Nish's page

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I am in Edwardsville, Illinois since I think someone asked, if you are one of the people who said they had a club or knew of a club I would appreciate an email if you have the time.

Yatta!! I went to college at SIUE and gamed with my professors. God I miss Edwardsville.

4. I am from a small school north of Edwardsville (Gillespie High School), and unfortuately there was no gaming club while I was there. I just gamed with my friends.
Currently I am living in Japan and teaching English communication in High School. My seniors final project is actually roleplaying. It is great for their listeing and speaking skills, plus they get to have fun and use their imagination in class. We are using old 3.0 and 3.5 DnD books, slightly modified for classroom play.
I would love to get the kids interested in gaming and actually start a club. Unfortunately the Japanese translations of the books are EXPENSIVE!! Even the old 3rd edition books are about $50 a book. Finding the English version of the 3.5 or 3.0 PHB or any of the core books in Japan is a bit of a pain. Hopefully I'll be able to pull some together. If you got any spares you don't need let me know (^o^)
I think the Slayer's Cup sounds perfect!!
High School Wargaming Club would do. You could have your slogan be: Welcome to our side of reality (^.^)/~

Actually I do have the kids in groups. It would be insanity if 40 kids had their own character.
I let them pick thier groups of 4 to 7 people, and together they rolled up and created their characters. I got two classes with 5 groups, and one class that has 8 groups. About perfect for a game.
As for actions, the person who is speaking and who is rolling the dice stands for that round. Once the round passes the person to their left stands and talks and rolls the dice, and they get to sit down. They get to decide together on what they are doing, but only one person talks for the group at a time.
I have a little hour-glass which I use for each turn. It is about a minute long, so they have that to decide on what to do, but if they take too long then they are passed for that turn. In one class it worked well, gave the one group time to think while the other's knew what they were doing. In another class I didn't even need to use the hour-glass because they were on top of things.
Right now I am focusing on just describing the area and having them describe what they are doing. It is a bit of a hack and slash with a few riddles and some English grammar traps thrown in there.
Getting more into the roleplaying would be great though!!
These are my thrid year students, which means they will be graduating in a few months. Next year I hope to start my next set of kids a bit earlier so maybe by the last semester they understandthe game well enough to break up in groups and run their own games.
jhpace1 thank you for the advice on what to watch!!
BenignFacist: you gaming sounds like a lot of fun!! And as long as they are learnign while they are playing a game... it is all good.
Good luck with the visa and good luck sticking it out at that private school.

I am in Yamaguchi. It is at the tip of Honshu next to Kyushuu. Where will you be going? Teaching English I take it. :)
This is my first time around teaching English using gaming. I have simplified the character sheets, but they are still pretty complicated. I have a lot of bugs to work out of the system, but it is not bad for starts.
I am lucky the room I work in is well equipted. We have an over head projector where I have the map put on the big screen. I had them draw up their characters and I scanned them in so I can move then around the map and whatever they are fighting. It gets their attention plus it is great for them to tell me what they are doing and how they are doing it.
How long have you been teaching abroad?

I will give the online paizo a try.. plus the 3rd edition downloads. FREE at my finger tips... what couldbe better!

THANK YOU

To start out, I live in Japan, and I teach English in a Japanese private high school. This is my 5th year teaching and I finally decided to challenge myself and my students. We are gaming. What better way to teach speaking and listening skills?? Now DMing for a class of 40 high school students is not easy, but possible, and amazingly funny and enjoyable.
Since I came here five years ago, I haven't even touched, literally, the 4.0 books. So, we are using D&D 3rd edition, with slight modification to make it playable for a class of Japanese students.
So my main point to this blog is this: Could anybody give me some advice where, besides amazon, I could get some inexpesive 3rd edition PHBs? Also, if by the grace of the gods this is possible, do you think there is anyone out there that would be willing to donate old 3rd edition material to my Japanese Oral Communication classes?
Anyway, thanks for the time! And wish my students luck in their first adventure ;)