Atalia’s Adventure – A Heartfelt RPG Narrative – Part 2

Amid thoughts, worries, and the pain of her healing wound, Atalia tries to sleep.

• Test time! This situation was unprecedented, although fatigue helped, the anxiety of knowing that someone wanted her dead and hiding it from everyone was also disturbing for a girl who spent most of her life alone in the stables. From 0.01 – 0.20 she can control her emotions and sleep to recover her energy, from 0.21 – 0.60 she can calm down enough to sleep but have a very restless night’s sleep, from 0.61 – 1.00 she can’t sleep a wink: 0.68 .
• Result: Atalia remained awake throughout the night, in the silence of the night she could hear the breathing of her family members, the sound of the wind shaking the branches and some animals. Although that tension left her exhausted the next morning, this time awake gave her an idea of ​​how to solve the situation, which added to the fatigue seemed to be a great idea.

Atalia got up before everyone else, and walking in silence, she tried to gather supplies, clothes and equipment that would help her on the journey that would follow.

• Test time! Atalia was quite tired and it was almost time for people to start waking up, so keeping silent while she packed a hidden pack for travel would be quite difficult. From 0.01 – 0.20 he manages to silently gather all the items he would like, from 0.21 – 0.40 he ends up making some noise, he manages to gather only part of what he would like before someone wakes up, 0.41 – 0.60 as soon as he started to gather the items, someone wakes up doing it interrupt the action, from 0.61 – 1.00 someone catches her gathering the items and asks her what she is doing: 0.96.
• Result: Atalia was assembling her bundle, when her mother appears and asks what she was doing. Atalia, surprised, reveals her intention to flee, and her mother stops her, taking her bundle from her. Atalia is embarrassed by that situation as she is scolded by her mother for such an irresponsible attitude.

Atalia’s other family members wake up and her mother scolds her again in front of them, telling her what she intended when she was surprised. Her family turned against her. Right after breakfast, they ask if Atalia shouldn’t go back to her work, because if she feels well enough to run away stealing things from that house, she might as well play her role in the stable again. Atalia wasn’t good at arguing, so she remains silent, nods, and goes to where she meets the wagon.

• Test time! Atalia was determined to flee, although the situation had not favored an equipped escape, she still kept that decision in mind, and tried to gather something on her way to support her. From 0.01 – 0.15 you get an item essential for your survival, from 0.16 – 0.40 you get an item that can help you a little, from 0.41 – 0.80 you get an item of little use, from 0.81 – 1.00 you don’t get any items on the way: 0.13 .
• Result: After leaving the house, Atalia feels that no one was watching her, she quickly pulls a blanket from the clothesline and follows it towards the wagon.

His heart fluttered as he walked away from there, but the tiredness of having spent the night up gave him the feeling that this was the best alternative. Atalia knew that path very well, and during the night she decided to flee so as not to harm anyone in her family, even if they didn’t treat her very well, she loved them well and felt that staying there, the Duchess’s wrath could fall on them. . So, as they pass through a connection where Atalia knew that merchants’ carts were coming, she asks them to stop for a moment, then she gets off and without saying anything, goes in that new direction. Without turning around, she realizes that after some time at a standstill, the wagon has returned to its course and she feels that this has been her silent farewell to life as she knew it.

• Test time! Atalia had no experience with being a wanderer, her head was busy thinking about different things and at the same time tiredness prevented her from focusing on any of her thoughts. From 0.01 – 0.30 Atalia manages to focus on improving her journey as a wanderer, from 0.31 – 0.60 Atalia partly focuses on her situation as a wanderer, from 0.61 – 1.00 Atalia keeps walking without focusing on her survival as a wanderer: 0.08.
• Result: Atalia awkwardly wraps that blanket around her body as if it were a cloak, even covering her head, looks for a branch that would support her to walk on that road and remains attentive to the ground and surroundings for anything she can. A resource for him, gathering a chipped stone and whatever he found on the way that looked edible, such as fruits, leaves, flowers, mushrooms and insects, during a morning’s walk.

• Test time! Atalia had little experience in survival, although strong odors didn’t bother her, she had a good sense of smell and taste, so as she tasted the foods she found on her way there is a 0.01 – 0.20 chance that she would recognize those that would hurt her and not eat. them right after putting it in the mouth or smelling it, from 0.21 – 0.50 of her recognizing some of the foods that would make her feel sick, 0.51 – 1.00 of her not identifying what could make her sick: 0.39.
• Result: Atalia, as she gathered the food, tasted them and discarded some that seemed quite suspicious to her.

After an entire morning of walking, even with short breaks, Atalia was exhausted. Not knowing the path she followed, she took a random direction at each fork. She felt that as a result of staying up all night the tiredness was coming with tremendous force on top of her, she wanted to lie down for a while and sleep, but she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay there after dark.

• Test time! Atalia knows she needs to find shelter, but the tiredness she feels is too strong. From 0.01 – 0.70 she decides to find a place to lie down there, from 0.71 – 0.90 she decides to walk some more while looking for a place to lie down, from 0.91 – 1.00 she resists and keeps walking until she finds a spot safe to lie down: 0.47
• Result: Atalia goes into the forest for a while and leans against a tree, taking advantage of the cover around her to rest a little.

The exhaustion she felt however was immense, so that she only woke up to the bitter cold of the night. Even with his blanket, that cold was unbearable, it seemed to hurt him to the bones, he was completely pitch black, he saw absolutely nothing in front of him even with his wide eyes except a few stars in the sky, he only heard the sound of the branches moving and some nocturnal animals. She was scared and alone, she didn’t know how long it was until dawn, so she cringed tightly holding her staff in fear of some animal attacking her and gathering everything she had gathered on her way.

• Test time! Atalia was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, she had never missed a light so much as on that occasion, hidden inside that blanket shivering with cold and fear. From 0.01 – 0.60 he starts to cry uncontrollably, regretting the decision he made to run away, from 0.61 – 0.90 he cries a little but manages to contain himself, from 0.91 – 1.00 he holds his emotions and thinks about what he will do the next morning: 0.85.
• Result: Atalia starts to cry, but soon they contain themselves, wiping the tears and holding her staff, she hears some sounds around her and with an open crack in her blanket she looks around in an attempt to identify the source of that sound.

It is then that she spots a green glow in the distance, the first sign of light in the surroundings. She gets up still wrapped in the blanket and using her staff to walk in the dark, as she moves towards that glow. Getting closer, she sees fireflies, and with some effort she manages to capture one, then she shrinks back covering herself completely, while under the cover she observes that small glow that seemed to fill all that darkness that began to dominate her. Her body was strange, she felt very dizzy and dizzy, but she dropped her staff and held the small insect with both hands as she admired its glow in the midst of complete darkness. She repeatedly thanks that firefly, saying he saved her, as she struggles to weather the night’s cold. In the midst of a sudden tiredness, she manages to go back to sleep only to wake up at dawn, with the now-dead little firefly still in her hands. Atalia, grateful for the hope that that little being gave her, decides to take him with her, wrapping him in a leaf and carrying him with her body.

STATUS

Name: Athaliah, daughter of Galieu from the region of Farhes
Appearance: Indian/European Mestizo
Age: 16 years
Occupation: Stable cleaner
Equipment:
body clothes
staff (twig)
Blanket
Foil envelope with a dead firefly
Situation:
poor health
Features:
strong odor
don’t feel disgust
Don’t mind odors
not very communicative
like to be alone
strong health
affinity with animals
Agile and flexible
language of the dead
Enemies:
Duchess of Mancini

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RPG and “the arcane adventures”

Continuing the report of when he was a scholarship holder of PIBID (Institutional Program of Scholarships for Initiation to Teaching) and worked with math games for students of Elementary School Final Years in a full-time school. Some time after the initial RPG experience reported in the previous post (Atalia’s adventure – part 1), I came to propose a kind of guided adventure with generic characters and based only on challenges. Although the role of “playing a character” linked to the very term RPG (Rolling Playing Game – translatable as Role-Playing Game) appears often linked to the development of the character itself, in this context the player would assume a character already defined and that unlike the previous experience, it would carry in addition to a beautiful image, a story and goal to pursue, instead of combat skills.

I basically took the tarot kabbalah, the name of its 22 major arcana and cool images representing each of them, so I started thinking of a little story. As at the bottom we have the Mage, the Empress and the Fool, I imagined that the three could be playable characters and I went looking (without understanding anything about tarot) some contexts and goals that should be achieved by each of them along their journey . Thus, the core of this plot would be to conquer the specific goals of the chosen character, exploring the mysteries that the other 19 arcana have in store through the cabal’s paths. Here’s a description of the playable characters:

00 – The Fool
I have a lot of fun wherever I go, for me getting to know the world is a very good opportunity to learn new things and have a lot of laughs with the friends I make during the trip. I don’t care about money, power or riches, they only bring fights and enemies, so why waste your time on that?

01 – The Wizard
The world is full of mysteries that fascinate me. My master always told me of his youthful adventures and I looked forward to the day when my journey too would begin. I really want to know the secrets of the World, understand the Sun, Moon and Stars, and one day become a very powerful mage.

03 – The Empress
My whole life I lived far from what really happens in the world, I grew up in a fairy tale and now I see that my people need someone to watch over them, because our Emperor thinks only of himself. I have to face him, but I’m too scared, but I can’t back down, not anymore…

The idea is that the character description refers in some sense to the goals he must face, for example, the Empress needs to face the Emperor. Thus, each character needs to go through the cabal looking for the major arcana regarding their goals (located on the edges of the cabal), each of them also has a little story, some have challenges and other information that can help the player in other challenges. The order in which the arcana are in the cabal was somewhat random, but the idea is that no arcane with a challenge will ever prevent access to another edge of the cabal. That is, it would always be possible to reach a certain edge by at least two different paths. Therefore, no student would be stuck in a challenge and prevented from advancing, in the worst case, they could change characters and see if they can achieve their goals.

However, this was an experience that seemed more interesting to me (who prepared 22 stories) than to the students, who focused more on the images of the cards. It seemed to me at the time that there was already an ingrained custom (partly my fault) that math games were focused on solving math problems. I say this because the whole plot that didn’t involve solving challenges was kind of ignored, the information that didn’t appear together with the challenge card was basically not considered, for example:

07 – The Car
Do you want a ride? You can go up. How lucky we found each other, this path is very long and tedious to spend alone. As a child, my grandfather gave me many challenges. In this one you have to cross the 7 bridges without passing any of them twice. I’ve tried for years, and I’m pretty sure it’s impossible…

This arcana gives the player valuable information about a famous mathematical problem that we have already discussed in this blog (Bridges of Königsberg: destroying them is the solution). Although there is a demonstration that this problem has no solution, for the player, knowing that an NPC has tried to solve it for years without success, and that he believes it is impossible, can help him not to waste time when going through arcane 15.

15 – The Devil
Haha ha! Do you think you can pass through my domains, human… This time I will be kind to you, if you manage to cross these 7 bridges without passing any of them more than once I grant you the right to cross… don’t be in a hurry, you can keep trying as long as you want

Putting the information together, and considering the cunning of those who proposed this challenge, it is natural to think that there is no solution, so the best alternative is to look for another path (since it will not be possible to cross that edge). The same occurs with the arcane Priestess, which gives information to face the challenge of the Emperor, and the arcane Valentine, which gives both a challenge and information to face the challenge of the Wheel of Fortune.

This was a feature that caught my attention, because during the planning I imagined that the players would go through the cabal, read the stories of the arcana and try to achieve the characters’ goals. But that was not what happened, the search for elements of a mathematical problem was predominant, and cards without challenges were practically ignored. However, if you got this far in the text, you may be wondering, what is the relationship of this school experience with part 2 of the adventure and Atalia?

I answer this question with another one, were there any mathematical problems in this adventure?

You will certainly not find algebraic expressions, or geometric relationships to be demonstrated.

But come on, what made you decide to run away? In her mind, there was the certainty that the Duchess wanted her dead because people on the wagon said on the way to her house, that some guards came looking for her. Thus, Atalia imagines that if she returned to the stable, they would immediately come to capture her, interrogate her, and probably kill her. Staying at home, the people on the wagon would say they saw her and the guards would come after her and the situation would end the same way. However, running away she would have a chance to erase her trace and not be found. This even has to do with the number of possible paths to follow by taking forks. Suppose every 1 hour of walking on the road there was a fork, if the guards came after it after 1 h they would have 2 paths to look for it, if they came after 6 hours they would have 64 paths to look for it. This increase in the sample space of possibilities for her to follow in a certain way gives her the security of not being found easily.

Considering what’s in a house like hers, what would she take on her escape? It can’t be anything too heavy or difficult to carry, probably a sharp object, a cold blanket, some food. But as her anticipation was interrupted, with the exception of the blanket, she had to find the other resources along the way, such as a chipped stone and suspicious foods on her way.

The use of a staff for walking is nothing new, because even though we are heavier carrying it, we compensate this weight with an increase in a point of support and we also divide the effort of walking into parts for the arms.

To top it off, we have the contaminated food dilemma, where you have food that has a chance of harming you, but not eating it will also harm you. How to decide? If she remained without eating anything, she would certainly not have the risk of ingesting something toxic, but she would starve to death, on the other hand, there was a chance that she would eat and not feel sick, although she could eat and feel sick. In this context, she opted for the uncertainty of getting sick rather than the certainty of dying of hunger.

As we can see, similar to the RPG involving the major arcana, in this one we also have mathematical problems. Although they are more disguised, they are still present. But the main relationship that I would like to highlight in this post is the way in which the mathematical problem arises and the bad habit we have of always expecting it that way. For example, my coffee in the coffee maker is getting cold if I leave it off, but if I leave it on, it’s wasting electricity. If it gets too cold, I may not be able to consume it without turning the coffee machine back on (lie, I drink it anyway lol), but leaving it on for another cup after a few hours can be more expensive than making another jar of coffee. I didn’t put numbers in this dilemma either, although it involves making a decision and the advantage/disadvantage of each action. The idea in this case is to choose an alternative that maximizes profit, depending of course on what I consider profit. If I consider myself to have a good income in the morning, it is more interesting to spend electricity and have a coffee ready to serve me when I feel like it. If I consider saving energy, it is more interesting to turn on the coffee maker when I want to drink it. If I consider the quality of the drink, it is more interesting to stop my activities and make a new coffee when I feel like it.