Making a game/adventure: "De waarde van de grote schat" or "The Value of the Great Treasure"

I'm working on an educational game to share along colleagues. This is gonna be in Dutch, but there's already been interest in an English translation, so I will work on that eventually. It's not going to be all that hard to talk about here, since I can just give the big idea in a lot less text in English because you guys already know how story-games and roleplaying games tend to work, and what is expected from everyone in these games. My target audience for this most likely does not so more words are needed. More on that later on.

The Basic Idea

The basic idea is that the kids ages ten to eleven think about and experience the concept of value through storytelling play using their characters and imagination. The teacher will throw their characters into situations that will either make them think about the value of things or makes them choose between things. These choices might be difficult. There might be emotions. This is good, and these can and should be talked about in a follow-up lesson.

The System

The system used is my go to for quick play: Roll for Shoes. This is a very easy system, which makes it easy to run quickly. The rules on the homepage of Roll for Shoes are very short and easy to understand ... if you're already familiar with roleplaying games. To explain these from people who have traditionally been scared away from roleplaying games takes a bit more effort, although I seem to have been able to keep it to one page. (though I think I'm gonna visualize it with icons and little illustrations, making it more of a graph with arrow indication the general procedure and other arrows pointing out of that to show consequences; like gaining XP, gaining skills, etc.) I also already have a Dutch translation of the system in the works for which I'm just making illustrations, but it's a bit longer and not specifically geared towards teachers. It has some extra whistles and bells that I thought up that are not needed here.

I'm also not entirely sure if Roll for Shoes is the way to go or if I need to try an approach like Fall of Magic, where there are no dice or GM-type storytellers. Not sure. I think it would quickly run too long, and I'm not sure wether the kids are adept enough storytellers to make it interesting enough with a system like that. I'd have to try and run Fall of Magic first though to see how that goes. I think it might also make the game take longer. So for now, we stick with Roll for Shoes, since I know it and my students know it.

The Adventure

The adventure is a linear path from location to location. This is clearly stated in the beginning of the game. There will be choices to be made in these locations, and even at the start. This will make things interesting, and might even, if the storyteller is comfortable with it, lead you off-route for a time. But basically the player characters are looking for a treasure. To get there, they need to get from their village to the treasure. To do this, they have to go through some locations.

Every location has some prompts written as suggestions for events to play through, but you can make up your own. These events have to somehow make us think about value or what it is the player characters value. The incredible time constraints on the game for using it in class makes it so that if you try to play it all in one lesson, you will need to skip some locations, or skip through them. If you are able to have two lessons back to back it's already a lot more doable to explore each location.

I have veered away from a traditional fantasy setting because of the trouble some evangelical and protestant teachers might have with using mythological, fairy-tale or fantasy elements.

Starting Location: The Village

Here the characters start. I let them choose wether they are searching the treasure for themselves or at someone else's request, helping them locate the treasure. This will come back to the end location as to what this treasure is. 

This is also a first choice to see what they'd think is most valuable: helping someone out, or gaining a thing for yourselves. In my runs of this game, both classes took the first option, looking for treasure for themselves.

Travel location 1: The Fields

Here pastoral scenes invite to choices of value. Here humans are still around. Simple folk. But there are also dangers on the open road. The scenes I provide are: 

1. An invitation to a feast by some farmers. Possible detour from their quest. Possible consequences from this deviations, both good or bad.
2. Cries for help and smoke in the distance. A farm is on fire. Will they help or ignore it? How much do they value their fellow man?
3. A wounded traveler on the ground. They cannot get up. Might make them think of the parable of the Good Samaritan, but more likely they'll have forgotten all about that lesson. Will they help him or is their quest more valuable?

Travel location 2: The Woods

Here you are no longer in civilized lands. People you meet here do not want civilization or have been expelled by it. Or you could meet creatures of the forest.

1. A strange hermit offers a trade. The players food for ... something (strange) that they either collected or made. A doll made from a pine-cone, a four leaf clover, a rope made from their own hair.
2. A fox is trapped in a dangerous trap. Will they save it? How valuable do they think saving a fox is?
3. Brigands jump from the bushes! "Your money or your life!" How valuable do they find their own stuff? Are they willing to give it up, or are they willing to fight for it (or, as in the first time I tried this, run for it)?

Travel location 3: The Cave

You enter a weird world here, where things are vastly different. There is no light, there is no vegetation. Cold stone and the promise of treasure.

1. Cavemen from the depths of the earth want to know if you have anything from the surface with you. The general unavailability of things from the surface makes these very valuable for them, making them offer up all the riches of the earth. A fist sized ruby for a dandelion, a sac of gems for a feather from a real bird, etc. How will the players react.
2. Moaning for help from a nearby cave. Someone is trapped in a gigantic spider's web. (TW for some players. You do not need to do this if it's too scary!) Will they risk getting caught themselves or getting the attention from the gigantic spider that made this? Will they just pass them by. What would they do different if this was in the way of their path to the treasure?
3. A very narrow way through. You'll have to leave something behind to get through. Are you willing to do that? What will you choose?

End location 1: The Guardian

Something is guarding the treasure. They will only let you pass if...

1. You win a game against them: (Uno, thumb wrestling, arm wrestling, rock-paper-scissors,... Play the actual game.)
2. You tell a story about an emotion. It has to have a lesson.
3. You do a dance in the dark. (if in a location that allows for this to happen safely, blindfold them and let them dance to a song)

End location 2: The Treasure

You gain access to the treasure. If you went out to find the treasure for yourself, describe it together. If you helped a person to find the treasure, there's a twist! It's not a thing, but a person!

So far I've only played it twice. I've also have some thoughts on how to improve it. Add a timer somehow, either a rival treasure hunting group or the person hiring them is in a big hurry, something like that. I wanna make some little illustrations for the locations, maybe have the locations on separate cards, or have it all on a big scroll. Not sure.