The Roleplay Workshop

Happy New Year!
We hope everyone had a happy holiday season. We at the Roleplay Workshop were busy bringing your kids the best in holiday fun. We had a great Winter Break this year. Game master Emeritus Cody Rose home from school for the holidays, ran some terrific adventures for us. It was great to see him back! We had a lot of really good games this Winter Break. I turned things up a notch in Century Point while at the Captain’s Table, Becky ran a series of rather challenging missions that involved a stranger that came out of nowhere to wreak havoc on the world of Abantey, If your student missed out on the fun, don’t worry, there are plenty of holiday sessions yet to come!

Becky & Steve

Work Exchange Opportunity!
We need someone to entire the Roleplay Workshop lending library into a database. This is a great opportunity for a detail-minded individual (parent or teen) who is comfortable with data entry and can follow instructions carefully. The lending library of the Roleplay Workshop probably exceeds thousand titles and they all need to be entered into a database for tracking purposes.

Parent Potluck! top
Ever wonder just what your kids do here at the Roleplay Workshop? Now is your chance to find out and, at the same time, help us make it even better. Here’s your chance to interact with other parents, ask the staff any questions you might have, and give us suggestions on how to make this program better. You might even get to try the game out for yourself!

Monday, February 27th
Dr Comics closes at 6:30 pm on our Potluck evenings, be sure to arrive before then!

RSVP
Contact Becky at becky@roleplay-workshop.com or at (510) 654-3582 if you would like to attend.

Upcoming School Holidays
Check Enrollment

January Dates
Monday 1/16 * This coming monday - spaces still available!
Friday 1/23 *currently, this session has no enrollment, and may be canceled
Monday 1/30*currently, this session has no enrollment, and may be canceled

February Dates*
Friday, 2/17
Tuesday, 2/21
Wednesday, 2/22
Thursday, 2/23
Friday, 2/24
* there are no holiday sessions for Monday, 2/20

Holiday Discount Rate Change
The fee for a full holiday week enrollment will now be $225. This works out to about $45 a day - a savings of 10%!

Is there an After School session on a Holiday Date?
Check the Roleplay Workshop Calendar for events and times.
Roleplay Workshop Programs Calendar

Once we have minimum enrollment, the school holiday session will appear on this calendar. Until then, check the School Holiday calendar for dates we are prepared to offer holiday sessions (link below).
School Holiday Calendar

Check School Year Enrollment

Table Groupings top

We enroll students in 3 different types of groups. Actual table composition will be determined once enrollment has been finalized. All efforts will be made to group students by age and experience. Director’s Tables will be available on any day where there is enough enrollment of eligible teens, and Becky is working. Becky may also run regular, mixed or teen groups depending upon enrollment and staffing.

Regular:
Students ages 10 - 12. These are basic stories appropriate for the age range and experience level of the players.

Teen:
Students ages 13 - 15, no experience necessary. These stories are more complicated and better suited to the changing needs of teens.

Director’s Table:
This table is run by the Director of the program. Stories are very challenging and appropriate for the teen player.

Director's Table Requirements:
1) Age 13+
2) mastery of game and system mechanics
3) By approval only, Becky will call to confirm your enrollment.

A Window Into the World of a Game Master
One of the most rewarding aspects of working as a game master for the Roleplay Workshop is the lasting positive impact I have on the students. It has always been the goal of the Roleplay Workshop to help our participants improve their math and reading skills, improve their social skills and to learn to work well with others. We try to do this in a fun and exciting environment.

But for me, it goes beyond this. True, many of the students we have worked with, have gone on to college and have done some great things. Most importantly, many continue to play roleplaying games, and other types of games. In our own small way we have given them something fun that they can do long after they have left they program. We love games, not just roleplaying gaming, but board games, card games - all kinds of games. Passing on this love of games is one of the best things we do.

Steve

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Session Summaries top

Mondays
After School At Dr Comics
We have no current enrollment for Mondays. We have space for up to 18 students.

Tuesdays
After School At Dr Comics
We have 2 groups on Tuesdays. We have space for up to 8 more students.

Becky Thomas
Full of hope, the party traveled to the abandoned estate at the end of the road. They discovered and enormous double walled estate, complete with stable and manor house. The walls and doors had recently been repaired and reinforced. The stable door was open, and inside they discovered 3 wagons and piles of discarded personal items, clothing and other items of little value, including clothing from Totuk’s family!

Excited, but a little confused, the party found a door from the stable leading, they believed into the house. Quickly, they opened the door and headed down the long, tiled, door-lined hallway. Suddenly, the door closed behind them and they discovered, to their dismay, that there was no handle on their side, AND the tiles of the floor concealed triggers to crossbow traps lining the hallway. After healing a wounded party member, the group continued down the hall - much more carefully now!

The door at the end lead to a small room... with a corpse! A Feeshan man had clearly triggered another trap (metal strips in the floor) and had been electrocuted to death. Although the party was very careful, Tout triggered yet another trap and was badly injured.

What’s going on here? This building is certainly no ‘safe haven’. And who are the other people whose clothing and items were in the stable?

Steve Kani
The party members are introduced by Tuli to Mr. Grey. They are offered a job transporting a box to a Robert Black in Tower 1. A couple of the adventurers had some misgivings about working for Mr. Grey. Captain Smelly Stinker, better known as Otto Braun talked to Os’Plajet about it. The creator was rather uninformative but he warned Otto that, while Mr. Grey was a marked Plajet in good standing, he was not to be trusted. The party accepted the job but asked for some additional equipment. Mr. Grey agreed to the new terms and told them that their equipment would be delivered along with the box.

Mr. Grey departed and a half hour later a huge, heavily armored Plajet arrived with three henchmen. His head was wrapped in shrouds and on his chest was a large pendant made of gold or platinum - three circles joined by lines. They dropped off their equipment rolled up in what appeared to be an old tapestry depicting a scepter of some sort framed by two rampant wolves. The box was small, but quite heavy. One side of it had been freshly painted black. The characters got the idea to wipe away the black paint. Underneath they found a shipping label with the name of Azriella Kreutzer on it. Now they have a bit of a quandary do they deliver the box to Tower 1 as planned, or do they deliver it to the original addressee?

Wednesdays top
After School At Dr Comics
We have one group on Wednesdays. We have space for up to 14 more students.

Becky Thomas
We left the Wednesday group on their Dirigible with the rescued dog... and waking to the sound of strange thumping! Two of the party members raced from their cabins to the cabin with the thumping. Flinging open the door, they saw the cute dog transformed into a horrific monster and eating their party member! In the flurry of fighting and confusion that followed, they managed to kill the transformed dog and suffered only minor injuries. The dog turned out to have been an Amethyst Hybrid and was in all likelihood responsible for the deaths of the passengers from the wrecked ship.

More cautious now, the Dirigible continued on its way. They found no other wreckage on the islands around the Kiki peninsula and traveled across the Laral Straight to the Islands north of Tabur. Finding no wreckage there, the Dirigible flew past Tabur and they got a glimpse of the quarantine wall. The wall was generating some sort of shield that was allowing birds to fly back and forth, but keep other, birdlike, things in. They could also just make out the city of Tabur... changed and misshapen in the distance. What are those mysterious birds?

Thursdays
After School At Dr Comics
We have one group on Thursdays. We have space for up to 15 more students.

Becky Thomas
The adventurers are following the trail of clues to find the masterminds of the illegal fighting area. Unfortunately, the ARA staff member in charge of the refugee effort at the Madry Import Warehouse has no idea where the owner is. Just as the discouraged party was leaving, they were approached by a street urchin who said he could take them to someone who could answer their questions. Finally, a break in the case!

They followed the young Baluud to a warehouse on the edge of the Twilight. Once they had entered, they spotted a Feeshan man through the piles of debris. He called for them to “come on in” so that they could talk. Our unsuspecting party walked right in... to a trap! Suddenly, crossbow shots flew from the upper balcony! The party dove for cover, all but one of them making it to safety. How will this battle end?

Friday top
After School At Dr Comics
We have three full tables on Friday. We are accepting wait list students.

Becky Thomas
Traveling to Rock Lake to search for a possible hybrid zone, the party has heard a rumbling from the savannah and spotted a hugh dust cloud. As the cloud drew closer, they realized that it was a herd of elephant horses - enormous 30 foot tall herbivores - stampeding directly toward them! They urged their wagon team to go faster, a difficult task as the six horses were pulling a wagon train weighing over 3000 pounds! The elephant horses drew closer. The wagons reached a trot. The elephant horses drew closer still. The wagons reached a canter....

Things were looking grim when the magic users in the party remembered that they could use emerald magic to spook the lead elephant horses. Hopefully this would get them to turn enough to miss the party. The angles and momentum looked bad as first the lead elephant horse began a slight change in direction. The party spurred their horses faster! Another elephant horse veered slightly. And suddenly the wagon was surrounded by galloping masses of flesh weighting over 20 tons each!

The panicked elephant horses did everything in their power to avoid trampling the wagon and horses.... but the cavalryman’s horse stumbled and fell under their weighty feet. Fortunately, the cavalryman managed to leap to safety onto the back of one of the horses pulling the wagon.

As the dust cloud settled and their wagon drew to a stop, the party realized that one of the wagon horses had been injured. So, they pulled to the side of the road and began the laborious process of healing the horses. While they were working (and not keeping up a very good guard), they discovered the cause of the stampede... a trio of giant hyena! The hyena figured that a dead horse, an injured horse and five others hitched to a wagon were easier prey than the elephant horses!

Steve Kani
The party finally made their way to the warehouse. They were dogged every step of the way by street urchins, curious as to what a group of adventurers were up to. A particularly bold street urchin followed the part all the way to the warehouse. This is where their troubles started. First, they could not get into the back door of the warehouse. Somehow they managed to disable the alarm but it fell to the street urchin to give them a hand. She even lent them a shoe to keep the door open. They had all gotten into the building when they realized just how many guards there were. They were spotted. They hadn't even started looking for the box! Suddenly a melee ensued. Cactus managed to disable a couple of the guards but two of the adventurers were wounded. Suddenly, a huge plajet man in heavy armor stepped out of the office and began blasting the adventurers with sapphire and agate magic. Tala took a couple of sapphire blasts. Zwill, one of the Wa'las in the party, was hit by a lightning bolt.The Sakeet Jack tried his best to hold off the guards on the outside, but was seriously wounded in the process. This was definitely not going as planned.

Rayna Levine & Sam Power
After the adventurers defeated the bears, they continued on the road to Kiki. With nothing more than a single address to guide them, they made their way through the city, from the city's refugee-filled outskirts to its cramped center. Upon arriving at the address, they were able to gain the trust of the resident and were rewarded with their first sight of one of the parents since their disappearance. However, the second parent was nowhere to be seen. They found that the parents had, in fact, fled an attempt on their life, and had split up upon reaching Kiki. The adventurers then set out to retrieve Olaf from hiding back in Repast and return him to his parents. But no sooner had they began their new journey than they were confronted by the assassins themselves, with a dire warning that the assassins would not hesitate to act if the party got in their way.

Saturday (1st & 3rd) top
Saturday At Dr Comics
(This group meets on he 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. The group does NOT meet when there is a 5th Saturday.)

We have two groups and have space for up to 8 more students.

Becky Thomas
Our party was stuck in a crossfire, pinned down by a group of adventurers with a fierce hatred of all related to amethyst - including the party';s mission! Things were looking grim indeed, with four party members down, and only three remaining. The battle that followed was confusing at best. In the end, the party prevailed, only to be confronted by the town sheriff.

Everyone was taken into custody so that the sheriff could straighten things out. A grizzled old ex-adventurer, he wasn't interested in a war of words. He asked questions of everyone, used emerald magic to sort truth from lies and gave his verdict. The four attacking adventurers were clearly the instigators of the conflict, but the party did nearly kill one of them with a crossbow shot to the head. The party was allowed to take payment for their healing from the attackers and demand that they be held in jail for two days. However, the party was required to pay for the healing of the attacker who was brain damaged. The attackers insisted that Yksi was a hybrid and needed to be slain, but the party convinced the sheriff that she was not.

With that sorted out, the party quickly put some distance between themselves and the inn town. They pushed on until they reached the way station at the foot of the cliff leading to the resort. What will they find next?

Steve Kani
The party was hired by Tuli to deliver a heavily bound box to Azriella Kreutzer. They came up with the ingenious plan of removing the contents of the box and using the empty box as a diversion. Sure enough, in the course of delivering the box, they were accosted by heavily armed individuals. A tense standoff ensued. They did not want to give up easily. Eventually, they reluctantly gave up the box. They delivered the items to Azriella Kreutzer: two books and a strange looking BSV stone with glyphs carved on it. They talked to Azriella Kreutzer at length about some of the things happening in Century Point and found out some valuable information. They then headed back to the Black Arrow.

Saturday (2nd & 4th) top
Saturday At Dr Comics
(This group meets on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month.)

We currently have one group of students and one group of assistants we have space for up to 9 more students.

Becky Thomas
Becky’s group - the assistants - are on a secret mission that cannot be reported here… due to the prying eyes of our student readers!
:-)

Ashton Saylor
The adventurers, having formed a fast friendship, decided that they wanted to leave Desolation together. Two of them wanted to leave because their homes had been burned down and they had no where to live. The third, the Baluud Priesten, wanted to leave because on the last mission he had accidentally hired a street urchin to play a trick on his enemy in the temple, his mean boss, and he did not want to stick around to see what kind of trick would be played!

After evading a fine on their fire-damaged property by cleaning it up and painting the remains (an ugly shade of green which the investigator seemed to love for some strange reason,) the adventurers sought work on a ship. By asking at the librarians guild, they found a rich Rogue Baluud boy who wanted to return to the lands of Os'Baluud with several of his friends, where they hoped to become Marked again. Now all the adventurers had to do was find a ship...

The adventurers hit the docks and the bars along the docks trying to find a ship for hire, but ran into trouble! At one of the bad bars they met a pirate by the name of One-Eye Jack who seemed all too interested in having them use his ship. Desperate to find another way, they remembered the ship that the Plajet bandits had left empty. The rich Baluud boy talked to his contacts in the Guards Guild and arranged to buy the ship, with the agreement that he would give it to the adventurers as payment upon completion of the mission.

The adventurers hired the best crew they could find and set out on their great journey, but wait- was that Mad Jack's ship following them! In a furious sea chase, they escaped Mad Jack, only to have him take a shortcut through treacherous waters outside of Repast and cut them off before their next landfall! The ships drew slowly closer together, One-Eye Jack's pirates bristling with knives and boat hooks, their eyes glinting cruelly as they got ready to board. Just then, the Swashbuckler adventurer, who had quickly and quietly ascended to the crows next, took a desperate shot at the rope holding the foresail of the pirate vessel. The arrow struck true, severing the rope and setting the foresail flapping wildly! The pirate ship bucked and rocked, unable to steer effectively anymore, and Captain Mad Jack could do nothing but glare as his ship slowly but steadily fell behind. The adventurers and the Baluuds cheered as they came safely in to port.

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The Roleplay Workshop

January '06 News Letter

January '06
News Letter