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Today was the first meeting of the year for my high school's sci-fi club. One of the things we needed to address was gaming while school was in session. I proposed that, with a year of gaming behind us, rather than continue with our current game we select a published campaign setting (having used a generic set of locations until now based loosely on Greyhawk). They could create new characters now that they've experimented with the options, and, with learning the game mechanics in the bag, begin to focus on developing characters and role-playing. They asked what the options were for a new world to game on. Knowing ahead of time this might happen, I had brought the Forgotten Realms & Dragonlance Campaign Settings, the Greyhawk Gazetteer, and the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. I spent a few minutes showing them the books and giving them an overview of each world.
It wasn't even close.
They unanimously voted Pathfinder the official campaign setting of our school.
They could absolutely not get enough of the Player's Guide. They loved the Shoanti and Varisians (my school is in the South Bronx and the kids were genuinely impressed to see heroes being portrayed who weren't "white"), loved the new deities, and the elves were a hit right out the park (one of the kids who hadn't quite found the impetus to game with us until now was immediately ready to play if he could have an elf with big ears and those dark eyes). One said she was excited to be a part of a brand new world (she said it would make them explorers), and another said it was "mad hot" that they were probably the first high school gaming group in the country to use Pathfinder.
I promise you, if the kids had their way, I'd still be sitting at school right now helping them make characters.
So Erik, James, and an endless list of other people responsible, I know the accolades have been coming in for Pathfinder, but I'm glad to offer you all one more thing to be proud of.
And now I'm off to order a half dozen copies of the Player's Guide. :)
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I wonder if we might be able to get a Pathfinder edition of the Algebra II textbook.
Valeros the fighter has a base attack bonus of +5. His Strength bonus is +2 and he is under the effects of a bard's inspire courage effect, giving him another +1 to hit.
If Karzoug hits Valeros with a ray of enfeeblement that reduces his Strength by X, Valeros must roll a natural 13 or higher to hit Karzoug's 18 AC. Solve for X.
Awesome.
I wonder if we might be able to get a Pathfinder edition of the Algebra II textbook.Valeros the fighter has a base attack bonus of +5. His Strength bonus is +2 and he is under the effects of a bard's inspire courage effect, giving him another +1 to hit.
If Karzoug hits Valeros with a ray of enfeeblement that reduces his Strength by X, Valeros must roll a natural 13 or higher to hit Karzoug's 18 AC. Solve for X.
Awesome.
~laughter~ I would buy that in a heartbeat!
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Hey,
If there's a way to arrange it, I'd like them to have a dozen Player's Guides on me. I could either ship you the money through Paypal, or if one of these whizzes at Paizo can charge my account and ship them to you... whatever. I remember the game club I was in during jr high and wished I could have formed one in my high school (unfortunately, being a Catholic High School in the mid 80s didn't exactly encourage.) Anyway, I'd be glad to donate to help your school be the Official Paizo Pathfinder Headquarters.
Stratton aka Reckless
PS, X could equal either 5 or 6.
Now, a better one would be:
Valeros the fighter has a base attack bonus of +5. His Strength bonus is +2 and he is under the effects of a bard's inspire courage effect, giving him another +1 to hit.
If Karzoug hits Valeros with a ray of enfeeblement that reduces his Strength by X, Valeros must roll a natural 7+X or higher to hit Karzoug's 18 AC. Solve for X.
Which would only have one solution instead of two, and works even if his Strength is 15.
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Hey,
If there's a way to arrange it, I'd like them to have a dozen Player's Guides on me. I could either ship you the money through Paypal, or if one of these wizzes at Paizo can charge my account and ship them to you... whatever. I remember the game club I was in during jr high and wished I could have formed one in my high school (unfortunately, being a Catholic High School in the mid 80s didn't exactly encourage.) Anyway, I'd be glad to donate to help your school be the Official Paizo Pathfinder Headquarters.
Stratton aka Reckless
I so appreciate the offer, and I know the kids would too. I already placed the order a little while ago though, so it's no big deal. Thanks though, seriously. :)
I too went to Catholic school my entire life until college. I met some of the best friends of my life (wave hi, Aberzombie) through gaming at my high school (late Eighties for us), but in the school's eyes there was probably nothing worse we could have been doing. In my senior year my buddy Ricky and I were taken into the assistant principal's office and told that unless our parents called before school began the next day to inform the school that all of our D&D stuff was removed from our houses (keep in mind this was completely random- he and I didn't bring the RPG books to school and we certainly never played on campus. They just knew we were gamers.) we would be indefinitely suspended until such time as those calls were made.
My mom just laughed as if she invited this challenge, and even Rick's mom, although she was very uncomfortable with the books in her house, was outraged. We were given permission from our parents to walk into the office of the headmaster the next morning and tell him that not only would the books stay where they were but if we were ever singled out like that again the school would be drowning in lawsuits.
I only wish to God I had a picture of the headmaster's face when we were finished with him. We were so righteous that morning.
Anyway, one of the reasons I got into teaching was to be both the teacher I loved as a student and to be the teacher I always wish I had. I would have given anything if there had been someone willing to run games for my friends and me at school, and now, despite the fact that most Saturday mornings when I wake up to run games for my kids I snarl and growl like a grizzly for having to get out of bed, I love giving them the opportunity to be a part of something that they'll never forget and to maybe open their worlds to something more than they'd have had otherwise.
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Anyway, one of the reasons I got into teaching was to be both the teacher I loved as a student and to be the teacher I wish I always had. I would have given anything if there had been someone willing to run games for my friends and me at school, and now, despite the fact that most Saturday mornings when I wake up to run games for my kids I snarl and growl like a grizzly for having to get out of bed, I love giving them to opportunity to be a part of something that they'll never forget and to maybe open their worlds to something more than they'd have had otherwise.
My wife and I are both teachers, and this is possibly the coolest thing I have ever heard.
I just read the whole thread to my wife (a relatively recent convert to gaming, thanks to my influence), and not only does she want me to tell you that she thinks you're awesome, but that she too wishes there had been a teacher in her high school who could have converted/"corrupted" her to D&D back then, rather than making her wait until she was well into college...
(I, on the other hand, am sort of okay with the fact that she had to wait for me. Call me biased if you like. Heh.)
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My wife and I are both teachers, and this is possibly the coolest thing I have ever heard.
Thank you. :)
I just read the whole thread to my wife (a relatively recent convert to gaming, thanks to my influence), and not only does she want me to tell you that she thinks you're awesome, but that she too wishes there had been a teacher in her high school who could have converted/"corrupted" her to D&D back then, rather than making her wait until she was well into college...
(I, on the other hand, am sort of okay with the fact that she had to wait for me. Call me biased if you like. Heh.)
Tell her thank you, I'm flattered.
And I'm not greedy, Shisumo. I certainly wouldn't want to be the only one out there corrupting and twisting impressionable minds with all this witchcraft and deviltry. :)
Fantastic!
Talking about getting kids excited about Maths, I think the two go hand in hand. Between adding up and subtracting all your penalties and bonuses, rolling damage for spells and weapons and adding that up, and subtracting the damage inflicted from their character's hit points, I'd say that addition and subtraction are pretty much covered.
Of course you could also slyly incorporate maths into D&D with things like puzzles (multiply the angles on the magical triangle so you can get through the secret door). Plus, you've got several of the geometric shapes covered with the dice. Of course, I'm an English teacher when I'm not DMing, so Maths of any kind is anathema to me.
;-)
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When I was in school I had a teacher that set up a gaming club, He thought it inspired both Imagination and Math and social skills. Don't truely think it helped my social skills much but I finally "got" math when we started using Champions. Fractions never made much sense till then. He also kept it very, very good vs evil in the world and down played most of the more "evil" of the monsters. It was a very fun two years and I keep touch with several friends I have had since then.
I am really glad to see someone else doing the same thing all these years later. To let you know it was in the mid eighties and it was a Catholic school. Not all of the teachers were brain dead. :)
It wasn't even close.
They unanimously voted Pathfinder the official campaign setting of our school.
As a former teacher, I know the rigors of the teaching life and I wish you all the best in bringing gaming to these kids. You're giving them something special that they'll take with them the rest of their lives. I concur with the poster above - that is simply awesome.
And for Pazio, this alone should show you the power of what you people are doing. What an exciting time for us D&D gamers, to be riding the wave of creativity that is pouring out of the Pazio offices! IconoclasticScream's letter should be printed out and posted above the coffee machine in the breakroom as a reminder that even when the work gets hard and deadlines are bearing down you're dragging in on very little sleep, what you folks are doing truly has meaning beyond mere gaming.
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Hey,
If there's a way to arrange it, I'd like them to have a dozen Player's Guides on me. I could either ship you the money through Paypal, or if one of these wizzes at Paizo can charge my account and ship them to you... whatever. I remember the game club I was in during jr high and wished I could have formed one in my high school (unfortunately, being a Catholic High School in the mid 80s didn't exactly encourage.) Anyway, I'd be glad to donate to help your school be the Official Paizo Pathfinder Headquarters.
Stratton aka RecklessI so appreciate the offer, and I know the kids would too. I already placed the order a little while ago though, so it's no big deal. Thanks though, seriously. :)
Is there anything else your group might need?
I know that gaming in high school helped keep me sane during that pretty rough time in my life. So much was going on in my head that having a reliable avenue of control did wonders for my self esteem. I would like to help out if I can.
I can't do too much but if you need anything it would be great to donate what I can to help your kids have a great experience.
"I am a teacher and I make ... worlds where my students explore, analyze, cooperate, overcome evil, and demonstrate that good can win out in the end. ... I mean, I am a teacher and I make a difference."
You want the kids to be more excited about their classes, require some kind of grade update from them to play, just like the athletes. Organize study sessions instead of gaming sessions right before a test.
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Of course, I'm an English teacher when I'm not DMing, so Maths of any kind is anathema to me.
;-)
I'm an English major, too. Had been an English instructor on my way to the PhD when I got noble and decided to switch to Special Ed. I'd rather be tortured than co-teach in the Math classes I've got, but no one else will do it and, by some bizarre miracle, I'm pretty good at finding different ways to present material to the kids so that everyone gets it. But I'm on the very same page with you about the math as anathema thing.
"I am a teacher and I make ... worlds where my students explore, analyze, cooperate, overcome evil, and demonstrate that good can win out in the end. ... I mean, I am a teacher and I make a difference."
You want the kids to be more excited about their classes, require some kind of grade update from them to play, just like the athletes. Organize study sessions instead of gaming sessions right before a test.
Sorry to disagree, I wouldn't use admission to gaming as a treat for good marks, otherwise they might start to get bad feelings about gaming. Some kids have really hard times at school and/or at home and gaming could be a safe haven for them.
What you could do however is giving them some bonus points for improved marks, or when they got bad marks and you know they tried hard, with which they can get special items, role-play boons or character options, a little bit like the RPGA. But you are the professional, you know what your pupils will react to best, just don't use gaming as the pedagogic stick. Just my 2 coppers.
Sorry to disagree, I wouldn't use admission to gaming as a treat for good marks, otherwise they might start to get bad feelings about gaming. Some kids have really hard times at school and/or at home and gaming could be a safe haven for them.
Consider this though. A student really likes gaming. He likes it so much that during his free time he spends discussing it on various web-sites instead of doing his homework. As a result his grades begin to slip. Should a teacher who is running a gaming "club" at a school imply that it is ok to let your grades slip and to continue gaming or should the teacher instead say that if you want to participate at this SCHOOL SANCTIONED gaming experience, you have to make your studies the priorty they deserve? Gaming can help to develop strong social ties with others who might be able to help study for school. But school comes first, most athletes and schools understand this, why gamers couldn't I am not sure.
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Sorry to disagree, I wouldn't use admission to gaming as a treat for good marks, otherwise they might start to get bad feelings about gaming. Some kids have really hard times at school and/or at home and gaming could be a safe haven for them.Consider this though. A student really likes gaming. He likes it so much that during his free time he spends discussing it on various web-sites instead of doing his homework. As a result his grades begin to slip. Should a teacher who is running a gaming "club" at a school imply that it is ok to let your grades slip and to continue gaming or should the teacher instead say that if you want to participate at this SCHOOL SANCTIONED gaming experience, you have to make your studies the priorty they deserve? Gaming can help to develop strong social ties with others who might be able to help study for school. But school comes first, most athletes and schools understand this, why gamers couldn't I am not sure.
I agree here. I wouldn't throw them out for doing badly though. I think more positive reinforcement is due in this instance, a report card full of A's and B's could gain a free magic item that gives some bonuses to certain class-crucial skills, access to some feat, or a just plain old monetary gain (say 50gp per A, 25gp per B, maybe higher at higher levels.).
We are gamers, and most of use have felt exclusion before, imagine if you were excluded from gaming. Scary thought!FH
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Sorry to disagree, I wouldn't use admission to gaming as a treat for good marks, otherwise they might start to get bad feelings about gaming. Some kids have really hard times at school and/or at home and gaming could be a safe haven for them.
What you could do however is giving them some bonus points for improved marks, or when they got bad marks and you know they tried hard, with which they can get special items, role-play boons or character options, a little bit like the RPGA. But you are the professional, you know what your pupils will react to best, just don't use gaming as the pedagogic stick. Just my 2 coppers.
All of the kids who game are students that I'm either teaching this year or I've taught in the past. I know what each one is capable of. My expectation is that they pass all of their classes if they want to play, just like any other extra-curricular activity. They all know this and agreed to those terms. On the afternoons we don't have the sci-fi club or do the Harry Potter reading circle I'm always in my office for at least an hour to tutor (not to mention all of the other teachers here for tutoring). If someone fails a class he really has no one to blame but himself. And in those rare cases that this has happened the student is still able to come to the weekly sci-fi club meetings, and to jump right back in the game when I hear from his teacher he's passing once again. In some cases that means he doesn't miss a single gaming session. The kids have all really been supportive of one another in this, too, and they're all now actively helping each other as homework and study partners.
That being said, if I had someone who was genuinely incapable of passing I wouldn't dangle the game as an inaccessible goal. I'd set a reasonable expectation and require it to be reached in order to play.
I do reward their effort in making high marks by giving them little things here and there. I keep a box of the extra D&D minis (anything from commons to a dragon or two) they can pull from for a good test, I'll occasionally pick someone up a dice bag or a new set of dice, and at the end of last year anyone who passed all of their state tests got one hardcover rule book they wanted. I'm not going to get that Lexis I don't want anyway anytime soon doing this, but in the big picture that really is so unimportant.
I'm not going to get that Lexis I don't want anyway anytime soon doing this, but in the big picture that really is so unimportant.
I salute you, sir.
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Is there anything else your group might need?
Anyone have an extra copy machine or a whole lot of paper? lol
We're doing alright. I've been able to get PHBs for everyone at this point, nice dice sets were last year's Christmas presents, I've been making copies of a page from this book or that if they needed a spell or something, and (don't tell anyone around here) scanning Item Cards to pass out so each player can drool over the sweet magic items his character has. The next step is to paint up some good looking minis for their characters, but that's more of a time thing than an expense thing.
I'm toying with hitting the school board up for a grant to build a library of books we could keep here at school (they're giving away $2500 grants right now) but I'm pretty sure I'll be laughed out the building. Maybe I should tell them the money is for a football team.
Height of awesomeness. *raises a mug o' coffee in a salute*
It seems to me that you should be able to apply for one of the grants, if you want to. You just need to put it into an appropriate business case. (Word choice matters - for example, I tend to avoid the term "game" in favor of "activity.")
"Role playing games are an interactive activity that encourages teamwork and problem solving skills as a group works to achieve goals. Using a fantasy world setting with dragons, goblins, and unicorns, the game requires participants to work together to identify goals, set priorities, and find ways to accomplish agreed-upon objectives. The nature of the activity requires that each participant 'share the spotlight' - that is, everyone in the group has an opportunity to excel at tasks which are associated with their role in the group. Thus, participants generally improve their listening and communications skills, and they learn to encourage others on their team.
"In the course of play, participants not only develop these important social skills, they also have many opportunities to practice their math skills, and to gain a greatly increased vocabulary through game terms (e.g. Charisma; initiative; encumbrance; unguent; zephyr; rhomboid). Young people who participate in role playing games tend to spend more of their time reading (in a wide variety of topics), which can be expected to result in a corresponding increase in reading comprehension."
NOTE: Think carefully about some of those last few comments - if anyone is likely to ask for citations or evidence, you might need to do more research. On the other hand, a large portion of the game involves "reading the various rule books in search of components that can help a participant to better assist his team" (or something like that), so just the fact of spending the grant on a bunch of books that will actually get used means the kids would be reading more...
You could even include:
"Participants are expected to maintain or improve their classroom performance. Because this activity is team-based and cooperative, participants in the past have routinely seen the value in forming study groups or otherwise helping group members to stay on top of their academic performance."
Consider this though. A student really likes gaming. He likes it so much that during his free time he spends discussing it on various web-sites instead of doing his homework. As a result his grades begin to slip. Should a teacher who is running a gaming "club" at a school imply that it is ok to let your grades slip and to continue gaming or should the teacher instead say that if you want to participate at this SCHOOL SANCTIONED gaming experience, you have to make your studies the priorty they deserve? Gaming can help to develop strong social ties with others who might be able to help study for school. But school comes first, most athletes and schools understand this, why gamers couldn't I am not sure.
If you put it like this, I have to agree, you are right. I just thought you thought banishment from gaming as punishment. Sure gaming is fun and is secondary to school, that is a lesson pupils should learn.
All of the kids who game are students that I'm either teaching this year or I've taught in the past. I know what each one is capable of. My expectation is that they pass all of their classes if they want to play, just like any other extra-curricular activity. They all know this and agreed to those terms. On the afternoons we don't have the sci-fi club or do the Harry Potter reading circle I'm always in my office for at least an hour to tutor (not to mention all of the other teachers here for tutoring). If someone fails a class he really has no one to blame but himself. And in those rare cases that this has happened the student is still able to come to the weekly sci-fi club meetings, and to jump right back in the game when I hear from his teacher he's passing once again. In some cases that means he doesn't miss a single gaming session. The kids have all really been supportive of one another in this, too, and they're all now actively helping each other as homework and study partners.That being said, if I had someone who was genuinely incapable of passing I wouldn't dangle the game as an inaccessible goal. I'd set a reasonable expectation and require it to be reached in order to play.
I do reward their effort in making high marks by giving them little things here and there. I keep a box of the extra D&D minis (anything from commons to a dragon or two) they can...
As I said, you are professional! ;-) And I hope it is awfully rewarding to invest that extra time and effort. Great job! And "beasting" is ok, kids have to learn that life becomes rough sometimes and might even be unfair (although I don't want to imply you might be). If they learn to weather the storm, they start to grow up and can be successful in life.
Well, if it hadn't been for D&D, I never would have passed high school math. I was a terrible math student, but when I got into D&D in high school, it made me better, not to mention faster, at almost all the math skills. Now, I'm in my 5th year of university, learning how to be the best writer I can be, and also learning to be a teacher. D&D IS A LEARNING TOOL, though we never had Pathfinder in my high school. My players, folks who did go to high school with me, do love Pathfinder, though.
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And "beasting" is ok, kids have to learn that life becomes rough sometimes and might even be unfair (although I don't want to imply you might be). If they learn to weather the storm, they start to grow up and can be successful in life.
I've said it so many times that I can call on a chorus of students to back me up now. When someone says something is unfair I tell him or her, "Life is unfair. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something."*
Now, while they know I'm saying that mostly in jest (like I said, I've worked with these kids before, and as we've established boundaries there's a good bit of playfulness I'm willing to indulge and participate in), I've told them that it might just be the most important nugget of wisdom I share with them, for the very reasons you've mentioned.
*Hey, they have no idea who or what I'm paraphrasing, and that just makes it even better to me. :)
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Well, if it hadn't been for D&D, I never would have passed high school math. I was a terrible math student, but when I got into D&D in high school, it made me better, not to mention faster, at almost all the math skills...
Me, too. The other players were all science and math club geeks; I was the only English dweeb. I had to learn differential equations to fit in. Damn scientist-wannabes...
"Life is unfair. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something."
Hey, they have no idea who or what I'm paraphrasing, and that just makes it even better to me. :)
I must be having a bad day . . . I can't place it.
"You mock my pain."
"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
::FacePalms:: Oy, I feel stupid now. How could I have missed that. It's inconceivable.
Director of Sales
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I must be having a bad day . . . I can't place it."You mock my pain."
"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
"You know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it... I'm swamped."
That made my whole week. Thank you for sharing and keeping the RP torch burning brightly.
"You know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it... I'm swamped."
"Try and get some rest...if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything."
Anybody want a peanut?
Hey,
PS, X could equal either 5 or 6.Now, a better one would be:
Valeros the fighter has a base attack bonus of +5. His Strength bonus is +2 and he is under the effects of a bard's inspire courage effect, giving him another +1 to hit.
If Karzoug hits Valeros with a ray of enfeeblement that reduces his Strength by X, Valeros must roll a natural 7+X or higher to hit Karzoug's 18 AC. Solve for X.
Which would only have one solution instead of two, and works even if his Strength is 15.
Just for the record, this still leaves the answer at 5, 6, or 7 (the original also had these answers). 5 or 6 if Str 15, 6 or 7 if Str 14.
There is only one movie that causes more random quotes when invoked than does the Princess Bride.
There is only one movie that causes more random quotes when invoked than does the Princess Bride.
And we are SO not going there. (It's a silly place ... ;)
Rock on Princess Bride, and Hats off to school gaming groups all over. Really. I know we're all a bunch of veterans with a vested personal interest in giving our favorite hobby some lovin' - but a little D&D is a good thing for a young 'un. A little math (kinda a lot of math in the old days, actually) ... lotsa big words ... logical thinking ... imagination ... heck, it's the reason I'm brilliant, and I'm sure that's true of all of us, right?
This, this makes me happy. So very, very happy. Huzzah for intelligence and creativity in our schools. Excellent work sir.
wow; thanks for you comments Iconoclasticscream; I am very interested in what people see in Pathfinder above other game settings other than it is new and I appreciate your comments, thanks for sharing. I am curious how big this club is and how many players or gm's will be involved and will this game be running simultaneously by more than one group?
"...I'll call for the Brute Squad"
"I'm on the Brute Squad"
"You are the Brute Squad"