right on!.....nice report...thanks for being detailed...

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	dstaley@...
> [SMTP:dstaley@...]
> Sent:	Monday, March 02, 1998 11:28 AM
> To:	dragonraid@...
> Subject:	[DragonRaid] Akron, Session 3/1/98
> 
>      To all,
>      
>      Here is my first session update.  Our Church has an outreach in
> the 
>      form of a coffee house down on the bar strip by Akron University.
> 
>      They use it when it is closed for a lot of their youth
> activities, and 
>      that is where we will be holding our DragonRaid sessions on
> Sunday
>      since it is closed.
>      
>      Anyway, the Youth Raid went very good.  At The Living Room cafe
> on 
>      Saturday, Mark (the Pastor) told me that he thought that probably
> only 
>      2-3 kids would be there for DR.  I actually was a bit relieved
> because 
>      it's always easier to work with a small group.  Well, Sunday
> morning I 
>      went in early for prayer and felt pretty confident.  When they 
>      announced for the youth to meet me and my wife (Beth) in the back
> of 
>      the Church to be taken over to the cafe 5 of the normal youth and
> two 
>      visitors showed up.  There were 7 kids!  I was a little nervous.
> :)
>      
>      We borrowed a van and drove over to the cafe, unlocked it, and
> turned 
>      on the lights and everybody got in their places.  At first we
> tried 
>      sitting in some of the comfy sofas and chairs, but it just wasn't
> 
>      conducive to the session, so we moved to one of the big tables.
> I was 
>      a little shaky, and began really diving fast, but Beth was acting
> as 
>      my helper so she interrupted and suggested I pray first, so I
> did. I 
>      calmed down a bit, and then proceeded to go through some items.  
>      
>      We opted to hand out prerolled characters, and have them transfer
> them 
>      to sheets.  It saved time, and I was able to go through and
> explain 
>      the character sheets thoroughly.  One of the visitors was reading
> 
>      through the exerts from the LRH that I handed out and she was a
> bit 
>      shocked at a reference to 'passing from the land of darkness'.
> She 
>      said, 'what are we in darkness?  Wow, that's encouraging!'.  It
> turned 
>      out to be a great opportunity for me and Beth to share how Jesus
> was 
>      the Light of the world and how we as Christians have that light,
> and 
>      yes, this world is dark to those without Christ since satan has 
>      blinded unbelievers.  We found out as time went on that she was 
>      'unchurched'.  I'm not sure if that meant she wasn't a Christian,
> but 
>      I definitely took note.  At first, she said that she 'didn't want
> to 
>      play DR after today', but towards the end of it she seemed
> excited.
>      
>      The other visitor also seemed really into it.  He had previous
> RPG 
>      experience so he seemed the easiest to adapt to DR.  Of course,
> we had 
>      the disclaimer about the differences between DR and D&D. ;-)  
>      
>      I played the 2nd half of the cassette explaining the Success Grid
> and 
>      Combat.  Of course they all loved the combat (so did I)!!!  Even
> the 
>      girls!  We had 3 girls and 4 guys.  2 of the girls are Mennonite,
> so 
>      it was cool to see them excited about DR.  Actually, earlier in
> the 
>      morning the Mennonite girls' Dad and Mom told me that the girls
> were 
>      so excited about DragonRaid!  It was very encouraging.  In fact,
> so 
>      many parents told me and Beth how excited they were (and most
> didn't 
>      even have kids that were near DR age).  
>      
>      I made sure I explained to the kids that although combat was fun,
> it 
>      was just a portion of the game, and that there were many other
> facets 
>      of DR that they would enjoy too!  They looked forward to the 
>      witnessing aspects since they have gone out on the door to door
> trips 
>      with the Church as part of the 'Church to you' that the Church
> does on 
>      some Sundays.  It was exciting though to see them looking forward
> to
>      those aspects.   
>      
>      One of the kids is very shy, but he seemed to be interested.  I'm
> very 
>      excited about this group.  There are a couple other kids that are
> on 
>      vacation that I think will fit right in.  They are pretty well
> behaved 
>      so I think that it will run fairly smooth even if it gets a
> little 
>      larger.  I think it really helps to have another adult in there
> as a 
>      helper.  
>      
>      Anyway, we practiced combat a couple times, and they really
> caught on 
>      quick. I'm sending them out their WR's this week, and will
> follow-up 
>      with them before our next session.  I think that if it takes off
> it 
>      will go to biweekly, or onto another night, two groups or
> something.  
>      The Church seems very open to using DragonRaid however God wants
> it to
>      be used.  
>      
>      We didn't get to the LR Test Raid, but we really covered the
> rules and 
>      answered a lot of questions, so I think we're all set to dive 
>      immediately into the Raid next session.  I'm going to meet with
> any 
>      new kids who come in before then and go over the rules with them 
>      (there are at least 2 more) and bring them up to speed.  Next
> time too 
>      we all get free pop from the fountain machine! (they loved that
> idea)
>      
>      Well, that's all for now,
>      David Staley
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