Age of Revolutions

This’ll be the last scenario we cover before entering the modern and post-modern era’s, as the title implies we’ll be covering the Age of Revolutions between 1750 and 1914. The goal of the scenario will be to understand significant events, people and place

s as in the other scenarios. If you haven’t read my previous scenarios on history you can check them out here for formatting and methods that we’ll be using to RP.

This RP will be set between 1750 to 1914, during which four major revolutions occurred, those being the American Revolution, French, Haitian, and Spanish. The players will be able to RP in any of the previously mentioned revolutions singularly. Or, I’d recommend starting with the American Revolution and then build the story-line through the others.

The American Revolution began in 1765 when the 13 colonies revolted against the British empire, uprooting the British control and forming the United States of America. The revolt was caused by a series of social, political and economic mishaps made by the British. This infuriated the local populace and caused the revolution, which was successful, sparking other populace centered revolutions in many European countries and their colonies.

In Europe the french people revolted against the monarchy. The problems arose with several years of bad crops and economical downfall, along with poor ruling from corrupt King Louis XVI. The starving people of France revolted overthrowing the monarchy, replacing it with a democratic system.

In 1791 the tensions of slavery in the French colony of Saint-Domingue reached a climax and broke out into open revolt. The revolt culminated in the creation of the Republic of Haiti. Making this the most successful slave uprising in the European colonies and gave rise to other slave uprisings across the world.

Spain was the next to be affected by the chain of revolutions. Their revolution occurred similarly to the American Revolution. As in the Spanish colonies in South-America revolted, breaking Spanish rule and forming into many nation-states that exist today. However, the revolts didn’t end in full independence, but it did break the casta system ending slavery and monarchy.

The style of this RPG scenario will be similar to my “Rum, Spice and Pirates” scenario in that the players will be RPing as significant people that control governments, armies and politics. So that means that the goal for the player is to RP a significant character from whichever revolution they’re RPing and play them as historically accurate as possible.

The teacher role will be to guide the RP with timeline accurate events. The player will be playing as major characters from each revolution as seen below.

• Teacher:
• The teachers other roles will be to play major characters that the players aren’t playing thus allowing you to control the RP impressively.
• Players:
• Significant characters from each revolution
• Rebel:
• Political leaders ( rebel leaders,
• Military Generals (generals of war, navy and land based military)
• Economic leaders (important traders, diplomats and trading companies.)
• Governmental
• Political leaders (kings, princes, queens, important dukes, and higher class)
• MIlitary Generals (generals of war, navy and land based military)
• Economic Leaders (important traders, diplomats and trading companies.)

Character Sheets will follow a normal format:

Name (Your character's Name, make sure to keep in historically accurate):

Age (Your characters age, keep in mind the average lifespan of people back then) :

Gender (Male or female):

Company/nation/pirate:

Position:

Skills:

Appearance (Writing up two to three paragraphs that describe your character is common):

Personality (Same as the appearance for descriptive):

Biography (Same as the descriptives for personality or appearance):

• Resources:
• Resources for players:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Revolution
• Resources for Teachers, or GM:
• http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191737749.timeline.0001

Rum, spice and Pirates.

Welcome! The following scenario is a semi-continuation of my Silk Road scenario. If you haven't read my previous scenarios please check them out, it isn't required, but highly recommended. This scenario will be covering Chugach standards 7.8 and 7.9. These standards cover “intensified hemispheric interactions” and the beginning of the Age of Revolutions.  They will cover understanding “significant ideas, institutions, people and events” from the Age of Discovery leading to the Age of Revolutions.

To demonstrate these standards we’ll be role-playing the interactions between East India Co, Britain, France and india. Following suit with my previous Silk Road RP scenario we’ll be focusing on globalization. By globalization, I mean, the act of sharing resources to the point that towns and cities can survive without local sustainability. I've chosen the East india Company as the focus because it came to be the single most powerful company involved with early world globalization, through their competition with other European trade companies.

The RP scenario will take place between the 17th and 19th centuries and focus on colonial India, and trading broader Indian ocean. Late game RPing can be adapted to new world trading and colonization, allowing for players to transition into the next set of standards involving the Age of Revolutions. Global trade during the this period fueled the power struggles between European powers. Meanwhile, in India there were several commercial players at work. Mainly this involved the Dutch East India Company, East India Company, and the French East India Company. The RP will be focused on the large scale interactions between these companies and their chartering nations.

The Dutch East India Company was initially the largest of the trading companies established in 1602, when the United States of Netherlands gave a 21 year monopoly to eastern based trade (India and Asia). Statistically the Dutch East India Company was the largest and eclipsed most other companies during it’s prime, which was the 17th century. Sending roughly a million Europeans to the east to trade and police the land they claimed sovereignty over.

The map above shows the trade routes from the 1400-1800s.

Following the Dutch East India Company, the British counterpart was formed as the closely named East India Company. This formation occurred on 31 December 1600, when they were given a monopoly charter from Queen Elizibeth of England to trade in India. The company thrived from trades of “cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium.” They eventually came to govern parts of British ruled India with a privatized army..

The French East India Company was founded in 1667- being the latest to the trading scene. After both the Dutch East India Company and British East India Company. However, the directors of the company were highly experienced, and it quickly rose to become a major competitor to the other two, although at this stage the Dutch East India Company was fading in influence.

Now to the game play! This is a unique RP that spans a large period of time, so unlike my previous scenarios we’ll be role-playing as the major companies, nations and pirates that held sway over the eastern trading routes instead of individuals as in our previous scenarios. Meaning the players will choose roles inside of companies, nations and pirates to control large portions of operations. The teacher or game master will direct the game by following historically accurate timelines and giving consequences to actions that players make.

Players are suggested to play as the following, but can choose any nation or empire related to the topic within the era.

• England
• royalty/govern (Rulers or political parties.)
• navy/army (Commander of the military)
• emissary (Emissary sent to do diplomatic reason with other nations and or companies.)
• French
• royalty/government ( Rulers or political parties)
• Military (Commander of the military, see links below for detailed information)
• Company Roles (you can choose any of the companies that were at play):
• CEO ( Leader of the chosen company, has to follow historically accurate timelines.
• Merchant Navy ( commands the Merchants, Receives orders from the CEO)
• Navy (Naval commander, receives orders from the CEO)
• Army (Commander of the armies, receives order from the CEO)

The Character Sheets will be as follows:

Character Sheet:

Name (Your character's Name, make sure to keep in historically accurate):

Age (Your characters age, keep in mind the average lifespan of people back then) :

Gender (Male or female):

Company/nation/pirate:

Position:

Skills:

Appearance (Writing up two to three paragraphs that describe your character is common):

Personality (Same as the appearance for descriptive):

Biography (Same as the descriptive for personality or appearance):

Resources:

• French East Indian Company:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_East_India_Company
• Dutch East Indian Company:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company
• British East Indian Company:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company
• Britain
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_Isles#Early_Modern_period
• France
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France#Early_Modern_France_.281453.E2.80.931789.29

Rping on the Silk Road

Welcome! This is the second installment of my historic scenarios using RPG Forums. Hopefully, you’ve already read and played through my previous scenario and want to continue through history. If not, you can find my previous scenario and RPG Forums guide here. In this scenario we’ll be covering chugach standards SS 7.6- 7.7. This covers “Classical Traditions, Major Religions, and Giant Empires Era 1000 BCE- 1500 CE”. The objectives of these standards once more is to “understand significant ideas, institutions, people and events” from the period.

To demonstrate these standards we’ll be using The Silk Road as our RP’s context. The Silk Road can be considered the first act of globalization, linking trading routes between Rome and China. Leading to the centralization of culture, technology, religion, and resources into bustling trade cities along the route. I’ve chosen this as our context because it signifies the development of trade and commerce between separate nations, building demand for various luxuries, food, and art. This fueled the expansion of empires that this standard covers.

The Silk Road was first defined by an eastern emissary, Zhang Qian, who was sent by emperor Wu around 138BCE to locate the Yuezhi people. He wanted to obtain their aid in defeating the Xionghu, a local group of harassing marauders. Zhang headed west, leading him into contact with several great empires. One of these included the Dayuan, descendants of Alexander the Great’s army who had been in the region X number of years previously. When Zhang returned home and let emperor Wu know about the western lying kingdoms, trade routes between western and eastern worlds were established. Trading flourished, among the many goods that were traded none were more revered than silk. Notable technologies such as paper and gunpowder were also traded. The popularity of the silk trade led to the naming of the trade route- The Silk Road. Which was coined by Ferdinand von Richthofen, in 1877 CE, a german geographer and traveler. An image of the route can be seen here.

To successfully role-play this scenario, you’ll need to research how people traveled along the routes, to understand how to play your characters. Basically what this means is that when you choose your character, you’ll need to learn and infer about their professions, potential personality, likely ambitions, daily concerns, and life choices.

LIfe on The Silk Road:

• Culture:
• http://gallery.sjsu.edu/silkroad/culture.htm
• General overview of The Silk Road:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road
• Good example of writing for playing a merchant on the Silk Road
• http://college.holycross.edu/projects/himalayan_cultures/2004_plans/atouhey/student_resources_the_merchants_tale.htm
• Description of the environments of the Silk Road:
• http://www.advantour.com/silkroad/trade-culture.htm

To create your character you’ll follow a character sheet. I’ve set one up below as an example:

Character Sheet:

Name (Your character's Name, make sure to keep in historically accurate):

Age (Your characters age, keep in mind the average lifespan of people back then) :

Gender (Male or female):

Job (Merchant, mercenary, guardsmen, highwaymen):

Skills ( What skills would help your job, keep it realistic):

Appearance (Writing up two to three paragraphs that describe your character is common):

Personality (Same as the appearance for descriptive):

Biography (Same as the descriptives for personality or appearance, just read up on the life of traveling on The Silk Road):

Now that we have covered the context and character sheets, where do the role-players come in? Well the goal of the RP is to have students role-play their character as traveling merchants, mercenaries and various other traveling folk. That travel from settlement to settlement. Where the teacher who will be the important NPC’s like royalty, that give out tasks and challenges for the player to complete earning rewards. The students goal, or the goal of the role-players is to perform and complete tasks given by the teachers NPC.

Teachers tasks:

• Assign jobs and quests to players. Aligning the quests or jobs to the role the players have chosen. So if the player is a merchant, have a local merchant guild order the player merchant to travel to another city and deliver x goods for a certain amount of money.
• As they are traveling throw in problems that the players must deal with, making sure the problems are historically accurate (I.E bandit raid or mudslide)

Player roles:

• Suggestions for the player roles are:
• Merchants,
• Traveling adventures
• Explorers
• Merchant guards
• Mercenaries

Thats pretty much it, for comments and questions feel free to email me at cymeks.hun@gmail.com or post in the comments section.

RPG Forums scenario using The Grand Pyramid of Giza

Welcome! This is the first scenario using the RPG Forum as an educational tool. We’ll be working on Chugach’s SS 7.4 standard. This covers “early civilizations and pastoral peoples era 4000-1000 BCE.” The objective of this standard is to “understand the institutions, people and events” from this period. The goal of the scenario is to help students connect to the human side of history. By this I mean that when you study history you’re typically reading and/or watching historic events from a disconnected point of view. Creating a very impersonal learning experience, often leading to memorizing dates, events and places without gaining an emotional connection. To solve this problem I’m using the text based roleplaying found on RPG Forums to provide a simulated experience. To do this, I’ve created a set of historic scenarios that allow students to personally interact with history in a dynamic way through cooperative storytelling (you can check out my RPG Forum guide to understand what RP’s are all about).

To showcase the standard we’ll be using the construction of The Grand Pyramid as the context for our role-playing. The Grand Pyramid at Giza is seen as one of the first major events in the BCE. I’ve chosen Giza because it signifies a major advancement in human history in developing large-scale projects that require massive amounts of funding and logistical support. This achievement highlights a defining characteristic of civilizations throughout BCE, that being the ability to coordinate people and supplies toward a unified goal (willingly or unwillingly).

In this scenario we’ll be RPing during the construction of The Grand Pyramid. This pyramid was commissioned by the pharoah Khufu who ruled between 2609–2584 BCE, the construction took place south-west of present-day Cairo on the Giza Plateau. The Grand Pyramid was a project that required workers from all over egypt; bringing in artisans of stone and clay, architects, engineers, boatmen, cooks, and laborers.

To successfully RP this scenario you’ll need to access several resources to accurately play your chosen character’s roles. Basically what this means is that when you choose your character, you’ll need to learn and infer about their professions, potential personality, likely ambitions, daily concerns, and life choices.

The overarching goal of the RP is for the players to join work gangs, see “ Life of Pyramid Workers” linked below. The players will then perform jobs within the worker gangs on the pyramid, they will compete with other gangs, have internal strife, deal with issues constructing the pyramid, loss of tools and etc.

Life of Pyramid Workers:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/pyramid_builders_01.shtml
• Food of Egypt:
• http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/food.htm
• Chain of command:
• http://www.ushistory.org/civ/3b.asp
• Boatmen of the Nile
• http://outline-of-history.mindvessel.net/150-sea-peoples-and-trading-peoples/151-the-earliest-ships-and-sailors.html

To create your character you’ll follow a character sheet. I’ve set one up below as an example:

Character Sheet:

Name (Your character's Name, make sure to keep in historically accurate):

Age (Your characters age, keep in mind the average lifespan of people back then) :

Gender (Male or female):

Job:

Skills:

Appearance (Writing up two to three paragraphs that describe your character is common):

Personality (Same as the appearance for descriptive):

Biography (Same as the descriptives for personality or appearance, just read up on egyptian life):

Now that we have covered the context and character sheets, where do the role-players come in? Well the goal of the RP is to have students role-play their character in workers gangs that are assigned tasks from the pharaoh’s vizor who in turn receives orders from the pharaoh. These two roles will be role-played by the teacher, giving them control of the rp. This means that the teacher will place their students into worker gangs and then give those gangs historically accurate challenges, tasks and rewards based on completion speed and quality. The students goal, or the goal of the role-players is to perform and complete tasks given by the Vizor.

• Vizors tasks
• Assign role-players to roles ( there can be more if you wish):
• cook
• Laborers (actually moving blocks into place)
• Architects:
• Boatsmen (Transporting stone blocks)
• leader of the worker gang
• Set up challenges and obstacles for the gangs. Forecasting low water for the Nile.
• Give the worker gangs jobs related to the pyramids construction.
• Give out rewards based on historically accuracy, and completion of projects.

Thats pretty much it, for comments and questions feel free to email me at cymeks.hun@gmail.com or post in the comments section.