Category Archives: RPG Teaching Plays

A 2-player game

BBF: The Day The World Burned

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The second RPG session I ran during the Geomatics Carnival 2018 at UiTM Arau was DwD Studios’ BareBones Fantasy. This session had even less prep time than the Star Wars session I ran earlier in the day. However, it turned out to be one of the most hilarious sessions I have ever had he pleasure of gamemastering in recent years. BareBones Fantasy The Day the World Burned The day began like another day for the two adventurers the elven thief Mus and human warrior Kazuma (both at Rank 1) and their hireling Aqua, an archer, who were travelling through the wilderness on horses. Upon Kazuma’s shoulder was his faithful hawk. The Blood in the Standing Stones The light woodlands ended and a wall of dark twisted trees and dense thickets blocked their path. They were considering what to do when they heard a scream from beyond the wall growing before […]

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Dice Ibegon

EOTE: Rescue on Crait

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The first RPG session I ran during the Geomatics Carnival 2018 at UiTM Arau was Fantasy Flight Games’ Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion. The players, who were UiTM students, used the Legends of the Galaxy pregenerated character sheets I used in class previously. Edge of the Empire Rescue on Crait The YT-2000 light freighter Sitichepa (I’m… sure this is an in-joke between the players) dropped out of hyperspace off the Crait system. Aboard the ship are a group of rebel operatives in search of fellow rebels whose ship disappeared near Crait: the star-pilot who was born and raised on space freighters and barges Kreepo, the sharp Twi’lek engineer Byt, the droid assassin FLAM-O who was bristling with weapons and Malea the Force sensitive warrior who had a lightsabre on her belt. Kreepo brought their ship closer to the desolate planet so Byt could scan its surface for signals. The Twi’lek […]

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FTK4

SWD6: A Hot Day in Mos Espa

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I brought West End Games’ Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game 2nd edition Revised and Expanded with me to class on Monday. There was time for me to run an hour of Star Wars RPG for my students, so I mustered together all the ones who would speak and ones who would take notes on behalf of their characters, which meant two students per player characters. The students used the pregenerated characters I made for last semester‘s gaming session in class but they named their own characters themselves. Star Wars D6 A Hot Day in Mos Espa Dramatis Personae (Pregens): Creed Kenobi – Failed Jedi Dini – Kid, Creed’s apprentice The Mighty Jedibo – Bounty hunter Wakanda – Outlaw Uvuevuevuenoenoonosac a.k.a. “Osas” – Rodian saboteur Two suns shine down upon the planet Tatooine. A Rebel team landed their modified YT-1300 freighter at a landing bay in the city of Mos Espa […]

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Mini Six: Whiteout, or an RPG Workshop at SILK 2018

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This weekend I was honoured to be able to run a tabletop RPG workshop during the 2018 Symposium for International Languages and Knowledge which was held at Walailak University at Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Last year, SILK 2017 was held here in Perlis and was featured on the blog as well. Here are some photos of the event with an actual play report of the game that I ran for the Thai students. The little abstract for the workshop which I submitted a couple of months earlier appeared in the programme book for the symposium. Parallel talk session were underway when I went to scout the room where I was due to run the workshop. I quickly set up the table and then did some last minute game prep for the coming participants. Besides showing off the diversity of RPG systems, these book covers displayed side-by-side on the table can […]

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Shoes at the door plz thx lol

EOTE: Dude! Where’s My Starship?

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It began as a impromptu invitation to a roleplaying game (RPG) session. Suddenly there I was running a short Star Wars Edge of the Empire scenario for my colleague Rizal at my office. Commandeering Oskara’s character folio, Rizal became the human male bounty hunter known as Riz who owns the YKL-37R Nova Courier named Glamorous Hedgehog manufactured by Gallofree Yards. Edge of the Empire Dude! Where’s My Starship? The previous day, Riz arrived at Port Emerald in the Ord Mantell system. He accomplished a mission to retrieve a family heirloom for a local entrepreneur and earned four thousand credits. He was gleeful of his new-found wealth and booked a nice room at a two-story old tavern-style bed and breakfast at the very edge of the mesa that housed Port Emerald, overlooking three landing platforms. The Glamorous Hedgehog was parked upon one of the platforms. Money The Bright Jewel sun was shining […]

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What is this arpeegee shenanigans?

Mini Six: The Vanishing at Kuala Perlis

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Plans are underway at work to create a tabletop RPG actual play video web series to be posted online. Initiated and managed by Bazli, it would be our push to promote role-playing games (RPGs) as language learning tools that would not only be holistic and comprehensive, but fun and immersive when done right. My task is to run the session as a gamemaster (GM) and Bazli will cut the video into encounter-sized bits to be uploaded. To begin with I ran the participants an impromptu session of Mini Six using the pregenerated templates I created for the Doom Agents class. Like the students before them, the participants took the roles of international agents sent on a mission to investigate extraordinary occurrences. Mission Report (in brief) Six agents were sent to Kuala Perlis to look into a phantom island that appears after sunset between the Kurong Tengar beach and Langkawi. A fishing […]

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The title card!

Mini Six: Rescue in the Rainforest

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Mini Six: Doom Agents 03 Rescue in the Rainforest Last time on Doom Agents, four operatives sent to investigate the Eternitech factory deep in the South American rainforest located by the Amazon river had been captured by Eternitech’s security forces led by Hideo Eguchi. After an enemy flashbang grenade did its job in the store room where they were laying an ambush, the four agents found themselves each tied to a chair in the Eternitech factory floor, specifically on a conveyor belt that would lead to a shredding machine. Dramatis Personae Agent Trolala Zelimkhanov, a Chechen driver – Nasha and Nurul Ain Agent Nancy Nassirian, an Iranian fixer – Athirah and Sabrina Agent Adam Mbokota, a South African shooter – Syafiq and Weng Zun Agent Adrien Nicolas, a French hacker – Malvinder and Asyraaf Agent J. Johnson Jonathan, a Nepalese hitter – Alif Agent Harry Wilson, a British talker – […]

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Rolling d6s

SWD6: The Battle of Corulag (Instance B)

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Star Wars D6 The Battle of Corulag Instance B This Star Wars RPG game session (D6 system) was the first of two that I ran today using the same scenario I quickly devised yesterday for my English language classes. It was to see how different two different groups of students would play through the same adventure in the same day and if I could cope with both. The scenario was also written so the students would be able to discuss compare and contrast essays however because I started the class with an hour of presenting the conventional syllabus, we only had 45 minutes before time was up, thus we were unable to complete the scenario. The session I ran earlier in the day can be found here. Dramatis Personae Sergeant Jadoo, Human male outlaw – Lutfi Fetty, Human female bounty hunter – Pei Yong Broboroi, Human male failed Jedi – […]

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Faculty of Engineering Technology students

SWD6: The Battle of Corulag (Instance A)

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Star Wars D6 The Battle of Corulag Instance A This Star Wars RPG game session (D6 system) was the first of two that I ran today using the same scenario I quickly devised yesterday for my English language classes. It was to see how different two different groups of students would play through the same adventure in the same day and if I could cope with both. The scenario was also written so the students would be able to discuss compare and contrast essays however because I started the class with an hour of presenting the conventional syllabus, we only had 45 minutes before time was up, thus we were unable to complete the scenario. The session I ran later in the day can be found here. Dramatis Personae Paragas, Human male bounty hunter – Haziq Vyruz Girl, Human female outlaw – Ganageswari KC, Human male brash pilot – Ong […]

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A successful mission completed

Force and Destiny: The Lost General

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Force and Destiny: The Lost General As role-playing practice for my English theatre arts class, I ran a FFG Star Wars RPG session for the students. If playing a space swashbuckling character who might also be an alien or a droid does NOT stimulate their acting chops, I have no idea what will! Although it was technically a Force and Destiny game, we had character types from Edge of the Empire too, thanks to the Legends of the Galaxy pregenerated character sheets. It was the same pregen sheets I had used in a class earlier in the year. Dramatis Personae Merick, female Zabrak Guardian/Armorer – Veronica and Siew Yee Malea, female Human Warrior/Starfighter Ace – Haziqah and Syafikah Koogik, female Rodian Explorer/Big Game Hunter – Syakirah Byt, female Twilek Technician/Outlaw Tech – Nadhira Kree, female Human Smuggler/Pilot – Amelia Flames, female Droid Soldier/Commando – Siti Aisyah Martial Law on Zaadja! With the Empire clamping down hard on the remote system such […]

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Mini Six: Debacle in the Amazon

Mini Six: Debacle in the Amazon

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This marks the first time my students have played a second game in a single campaign, although they all played new characters because of a TPK in their first session. Mini Six: Doom Agents 02 Debacle in the Amazon Dramatis Personae Agent Trolala Zelimkhanov, a Chechen driver – Nasha and Nurul Ain Agent Nancy Nassirian, an Iranian fixer – Syafiq and Weng Zun Agent Adam Mbokota, a South African shooter – Athirah and Sabrina Agent Adrien Nicolas, a French hacker – Malvinder and Asyraaf A year after the incident in Fukushima, a fresh new group of agents were sent deep into the Amazon in South America. Command was suspicious of the construction of a manufacturing plant owned by the multi-national corporation Eternitech located by the Amazon river. Trolala Zelimkhanov, the elegantly dressed agent, drove their pink Ford Ranger along the private road that would take them to the Eternitech factory. […]

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I hope they don't TPK

Mini Six: The Seaside Catastrophe

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And so it came to pass that I was given the opportunity to present my ideas for tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) as a language learning tool to the workplace. During the workshop, I also ran a Mini Six session for the participants. For the first time ever, I gamemastered (GM) an RPG session for colleagues, which was something I never thought I would do. This entry chronicles the epic events that transpired in-game during the session: Mini Six: Agents of CIL The Seaside Catastrophe If this actual play report sounds familiar, then it is because it is the same scenario I ran for my class last month. This time though, the pregenerated player characters (PCs) consisted of a whole new mix of agents. Dramatis Personae Alex and Farahhein as Agent Mustonen the Finnish combat medic Sareepa and Masturah as Agent Khoo the Malaysian sniper Ivy and Angela as Agent Takeuchi […]

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Mini Six: A Day By The Sea

Mini Six: A Day By The Sea

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For the third time I ran a tabletop RPG session for my class using the Mini Six system, and this time I have integrated it with the English curriculum we had. The week’s lesson theme was Natural Disaster and I also had to teach them about Descriptive Essays. The RPG became a teaching tool in this situation, because students were able to interact verbally with each other in the context of the narrative. I did some research on the seaside towns in Fukushima, Japan to prepare for the session. During the game they also had to roll dice to determine that the action they declared succeeded or failed. And then had to write their game experiences as in-universe stories for homework using a structured set of questions I sent them via Google Forms. Mini Six: Doom Agents 01 A Day by the Sea Dramatis Personae Sabrina as Berry, the scientist Athirah […]

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Blue and red

Force and Destiny: Jungle in the Sky

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I was finally able to run another role-playing game session for my students for an English Language speaking exercise, the first for this semester. Probably no other games will be run because it is already quite late in the semester for other sessions. Students will be concentrating on their finals. Although it was technically a Force and Destiny game, we had character types from Edge of the Empire too, thanks to the Legends of the Galaxy pregenerated character sheets. Force and Destiny: Jungle in the Sky The GALACTIC CIVIL WAR rages across the Empire! Thousands of suspected rebel agents have been rounded up and imprisoned by the IMPERIAL SECURITY BUREAU in secret prisons across the galaxy.         Many innocent citizens have disappeared because of the Empire’s evil wrath, including SENATOR GAR LODOS from the DURO system. With little time to spare, the REBEL ALLIANCE has sent an extraction team to […]

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View from the Peanut Gallery

Mini Six: Shadows Through The Mist

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I have always stated that tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) can be amazing teaching tools, not only for language purposes but to develop critical thinking skills, social skills and general knowledge. Yesterday, I finally ran a game in an English for General Purposes class to see the students could be engaged enough for them to communicate with each other and me without being shy. The Setup Seeing that polyhedral dice were rare in these here parts, I thought I would run a game that used the ubiquitous six-sided dice. Thus, AntiPaladin Games’ Mini Six was chosen. Besides, the system is based on West End Games’ D6 system which runs the Star Wars RPG which I have been familiar with for the last 26 years. The previous week the students and I had agreed to participate after briefly explaining to them what the game is, how it would be played and what […]

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