The Roleplay Workshop

January '04
News Letter

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Hello All!

(If you would like to be removed from this email list - please let me know!)

Welcome back from the holidays! This month’s newsletter is a little late due to the holidays and a visit from the flu-fairy. However, we’re back in action now and have a great newsletter for you! We’ve alao added story summaries for the home school groups on Tuesday.
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Program Announcements
Saturday 1 Session meets: 1/3, 1/17, 2/7, and 2/21
Saturday 2 Session meets: 1/10, 1/24, 2/28 DOES NOT MEET 2/14

2/16/04 NO Monday AFTER SCHOOL SESSIONS
2/14/04 NO SATURDAY SESSION
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Upcoming Holiday Sessions
9 am - 5 pm; $50 per day;
$50 discount for 5 or more sessions

• Monday, January 19, 2004

We MAY be able to do session the week of 2/16 - we need plenty of advance notice and at least 4 players per day - please call or email Becky immediately if you are interested in these dates! After school sessions are STILL in session, except for 2/16.
• Tuesday, February 17, 2004
• Wednesday, February 18, 2004
• Thursday, February 19, 2004
• Friday, February 20, 2004

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Liberty’s Column
Dear Parents,
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were wonderful, and that you and your kids got plenty of rest and relaxation over the break. Abantey sessions were definitely a highlight, as usual, for our crowd. It is a great feeling to know that our kids are doing something enriching during their vacation, as well as getting much needed downtime from classes.

Abantey programs continue to surge forward as the New Year gets underway, and we hope to schedule some information nights in the coming months. These evenings will provide opportunities for prospective and current families to get more familiar with the programs Becky offers.

It is always a pleasure keeping in touch – thanks to all who have contacted us with questions and ideas – we hope to continue keeping you well-informed and up-to-date about Abantey.

Cheers!
Liberty Winn
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Parent Questions/Discussion
You’ve explained your characters and some background philosophy, but what about the characters relationships with each other, that is, kids relationships while playing the game? Do people always check with the other players or are moves ever made completely autonomously? How much discussion is there about individual character actions? How do you resolve disputes if/when a conflict occurs?

The games that we set up with the kids require them to communicate to succeed. Unlike most computer games and some other roleplaying games, our scenarios are designed to be solved by the WHOLE group. And, as can be expected, communication is not always effective within a group of kids. Some students do not clearly express their ides; some are hesitant or afraid to express their ideas; some express their ideas just fine, but do not listen to other ideas; some cannot hear valid critiques of their ideas; some don’t want to evaluate ideas, they just want to do the first thing that comes to them; and some have no patience with others’ difficulties or differences.

We always work with the players to help them with their communication and problem solving skills. Throughout the process, we stress the importance of communicating with each other, listening to each other and making considered decisions. The most important part is that the players see their options and know the possible consequences before making their choices.

Sometimes players insist on taking actions with their characters without consulting others, or refusing to listen to other players. We allow them to do that, helping them see the possible consequences of their actions and giving them opportunities to make alternate choices before they take the action. Then, we follow through with realistic results that their characters must deal with. If there has been a failure of communication (often through unilateral decision making), we explain and show how it can be different by using good communication skills. Dealing with the consequences is were the heart of what we do takes place.

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Session Summaries
Here are this months mission summaries If you would like to catch up on previous Session Summaries, you can check the web page (www.roleplay-workshop.com), we will have a new section up very soon with all of the newsletters!

Mondays
We have a group of 4 boys for our Monday group. They moved from Tuesday. We have space for 8 more students.

Greg:
On Mondays, the four boys have reached a dilemma. The have been repeatedly contacted by the Marked Plajet secret organization, The GM-05, who have continued to give them bizarre orders. For example - to retrieve the powerful Thing-a-ma-what-zit. However, as they fulfill these quests, they realize they are gaining resources to make an assault on the famous Fort Candy: the Marked Plajet vault of all things sweet. They now are questioning whether or not it is the right thing to do, or even if that is, in fact, what they are doing. What will they decide to do next?

Tuesdays
Tuesday is a busy day! We’ve got 2 home school groups meeting from 12:30 - 2:30pm with 2 openings and an After School group from 3:30 - 6 pm with room for 6 more students.

Home School
Greg:
Greg’s Home school group has been shrunk! In trying to find a cure for the curse on Chi-Chi, a Sakeet who thinks he is a chicken, a curse has been placed on them. They find themselves the size of mice, in a giant house, and Chi-Chi is missing! There they meet a group of Rat-people who seem to just be Marked Plajets in rat costumes. In exchange for helping them escape the house, they offer to get the “Rat-People” some cheese. But things go amiss when they awake a house cat... it’s twenty feet tall! Will they escape its razor sharp claws?

Becky:
Talk about your mysteries! Our group started out spread all over the planet! Each character found a mysterious colored piece of wood and a note (“I’m looking forward to working with you”) in their hotel room. The next day, they suddenly found themselves together, in a room with a door at each end. If they could successfully use their wooden pieces to create the shape shown by the door, the door would open. Sounds simple enough, but it was complicated by the fact that the walls began closing in on them! Things continued in that manner: a stairway with rising water with an electric grid at the top step; a room full of ferocious caged beasts where the bars were slowly rising; a simple hedge maze made from mobile poisonous vines! They made their way through and ended up at an elaborate Manor house, whose Master (referred to as: them, he or she) expected them for dinner! Turns out it was all a job interview - and the Master of the Manor asks them to take on the job of finding two missing people in Tabur - the biggest, busiest city on Abantey!

After School
Becky:
Our group of adventurers have been plagued by foul weather and bad luck! The snow and the cold have lead to fatigue, frostbite and wind burn. Additionally, Pak (their mysterious employer) hasn’t been helpful at all. He (or she, they still don’t know) derides their efforts, travels in comfort but offers them no help, doesn’t share food with the party, and when Pak does, the food is SO powerfully and strangely spiced that who ever eats it has hours of gut wrenching unpleasantness! To make matters worse, they stumbled onto a pack of winter wolves feeding on an Elk. There was a quick and bloody combat and they were helped out by two hunters who happened to be close enough to come to their aid. Fortunately none of the party was seriously injured, although all of the winter wolves were killed. One of the characters then discovered a very young winter wolf cub by the Elk carcass, and has taken him in. So, the party, with 2 new comrades, well, 3 counting the cub, continues on their quest to find Pak’s Treasure.

Wednesdays
We have no current enrollment for Wednesday. If you would like to start a Wednesday group (4 students minimum), please let me know. We can enroll up to 12 students on Wednesdays.

Thursdays
Our Thursday group is mostly girls (4 out of 6), ages 10 to 12. This table is full. However, if we get 2 more players we can split into 2 tables. We can enroll up to 12 more students.

Alicia:
As the party travels deeper into the rain forest the mysteries deepen. Strange encounters with animals who act intelligently throw doubt onto whether everything is as it seems. After a harrowing escape from a dangerous carnivorous plant, the party decides to follow one of these strange animals into the forest to see where it leads. But soon they realize that Arun, a Plajet man who has been traveling with them, is missing. They abandon their quarry and retrace their steps. When they come to the place where they last saw Arun, they find only a single piece of long hair caught on an overhanging branch. The party continues down the path and comes to a wolf sitting in the road. It begins to lead them deeper into the heart of the rain forest... who knows what they will find when they get there?

Fridays
Friday is our fullest day! We have only one (1) more space available.

Becky:
Our group of Adventurers continues on their trek through the Lands of Sakeet. The Blue Sakeet characters have begun to find out more about their guides - the Runts, and the Runts in turn are attempting to find out more about the Blue Sakeet. The party was briefly stalked by a pack of giant Hyenadons, but worked well as a team defending themselves. They have finally reached the abandoned Sakeet City on the shores of the Lake. It is clear that no one has lived there for hundreds of years, although the huge metal gates are firmly closed and mysteriously locked. The Blue Sakeet party members had some tricks up their sleeves, however, and were able to get the doors open with some peculiar magic items that the Runts had never seen before. Once inside, the party made a horrific discovery - the skeletons of what appear to be every woman, man, child, servant and animal of the city - including the skeletons of rats, cats and dogs. All died hundred of years ago behind the locked gates of their walled city, all of them outside… How did this happen? And what do the Blue Sakeet party members want here?

Greg:
On Fridays at Greg’s table, the adventurers have arrived in a small Marked Feeshan village, where they seek a merchant by the name of Pierre. Pierre, they hope, has the stolen incredibly valuable statuette, ‘The Mesmeric Feeshan’. There’s only one problem - most of the villagers don’t speak the adventurers language! The party is having difficulty communicating about who they are looking for and why. Additionally, they must be very careful to not insult their hosts, because the Feeshan culture is so different! Will they find Pierre before he eludes their grasp?

Scott and Marcus:
Our heroic group of adventurers have been hired by an agent of the guards guild, to intercept and commandeer a shipment from another organization. They have left Tabur and met another adventurer, who says he's looking for the same people. He has been invited to a party they are having. The players then found some strange tracks around the road, and after some searching for clues, they followed the tracks to where some Traders were being attacked by lions. They’ve chased the lions away, and now must introduce themselves to the Traders.

Saturday (1st & 3rd)
We currently have two tables. Becky’s table is full with kids ages 12 - 14 year olds. Greg has 2 spaces available at his table of 11 - 12 year olds.

Becky:
Bleak does not begin to describe the situation our adventurers find themselves in. Eight adventurers and seven hunters attempting to defend the settlement of nearly 200 rogue Sakeet cattle farmers, from the approaching army of over 200 trained Marked Sakeet Warriors. They sent out scouts, they made fortifications, they discovered more troops destroying neighboring villages… Faced with an incoming force of now over 300 troops, the party advised the villagers to take their belongings and flee - their lives being more important than their property. The party and the villagers got a good 12 hour head start on the army by sneaking out at night. Unfortunately, the Marked Sakeet sent 10 of the ferocious velociraptor riders after them. The Riders caught up with the villagers and party at high noon. In spite of a well laid defensive plan, the Riders broke through and laid waste to more than one half of the villagers, man, woman and child, before the party and the surviving hunters managed a Pyrrhic victory. Now they are faced with the daunting task of getting the survivors, 75 children and 36 adults, all wounded, away before the army catches up to them, or getting help from the closest major town - 140 miles away, or somehow slowing the army’s advance …. The numbers look very bad… but I believe the players will come up with something!

Greg:
On the trail of the Plajet Super Bike, the adventurers have tracked the villainous Bily Bonqa deep into the harsh deserts south of the town of Desolation. There they find a secret cove, with a strange encampment. Using magic, they know the Bike is here. Before infiltrating the base, they decide to camp out in a cave nearby and observe the base for a little while. Unfortunately, the cave they chose is the nest of a pack of Ruoks: flying, fire-breathing beasts that roam the deserts looking for food. Things look bleak, until they are saved by another party of adventurers. But, wait, these guys aren’t good! They’re the lackeys of Bily Bonqa! Now they’re captured and must escape before it’s too late.

Saturday (2nd & 4th)
The 2nd & 4th Saturday of each month has one regular group (full) and 1 to 2 tables of training for our assistant program. Assistants (ages 13 and up) play in advanced games that stress the more difficult aspects of the Abantey game. They are polishing their skills in preparation for assisting with the summer program.

Dominic & Eric (regular group):
After narrowly defeating the giant clockwork creation thrown in their path by the devious Leon, the party chased after the self-styled Gamemaster to bring him back to the Guards' Guild. While attempting to stop his escape, the party damaged Leon's mysterious Amethyst device, creating a disturbance and pulling everyone, Leon included, into the dangerous place known as Amethyst. After a harrowing journey, the party emerged in an unknown jungle with no sign of Leon. After exploring their surroundings, the party realized they were near the ruined town of Soloman, now turned over to pirates. Unfortunately, Leon's trail leads them directly to this dangerous city...

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Rebecca L. Thomas
Director
(510) 654-3582
The Roleplay Workshop
http://www.roleplay-workshop.com