Download Intro and Overall Prep for Mesopotamia Edu-larp

Intro and Prep to Mesopotamia Edu-larp
Monday, 3 hours - all students
The information presented in this document is not solely confined to intro prep period on
Monday. This data should be repeated by teachers and students all week. Redundancy is
encouraged, but ideally, done in character. Maybe the two Judges of Babylon talk about the
Epic of Gilgamesh, or how wise Hammurabi is to write his laws down so they can be taken to
other cities he has conquered and they will follow his laws, etc. Game elements, like how to
interact with the map, can be explained again out of character. Repeat, rephrase, embellish.
Introduction to the Week Summary
The purpose of this introduction is to explain what is going to happen in the week for the
students. During this period, the students will:
1. Be instructed on what larping is - 10 minutes
2. Practice a short larp exercise (no “right or wrong way of doing things”) - 10 minutes
3. Review and how to “get out of character” if needed - 5 minutes
4. Learn information about Mesopotamia - it’s where, when, and why it is important to know
(60 minutes)
5. Explain the week schedule, the mods, the fishbowls, the final debriefs (note: the time
traveler wrap should be marked on schedule as another fishbowl) - 15 minutes
6. (break)
7. Explain what is on the character sheet, emphasis on keeping the sheet, secrecy, and the
difference between character goals and academic goals, emphasis on academic
8. Answer any questions
9. Hand out character sheets, props, commodities, etc.
10. Answer more questions
Detailed Explanation of the Above Points
1. What is a larp?
Teachers should explain that larp stands for “live action role playing” Some of the
students might have already heard of it, or even played it. Tell them it is like playing cops and
robbers, or tea parties with stuffed animals, or any kind of acting without a script or camera, and
the audience is each other, no one else.
There are movies with larp in it, most notably Role Models (2008), but it is rated “R” for
language, crude sexual content, and nudity. It has also appeared in TV shows.
If students react poorly, say it’s an acting game like the model UN club, or a historical
simulation. It’s like World of Warcraft, but for real instead of on a computer.
Tell the students they will have their own character (assuming they are assigned by teachers
after students chose which role they wanted), and they are to pretend they are that person.
Explain that the characters we play (and teachers will be characters as well) are not the
people they really are! If a character is angry at you, that person is not angry at you as a
person. This is play-pretend.
Seekers Unlimited will be on hand to answer any questions if needed. This should take 10
minutes at most.
2. Larp exercise
Explain that we are going to do a short, very short, role playing exercise, just to get the hang of
it. This does not count, it’s just for fun.
Randomly hand out the character sheets below, one to each student (and take one for
yourselves, teachers). Explain that that is their character. Give them two minutes to read it over,
look around, then yell “game on!” and let them go. After 10 minutes TOPS, call stop, the game
is over. If the student gets a character sheet with a character not their gender, tell them to
keep it anyways, it’s only for ten minutes. If they get a character they don’t know, have
them make it up. No trades.
3. Review of exercise and suggested talking points
● Explain that they pretended to be someone else. Obviously, no one was really that
character. The same thing will happen later today: you (they) will all have a character to
play, to interact together in a pretend world based on real historical facts. Students
should research their characters so they can pretend to be them. They can continue to
do this out of school, during breaks, during prep time, to get better and better at playing
them.
● Emphasize that there isn’t right or wrong ways to play your character. If they fail, or don’t
complete their goals, or screw up--that’s fine. It’s just a play pretend character. You
decide what they are like based on the information you get, but try to achieve your goals,
which we’ll talk about later.
4. Talk about Mesopotamia
This is some important meat to impart to the students, so ideally they are energized after the
exercise and ready to listen. This lecture can take anywhere between 50 and 70 minutes,
and is the most important info to impress upon the students. Mention that it is
background info for the ancient world they are going to enter when they play the
characters. It’s like knowing about Middle Earth or Hogwarts, so pay attention.
● Explain that ancient Mesopotamia is where this role playing game will be taking place,
and they will all be playing characters from there.
● Show the map of the region. Be sure to explain where it is on the globe, and the modern
equivalent (Iraq). As many of the following terms, ideas, and concepts should be
explained:
○ Mesopotamia is Greek for “land between rivers” - name the rivers (Tigris and
Euphrates) and explain regular flooding between them means everything around
has water to grow, so there is often abundant food. A good place to live. (Relate
this to “Survive and Thrive” if possible).
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This area was part of what is called “The Fertile Crescent” that started here,
moved up to Canaan (now Israel) and down to Egypt. Explain what “fertile”
means if needed.
Explain how regular food leads to settlements, then cities--no longer nomadic.
Explain how regular food leads to division of labor--a farmer can grow enough
grain not only to feed his own family, but can sell the extra for other things. Other
people then don’t need to grow food, they can be a soldier and someone else will
grow their food (feed them).
Explain how a number of places in Mesopotamia grew up as a city-state. Define
term (city with own government). Explain how these city states didn’t get along,
and they would fight each other (war). Name some city states, where the
characters will be from: Sippar, Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat. They are all in the capital
of Babylon, during the reign of King Hammurabi, a famous king that conquered
these other city states and put them under his control. He later took over more
land, until he owned all of Mesopotamia.
Explain some of the things that grew out of this Babylonian culture that will come
up in the larp and which will be talked about more (mention now, will mention
more often again and again):
■ cuneiform - a system of writing used on clay, different than Egyptian
hieroglyphics
■ Code of Hammurabi - the first time the laws from the king were written
down, so cities Hammurabi conquered could know and obey his laws
even if he wasn’t there
■ Astrology - predicting events based on the positions of the stars, planet,
sun, and moon. Related to horoscopes. Ancient Babylonian astrologers
would look up in the sky every night and write down what they saw in
cuneiform on clay tablets that they kept for hundreds of years. This way
they could predict what was going to happen, and they believed the
heavens influenced the world.
■ Epic of Gilgamesh - one of the first stories to be written down, Gilgamesh
was a hero that got into fights with monsters.
Explain WHY Mesopotamia is important:
■ One of first human civilizations
■ First writing
■ First written laws
■ First stories
■ First observational scientific approach
■ And show/mention where this is now: the Middle East
If there is time, explain WHEN they are going:
■ Relative to Survive and Thrive (time span)
■ Explain BC dating (counting up to 0 like negative numbers, birth of Christ,
but their calendar was different than ours, they went by year of king’s
reign)
■ This game takes places somewhere between 1779 and 1715 BC
●
Difficulty of being able to date exactly when this is (there is a
wikipedia entry on how exact dating is difficult here: 2 Sources of
chronological data
5. Schedule for the week, mods and fishbowls
Explain the schedule for the week to the students and what is required of them. Explain that
they are encouraged and welcome to work together at lunch or after school on their projects for
the mod (note: it is understood this might likely never happen, but should be mentioned
anyway).
● After break they will get their characters and costumes
● The merchants will have time to prepare their mod with AJ
● Merchants will run their mod and everybody will play
● Tuesday: Tedd will prepare governors for Code of Hammurabi
● There will be a court with the governors as judges
● Tuesday afternoon will be a free activity period to role play in character, work on your
goals, and also to interact with the map, trade, move armies, etc. Freeform
● Wednesday morning, Tedd will prepare the astrologers for their mod
● Wednesday afternoon AJ will prepare the priests for the Epic of Gilgamesh
● Thursday will have a fishbowl in the morning and afternoon
● Tedd’s class will get a chance Thursday afternoon to talk about the game with the
designers
● Friday will have another fishbowl, then AJ’s class talks about the game with the
designers
● Finally, end of day Friday everybody gets to talk about the experience and what they
learned, what questions they have, etc. (Relate to other things similar to this, perhaps
“Town Hall” is similar to this final debrief?)
● ASK IF THERE ARE QUESTIONS
6.This is the scheduled break in the students’ day
50 minutes allocated for the remaining “prep” activities (getting characters)
7. Before handing out characters, explain what is on it and what to do with them
● The sheets will have your name in the game, your role, the city state you are from, your
income, your character goals, and your academic goals
○ Explain difference between character goals and academic goals (you can fail at
character goals, but we want you to succeed in your academic goals, but they
are related)
○ Explain that they can use the Internet to research at any time
○ Explain that these sheets are theirs to keep and don’t let other people see it, or
they might know your secrets. Keep your character sheet with you for this week.
They can write on it.
○ Explain that all characters are under the rule of King Hammurabi of Babylon, but
they might feel city-state pride, or work together in their role.
○
Emphasize that Teachers are playing the roles of Judges of Babylon, and will
keep order.
8. Answer any questions
9. Hand out character sheets
○ hand out the corresponding prop for the role:
■ merchants get pouches
■ governors get keffiyehs
■ astrologers get sashes
■ priests get stoles
○ Can take off costume when not in character (like in other classes)
○ These are the students’ property, like the character sheet, to do with as they
wish. If they want to write on them, paint them, put sequins on them, whatever.
But don’t lose them or forget to bring them to class.
10. Spend the rest of the period answering questions, letting kids get into character
Explain that AJ will have Merchants and priests next, and will have instructions for them,
and they will meet again in 50 minutes, for an in-character market!
Again, 50 minutes allotted for character review.
CHARACTERS FOR LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAYING EXERCISE
These should be printed out and handed out RANDOMLY to the students, including teachers.
DO NOT LET ANYONE TRADE OR GET ANOTHER ONE. They can research the person if
they want to *quickly*, before the exercise begins.
You are Harry Potter, a young wizard of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
You know Hermione and Hagrid.
You think someone here has a magical artifact. You have no wand.
You are Hermione Granger, a witch at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
You know Harry Potter and Hagrid.
You think someone here has a magical artifact. You do not have a wand.
You are Hagrid, a teacher at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
You know Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
You have lost one of the magical monsters under your control, and need help finding it.
You are Frodo Baggins, a hobbit.
You know Gollum and Galadriel.
You have the One Ring but want to give it to anyone EXCEPT Gollum.
You are Galadriel, queen of the elves.
You know Gollum and Frodo Baggins.
You wish to convince Frodo to keep the One Ring to destroy it.
You are Gollum, a deformed creature
You know Frodo Baggins and Galadriel.
You want to get the One Ring from Frodo. You are scared of Galadriel.
You are Blake Griffin, a power forward on the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team.
You know Serena Williams.
You want to sell Kia cars to as many people as you can.
You are Serena Williams, a superstar professional tennis player.
You know Blake Griffin.
You want to find a nice person or charity to donate money to.
You are Kanye West, a superstar hip hop artist
You know Rhianna, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber
You want to find someone else to make a record with you.
You are Rhianna, a superstar singer.
You know Kanye West, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber.
You want to get Kanye West to apologize for something he did wrong.
You are Lady Gaga, a superstar singer.
You know Kanye West, Rihanna, and Justin Bieber.
You want to protest the cruel treatment of animals.
You are Justin Bieber, a superstar musician
You know Kanye West, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga.
You want to act in a movie.
You are Jack Sparrow, a pirate.
You don’t know anyone here.
You want to find a ship and a crew.
You are WALL-E, a robot that cleans up messes.
You know R2D2
You want to be friends with any female characters (even if they are played by a male). You
cannot talk in full sentences.
You are Spongebob Squarepants, a sea sponge that works at a fast food restaurant
You know Sandy Cheeks
You want to make fries and give them to people.
You are Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel that speaks with a Texas accent.
You know Spongebob Squarepants
You want everyone to know how cool Texas is
You are Stitch, a very powerful cute, small, furry alien
You don’t know anyone here
You want to find a way home. You cannot talk in English.
You are Santa Claus, a fat jolly fellow that brings toys to kids.
You know everyone here when they tell you their name.
You want to make sure you know what each person wants for Christmas.
You are Lara Croft, an adventuring archeologist
You know Dora the Explorer
You are looking for a lost artifact.
You are Commander Shepard , a soldier in a future science fiction war.
You don’t know anyone here.
You want to make sure there aren’t any aliens here, especially Reapers. You have no weapon
You are Cortana, an artificial intelligence (AI, or a computer) and a hologram
You know Master Chief
You want to warn Master Chief that there are aliens nearby
You are Master Chief, a cybernetic supersoldier
You know Cortana
You want to fight aliens, but you have no weapons.
You are a zombie
You don’t know anyone.
You want to eat people, but move very, very slow, and moan and groan. (don’t touch anyone)
You are Barack Obama, the President of the United States
If you know who the other character is, then Obama knows them
You want to talk to people about your health care plan
You are Joe Wise, the director of New Roads school
If you know the character, then Joe knows them
You want to make sure any children are learning.
You are Batman, a costumed superhero
You don’t know anyone here.
You want to know if anyone has seen the Joker
You are Bella Swan, a teenage girl
You are in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire, and know Jacob Black, a werewolf
You want Edward to turn you into a vampire
You are Edward Cullen, a teenage vampire
You are in love with Bella Swan and know Jacob Black,a werewolf
You want to make sure Bella is safe but cannot turn her into a vampire
You are Jacob Black, a werewolf
You love Bella Swan and know Edward Cullen, a vampire
You want Bella to leave Edward
You are Doctor Who a time traveler (pick whichever incarnation you want)
You don’t know anyone here
You want to talk to every robot and computer here and make sure they aren’t a Dalek
You are GLADOS, an insane computer from the Portal video game
You don’t know anyone here
You want to test everyone. Make up tests and tell them to take them.
You are Yoda, a small Jedi master
You know R2D2
You want to sense if there is the Dark Side of the Force in anyone here
You are R2D2, a small droid
You know Yoda
You have to find someone to deliver secret plans to. You only talk in beeps and whistles.
You are Cookie Monster, a hungry muppet
You don’t know anyone here
You want to find cookies and eat them
You are Dora the Explorer, an 8-year old girl that travels around the world
You know Lisa Simpson
You are looking for Swiper, a fox that steals things and maybe stole something from someone
You are Lisa Simpson, a smart eight year old girl
You know Dora the Explorer
You want to find someone to take you on an adventure
You are Gabby Douglas, a 17-year old Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics
You don’t know anyone here
You want to make sure no one is bullying anyone else here
You are Katniss Everdeen,a teenage girl who competes in the Hunger Games
You don’t know anyone here
You want to find allies to fight with.