Facebook!

Did you know that DNDkids has a Facebook page where you can find the latest funny table talk, brief updates and-- oh you know. Then why on earth are you not liking it?!

Hmmm... this post is too short. I guess I'll have to make a real one tonight. Meanwhile, roll high and spot far, ye gamers!

Facebook Dreams #2

Last week I asked how to turn Facebook from a nightmare of spoilers and things no mortal should see into an awesome element of the game. Tonight I supply the answer. Read it carefully, for it is potent and likely to drive you insane.

Dream City
Lovecraft had the right idea. All dreamers go to the same realm when they're asleep, but some enter it like staggering idiots while others retain their faculties and can explore it just like any dungeon or mysterious continent. The PCs are hopefully dreamwalkers of the second sort.
The Facebook page is that city. In it adventurers from all over the land - from the hills of Modi'in to the forests of Shoham, from the sprawling city of Rishon to the rural charm of Be'er Tuviah - can meet and discuss their adventures. They can exchange information (page discussion), read news from around the world (wall posts), enjoy a hearty chat (FB chat) or a gallery of fine fantasy art (album) - but they can't fight. It's a dream, if you get too mad you just wake up, no harm done.
The last problem is trade. I mean, no one had ever gone to bed with a magic sword and woke up with it replaced by 5,000 gold coins. This is too outlandish even for a fantasy game.

Kids engaging in friendly barter, also known as "intimidate check."

Here the Dream Trading Company comes in with happy music and delightful smiles. These arcanes will gladly deliver goods and payments between interested parties in return for a small commission or a secret revealed. Should PCs threaten or harass them, they will just disappear in a puff of perfumed smoke, leaving the bully unable to dream-trade ever again.

So, what do you think of this solution. Do you see any possible problems with it? If you do, lemme know because the pilot begins in less than a month.

Facebook Dreams #1

Many of my students wanted to befriend me on Facebbok last year.

Now, my page is laden with profanities and death threats to random people, full of bad and, quite frankly, not that funny jokes and lists all my vulnerabilities. Worst, it contains spoilers to the kids' adventures. Worst still, it is written in a language they can't understand.

Instead, I created a new page just for the kids. It is written in a language that you can't understand... but google can. To my surprise, more often than not, the kids commented on pictures and posts in-character. Soon, the page became a buzzing market for rumors and information, something which I felt ambiguously about. On the one hand, it created an inter-city gaming community, enriched the games and encouraged creativity and self-expression (finally, a crowd that will listen and comment!). On the other hand it didn't make any sense inside the game world; how can a fighter hiding in a cellar in Menzoberranzan request directions from a vagabond sleeping on a bench in Urik, and why on earth does this vagabond have wikipedia...?

My boys created a map of their realm and were quick
to share it on the FB page with the cute caption, "join or die..."

By the end of the year, they wanted to trade items and even join forces to take on bigger monsters. Here, I just had to insist on the wall between the real world and fantasy world remaining intact. But this wall (pardon the pun) was already covered in graffiti on both sides and battered to the point of near collapse. Not to mention, I didn't care for this wall too much myself. But how to remove it, without removing the realism of the game with it?


This year, I think I found a solution!