Weird Idea #4: Full Dixit Improv

Disclaimer: This is not a new idea

The Concept: Completely No Prep Game

So I got to test out the "You are a Wolf" game I typed up in a haze of creative energy, and it worked really well. It was very improvisational, which I like. (It did drain me of energy and brain power after 3 hours of full improv) 

It did make me think about what other ways to do a full no-prep improv game. And I just got the idea that maybe we can do this with a deck of Dixit card. I'm not sure if Dixit is still very well known, but ten years ago it was pretty popular as a game (not an RPG), and as a tool for story-based RPG's. Some thought to use it as an oracle, others as a propt for inspiration. I'm thinking the latter, especially with something like Roll 4 Shoes (or Risus, or The Pool, or even Fate) which have room in character creation for interpretation.

This way we could get together, pull some cards from the deck (or go through the deck and choose them, not all dixit cards are equally easy to interpret for a specific situation) and interpret them. But due to the possibly only one-shot nature of these types of game, rolling with the random results seems more interesting (I have a lot of dixit sets, and they all got mixed up). While this could be enough of a prompt for this game, let's see if we can't make up a procedure to follow, maybe with some examples.

The Procedure

Karel, Steven, Esther and Malik come together to play a game. They come together around a table and go over their preferred safety procedures (For this, I suggest the ones from Microscope). Then they will play the game. Karel is the GM and tells us that we are going to make our own setting up on the spot. 

To do this there are two immediate options I can see working. Either he draws one card and everybody interprets one thing about it. This can be a close interpretation or some wild connection you make because of your own experiences, biasses and preferences. The other immediate idea is that everyone draws a card and uses it to fill in some setting details. In both cases there should be the option to pull more cards if you can no longer draw upon the card you have or think it doesn't suit you. This goes on until you have a little prompt and some idea of the setting that can inform character creation. This can happen in a freeform kind of way, or you could use a list of questions to answer. Something like this:

• Where are we?
• When are we?
• What is unique or special here?
• Who are we, generally? (what kind/type of people)
• What are we doing?
• Who or what will challenge us?

Write all of these on some type of setting creation paper. If playing FATE, that system actually has a worksheet for this where you can easily log this type of information. (For Fate, rather than this list of questions, use the form to ask the questions, generating the issues, the faces and places, etc.) While this is fun in itself, try to keep it relatively short, so you can get to the actual playing of the game.

Most of the players know the FATE system, and Karel has experience running it, so they all brought their Fate Dice, pencils, FP tokens and a pad of Post-it's to use for creating aspects etc. He suggests using the Dixit cards as prompts to fill out the empty spots on the Game Creation Worksheet. They draw their first card, and think about what questions it might answer, or what they can fill in just from the card.

The card in question

Karel immediately has an idea for the Setting/Tone field on the Setting Creation Worksheet. Magical Pastoral Steampunk. What that means exactly, we don't entirely know yet, but we know there will be steampunk elements, magic is involved with the steampunk and there is a pastoral feel to it, maybe even Ghibli-esque. Esther notices that the sheep are being transformed into clouds by the machine, and that that might be a problem or issue. The group agrees that this is probably a current issue, not particularly an impending one. Since they are only going to play one session, an impending issue might not be relevant, though if it comes up in the pulling of the cards, this might still give some interesting details. Steven then pipes up that a good place and a good face would be a farm and its farmers. They would probably be distressed. This card doesn't give a lot to go on for working them out, but we write it down as things to keep in mind. We agree that it might be time for another card. We keep this one on the table because it might link up well with another one, but we will pull a new card since not all is filled in yet.

The result of the first card with the second one displayed.

Malik drew it and immediately has an idea. "What is the problem at hand is that the farmer's son has gone on a journey to try and solve the problem, and the farmer is worried. Maybe he doesn't even know why his son has gone, but hey, he has a schoolbag with him, perhaps he never showed up after school? So maybe the 'Sheep are being turned in clouds' is the impending problem, but the current issue is the missing child?" Everybody agrees that this seems like a good idea. Their characters, whoever they are, will probably be searching for the child. Steven reminds everyone that one of the safeties people have written down is children being harmed, so we will keep in mind that the child will be able to be found in relatively safe circumstances, and make the changes to the sheet. Karel asks for a name for the child. Esther offers Jonathan, and it is written down. 

Looking at the faces and places, Jonathan is written down, but the aspect/issue at hand there needs to be filled in. What do we know about Jonathan? Is he brave or stubborn? Is he someone who cannot stand injustice? That last one strikes a chord and is written down. Looking at the other faces and places Steven pipes up again and asks, "So, who are we playing? Are we his family, looking for him or are we somehow hired to do this?" Karel adds, "Well, the pastoral Ghibli type story seems to suggest we're everyday people being thrust into an adventure, right? So, I don't think we're hirelings, at least not all of us. If someone really wants to play one, that is good for me, but I think we should be down-to-earth people. Perhaps his family (and the workers from the farm) or his classmates, having decided it's up to us, because it's clear the grown ups can't do it?" Esther likes this idea. "A mercenary being hired by a bunch of kids, trying to manage them and having more trouble with them than with the actual mission at hand seems like a lot of fun!" The previous faces and places are maybe no longer needed, is decided, and they are erased. And looking at the two cards, two possible locations for scenes are written down as they are clear on the cards. "A giant, thorny, beanstalk to the clouds." and "A cloud making-machine near Jonathan's farm." 

This could be enough to get started on Character creation, following the same method of using the cards to inspire what aspects to make. I think I'd like to at least make one more location, if not two, to have as possible scenes. I think I'd add that there's some type of proof that Jonathan's been near the cloud making machine or something, which as a GM I'd make up as character's are making their own characters. Then everyone would get new drinks, we'd go over characters and the Fate Trio together and get started. I might add that we'd talk about how magical everyone might be, but seeing as it's Ghibli-esque, probably the kids are not and the hireling might be, but doesn't have to be. We'd have to figure out what type of magic, which could also be informed by the cards, etc.   

The final result

The structure of the Fate Game Creation Worksheet really helps, and can really be used for any other ruleset. I'd be down to play this game for sure! There would be a part two "Character creation" to this blogpost, but it would just be more of the same, so I will end it here.

The Clubhouse Chronicles 2023 - Episode 4: With A Little Help Of My Friends

 The last one in the series, where the friends will need to work together to an end, just like the four friends of the lame man had to work together to get the man to Jesus, by making a hole in the roof!

Next week is fall vacation and with that a new chapter of the lessons will start, which means the Clubhouse Chronicles are done for now, after this session report. I do feel like, when I find the time, the energy and the focus, I could really turn this into something to publish. Unfortunately I rarely have all three of these at the same time.

Anyway, we only got to this one in one school, no fault to the player in school #2, but there was a day off, which meant that we couldn't get the game in before the story could be told, and playing the game only to remember it still after a week-long vacation is a tough call for the kid.

So we only got to close things off in the Movie Bunker, and the story of Tom, Tom, Tom and Toby (and more).

THE STORY OF TOM, TOM, TOM AND TOBY

The kids had made new characters and this resulted in us having a bunch of player characters with the same name, which I let fly because it was funny. And of course, gotta keep things moving if you only have about half an hour.

Tom (the human) was in the woods with Tom (the cat) and Tom (the dog). Unfortunately Human Tom was not very careful and fell from the tree. He broke his wrist and foot and needed to be helped since he could not move. Cat Tom and Dog Tom had a big problem, they didn't have hands to build something with or voices to call the doctor with. But Tom the Cat had an idea that had worked before (though I'm not sure I remembered to record it in these reports) The mobile Tom's raced to the clubhouse and Cat Tom used his claws to write the problem on the wall. For some reason he can read and write! 

Wilfried and Evy rushed ahead, as did Toby the dog. They called Doctor Apple who could not come because she was simply too busy. So they decided to build a sled-type thing that the dogs (Tom and Toby) could pull to the doctor. Working together they were able to get there just in time for the bell.

Happy End! See ya next year.

Weird Idea #3: You Are A Wolf

THE FIRST HOWL: In which a wolf howls at the moon to tell her what the general idea is.

Again a picture on social media sparks an idea in my weird noggin, and I can't stop thinking about it. I hope this post will get it out of my system.

I came across this on Instagram on the massive.archive account, which is all kinds of inspiring images.
Do check it out. Apparently the original quote is from ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés in Women Who Run With the Wolves

Anyway. Use this list as a general rule for how Wolves behave and decide how well your furry, toothy, wolfy self fits into that list, or how deviant from it you are. Use a very simple resolution mechanic for play. I suggest something like Roll 4 Shoes or 50/50 and tinker from there if need be. The system isn't the interesting thing here, these general wolf rules for life are. They, and your wolf's interaction with them will provide the drama.

THE SECOND HOWL: In which the wolf ask the moon what it means to be a wolf.

So you're wolves ... now what? Good question, here are some questions in return to help your group decide what they find interesting or important. Decide also if there are things you do not want to see and howl these at each other. Be safe.

• Are you all in the same pack? If so, who is the leader of the pack? What are your roles in the pack? If not, how do your packs relate? What is your history? Roll some dice or otherwise resolve it if no resolution can be found through discussion. The roles in the pack(s) might already be a good source of drama to begin a game.

• Where are you? Probably a forest of some kind, but is it dark, wild and rampant, or is it tamed and being encroached by humanity on all sides? Has a disaster recently happened, like a flood or a fire, that might have changed things or attitudes?

THE THIRD HOWL: In which the moon, from her high vantage point, howls back what's in the wolves' path, for well or for woe.

Let's be a bit fanciful and call the GM the Moon here. Place obstacles, dilemma's or other interesting scenes in front of the pack(s) to see how a fulfilling story emerges from this cocktail. Give them opportunities to live out the General Wolf Rules For Life in the picture, but sometimes make living that Wolf Live challenging.

1. EAT: Give them interesting prey, or sudden strange competition, or an unexplained abundance (or rumors of it further ahead).

2. REST: Make moments of rest opportunities to develop relations and deepen your understanding of the pack and its (perhaps changing) hierarchies. At times, make finding rest difficult, a price to be cherished.

3. ROVE IN BETWEEN: Where do they rove to, what do they find of interest, be it curious, beneficial or horrific? Give reasons to rove. Is the prey dying out? Is there sickness or disease? Maybe Human hunters?

4. RENDER LOYALTY: Give opportunities to the wolves to prove themselves loyal. Test loyalties. Where do your wolves' loyalties really lie?

5. LOVE THE CHILDREN: What does it mean to love the children? Protect the children? Prepare the children? Teach the children? How can things happen to the children?

6. CAVIL IN MOONLIGHT: Have a meeting under the moon where, as in a senate, discussion is had. Let different positions clash, let nervous posturing, growling and pacing take place as the grayest of wolves have differing stances or the younger ones want to let themselves be known. Wolfish politics.

7. TUNE YOUR EARS: Look out for danger or cries for help, from prey, pack or foe alike. Find things out. Hear what others have to say, and what they really want to say.

8. ATTEND TO THE BONES: Especially in the difficult times, when prey is hard to come by, attend to the bones, and eat their marrow. Dig deep and find the hidden strength. Attend the bones as well to sharpen tooth and fang, so as to be stronger and more deadly.

9. MAKE LOVE: Find a mate and raise a litter, make the pack grow. But what is the right mate, and are all pups good for the pack?

10. HOWL OFTEN: Let your voice be heard, communicate, even from afar. 

The Clubhouse Chronicles 2023 - Episode 3: The Disaster

 After the cleaning and learning adventures of last episode our friends find ourselves faced with a disaster, except, it's not them directly, but one of their friends who is in trouble. Will they help their friend in need? How will they do that? And will they stubbornly break out of my "real world slice of life setting" approach to this game? 

(The answer to that last question is yes. I guess slice of life needs some action or sci-fi at some points in its run.)

This week's adventure revolves around a BIG PROBLEM that someone they know (or they are currently not playing) has. They hear about it, and seeing the helplessness of their friend's situation, hopefully they will come to the rescue.

This will then be linked to the story of the Raising of Lazarus where our recurring characters from the last story (Mary and Martha) ask Jesus for help with their sick brother, who is also His friend. (What he did will surprise you!) 

There's a lot going on in this story, but we're focussing on friendship and helping your friends, which is kind of slightly besides the actual point of the story, but thus dictate the lesson plans.

THE MOVIE BUNKER: Missing Puma!

In the first school I gratefully reached for a problem that was created in the first session, where the hunters that hunted for Super Ryan the Puma had narrowed down the location of where he's at to the forest the Movie Bunker is in. Since no-one was playing Super-Ryan and took my chance and pounced on this problem (Kind of like a Puma. See what I did there?) and told them that they noticed that Super-Ryan's food bowl was staying full for a few days now...

Strange...

And so our friends, some of them new, head out to the forest to try and find him. They find tracks that lead to a cave and there find some hunters that are discussing how much a Puma's pelt can be worth. They split up and while some, including Toby the dog, distract the oafish goons, others go and get the Puma out of his cage! A big celebration is had!

THE CHURCH ATTIC: High Maintenance!

In the other school I had doctor Apple check in again on the pastor with the broken foot, only to have her car not start again. What a disaster! She's got more patients waiting on her! Apparently the solution is obvious to Waïl. "I call my robot motorcycle".

uhm... I guess? We didn't establish it beforehand, but this was a kind "Yes, And" situation.

Sure, he gets there, but now what? Well, turns out that the robot is a good mechanic, besides being good at "Going Fast", well, mechanic isn't a technical talent, but he rolled well. And working together with Waïl, he was able to fix the car and the doctor could visit her patients. She also got a giant cake to reward the helpers and a party was had (the ban on candy being lifted for once).

The Clubhouse Chronicles 2023 - Episode 2: The Visit

 After dealing with a sick or wounded friend in their clubhouse, and comparing it to how Jesus of Nazareth helped his friend's sick relative, we now move on to the next story, to compare it to another bible story.

This time they will get a visit from someone that can teach them some new skills, but the clubhouse is a mess and needs to be cleaned. How will they deal with it? This will link up to the story where Mary and Martha host Jesus in their home.

School #1: The Movie Bunker

First off, Super Ryan kept in hiding and did not see play this game. Instead his player made a new character, a bulldog called Toby. I guess humans are too boring to him.

Evy's character just played Evy again and I played Wilfried again, but only as a background character, since they are already with two and don't really need the third friend for things to be interesting. In this episode, having a GM-PC actually worked against me in this group, since it took some of the gravitas of the dilemma at the center of the episode away from it.

Anyway, Evy, being a singer, gets a letter that a famous Belgian kids-pop group called K3 wants to visit her at her clubhouse. They heard she likes to sing and want to hang out with her and maybe teach her some things.

The Pop-Group in Question

And so it happened, they came over, but the Movie Bunker was still a whole mess and could they host them when everything is a mess? They really wanted to come in though as they had heard rumors of an escaped Puma being spotted in the area. (A consequence I carried over from last episode.)

And so in they came and Evy and Wilfried started cleaning up while the pop-stars were distracted by the cute little doggy. There was a timer though, and an amount of mess to get through (I would change the numbers to make it harder now, in hindsight) which I made clear (the pop-group had a show later that day). So after a while Evy starts to hang out with them and they teach her some dancing and some other tricks that I don't recall, while Toby and Wilfried keep cleaning up. In the end Wilfried was the only one cleaning while Evy and Toby were learning new tricks (and talents) from the V.I.P.'s. 

See how it took away some of the burden. Maybe I should've let Wilfried get more upset that he ended up cleaning all alone at the end, but I was in the moment, and excited for my players...

I had planned to end it there, but they asked if they could go to the concert with the group, and that was such a nice finally. They were even called up the stage for the encore and did a number, that was televised, and gained the V.I.P. status for themselves. Great cheers were had.

I think in a next run, I should focus more on the dilemma at hand, making the choice actually hard for them.

School #2: The Church Attic

Everyone stayed the same here, characters wise. Tibo for the pupil and Grietje for me. Having a GM-PC here was good, as there would be no other possibility for team-work.

Here the visitor was a friend of Tibo, called Wail, who was in the same soccer team. They wanted to practice for the game the next day, but Wail (pronounce "wa-heel" I guess?) didn't have much time and the attic was a mess. And so they showed some of the things to the side, with Grietje doing most, so that Tibo and Wail could get some training in. They also learned from each other, receiving new talents and then they got to show them off in the actual soccer game, where I let the pupil roll dice for all the players on the field at once (I think it were 24 dice in total) versus me for the other team, which did not have their edge of practice (I think 22 dice). They clearly won, and rolling handfuls of dice was great fun (luckily I had a container to roll them in).

Next time, a very bad thing happens!

The Clubhouse Chronicles 2023 - Episode 1: In need of Medical Assistance

Wheeeeeeeeeeeelp! Time flew away from me and this blog was collecting cobwebs like nobody's business! I thought to post more in the vacation times, but I actually found a TTRPG group laying one-shots in a nearby city that I started frequenting reasonable regularly, and the rest gotten up by household catch-up and spending time with my lovely wife. But now I'm back, because I'm playing games in class again, and that's my main jam on this blog, so it's time for Actual Play Reports again!

We're starting this year with the one that works best, but that I still have to write down for other people to use. FRIENDS OF THE CLUBHOUSE. I changed the dice mechanic because I lost my heaps of six sided dice somewhere at the end of the last school year. But other than that, the concept is the same.

Some friends set up a club house, where they come together. The clubhouse itself, as well as the friends have a strength (or talent) and a weakness. When using your talent, you can use more dice and when working together, you can roll all your dice together and add them up. The story prompts are still related to the Bible story we will be working with after the game.

This year I work in (only) two schools, which means that there will be two clubhouses reacting to the same stories. The age of the players is 7-8 years old (for the children) and 39 (for the teacher).

The Clubhouses

School #1: The Movie Bunker (2 pupils, 1 teacher)

The clubhouse here is a Bunker deep in the woods. Its benefit is that it has a movie theater, while the disadvantage is that it's far away from everyone. The friends we start with are:

Evy, a black haired, black eyed girl who likes to wear pink. Her talent is singing and her problem is that she's not good at drawing.

Super Ryan (three guesses what the player's name is), who is a puma that escaped the zoo. His talent is hiding and escaping (I grouped this together) and his problem is that they're still looking for him.

Wilfried (everybody calls him Friet, which is dutch for french-fry) who is an extremely tall boy. His talent is cooking and his problem is being too tall for most things.

School #2: The Church Attic (1 pupil, 1 teacher)

The clubhouse is in the attic of the church. It has the benefit of having a playstation, but as a drawback there's no candy allowed. The friends we start with are:

Tibo, who has a talent for football (soccer) but is poor.

Grietje, who is good at investigating nature but is bad at reading and writing.

***

Episode One: The sick friend.

In which a friend falls ill or otherwise in medical trouble and the friends are asked what they do about it. This will be followed up in the following lesson hour by the story of Jesus healing Peter's sick Mother in Law. (Matthew 8:14-15)

In the first school there are two friends without my GM-pc, so I let my character fall ill while in the clubhouse of the bunker. Now what will Wilfrieds friends do?

As it stands, his human friend Evy (a shy player, red.) didn't know what to do, so Super Ryan, the Escaped Puma decided to go to the doctor, but he needed to be careful that he wasn't spotted by the Zoo people still looking for them. He was not very successful at that, and he needed to hide.

Meanwhile, Evy decided to try and call the doctor, as she was waiting and nothing was really helping or happening except for her making soup. She was able to reach Doctor Apple (Doctor Apple is a recurring character through the years of playing these games, red.) who came immediately.

Super Ryan seeing the lights go on decides to go home. I ask if he's sure. Does he know what's happening? He looks at me, thinking for just a heartbeat. "I can smell it, I think, that the doctor is going to our bunker." he says. "Oh, sure", I reply, with a laugh, and roll with it, since it actually helps us stick together.

He gets home but finds that being an escaped dangerous animal is a bigger problem than he would have thought, in this slice of life type setting. (He previously played a knight character in a Troika game. Different feel completely.) He finds that he has to hide to not scare away the doctor, while the doctor works on Wilfried.

Wilfried heals up and the doctor is befriended and is available to pick up as a PC in the next games. Due to rolling the maximum amount on a searching roll, Evy gained (or rather discovered) a new talent: Cooking.

Super Ryan's player decides that next game he'll want to play something less difficult than a Puma. Like a dog. We'll see how that goes (well, I kinda already know, as we've already played the second episode, but I can't seem to find the time to type these up).

In the second school there's only one pupil, so to encourage friendship and working together, I played along and let someone else fall ill. Since their clubhouse is in the attic of a church I had the Pastor working below, decorating the church with streamers and stuff and falling down from a ladder, hitting his knee, unable to move it. I ask the kid what the pastor's name is. "Mohammed", he immediately says. The screams of pain alert the characters Grietje and Tibo. They go down and try to help. 

Tibo runs for the doctor (with soccer as a talent he could roll 3 dice, but could not beat a 10, so he wasn't there very quickly, but not too late either) and tells her (Doctor Apple again) what happened (incorrectly, but not too much off the mark that she should bring the wrong stuff). They get ready to go over to the church.

Meanwhile at the church Grietje tries to find an ice pack or other materials with which to help the man, but she can not (and I could not roll high for the life of me) crawling into a corner and crying. This is what Tibo and Doctor Apple find when they arrive. Tibo tries to comfort Grietje while Doctor Apple works on Pastor Mohammed. While Doctor Apple is an automatic success since none of the involved characters are players, Tibo has to roll to try and calm down Grietje, failing miserably for multiple rolls, resulting in her running away, him going looking for her, visiting her house and looking with the parent, only to find her hiding and crying in an abandoned treehouse in the forest. 

Tibo speaks some questionable words of wisdom that I can no longer immediately recall, but imagine a 7 year old trying to comfort someone with words. Not always a success. But here, as the bell rang, I decided it worked. Both because we were out of time, and were veering off topic quite a bit in relation to the Bible story it's based on.

RISUS on the Borderlands - The Nobles version 0.1

This is a continuation of converting Keep on the Borderlands to RISUS and my own silly sensibilities. In this post I cover the third of a whole list of character options that fit the setting's sensibilities.

What would be the collective term for Nobles? A Delusion of Nobles? Am I getting too political?

The Noble

Nobles in fairy tales are examples or hero’s. Or they are trapped in a tower, waiting to be rescued. Or pampered to such an extent that they cannot sleep if there is a pea under a hundred mattresses (and this is seen as a quality!). Adventuring nobles are usually on some sort of quest. Someone in their family has fallen ill, and they need to go and get the doo-dah to fix it. Usually they are kids or teens. 

Another approach is the cursed noble. They mistreat an old lady or were not hospitable to someone who happened to be somewhat supernatural, such as a witch or a fairy queen. Now they have a curse on them that is supposed to teach them a lesson of some kind. These nobles are confronted with their own privilege.

For a more extended fantasy story the recovery of stolen land or a stolen or lost heirloom might be a nice angle. The humor here might be in how it was lost or stolen. Thie recovery of stolen land fits within the Keep on the Borderlands backstory pretty well.

Being a noble, training is likely, although the inept noble is a fun trait as well. The RISUS Companion has the option of Sidekicks and Shield-Mates, which could come in handy here. Something like this might be suitable to have a noble that’s good at nothing but has a little army of servants doing all the things for them. Although I think this might just work as a bunch of cliches describing the servants, which the text in the companion also gives as an option. It’s the “three halflings in a trenchcoat” idea, which is already a good cliche in general.

Another trope that might suit might be the exiled or dethroned noble. This has the potential to put the game in a story modus immediately (giving a kind of plot), so check with the group if that is what you want to do. It could also just be something as flavor in the background and barely come up. Another variation is a noble in hiding. (probably with one distinctive feature, like a weirdly specific shaped mole on a strange place.

In some high fantasy settings being a noble might mean that you have different blood, perhaps even magical. Discus with the group wether or not you want this, because this can get into some ideologically sensitive material. It might be therapeutic to laugh with it, or it might just be too painful to be confronted with people being different only through heritage, like some sort of Übermensch or something.

On the Borderlands here, the local nobles are from the keep. Seeing as I’m already setting the place up as a small, mostly abandoned barony, nobles will be hard to come by. 


• Most of them might be Knights from an order, come to support the cause. 

• The Marquis might have children old enough to adventure and help out that way. Family dynamics are good motivators here, and sources of humor (again, make sure anyone at the table feels safe enough to indicate when some things hit a bit too close to home). They make for great hooks.

• There might be some kind of court being kept, so some courtiers might fit in here. The humor here might be how unfit courtiers are in this rugged environment or how courtiers that come from this kind of environment are different than regular courtiers. The court will be very small though, except perhaps for the boatload of knights the Marquis keeps or hosts.

Example Noble Characters:


This princess can do her own plumbing, thank you very much!

Princess Margareta van Wildewoud en Steenbergen

Tale:

As per tradition Margareta received all the training a noble lady should before being locked into a tower for a knight to come rescue her and consequently marry her. She only went along with it because there’s no real use in fighting tradition, but as soon as she was in het tower she escaped on her own, beating the troll guarding the tower with her secret judo skills learned from a self-study book on the topic, disguised a book on floral arrangements. 

Now free and a noble in hiding, she roams the forests and hills of the area, having adventures that are more like her style. Although, she does still like embroidery as a hobby, but she uses it not as most nobles do, with flowers and cute sayings like “Live Love Laugh”. Rather she likes to embroider things she encounters in her adventures, like skeletons, and monsters, and ruined castles. And sometimes she cannot help but put one of those little sayings on there as well. Her favorite one is a raven picking a grub from a corpse with the saying “The Early Bird Catches The Worm” on it.

Hook:

Every time her cover is blown she’s being approached by young noblemen trying to win her heart in marriage. (Especially Prince Friedrich von Rumpshine who can’t do anything without the help of a servant) She’s really not into that idea. Unfortunately, hiding is difficult, because she has the stereotypical extremely good looks that princesses in fairytales usually have. In this case hair that’s actually colored like gold and a mole on her cheek shaped like a cute little heart. Her eyes are a deep vibrant brown with golden flecks in it. Also, cute forest animals tend to want to help her. Safe to say, it’s hard to stay hidden.

• Beautiful fairytale princess in hiding from suitors (4) - tools of the trade: Many, many disguises, fairytale beauty, cute forest creatures that want to help wether she wants it or not.
• Secret Judo Master (4) - tools of the trade: A go and black belt, a self-study book for judo disguised as a book about floral arrangements
• Adventurous Embroiderer (2) - tools of the trade: needle and thread, a thimble, small scissors, an embroidery hoop and a cookie tin to keep it all in.
• Wildernis Survivalist (2) - tools of the trade: rope, sleeping bag, knife, a trap, a fishing pole …

This is actually a pretty accurate description of Prince Friedrich

Prince Friedrich von Rumpshine

Tale:
Looking for the love of his life, Princess Margareta van Wildewoud en Steenbergen, Prince Friedrich  has set out into these lands, as he had heard that she’d last been seen here. Being extremely inept, this would normally be a fools errant, except that he’s followed by a very capable flock of servants doing every last thing for him, as befits his position. He has heard the declines to his declarations of love, but interprets them in such a way that he needs to win her over, that she’s just playing hard to get. (This has potential to get creepy, so check in with everyone on this. In my case I’m building in a failsafe so he will not be able to succeed at this.)

Hook:
While his servants follow him out of obligation, they would follow Princess Margareta out of adoration. As such they will never aid von Rumpshine in actively hurting her, leaving him without ‘tools of the trade’ to use his cliches. All alone, without any relevant skills to speak of.

• Pampered Noble Used To Getting His Way (4) - tools of the trade: A gaggle of cooks, washerwomen, butt-wipers, lace-tiers, etc. to do everyday tasks for the noble. Also money.
• S&S (2 dice): Billy Quiverstick
• Renowned Bard (4) - tools of the trade: A lute and a honeyed voice. Fame.
• Hopeless Romantic (2) - tools of the trade: half-finished poems, pick-up lines, impeccable flower arrangements.
• S&S (1 die): Iron Brünhilde
• Intimidating Bodyguard (3) - tools of the trade: Scary armor, scarred face, unnecessarily spiky weapon
• S&S (2 dice): A Council of Advisors
• Groveling Yes-Men (and -Women) (3) - tools of the trade: low self esteem, political ambitions
• Backstabbing Politicians (3) - tools of the trade: knives for backstabbing, trained orators, speech writing material
• S&S (3 dice): Alfred the Alchemist
• Smelly Alchemist (4) - tools of the trade: Stinky ingredients of dubious origin, vials, candles, mystical paraphernalia
• Knower of Obscure and Esoteric Things (4) - tools of the trade: Many strange and obscure books
• Frail old Man (1) - tools of the trade: Cane, weak back.

RISUS on the Borderlands - The Crafter/Trader version 0.1

This is a continuation of converting Keep on the Borderlands to RISUS and my own silly sensibilities. In this post I cover the second of a whole list of character options that fit the setting's sensibilities. 

So many trades to choose from! Such diversity!

Crafts- and tradespeople

The village has some craftspeople, but not as many and as specialized as there would be in the cities. The crafts needed for self reliance are probably available, like weaving, basketweaving, some light carpentry/woodworking, some light building/masonry, spinning, some simple dying of cloth or making of paint. People will make their own clothes. 

There will not be doctors, smiths, barbers, etc. Though they might visit as traveling tradesmen once in a while. These tradesmen are more equipped to handle the dangers of the road through strength or guile. 

There is an innkeeper and tavern owner, because every fantasy game village needs to have those. The same with a shopkeep. Though these tend to be NPC's.

Requirement: Tale
Craftspeople are not usually the adventuring type. Tell us what caused you to (1) give up the trade and (2) take up the life of deadly adventure. 
This will gain you an automatic extra die to spend, as per the optional rule.

Some options to work with: 

• You heard about a mystical dwarf that is the master of your craft and how he teaches his dwarfish crafting magic to those he deems worthy. You think you are worthy! 
• Your shop has been ransacked by bandits and ruffians, you have to start all over again, and preferably not there. 
• You heard that if you include the hair of a unicorn’s tail into a woven garment, the one you gift it too will fall in love with you forever. 
• You can’t see yourself doing this same thing for the rest of your life. You’ve got a midlife crisis! 
• Your child has been kidnapped and you’re going to get her back.

Keep in mind what these trades are and how they could be funny while writing cliches. We’re playing RISUS after all! What does the trade or craft imply? What is the stereotype? Do you subvert it or enforce it? Trade skills also have great potential to be inappropriate cliches while adventuring in dungeons and the like. How would a cliche be funny to use inappropriately?

A potter might always have dirty hands, making not leaving traces more difficult, but probably makes making a quick sign on a wall easier. A weaver might always be fidgeting with some thread. A traveling potion seller might smell a bit … off, but tries to hide it by covering themselves in perfume. They might take in their craft or be very humble about it. Etc. Etc.

---

Example Crafter/Trader Characters:

Here he is, just making pot after pot after pot in his little room.

Muddy Maurice

Tale:
Muddy Maurice is a middle aged potter that works with clay from the river. He goes and gets it there himself. Working with clay he tends to always be muddy. Muddy hands, muddy feet, mud stained clothes… He left his kiln and his pots to go adventuring because he felt like he got stuck in his work and wasn’t finding any more joy in it. He needed to try new things, experience new things, so as to get to the next level in his life. In other words, a midlife crisis. He traded some of his pottery for adventuring gear and set out for new experiences!

Maurice is a(n)…

• Muddy-Handed Potter (4) - tools of the trade: Kiln, Pots, Clay, Pottery Wheel, pottery workshop (also home), clay working tools, dirty clothes, probably also a shovel and a wheelbarrow.
• Surprisingly Graceful Swimmer (3) - tools of the trade: A medieval speedo
• Lifelong Bachelor (3) - tools of the trade: An iron stomach, problems with commitments, an aversion to settling down.
• Midlife-Crisis Adventurer (1) - tools of the trade: Backpack filled with adventuring tools he heard he needed, leather jacket, heavy club, crippling self doubt.

---

Hilde is unimpressed by yet another suitor...

Hilde

Tale:
Hilde is what they call an old spinster. This is because she is very good at spinning all kinds of yarn or thread, be it literally or figuratively. Also, it’s because she still isn’t married at age 30! It’s not like suitors haven’t presented themselves over the years, but rather that she was never impressed by them. Tiering of this she has set out to find a real man in the wildernis of the borderlands. She’s hoping that one of these adventuring men will be made of the right stuff to marry her.

Hilde is a(n)…

• Old Spinster looking for a Real Man (4) - tools of the trade: Yarn, Wool, thread, spindle whorl, judging eyes, high expectations
• Gossip Girl (2) - tools of the trade: good ears and a wicked tongue
• Creative Knitting Woman (3) - tools of the trade: Knitting needles, balls of yarn
• Beginning Adventurer (2) - tools of the trade: Heavy walking stick (good for whacking), backpack full of handy knickknacks, hopes and dreams

RISUS on the Borderlands - The Farmer version 0.1

This is a continuation of converting Keep on the Borderlands to RISUS and my own silly sensibilities. In this post I cover the first of a whole list of character options that fit the setting's sensibilities. 

Aren't they jolly and fun!

Farmers

Farmers come in all shapes and sizes. Some make things grow, others keep farm animals. Usually you know what to do with the produce. Most do a bit of everything, but some might experiment with specializing. Or at least dream of it, aspiring to one day be able to specialize in one thing. 

Requirement: Tale

Farmers are not usually the adventuring type. Tell us what caused you to (1) give up the life of a farmer and (2) take up the life of deadly adventure. 
This will gain you an automatic extra die to spend, as per the optional rule.

Some options to work with (but feel free to come up with your own): 

• You accidentally burned down your farm. 
• Goblins stole your favorite chicken, and you want it back. 
• You had a vision or dream where you were chosen for a great task. 
• Wolves have been eating your herd, and now it’s time for revenge. 
• Raiders have stolen your husband! 
• You heard that if you catch a Leprechaun you can force it to give you his treasure, and you like treasure! 
• You didn’t shelter an old crone, she cursed you and now your crops all uprooted themselves and walked into the woods, on their own!

Farmers are usually hearty and healthy, strong because of their work. Some might know letters and numbers and be able to write their own name. Farmers tend to be good with their hands, and be able to craft simple things for themselves (see craftsmen). Farmers might dabble a bit in fishing or hunting. Especially if some predators are out to get their chickens or their sheep. Music is also a thing that is liked, as well as turning their produce into tastier things, like bread, cheese and beer, which is used for another beloved activity, namely feasting. There are a lot of tropes about farmers, which could be used to fuel your cliche writing inspiration.

Most farmers will have one cliché at 3 max and all others below, since they tend to do everything on their own, being self-sufficient. You are required to have at least one cliche that has to do with farming if you want to play a farmer. It can be at 1, if you want to be a particularly bad farmer. Most have multiple farming related cliches though.

Optional Rule: Hard Working

At the cost of 1 die at character creation this character gets the Hard Working trait, meaning they can re-roll any 1’s, but only on any roll made for doing continuous hard and mindless physical labor such as lugging things around, plowing, mowing, chopping.

 

Example Farmer Characters:

Look any this handsome lad.
I'd wager he's still got all of his teeth.

Hannes

Tale: 

Hannes once was fishing, as he likes to do on a Sunday after mass. It was at this point that all of a sudden the face of a beautiful lady emerged from the water and told him that there are many treasures hidden in the caves that go up the road. Hannes explained that he couldn’t really leave his widowed mother all alone to look after the farm. The lady in the water told him that the treasure could make his widowed mother into a queen that could have anything she wanted. Hannes loves his mother very much and thinks this is a good idea, so he leaves right away.

Hannes is a(n) …

• Gullible but strong farmboy (3) - 
tools of the trade: Hopes and Dreams, farm, plow, rake, …
• Animal Friend, especially to his cow Mathilda (2) - tools of the trade: Big Heart, bag of treats
• Singing Harvester (2) - tools of the trade: knowledge of simple songs, scythe
• Handsome Lad (2) - tools of the trade: Rosy Cheeks, athletic build, sincere eyes, all of his teeth
• Recreational Fisherman (1) - tools of the trade: Fishing Line
• Hard Worker (see optional rule)

A bit like this, but imagine a spiked mace instead of a sword.
And imagine her being very clumsy in it.

Iron Anna

Tale:
Annabelle, being a buxom dairy maid, got a lot of attention from the soldiers, mercenaries and other adventurers coming through. This filled her head with dreams about the world outside and the riches and fame to gain out there. She would sings songs about it while dreaming about going on adventures on her own. One day she ran off with a mercenary called Iron Willem, and started adventuring for good. Iron Willem ended up dying, about right as they left the village. Such is the adventuring life. Especially if you made an enemy in the Bandit King like Iron Willem did. Annabelle was undeterred and kept going, seeking adventure and fame. With the tools that Willem left her in death she outfitted herself with re-forged plate armour (from Dead Iron Willem’s purse) and his spiked mace and set out to become Iron Anna. Which is where we are right now. She’s still figuring these things out.

Annabelle is a(n)…

• Buxom Milk Maid (3) - tools of the trade: Buxom Bossom, Milk Pail, Three Legged Stool, Wooden Shoes, a Cow.
• Bored Cheese Monger (2) - tools of the trade: Cheese Cloth, Bottle of Rennet, Cheese Press, a Cheese Cellar.
• Dreamy Songstress (2) - tools of the trade: Hopes and Dreams, A Good Voice.
• Optimistic Go-Getter (2) - tools of the trade: Hope and Energy
• Reluctant Housewife in Training (1) - tools of the trade: Broom, Apron, Rolling Pin, Cooking Knives, Family Cookbook, …
• Iron Clad Adventurer looking for Fame and Glory (1) - tools of the trade: Plate Armor, Spiked Mace.
• Lucky shots: OOOOOO

RISUS on the Borderlands - General Idea version 0.1

 Yup, I'm at it again, reworking the Borderlands, and again, using RISUS. I got inspired by someone talking about running modules for RISUS on the RISUS Discord Channel. And the idea didn't leave my head. I've recently read the RISUS Dungeonautica rules which were a big inspiration as well. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish this project, but I'm trying to convert what I like from Keep on the Borderlands to RISUS, with it's own kind of humor. To make something really feel like a RISUS interpretation I feel like it needs to be funny/silly. I'm not sure how good I am at that, but I'll give it go.

I'm keeping a list of sorts (kind of like a table of contents) below this post!

this is a castle, or a keep, if you will.

The Keep on the Borderlands - RISUS Edition

The Mark is a savage place, corrupted by Chaos, making men, beasts and nature itself give in to dark desires, like greed, violence and even stand up comedy!

Standing against this is the Marquis, castellan to the keep on these borderlands. With an iron fist she brings law to this savage land, protecting mankind from the evils that live in the dark. Helping her are her two advisors, one from the Church and one from the Realm of Fairy. They help her decide when to tighten her iron grip, and when to loosen it up a bit.

The Inquisitor from the church is a stern looking man that never smiles and always looks in judgement. The Fair Child is a 100 year old child trained in combat and magic alike. They also like to play tricks on people. They look like they are five years old. They are always smiling.

Changes to the original keep:

The outer keep becomes a little village built against the walls of the keep, which is now just the inner keep from the module. Most people live in farms between the road and the river, which are the main source of food for the Keep. This also means that there are less men at arms around. The keep is still built on a rock jutting out of the ground, but the rest of the village is built around the rock that’s jutting out that ground, negating some of that crevice-moat-idea. But if the rock jutting up is a Really High Rock (5) that should be okay I think.

 

Starting Characters

Characters are made with 10 dice like normal. The options from the main rules are all available, and required in some cases (see below). For characters choosing the Hooks and Tales options, it might be fun to work together and make up backstories that lead in the same direction, so that it would make sense for you guys to be working together as a party.

Extra Option: For a more authentic feel, some might think a 10 dice character might be a bit too heroic and advanced. For a more Zero-to-Hero kind of feel, start with only 5 dice and set the maximum of a cliché to 3. This is meant to be an option that is for the entire group, but if a specific type of player wants to challenge themselves more like this, they are of course free to take this all on their own, I guess.

Most people here are humans. These are human lands. Any other beings are either very rare visitors from the fairy lands or creatures of corruption. Or Wizards. Wizards are rare to come by. People that are not humans will have specific requirements for use as characters, such as a hook or a tale. Others might as well, such as the farmer, who generally isn’t the deadly adventuring sort.

• Humans in this area are either farmers, simple craftsmen or warriors of some kind (mainly soldiers, knights and mercenaries).
• There is a little parish here with a priest and acolytes which could provide that avenue as a viable player option, and traveling priests are a thing. 
• The simple people here are living in tough conditions, which probably makes them quite tough on their own, compared to the ones living in the more tamed regions of the kingdom. This might provide hunters, not only of common animals, but of things that others might just think lives in make belief.
• Sometimes some people here are born a bit different. Tainted by the corruption of chaos, or influenced from meddling by the fairy lands.

Currently Available (links open in a new window):

The Farmer

The Crafter/Trader

Weird Idea #2 - Vocalizing Choruses

Michael Hartstein’s “When a Choir Sings, The World Stops and Listens.”

I'm here again with a Weird Idea nobody asked for. Once more it's based on music. I was recently pointed at some strange music group called A Room Full of Teeth and decided to give them a listen on Spotify. I loved it. It's Fantastically Weird, being all vocalizing with maybe some synthesized chords in the background once in a while, but mostly just the voice doing weird stuff, like Tibetan throat singing and Yodeling. 

So I'm listening and my imagination starts running, GM brain activating. This sounds sufficiently creepy to be something to put on when in a strange different place: 

A haunted mausoleum, where all the corpses start singing nonsense, filling everyone with dread, destroying sanity room by room, forcing steel checks, whatever your system. If you fail, the haunt takes control and you join the song ... forever.

A eerie fairy forest where the voices are heard, but not found. (Or what would happen if you did find them?) Some strange type of fairy music magic that tries to capture you, plays with you, for some incomprehensible reason. What do you need to do to escape? Sing a counter-song? Hit the right notes? Hide from any sound? What happens if you emerge from the captivity? Can you even still stand sounds? Have years passed, or just mere seconds? Did your voice change or get stolen?

Inside the dream of a bard or minstrel or other music mage. All the voices are different aspects of their inner self, vying for control, sensing around. Some might even be the spells themselves, in a "Vancian" way. Or is this how a bard finds their special songs, transported via musical trance to a place where songs are real and need to be captured, or understood, or translated to sheet music. The amount of success with which this is done defines the strength of the musical spell?

Anyway. This was this edition's weird ideas.

De waarde van de grote schat: The Third Game.

I drew out the path as we went along.
Kinda forgot about it at the guardian.

 

So, last Wednesday I played "De waarde van de grote schat" with the kids from my third school. These are two kids. It's the first time that they chose option B: to go treasure hunting on behalf of someone else, helping them with the hunt. I was exited for this, as I could try out my twist ending. Also, the rate of selfishness/altruism so far is 2/1. Definitely need a bigger test pool to see what the average would be.

So they named their characters and their friend. I asked who it was. Did they know them or was it a stranger? Did they grow up with them? They decided that he was a very trustworthy friend. They gave him a silly name, since they had no inspiration for a regular name. Thus we met Karboeb. (I had to keep a straight face here because it's pronounced "Kar-Boob".)

The also started by asking wether this was in modern day times or in the medieval times. I told them we could decide this on our own. The choose the medieval times "because that's more realistic". I am still baffled by that leap of logic.

The Countryside

Leaving the unnamed village (I should let them name it themselves, but that might eat up precious time. Maybe I should come up with a name.) they traversed the countryside where they heard cries for help and saw smoke in the distance. A farm was on fire. They decided to help.

Design note: I wonder if they would have done so if there was a timer of sorts, or something else to make the choice harder. Like competition. Maybe something like Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket.

A quick draw up, which my target audience might not think of to do.

They arrive on the scene, which I quickly improvise and draw up. Giving it three buildings on fire: The main living quarters, the stables and the shed. The farmers where an older couple who they could not understand in their panicked heavy dialect. They were pointing to the main building, but the kids were like "We need to save the horses!". As I asked them if there would be people in the main building, they reacted that if there were people inside the older couple would have already tried to save them.

It was then I realized this group was definitely smarter than the kids I usually play with.

Since I was improvising I could roll with it. So I asked them how they would try to put out the fire. They asked if there was a well somewhere. Or different water somewhere.

Yup, definitely the smart group.

So I rule that with the five of them (the two PC's, their friend and the two farmers) they would be able to make a bucket chain and ask them which house first. As said before, the stables. Because horses! After the stables the choice was the main house or the shed. They asked what was in both. I told them the house is where people lived and there might still be people in it. The shed is where the food is.

They actually almost went for the shed first, arguing that they would have heard it if someone was in need. So I suggested they roll to see if they could hear something. They heard the faint crying as if from a baby. Well, plans changed quickly. The baby's life was deemed more important than the food, and they went to douse the fire in the house. Actually one of the PC's who had some skill in strength didn't want to waste time with water and kicked in the door, action hero style and found not only a baby, but a teenager that was passed out, who had to be on the way to the baby. He was able to carry them all out while the rest managed to douse the fire.

I then cranked up the fire in the shed and they got it out as well, but not without some lost food, which they were sad about. They got rewarded with two horses though! (they got a choice between horses or food) 

Teacher Note: I wonder if they thought they could figure out a way to save everyone and everything perfectly? I wonder if this scenario would be too cruel if things would go wrong with their rolls?

Design Note: I was able to improvise this quickly, because I am used to the hobby. My target audience are protestant and evangelical teachers though, who for the most part will not even have a frame of reference for this. If they've heard from it, it will most likely be in a negative way. So they will not be used to this. It would be a good idea to make each of these events actually prepped instead of just a prompt, for those that want to use it.

The Forest

So then they went to the forest, where brigands jumped from the bushes. "Your money or your life!", they shouted. Having previously discovered how smart she was, one player's character pretended like she was gonna give them her money but then patted her coat. "I could swear it was here! I must have dropped it over there!" They fell for it and went back to where she pointed. Instead of just riding along, the strong character which already saved people from a burning house snuck after them and with a branch knocked them both out cold. Then they robbed the robbers, finding gold jewelry and the like and taking their weapons and distributing these amongst themselves, reasoning who would be best with what, etc. This dealt with they went on ahead to the cave.

The Cave

Arrived at the cave they find that the entrance to the cave is very narrow. They cannot take much with them, but as established, they are too smart for me. They take some time to build a shelter for their horses and camouflage it. Then they tie their horses to it so they are safe while they go spelunking. I told them they could not get through the narrow opening without leaving everything behind, but they retorted with ... "What if we tie it all up in a package and throw it through first?" I mean, I gotta reward their cleverness, so sure. And then I ask them to roll to see how fast they are. They are just fast enough to see a little mantake the pakket and run. Immediate pursuit. Being able to capture the little gnome by the feet right as he dove into a hole they fish him out and grab the bag back. They then buy his services with a necklace, and proceed to the guardian.

Design Note: Smart kids vs. improvisation... I resort to standard fantasy and fairy tale, which I'm trying to avoid in the finished product. I think having it be a creature like a fox or something would've been better. Also, man, bundeling their stuff up and throwing it through. Nice one. I wanna just play some OSR sandbox stuff without any agenda with these kids, but that's not an option currently.

Teacher Note: Impressed that they thought out of the box, but it kind of defeated the purpose of the exercise. At least they had to leave behind their horses, so I'll take that. I might have to have a little think to make this more enforceable. I want to make it kind of like the idea of the "eye of the needle gate", because they should have to think what they are willing to sacrifice to gain entrance.

The Guardian

Here they met a fully armored knight who opens up his visor to reveal, a skull! *GASP* I immediately asked if it was too scary (I can change it if it's too scary), because they reacted more strongly than I expected. It turned out to be okay once the undead knight revealed that he could only let them pass if they would win a game of Rock Paper Scissors from him. They were up to the task and reached for their dice while I made a fist and started the rime on my hand. "Oh, we're really playing it?!" And it was fun. Which is also what the skeleton said, as he hadn't been able to play for the last 100 years. One player lost but the other won, and the knight opened his chest armour and from between his ribcage retrieved a golden key.

Design Note: Again, better to have these things prepared. I definitely went too hard into the fantasy here, and somehow hadn't foreseen their reaction to a living talking skeleton. The document so far just said guardian. I'd used a dragon in the two previous ones, but wanted to try something else. I think this should be some kind of fantastical encounter though, as it's the end. Maybe I should make it into a giant statue that comes to life to challenge the players? Or a mirror, where they have interact with their own reaction or answer some difficult questions or something. I'll have to give this a good think.

Teacher note: DnD and videogames make you forget how actually horrifying of an idea undead are, even in their simple form. Be careful with falling back on fantasy tropes, especially with an audience for which it aren't tropes yet! Again as well, fantasy and my target audience don't always mix. So the above idea of "your own reflection" might be more apt. It could also be a mechanical thing where they have to solve a puzzle, like a maze or a sudoku or something, but I dunno about that. Sudoku will be too hard I think.

The Treasure

All of a sudden they did not trust their trustworthy friend any longer. They thought he was involved in some dark stuff with this skeleton knight and such. Once the friend asked if he could please have the key because it had been so long since he'd seen her, the players went "Her???" Wait a minute. They asked him to explain, which he did. A wizard had kidnapped his girlfriend and put a curse on him where he couldn't tell about it. The players started testing this story (which I was coming up with on the fly) by asking if they knew about this. Well, they knew he had a girlfriend, and now that they thought of it, they hadn't seen her for a full month or something like that.

Design Note: Again with the fantasy tropes. This is not something I can write for my target audience. These are also the consequences of my previous choices, making me dig myself in deeper and deeper. It's harder to foresee something here though, and the kids define their relationship with their quest giver themselves. Maybe I should make it a more formal statement. As with the Golden Ticket idea. Not sure.

Teacher note: So smart again! Just mentioning her instead of it and they immediately caught on to it. The reveal worked amazingly. Not sure this will work for all of them all the time, but maybe it doesn't need to. You can always increase the revealing. I might also be underestimating my other students a bit. Not sure. There are some very distracted kids there.