ideas! I like the idea of drawing cards to decide what happens in a situation.  I've got one of those giant pack of cards that the children use to draw on the oracles so it's no extra equipment so that will keep the flow.  This drawing mechanism should hopefully engage the children more in shaping the game world as they are playing in it as well as during the creation phase.  Super ideas thanks guys!

[Marianne]

This is awesome! I do agree that we tend to underestimate the imagination, creativity, and capacity of children.

Have you seen The Big Night? It has some pretty solidly good conflict-resolution stuff for playing with kids. Basically, it's that a child who has a roll go bad gets to say how it goes bad. I'll find it and write it out for you if you like.

I definitely be interested, new ideas are what keeps things interesting:o)

[Meguey]

Ok, I'll go digging!

[Marianne]

Rightho so we did a second IAWA story with the kids.  It went great but didn't uncover anything super new to report on.

However our 3rd foray into using IAWA with hyper 6 and 7 yr olds is taking some interesting twists and turns.  Firstly the children decided that they wanted to write elements for their children's oracle.  This turned out to be amazing, I was so surprised by the way the children phrased some of their ideas.. (and it was really good for teaching literacy ) 

The elements (all written by the children) that were pulled out were:
A witches tower, full of traps and ghosts
The skeleton of a dragon, hiding it's real form by magic
A band of brave heroes, on another adventure.
Some silly journalists, in trouble as always.

So we brainstormed, drew pictures, wrote descriptions etc.  The children have decided that it is definitely them that are the heroes and that they have been begged by the one jouranlist who has escaped the tower to go and rescue her friends. 

They have got the idea of best interests and how all the best stories have characters with interests that clash. 

The witches best interest is to keep the journalists captive and rescue her cat from the heroes. 
The heroes best interests are to rescue the journalists and trap the witch in her own castle.
The dragon's best interest is "to swallow the heroes and trap them in another dimension which is full of it's own species" (spot the more able child there!)
The Journalists best interest is to get a great story all about the dragon and escape the witch.

Session 2 this afternoon...wish me luck

[Ouroboros]

Good luck! I want to hear all about it. I have a session coming up this weekend too! It'll be educational to see how it compares to what the little ones have come up with.