The Surprising Hidden Benefits of Druidawn

 

Our Druidawn families already know that our unique writing/gaming system helps students to overcome writing reluctance and anxiety, especially for those who struggle with unique learning styles such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD and autism. Our clients also know that Druidawn offers a supportive community where students who love to write can get positive feedback on their stories from their peers and teachers, and receive assistance with their publishing goals. Many of our Druidawn families have been excited to discover that the process of writing fiction (including plot development, adding details, metaphors, vibrant characters, and setting descriptions) helps students to become better technical writers and critical readers. It turns out constructing engaging fiction stories is quite similar to constructing solid essays and analyzing literature. 

 

But here are some surprising hidden benefits of Druidawn that even our most devoted clients might not realize.

 

Druidawn actually helps students with problem-solving skills, social skills, team work, and learning how to make wise choices in real life. So many of our very bright children don’t have enough life experiences to use common sense when making decisions. Many don’t have a strategy for how to tackle problems that have too many possible solutions. They might forget to wait their turn and listen to the insights of their teammates. They might miss spoken and unspoken social cues. They might be baffled by the concept of cause and effect. Druidawn practices all of these important critical thinking skills in a safe imaginary world by using situations that mirror real life events, despite the magical spin. 

 

For instance, when trying to open a locked door, it shockingly doesn’t occur to many of our students to simply look for a hidden key. They might try to use their swords to hack at the lock or try to burn the door down, but it might not even occur to them to look around the room to see if anything else could be useful. They most likely won’t think to listen and use their other senses first before entering a strange area. They could be in a fight on a sandy beach and never think to throw sand in their opponent’s eyes in order to escape. Many attempt to kill the creatures they encounter before finding out if the creatures could be of help to them. Or they might forget to make use of the basic items they are carrying in their backpacks, or the items found in their environment. A chair can make a good weapon or can be used as a shield or as an object to break through a window. 

 

Our clients might not know this, but our quests are not just designed to be interactive scenarios that entertain and inspire story-writing. They are thoughtfully crafted epic journeys designed to put our students in situations that encourage them to practice critical thinking, problem-solving, team work, environmental awareness and social skills with every session. 

 

Here are some examples of the thoughtful obstacles your children regularly face while playing Druidawn:

 

Learning how to tame wild animals and mystic creatures by being cautious, patient, thoughtful, observant of the creatures’ natural behaviors, and using lures such as their favorite foods.

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Solving a civil war between two disagreeing sides of a city by finding natural resources that all of the people of both sides can use to help boost their economies.

 

Helping a discouraged friend learn how to read because he was disadvantaged as a child and unable to go to school. As a result, he can’t keep up with the homework assigned in Shadow Knight Training.   

 

Having dinner with the Centaurs and learning proper table manners and social etiquette so as not to offend their society. Players have to watch for social cues and learn to interpret body language in this scenario.

 

Coaxing, without killing, a giant sea monster (the Kraken) to move to a new home because the current one he is occupying is disrupting the mining of cryllicon, a natural resource used by all people on Druidawn.

 

Rescuing a neglected child from an evil overlord and becoming this impulsive child’s primary nurturer and protector. The child has tremendous magical powers and needs someone to teach her how to modulate her emotions so she won’t hurt anyone if she doesn't always get what she wants.

 

Participating in a science fair, inventing new items, and coming to understand a brilliant but perpetually frustrated evil overlord who is cursed by his desire to create new things in a world that doesn’t allow for technological progress of any kind.

 

Learn how to haggle to get the best bargain prices as they buy items and trade their goods for coins in a medieval marketplace.  Learn how to recognize a con artist and how to protect their belongings against thieves.

 

Do we have lots of action and fight scenes? Sure, but unlike many other games, Druidawn characters are not rewarded for killing. In fact, they are forewarned that killing needlessly will cost their characters Honor, Loyalty, and Compassion attribute points. As will selfish behaviors like leaving their friends behind, stealing from or otherwise harming innocent people, and not doing their share to help. On the flip side, they gain points to Intelligence and Wisdom for clever problem-solving and making good choices. They gain points to Honor, Loyalty, Leadership and Compassion for kind and caring acts, team-work and demonstrations of friendship. Even if a player wants to play the part of a villainous character, they still have to face the natural consequences of their actions, such as the possibility of getting caught and going to jail. The higher the attribute points, the more advantages their characters have in dice rolls, so attribute scores are a good way to reward positive actions and deter negative ones.

 

The Druidawn scenarios are designed to be novel-length, complex, emotionally engaging, challenging but not overwhelming, and filled with moral dilemmas that make our students work harder to solve problems in creative ways. When our students are given situations that they must solve as a team, they learn to listen to each other, think outside the box, and make use of their environment. Many of our quests focus on befriending rather than killing, on problem-solving rather than destroying, and on learning more about the characters they meet so that they can come to understand what motivates people to act in certain ways. Finally, they learn the principles of cause and effect. Their actions create logical and natural results. These are essential life skills that can have a huge impact as our students mature into young adults. We believe that a safe, narrative-based gaming environment like Druidawn is one of the best ways to teach some real-world lessons, and we are thrilled to be able to offer these hidden benefits to your children.