Shoot the Moon During Your Thematic Unit About Love

Shooting the Moon by Emily Care Boss of Black and Green Games

 

     Another thematic that I teach explores LOVE.  Most of the unit consists of a in-depth approach to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.  I have found that SHOOTING THE MOON, a roleplaying game about two suitors competing for a shared beloved, is a fun way to approach the topic before reading the play and is also a telling way to assess an understanding of the play after students have read it.

     Just creating the characters according to the game rules provides many built-in English lessons, such as synonyms and antonyms and parts of speech.  So, to create characters would be a justifiable venture on its own.  However, I have found that guiding the students (in pairs) through a simplified version of the game is well worth the effort. 

     What you may click below is a simplified version of the rules, which we used in class, and a writing prompt that followed the game.  Keep in mind that you should buy the game to get the real rules and all of the wonderful character creation rules.  Some of this might not make any sense if you are not familiar with the game.  PLEASE NOTE THAT MUCH OF THE LANGUAGE IN THE PPT IS DIRECTLY TAKEN FROM THE GAME.  THANK YOU MS. BOSS.

Simplified Rules for Class

STM Writing Prompt

THE BOSS WILL HELP BREAK THE ICE THIS YEAR

   

  The school year is not too far away,  so I am thinking about all those new faces staring at me and at each other.  We will each have our inevitable good and bad first impressions.  Students will be holding onto hand-me-down opinions of me and third-hand opinions of each other.  Stereotypes and assumptions will silently surface on all fronts.  It makes sense; we are going to have to live with each other five days a week, 180 days.  These are no small social circumstances.    

     Teachers often handle these first days with activities in which the students reveal information about themselves on a worksheet or an index card, usually hobbies, interests, classes.  I’ve used these tools, and I’ve also used multiple intelligence tests and personality tests.  The problem with all of these getting-to-know-you activities is that all communication that takes place is most likely between the teacher and each individual student, and all of the information comes from the student.  I don’t mind the fact that students are the main source of information, but I do mind that students do not get to interact with each other right off the bat. 

     This year I intend to change the pattern.  I am going to use a two-player roleplaying game by Emily Care Boss called Breaking the Ice to help students tell stories together at the very beginning of the year.  Ms. Boss’s games are quite unique in the realm of roleplaying games.  Several of her titles  focus on relationships.  Breaking the Ice is one of these, a game in which two players collaboratively create two characters and then narrate these characters’ first three dates.  The game’s main mechanic, a randomizing element that gives the game its unpredictable twists and turns is the Attraction Roll.  During each turn, players roll dice to see if their characters are more or less likely to stay together.  A collaborative decision about the couple’s destiny is made after all three dates have been narrated.  In my classroom version of the game, the characters will reflect the students’ own personalities, likes, dislikes, weaknesses, and strengths.  This will give them a chance to learn about each other and to express themselves.

     At this point, teachers, you should be wondering if I am trying to turn my class into a matchmaking club.  I assure you, I am not.  With just a tweak or two, this game is instantly about friendships.  Instead of Attraction Rolls, students will make Friendship Rolls; instead of going on dates, characters will ”hang-out” three different times in three different settings.  In a correctly played session of the game, players are encouraged to narrate things that they find pleasant, cool, desirable.  They are also encouraged to reward each other for doing so.  The game creates  instant feedback between its players. What a fun way to learn about another person’s tastes and interests.  I am sure I will learn a lot about the students as I monitor and facilitate gameplay, and the collected character sheets will replace the worksheets and the index cards of prior years.  I even think that if I explain and facilitate the game well, the completed character sheets combined with the notes I will take during gameplay will be a fine replacement for multiple intelligence and personality tests.

Emily Care Boss’s Games can be purchased online at Black and Green Games , Indie Press Revolution, DriveThruRPG, and other online RPG merchants. 

An online version of the game can be started here.

An interview with Emily Care Boss about relationships and roleplaying games can be listened to here, a fine roleplaying game podcast.  

Please check back early September to see how it went.  In the meantime, please check out all of Emily Care Boss’s games.