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Summer Programs Begin on June 23, 2008 Enrollment Begins on March 10, 2008 Summer Enrollment Form Summer Enrollment Listing School Year Enrollment Form School Year Enrollment Listing The Roleplay Workshop began as a summer program in 1989. It was developed by Rebecca Thomas as a teaching tool to augment her 6-8th grade classes at Archway School in Oakland, California. The workshop has expanded into a year round program with after school, holiday, summer, and special event programs, as well as private tutoring and group courses in basic education. The Roleplay Workshop is dedicated to providing the best educational enrichment possible, in the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide a fun and safe environment to help motivate and enrich the minds of today's youth. We use an interactive storytelling game, called Abantey, to teach students math, science, and problem solving skills. Players work their way through complicated mysteries to create their own story, become heroes and perhaps the stuff of legend along the way! The program is ultimately about teaching kids personal responsibility. Playing Abantey allows kids to experiment, succeed, fail, and learn without suffering real life consequences. We also offer tutoring programs which encourage students to take responsibility for their own education, while teaching them the skills to be a lifelong learner. The Roleplay Workshop programs are located at 4014 Piedmont Ave in Oakland, CA inside Dr. Comics and Mr. Games. A Parent Speaks In recent years, role playing fantasy games have received a fair amount of bad press. They've been accused of everything from corrupting the minds of the teenage killers in Littleton, Colorado, to encouraging "devil worship" in adolescents throughout America. The fact remains that young people have always had a hunger for fantasy games in which they can take on new and heroic identities that might be too scary or dangerous to enact in real life. This hunger for fantasy and heroism is reflected in the more than 500 commercial role playing games currently on the market, as well as the increasing number of these games played in cyberspace. Rebecca Thomas, a scientist and former middle school teacher, is a strong believer in the personal growth and educational value role playing games can provide. "These games allow young people to explore different facets of their personalities in a safe environment," she says. "They also can be a great vehicle for teaching math, science, conflict resolution and note-taking skills." Since 1989, Rebecca has led more than 600 Bay Area 10-18 year olds in role playing games in an imaginary world she created called Abantey. Most of these games have been played intently and imaginatively on the second floor of Dr Comics and Mr Games, the Oakland comic and games retail store which has since 1992 donated free space to Rebecca and her Abantey adventurers. Over the years, Rebecca has had the joy of seeing shy kids learn to be appropriately assertive and aggressive kids discover how to "tone it down". She's helped young people with attention disorders learn to concentrate, and she's witnessed withdrawn kids open to the worlds of their imagination with enthusiasm. The adventures occur in a room filled with science fiction books, science texts, a personal computer, encyclopedias, maps of Abantey, sketches of the different Abantey races, and the most amazing collection of dice you are likely to see in your life. In after school groups and in summer role-playing camps, young people in Rebecca's program become characters in adventures that rival the most daring Hollywood blockbusters. "Kids come from all over," says Rebecca. "Although they are mostly from Berkeley and Oakland, I have players from Castro Valley, San Ramon, San Francisco and Milpitas We even have students who moved down to L.A. or out of state make it back for a week in the summer." As game master, Rebecca dreams up challenging scenarios for the young participants. Students create their own characters through rolling dice and adding points for their characters in various categories, including personality traits, physical strength and material wealth. There are six different cultures in the world of Abantey, each with slightly different morals and belief systems. Modeled after "real world" cultures, they range from the non-violent and spiritual Baluuds to the Sakeets, who are skilled in physical combat. "The program is about teaching kids options," says Rebecca. "They can fail miserably in the game, and then come back and fix it. They can try out what it's like to be a Baluud and learn how that is different from a Sakeet. They develop persistence, tolerance of differences and other characteristics that can translate well into real life." Geoff Geiger   | Home | News | For Parents | For Kids | Kid Contributions | | Summer Programs | After School Programs | Special Programs | | Schedule | About Us | Contact Us | Links | | Baluud | Feeshan | Plajet | Sakeet | Wa'la |