Race to the New Land: In Between RPG Episiodes

     In between each RPG adventure,  the focus switches from the RPG to the game board which represents each team's progress sailing from Troy to found the new homeland on the other side.  (See picture below) The first team to reach land on the other side will be the conquerors of all others - destined to rule over cities created by the other teams.  In other words, they fulfill Vergil's destiny for Rome.  The game is over when the first team touches land so practically speaking, they just get bragging rights but that's almost as good.  

     Each team rolls dice and moves their boat, which is represented on my board by a felt square along  a line.  Each group makes two rolls.  They first make a "Ship Event" roll which is made by rolling two six sided (regular square) die. The Ship Events List is in the drive.  I usually pin it up next to the board and have a class member read off what happens as each group rolls. The events are listed from worst to best. The best event is 66 and the worst event is 11.  

Note:  It is useful to determine which die will determine the one's place and which will determine the ten's place ahead of time.  I use a colored die for the ten's place to avoid any argument.  

     The event roll does not determine but may impact the number of squares the group may move. For example,  if the group rolls snake eyes, then no one goes anywhere due to a terrible storm.  There are less dire consequences such as a hole in the sail etc.  as well as some helpful events - finding food, water or a strong wind. 
 
  The second roll determines how many spaces the group moves on the board.  See the "Ship's Log" worksheet in the Hilara drive. The die that the group rolls depends upon how many rowers the boat has. This is explained on the worksheet. On the log is space where you can jot down all the events that happen to each team.  I find it useful since some events impact the next week's progress.  I used to ask students to keep the log but I eventually found it simpler if I just wrote it down as they rolled. 

   We move the boats on Fridays at the end of class.  Sometimes each team moves once - sometimes twice.  I usually reserve about 10 minutes for this activity. Who should roll for the team is usually a hotly contested topic.  Everyone wants to find the "luckiest" roller for their team.     By the end of the third adventure,  students should be within 15 spaces of the end. If they are not, simply advance each boat the same number of spaces until they are.   Below is a picture of my "Map" that hangs on the wall in the back of my classroom.  There are 40 spaces in between the top, (the starting place) and the bottom - the terra nova.