For the past few
weeks, I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons with Chucky, the kid I tutor
after school on Saturdays. I have had a lot of great sessions with Chucky:
reading Asimov’s Nightfall; talking about dystopian fiction like 1984, Fahrenheit 451; having Chucky
teach me about Chinese history (especially the juicy bits about the many
dynasties and the atrocities of the cultural revolution - Mao’s tyrannical doing);
getting a better understanding of how Chinese education works (for better and
for worse); reliving the cruel nature of the SAT through the many reading and
grammatical exercises we’ve worked on; working on innovative essays; chatting
about Yu-Gi-Oh cards; playing with legos and robots; comparing our vastly
different cultures; learning not for the sake of learning, but for the passion
of better understanding that which we shall never understand - the existential
angst of the godless man searching for meaning past dogmatic slavery. This past
Saturday, Chucky and I completed our final session in our first installment of
DND, which I hope we will continue soon. Starting off, this is a story I had
Chucky write for introducing his character: the enchanter wizard Charles (and
as you will be able to tell, Chucky used the plot from Hellboy to make this
story)
“Something about the wizard Charles
His name is Charles, he was born in the world of D&D.
Charles once worked for a famous designing company, he is
especially good at designing and building complex machines.
Unlike his colleagues, he believes in the power of magic spells
and magic tools. Sometimes, he would put some spells into the
machine, and lucky, the machines worked well. He became very
famous, known as “the wizard mechanic”
However, war started, the emperor asked Charles to design a
war machine, a kind of robot that’s nearly impossible to destroy,
so he did, he created “The golden army”
With the help of the golden army, the emperor won the war.
worship the god of greedy.
After 5 years, he came back for revenge. He destroyed the
golden army and he murdered the king. In the end, he left the
city, put on an old robe, and started to wander in the world of
D&D.
Charles is very kind, and he
always helps others, as long as
he can reap profit. “
I showed Chucky a map of what we would be conquering and he built a lego set so we could move the legomen around and about:
I showed Chucky a map of what we would be conquering and he built a lego set so we could move the legomen around and about:
Our mission
consisted mainly of speechcraft, an objective of finding three ancient keys
which required Charles to fool the heads of the family into giving him their
ancestor’s relic. To be fair, I am pretty laid back in how I construct my DND
narrative (note: I use the 2nd edition rulebook as my guide, but at
the end of the day, I make the fucking rules and what I say is the god damn law
of the decrepit land). By the beginning of our final mission, Charles obtained
the key from the Megnaniums and the Crobats, and only had left the key from the
Sunfloras (note: these family names are taken from second generation pokemon…for
those who can’t follow such complex allusions): the gender neutral family whose
head, Rainbow, was very confusing to Chucky because he did not understand how
someone could identify as genderless. Here is my write-up for our final
mission, that was used alongside my flawless improvising.
Final
Key
-Meet Pyro next to the monument. Wants to sell lighter fluid at a
ridiculous price. Can roll (>9)
will lower the price to a quarter. Guards approach as sale goes down; Pyro runs
away with the lighter fluid and money. Can roll (>18) and they will let you be. If you fail this interaction:
-In the prison,
talk to the prisoner who goes by the name of X. He says they can team up to
take down the guards. You can talk to a guard and convince him to give you a
key out (>13). If this doesn’t
work, the other option is to lure the guard over to the cell and attack him
through the bars and take the key from his unconscious body. As you get to the
gate to get back to the city, a guard stops you saying you don’t look familiar.
Either roll a (>10) or you must
run away and go into the sewer. Down there talk to the hobo and he will help
you with how to get back to the surface.
-When free or if you avoid the prison encounter, head to the fields at
night and begin dousing the crops with lighter fluid. Cid Meganium will
approach you from behind and tell you to leave or you will have to fight him.
You can talk him down (>12) and
if this does not work you will need to kill him and throw his body onto the
crops before burning. Drop the match and set the fields ablaze…running away for
the night. When it is morning, go back to the Crobats and report what you have done.
From here, he will give you the final key. Head out to the lake and you will
notice guards spread throughout. Try to hide from them. Talk to a man carrying pots
and with (>7) he will let you
blend in with him. If you can’t do this, your other option is to go through
back streets and find your way to the lake. Once at the lake, you will see Ted
and he will help you put the keys together.
Battle
Upon the assembling of the keys, four beasts will rise up from the lake
and engage in battle. Their stats/ attacks are as follows (note: Charles takes half magical damage if he rolls >11)
Ally: Ted – Summon 1 ~ Goblins
(1d6 for quantity) HP: 4 / AC:10 / Thaco:20 / 1d4
-Summon 2 ~ Ogres (1d4 for
quantity) HP: 8 / AC:8 / Thaco:16 / Attack:1d6
Enemies:
·
Red Draconous
/ HP: 15 / AC:10 / Thaco: 20 / Melee attack: 1d4/ Spell (capacity:6) : Fireball
~ 2d4, plus 1d4 firee damage for 3 consecutive turns (if a failure in saving
throw)
·
Yellow
Disease / HP:15 / Ac:10 / Thaco:20 / Melee attack: 1d6 / Spell (capacity:3) : Lightning
bolt ~ 2d4 damage plus paralyze for one turn (if failure in saving throw)
·
Blue
Diamond / HP:15 / AC:10 / Thaco:20 / Melee attack:1d6 / Spell (capacity:3) :
Frozen bolt ~2d4 damage plus freeze for one turn (if failure in saving throw)
·
Black Dick
/ HP:30 / AC:6 / Thaco:15 / Melee attack:1d12
Aftermath
After defeating
the monsters, Ted and Charles descend further into the lake and come across a
giant door. Charles opens with hesitation and finds an ancient tomb inside. In
the middle of the tomb is a colossal sarcophagus and the y take back the top
and look inside. There is a mummified body wearing a crown holding a golden
staff decorated in rubies and sapphires. Ted takes it and points it to Charle’s
face. This man was put here long before
the fishermen who formed this city were here. This corpse before you was once
the most powerful wizard in the land and he ruled with an iron fist. All the
people of our ancient world were his servants and they responded to his every
command. No man has attempted to ravage his tomb, either from fear or lack of
knowledge. I came across the story of this man’s staff from an elder, who I
murdered immediately after so he would tell no one else. That man was my
master: Sorgan Decaprio. He did not die in vain though, I shall assure you of
that. I’ll be taking this if you care for your well-being. Normally I would
take your life, but I like you kid and I think you have some potential. I hope
you can harbor your anger from this betrayal and one day use it against me for
an epic battle. For now, I will use this staff and harbor its forgotten powers
hoping to rule this land for time to come. The end of times is upon…forever,
and after. A flash of light,
darkness soon following.
Charles awaken in
a bed and see food next to his person. As he starts eating, mayor Ivonov
appears from the door; Charles looks around and notices there are no walls
around him…this is a destroyed house. This
is all that’s left of my once fair town. Sir Ted has struck down all the people
houses, just leaving me so I could attend to you in this hollow room until you
awaken. There is the city of Assad south of here and he left two horses alive.
WE will travel there together but we must make haste; Ted’s power is increasing
rapidly and I’m afraid we were too late the moment he put his hand on the rod.
What compelled you to trust such a foul man?
They ride off into
the sun, and they head for Assad. They soon come across a giant forest and
Ivonov looks back at Charles. The city is
on the other side of here, we must battle through the find the entrance. There
ae many creatures in there: both friends and enemies. Are you prepared my
child?
We had a great
campaign for what it lasted, and if I choose to continue Chucky in the fall alongside
my university gig, we will continue the story where we left off. For the next
monh, we will read/analyze A Streetcar
Named Desire.
I
also used the DND model at my current employment; a presentation for the
students’ parents. The realization I could mold such a creation dawned upon me
the bus ride to school (note: certainly coffee and god’s green land assisted this
manifestation of greatness). I jammed together both a simple board game of
rolling dice for movement, same concept as snakes and ladders, with the
level-gaining and combat of any traditional RPG. Here is the image of the
completed project I showcased:
Hard to read, but
here is the basic set-up:
-First: I split the kids into two groups. They roll a D20 to determine
who goes first.
-Second: losing team asks the opposing team a question (one that comes
from the school’s selected texts because I am a fucking corporate slave the
time being) and the opposing team answers.
-Third: whoever answers rolls a D20: this accounts for movement
-1 equates to no
movement
-2~12 you roll a D6
to determine movement
-13~19 you roll 2D6
to determine movement
-20 you roll 3D6
to determine movement
-(note: at one point, I had parents roll to determine movement and
the response from both student/parent was too fucking hilarious for words. Chinese
kids never talk back to their parents, but in such a heated debacle, these kids
let loose if their parents rolled jackshit)
-Fourth: upon moving they receive one of five options
-Nothing, as it is
-Experience boost
-Roll again
-Lose a turn
-Teleportation
-Fifth: when someone gets to the end of the line, the winning team
gains a 5000 exp boost and the game restarts with the losing team going first.
-Sixth: at the conclusion of the game (when class time commences), the
two teams fight, and they roll aD20 to determine who strikes first. Their stats
are as follows (note: level 2 is at 500 exp and every corresponding level is
the previous level multiplied by 2)
-HP: 15 (+3 for
each additional level)
-Attack: 1d6 (+1d6
for each additional level)
-Defense: 0 (+2
for each additional level)
And that’s the
conclusion of introducing RPGs into the classroom, something I would have
thought unimaginable in the learning environment regardless the practicality of
implementing the learning into the students. I just hope I will be able to use
this in my graduate seminar come this
Fall. Cheers friends, and may the force be with yah.
