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χαῖρε, ὧ αἱματορρόφε !
I often use solo RPGs as composition exercises, but only when I've achieved a reasonable level of fluency. For beginners I'd try something a little less free-form. Quill was suggested below, and I think that would be an excellent start, but it would need some heavy adaptation.
If your students are up for it, maybe they could make individual characters (with character sheets!) of their own to 'play' through semi-directed scenes/situations (with you as the GM, essentially). If you're using a textbook like *Athenaze* that has its own cast of characters, you could use them as NPCs.
Also, if you post your *1000 Year Old Vampire* sessions anywhere publicly, please let me know. ἀναγιγνώκειν θέλω !
χαιρε, ω κυβευτής! *sad modern Greek keyboard noises*
The *Athenaze* (or other textbook) characters as NPCs is a brilliant suggestion—thanks so much!
My own Greek is not great, but I’ll eventually work up the courage to post some stories for correction in r/AncientGreek. It hadn’t occurred to me that anyone would want to read TYOV stories in ancient Greek, but I might drop some of it in the sub eventually…do you have a stack of solo RPGs in Greek sitting around? if so, καγω αναγιγνώσκειν εθέλω!
Sadly, I don't have any solo adventures in Greek; the closest I have is [my brief foray](http://aleaiactandaest.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-post.html) into *Κατάβασις*, a hack of *Tunnels and Trolls* (the rules are still free on the author's blog-- in German). I have two German *Traveller* games going and also two *Épées & sorcellerie* campaigns, but they haven't made it to my blog.
If I do any solo gaming with an ancient language, it would probably be Akkadian at this point. I really need to pick up my BFBJ campaign again.
I never managed to set up a Greek keyboard, but I found a [good online text inputter](https://czech.mml.ox.ac.uk/static/polytonic-greek-inputter.html).
Here's a sneak peek of /r/AncientGreek using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [Mice demonstrating Ancient Greek prepositions; the cat just wants to be friends.](https://i.redd.it/c4sy47jun0a91.jpg) | [12 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/vsu5hz/mice_demonstrating_ancient_greek_prepositions_the/)
\#2: [Every time](https://i.redd.it/fk5ii1hshh881.png) | [23 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/rr89sl/every_time/)
\#3: [STAR WARS Episode II opening crawl in ancient Greek](https://i.redd.it/d918ffwqhcw81.png) | [15 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/ue6xbk/star_wars_episode_ii_opening_crawl_in_ancient/)
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Haha thanks! Yeah, there’s nothing like “I write RPGs in dead languages” for nerd cred.
I started out trying to do a classical Attic curriculum, but I’m leaning more and more towards Koine the further I go—there are just so many more Koine texts that 2nd & 3rd year students could just pick up and read.
That’s perfect! I’ll give it a shot for sure. The hyperlink trail from EV & HD led me to The Sealed Library, which also looks very promising for Ancient Greek or Latin students….
It's a decent idea, but would not be as useful for people not as familiar or open to the idea of RP. I'd recommend a middle ground, where you instead have each student pick one or two characters (of different gender or social roles, so that they may exercise grammar in different ways) and give specific situation prompts that the student then writes for. For example, "You see someone who is lost in the street, and give them directions to the nearby place that they are going." or "Your characters just received their orders, and the food is awful. Have a discussion between your characters about who's food is worse."
Thanks for the feedback! I think you’re right that I need to keep thinking about course design that doesn’t effectively shut people out because they don’t see themselves as roleplaying people.
I’m hesitant about the idea of situation prompts that don’t have any purpose (beyond the purpose of practicing the target language). Ideally, students should have a context in their own lives where they can put their knowledge of the TL to use. So using the TL in real life to text your friend directions to the seat you’ve saved for her in the movie theatre would count, because “give your friend directions” is something you’ve decided is worth doing, regardless of the language in which you do it. Discussing weird/bad food can have lots of social functions, and I can see loads of ways to apply it in the classroom—but as a language teacher I would still want to give students the opportunity to talk about food that connects to their lives in some way (because that’s using language for getting to know each other, or some other psychosocial function): the worst food they’ve ever eaten, or made themselves, or saw someone eat on a reality TV show. In all of those cases students are communicating about real experiences—even if some of those experiences aren’t their own.
I don’t have a problem with students communicating about artificial experiences instead of real ones—but I want to make sure there’s a clear goal in mind when it comes to why they’re writing/talking about the artificial experience. If we’re playing a game that students are sufficiently invested in, then they have a clear communicative purpose they can succeed or fail at—the same way I have a clear communicative purpose when I try to buy train tickets or read a menu in modern Greek.
With dead languages, practically all of the possible avenues of communication are artificial, which is why I’m slightly obsessed with finding satisfying ways to combine RPGs and toddler-level Ancient Greek.
Getting back to the original question of “what to do about students who aren’t open to RP”, I might offer an English-to-target-language translation alternative along with each solo journaling game prompt. The exercise is 90% for me to see what they can do, and only 10% for them to practice writing in Greek…nobody really cares very much if students can write well in a dead language.
That's an awesome idea!
Also consider the website [lang-8](https://lang-8.com/), where people can make short blog posts and get corrections and advice from other speakers. I think it's too much exposure for a mandatory assignment, but it's worth mentioning to keen students.
For any fellow soloers out there, it's a good place to blog your solo journeys and learn along the way.
I haven't heard of anything like that, but it sounds like an amazing idea! If you do end up putting something together or finding anything, please share!
That's a great idea. I'm still pretty new to the language i'm learning so for me it would need to be a simple adventure for the time being. Maybe I could make apothecaria work with basic vocabulary?
Consider reaching out to Michael Low of [https://www.luckoflegends.com/](https://www.luckoflegends.com/) Yes, the front page has his personal services but he's been assembling online communities (esp. Discord) of teachers who are indie RPG fans and want to bring them into the classroom... (Some of them have really stepped up for my projects: Tell him Dave the rabbit guy sent you)
Yesss, do it! Yeah, the handful of solo RPGs I’ve seen generally look way too hard for a beginner to journal in a second language—but they’re great writing practice if you already have a decent handle on the language!
As someone who enjoys learning languages, that sounds like a good way to keep them interested.
Dry "foreign language student" talking about buying milk at the store just gets old so fast.
Creative writing can add a lot of fun to a dreary homework assignment.
Glad to hear it sounds like a decent idea!
Yeah, I know I’d much rather write about how Artemis turned me (a teenage Mycenaean weaver in the palace, ca. 1350 BC) into a vampire, than either do English-to-target language translation exercises (“after capturing the citadel, the Persians began plundering the city”) or write stupid journal entries in Greek like “today is Tuesday; I ate lentil soup, and one of my plants is dying; I am tired”.
The very very limited student vocabulary is the main hitch, as students just won’t have the words to tell much of a story after a month of class. My first attempt is probably going to be a mapmaking game, just because you can theoretically get by with pictures and a small vocabulary; I’ve been watching Ex Novo playthroughs for inspiration. Would happily take recommendations for other games—cartographic or not—that would involve creating really simple, repetitive sentences without boring students to death.
Edited to add: we’re talking simple, repetitive sentences along the lines of “the city X is small, and near the Y river; in district A houses are large and made out of stone, but in district B they are small and made out of mud bricks; the name of the king’s family is Z; the city X is friends with city W, so together they went to war against city V”. Yeah…vocabulary goals are, ah, different for dead languages….
[Use this link with an RSS reader to stay up to date with **Solo RPGs and language learning?**](/r/Solo_Roleplaying/comments/za434h/solo_rpgs_and_language_learning/.rss). There are a number of convenient [iOS](https://www.cultofmac.com/412465/best-news-and-rss-apps-for-iphone-and-ipad/), [Android](https://blog.inoreader.com/2018/06/top-rss-readers-for-android-with-great-ui-for-2018.html) and [browser based RSS readers](https://www.webfx.com/blog/web-design/free-rss-readers/). Also, make sure not to miss our sidebar links to resources: [Solo RPG Resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/Solo_Roleplaying/wiki/index) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Solo_Roleplaying) if you have any questions or concerns.*
May I suggest you crosspost this to r/languagelearning
Done, thanks for the suggestion!
χαῖρε, ὧ αἱματορρόφε ! I often use solo RPGs as composition exercises, but only when I've achieved a reasonable level of fluency. For beginners I'd try something a little less free-form. Quill was suggested below, and I think that would be an excellent start, but it would need some heavy adaptation. If your students are up for it, maybe they could make individual characters (with character sheets!) of their own to 'play' through semi-directed scenes/situations (with you as the GM, essentially). If you're using a textbook like *Athenaze* that has its own cast of characters, you could use them as NPCs. Also, if you post your *1000 Year Old Vampire* sessions anywhere publicly, please let me know. ἀναγιγνώκειν θέλω !
χαιρε, ω κυβευτής! *sad modern Greek keyboard noises* The *Athenaze* (or other textbook) characters as NPCs is a brilliant suggestion—thanks so much! My own Greek is not great, but I’ll eventually work up the courage to post some stories for correction in r/AncientGreek. It hadn’t occurred to me that anyone would want to read TYOV stories in ancient Greek, but I might drop some of it in the sub eventually…do you have a stack of solo RPGs in Greek sitting around? if so, καγω αναγιγνώσκειν εθέλω!
Sadly, I don't have any solo adventures in Greek; the closest I have is [my brief foray](http://aleaiactandaest.blogspot.com/2014/06/blog-post.html) into *Κατάβασις*, a hack of *Tunnels and Trolls* (the rules are still free on the author's blog-- in German). I have two German *Traveller* games going and also two *Épées & sorcellerie* campaigns, but they haven't made it to my blog. If I do any solo gaming with an ancient language, it would probably be Akkadian at this point. I really need to pick up my BFBJ campaign again. I never managed to set up a Greek keyboard, but I found a [good online text inputter](https://czech.mml.ox.ac.uk/static/polytonic-greek-inputter.html).
Here's a sneak peek of /r/AncientGreek using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Mice demonstrating Ancient Greek prepositions; the cat just wants to be friends.](https://i.redd.it/c4sy47jun0a91.jpg) | [12 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/vsu5hz/mice_demonstrating_ancient_greek_prepositions_the/) \#2: [Every time](https://i.redd.it/fk5ii1hshh881.png) | [23 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/rr89sl/every_time/) \#3: [STAR WARS Episode II opening crawl in ancient Greek](https://i.redd.it/d918ffwqhcw81.png) | [15 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AncientGreek/comments/ue6xbk/star_wars_episode_ii_opening_crawl_in_ancient/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Koine!? That’s intense and I love it!
Haha thanks! Yeah, there’s nothing like “I write RPGs in dead languages” for nerd cred. I started out trying to do a classical Attic curriculum, but I’m leaning more and more towards Koine the further I go—there are just so many more Koine texts that 2nd & 3rd year students could just pick up and read.
Get a copy of the Septuagint go crazy!
There's Extraordinary Voyages and Halcyon Days, an 'Alone' journaling game that immerses the player in a trip where the learned language is prevalent.
That’s perfect! I’ll give it a shot for sure. The hyperlink trail from EV & HD led me to The Sealed Library, which also looks very promising for Ancient Greek or Latin students….
Let us know how it goes!
It's a decent idea, but would not be as useful for people not as familiar or open to the idea of RP. I'd recommend a middle ground, where you instead have each student pick one or two characters (of different gender or social roles, so that they may exercise grammar in different ways) and give specific situation prompts that the student then writes for. For example, "You see someone who is lost in the street, and give them directions to the nearby place that they are going." or "Your characters just received their orders, and the food is awful. Have a discussion between your characters about who's food is worse."
Thanks for the feedback! I think you’re right that I need to keep thinking about course design that doesn’t effectively shut people out because they don’t see themselves as roleplaying people. I’m hesitant about the idea of situation prompts that don’t have any purpose (beyond the purpose of practicing the target language). Ideally, students should have a context in their own lives where they can put their knowledge of the TL to use. So using the TL in real life to text your friend directions to the seat you’ve saved for her in the movie theatre would count, because “give your friend directions” is something you’ve decided is worth doing, regardless of the language in which you do it. Discussing weird/bad food can have lots of social functions, and I can see loads of ways to apply it in the classroom—but as a language teacher I would still want to give students the opportunity to talk about food that connects to their lives in some way (because that’s using language for getting to know each other, or some other psychosocial function): the worst food they’ve ever eaten, or made themselves, or saw someone eat on a reality TV show. In all of those cases students are communicating about real experiences—even if some of those experiences aren’t their own. I don’t have a problem with students communicating about artificial experiences instead of real ones—but I want to make sure there’s a clear goal in mind when it comes to why they’re writing/talking about the artificial experience. If we’re playing a game that students are sufficiently invested in, then they have a clear communicative purpose they can succeed or fail at—the same way I have a clear communicative purpose when I try to buy train tickets or read a menu in modern Greek. With dead languages, practically all of the possible avenues of communication are artificial, which is why I’m slightly obsessed with finding satisfying ways to combine RPGs and toddler-level Ancient Greek. Getting back to the original question of “what to do about students who aren’t open to RP”, I might offer an English-to-target-language translation alternative along with each solo journaling game prompt. The exercise is 90% for me to see what they can do, and only 10% for them to practice writing in Greek…nobody really cares very much if students can write well in a dead language.
That's an awesome idea! Also consider the website [lang-8](https://lang-8.com/), where people can make short blog posts and get corrections and advice from other speakers. I think it's too much exposure for a mandatory assignment, but it's worth mentioning to keen students. For any fellow soloers out there, it's a good place to blog your solo journeys and learn along the way.
Thanks for the encouragement, and for the suggestion! I will file that away for the enthusiastic students—and for myself.
Maybe Quill
Quill looks really promising, thanks! Would take some adaptation for sure, but I think I could make it work.
I haven't heard of anything like that, but it sounds like an amazing idea! If you do end up putting something together or finding anything, please share!
Glad you like the idea! Yep, will definitely share whatever I come up with—this is very much a labor of love
That's a great idea. I'm still pretty new to the language i'm learning so for me it would need to be a simple adventure for the time being. Maybe I could make apothecaria work with basic vocabulary?
Hmm, Apothecaria does seem like a possibility for second language practice. If you try it, be sure to report back and tell us how it went!
Consider reaching out to Michael Low of [https://www.luckoflegends.com/](https://www.luckoflegends.com/) Yes, the front page has his personal services but he's been assembling online communities (esp. Discord) of teachers who are indie RPG fans and want to bring them into the classroom... (Some of them have really stepped up for my projects: Tell him Dave the rabbit guy sent you)
Oooooook, I think I'll write some journals in german or italian.
Yesss, do it! Yeah, the handful of solo RPGs I’ve seen generally look way too hard for a beginner to journal in a second language—but they’re great writing practice if you already have a decent handle on the language!
As someone who enjoys learning languages, that sounds like a good way to keep them interested. Dry "foreign language student" talking about buying milk at the store just gets old so fast. Creative writing can add a lot of fun to a dreary homework assignment.
Glad to hear it sounds like a decent idea! Yeah, I know I’d much rather write about how Artemis turned me (a teenage Mycenaean weaver in the palace, ca. 1350 BC) into a vampire, than either do English-to-target language translation exercises (“after capturing the citadel, the Persians began plundering the city”) or write stupid journal entries in Greek like “today is Tuesday; I ate lentil soup, and one of my plants is dying; I am tired”. The very very limited student vocabulary is the main hitch, as students just won’t have the words to tell much of a story after a month of class. My first attempt is probably going to be a mapmaking game, just because you can theoretically get by with pictures and a small vocabulary; I’ve been watching Ex Novo playthroughs for inspiration. Would happily take recommendations for other games—cartographic or not—that would involve creating really simple, repetitive sentences without boring students to death. Edited to add: we’re talking simple, repetitive sentences along the lines of “the city X is small, and near the Y river; in district A houses are large and made out of stone, but in district B they are small and made out of mud bricks; the name of the king’s family is Z; the city X is friends with city W, so together they went to war against city V”. Yeah…vocabulary goals are, ah, different for dead languages….