Pencil and paper will still last in the video age! <grins happily>

[Tallifer]

I have been thinking...

In order to dress up the game (if it ever does happen), so that the parents do not complain about the waste of studying time, I could have each child write a journal. The first entry would be a character description, the next a sketch of the character's family and hometown...

They have to write some crap anyways: better that than "What I did on the weekend." or "Why recycling is good for Korea."

I think Wik's idea of avoiding combat as much as possible is a good one.

They have played games like Maple Story, so they would be disappointed not to have their own character.

 

[aurance]

Nope. It was invented in Korea, although the basics came from China. Originally called karatedo. Kara is Chinese (but I forget what it means), te is Korean for fist and do is Japanese for way. They wanted to please everyone, since everyone invaded them pretty regularly. But the Japanese took to it and made it their own, ironically dropping the Japanese part of the name.

Replace "Korea" and "Korean" in your paragraph with "Okinawa" and "Okinawan" and it's correct. You should re-check your sources.

I'm a first generation Korean immigrant, as well as a Tae Kwon Do practitioner.

Incidentally, although a lot of my compatriots will seriously dispute this (nationalism and all that), Tae Kwon Do's lineage is not, for the most part, from the centuries-old Korean art Tae Kyun, but Japanese Karate from the WWII era.

 

[Hussar]

Tallifer - Totally agree. Combat is not where you are going to draw in the players too well. And, if you avoid combat, you don't need massively complicated combat rules. Win win!

You might want to check out Dread. The horror game with the Jenga tower. I'm sure it could be adapted to other settings, but, since it's Halloween anyway, why not go with the theme? You completely avoid all the nitty gritty of mechanics and go with something that they already know how to play likely.

You might also want to check out The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men. Get them to make their own gingerbread men and tell stories about them. You can just use a toaster oven in the classroom to make gingerbread men (I've done that before). Google it and you'll find the rules.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Replace "Korea" and "Korean" in your paragraph with "Okinawa" and "Okinawan" and it's correct. You should re-check your sources.

I'm a first generation Korean immigrant, as well as a Tae Kwon Do practitioner.

Incidentally, although a lot of my compatriots will seriously dispute this (nationalism and all that), Tae Kwon Do's lineage is not, for the most part, from the centuries-old Korean art Tae Kyun, but Japanese Karate from the WWII era.

I'll take your word for it. As I said, I no longer have my source books, and its been many a year since I last checked.

Of course, it all goes back to India, via China, anyway.

 

[Ariosto]

Sadly, Chaosium's 1989 Prince Valiant (by Greg Stafford) is long out of print.

RISUS is a free download, and an experienced Game Master should be able to make good use of it -- if it suits your needs. The probability spread seems awkward to me, and coupled with the focus on very abstract mechanics it might not go over as well with 9-year-old novices as with jaded gamers.

Anything with which your are comfortable as GM could do if the players need do no more than play their characters -- leaving mechanical details up to you. If you can handle those on your own, then complexity is not an issue.

As the original D&D set illustrates, a pile of rules is not necessary if the emphasis is on role-playing. Simply assess the situation, and if the outcome is uncertain then estimate odds and have someone roll a die.