Set of cards with magical items (at the end of this chapter)

A copy of the Skull Mountain picture (at the end of this chapter)

01 or 02 dice

Note: Check the Introduction to Role-Playing Adventures for instructions on how to use the dice, how to integrate writing into the RPA, and how to adapt the RPA to different size classes.

Alternatively, you may have the students create the items themselves (If you decide to do that, start by providing some examples, such as “training shoes that allow you to run at supersonic speed”), and place students in groups to create others. You may also take objects (or pictures of objects) and ask the students to create the magical power of the object. For example, they choose the picture of a mug, and they decide that by drinking from the mug they become invisible for 20 seconds.

If needed, you may complement the stock of cards provided here with their suggestions.

Note: Remind students, throughout the game, that the magical items can only be used once.  As soon as they use one, take the card away. If you are working with young teenagers, you can have each one of them take a card. If you have older teenagers or higher-level students, you may choose to limit the number of cards. This will make the adventure more exciting and more challenging.

Have students draw a map of the part of the forest they can see. If students need help, ask the following questions to guide them: What does the forest look like? Are there many trees? What kind? Can you see any stream or river? Are there any mountains, caves?

You may either have the whole class working together on the map (students take turns adding a feature and describing it), or have groups of students draw different maps and describe their maps to the whole class. In the latter case, after the groups present their maps, choose one map for the adventure.

As students present their plans of action, roll the dice to check the outcomes.

Say: Night passes by very slowly. Suddenly you hear growls and howls. Horrible animals have surrounded you. What do they look like?

Place students in groups and ask them to draw these never-before-seen animals. Post their pictures on the wall and ask the students to describe their animals to the class.

As they come up with their ideas, roll the dice to see if they are successful. Improve the odds until they evade, scare away or kill the beasts.

After the ‘elf’  reads the message, say: As soon as the elf finished speaking, he vanished. What do you think he meant? Do you remember the message?

Encourage the class (using collective memory) to rewrite the message they heard as close to the original as possible.

You may ask students to search the net on how to construct a compass. Remind them that once a magical item is used, it will be discarded.

Alternatively, you may want to build a compass in class. You will need a needle, a magnet, a small leaf, and a small bowl with water. Rub the magnet on the needle in the same direction until it is magnetized. If you don’t have a magnet, you can use animal fur or your own hair. Put the leaf on the water, and the needle on the leaf. The needle will point north.

My personal experience: My students loved it when we built the compass in class.

Suggestions of probing questions: What time is it now? What’s the weather like? What can you see around you? Can you see the sky or only the tree tops? Can you hear any noises? Are you scared?

Divide the class into groups and ask each group to draw the creature. What does it look like? Does it have:

1. feathers or fur?
2. scales or skin?
3. claw or paw or feet?
4. ears or horns or antlers?
5. a beak or a muzzle or a nose?
6. a long tail or small tail or no tail?
7. tusks or small pointy teeth?

Note: This is also a review of vocabulary learnt in task # 5. My students loved drawing the animals in that task so much that they asked me to do it again.

Tell the class that the animal they drew also has a well-developed skill. Ask what it is. It also has a weakness. Ask what it is.

Ask students to draw their creature in groups. As a whole group, they present their creatures.  You can either choose the best creature or put them up in the reception area or the hall and have other students vote for their favorite one.

If possible, award the best drawing: the prize could be some candy or a new magical item.

As they suggest ideas, roll the dice until they find a way to befriend the creature.

Say: An earthquake strikes. A crack opens up right where you are and you fall into a pit (roll the dice to figure out how deep and wide it is. Whatever number they get will be doubled or tripled.). You look around and find a chest. Before you open it,  the elf appears and says (choose one student to play the role of the elf, and give him the elf card below).

Note: After the ‘elf’ delivers the message, check with the students what they understood from it. Make sure they interpreted it correctly.

They have to find a way to get out of the pit and take the chest along with them. You may choose to place them in groups or have them work as a class. If students work in group, you can use the dice to find our which one has the best chance to succeed. (The group that gets the highest number, will have their plan chosen, and they will be successful.)

The right solution is that the creature they befriended knows the way. As students try to guess, if they don’t mention the creature, tell them it’s not the right solution. It’s not going to work.

While your students are trying to guess, give the card below to one of the students to  play the role of the “creature”. This student will need some time to read the card and get ready to answer questions. Give the card to the student at some point and ask him/her to leave the classroom to study the information. Don’t let the other students know why s/he has left the class.

Continue asking for suggestions. If nobody thinks of the right solution, tell them that the “creature” has started jumping up and down and is pointing west.

Call the student who is playing the role of the creature back to class. Check to see if s/he has any doubts. Tell the class s/he is the creature and instruct the ‘creature’  to turn to the class and say “Yes, I can talk!”

Ask the class to ask the creature questions. Any questions they want. And remind them they need to find out where the Skull Mountain is.

The student who is playing the role of the creature will have to improvise answers to questions not covered in the card.

Note: You may or not choose to take notes of some of the mistakes students make and conduct a review of the points.

Ask the class if they remember all they know about the ogres (they have a good sense of smell, poor eye sight, eat men, live in caves, hunt in groups, and ride giant spiders).

Place students in groups and ask them to devise a plan to go past the ogres without being detected.

Have students present their plans and tell them to be prepared to use their ideas, if they are attacked.

Place students in groups to think about how they are going to cross the river without being caught by the hungry snakes! Everybody must go across the river. Challenge students as they explain their plans in as many details as possible. For example, if they say they will use the magic wings, ask them why, who will use it, who is more apt to do it, etc. Roll the dice to see how successful they were. Improve the odds as they come up with new plans.

Note: In one of my classes, one group decided to use the magic wings to tale a rope to the other side of the river and tie it to a tree. I rolled the die and got a 2. So, I said: It was hard! It was difficult! Sally did not have much experience using the wings. At some point along the way, she almost fell, but she made it to the other side. If I had gotten a 6, I would have said something like Sally was fantastic!!! She flew over the river like a pro. 

After all groups have presented their plans and established which ones to use, tell the class that the mission was accomplished. They were all able to cross the river safely.

It is about 3 o’clock in the morning. Who is keeping watch again?  (Name of student who is on watch) wakes all of you up. S/he has heard some strange noises and believes that the ogres are nearby. What are you going to do? Which of the plans you devised earlier will you use?

Start rolling the dice as they test their plans and improve the odds as they try them out until they are successful. Remember to discard magical objects after they are used.

As a whole class, ask students to come up with suggestions. Roll the dice and keep the odds low (“Only if you get a 6 the plan is successful”. Let the student who suggested the plan to roll the die.). Improve the odds (“if you get a 5 or 6, you are successful!”) until they succeed.

Note: If you want to make this activity more challenging, you can say that their plans will only succeed if they get a certain number on the die. Otherwise, all their plans will fail.

My personal experience: In one of my classes, before I rolling the die, I told the students that to be successful they needed a 6. I rolled the die and got a 6! All students jumped and clapped in joy. The task took less the 5 minutes. Of course, I made an angry face which made the students even happier.