It is the late 19th century in Scandinavia. A new age is dawning: the age of industry. Everywhere, factories are popping up, employing people who used to be farmers by the thousands. People are moving into the cities in massive  numbers. New inventions like bicycles, machine guns, railroads, and steam powered ships have seen the light of day, giving people access to a lifestyle their grandparents could never have dreamed of. 

But in the shadows of the alleys hidden behind the factories, in the deep forests far from any rail station, in the lakes and the old places of  the world...the vaesen remain. Vaesen: ghosts, goblins, fairies, trolls and other things that go bump in the night. You can see them. Their world clashes with the human modern world, and that clash often ends up hurting people. It is your job to keep people safe.

The learners will get to experience the award winning table-top roleplaying game Vaesen, produced by the Free League game company, introducing the revolutionary Year Zero Engine game system. No experience of table-top role-playing games is required. Beginners might even find this system easier to learn than DnD.

This game is a game of horror rooted in Nordic folklore. Players take the role of supernatural investigators, uncovering mysterious entanglements with folkloric creatures when the old world clashes with the rapidly industrializing human world.

Tabletop role-playing games is an amazing hobby.

Role-playing games can be a gateway to so many amazing creative pursuits:
* Art - drawing ones characters.
* Economics - as they manage their home base and make it more habitable.
* Creative writing - designing the backstory for the character.
* Math - using the rules often requires math skills
* History - learning about the history of the imaginary world often sparks an interest in real world history as well.
* Geography - players have to use maps during game-play and that can spark an interest for how geography matters in real life.
* Social studies - when we play, we create fictional societies, and understanding how a society functions is important to breathing life into fictional societies
* Mythology - a lot of the monsters and creatures of DnD are inspired by real life mythology.
* Team-work and problem-solving- Table-top roleplaying requires players to work together to create a story. Even if the characters in the game might not always get along, the players around the table always should and have to work out their differences so everyone can enjoy together.

I will introduce the learners to all these aspects of tabletop role-playing in this class.

The week of September 6th, the present learners will design the home base and their characters, as well as get to know the basics about the city where the base is.

The week of September 13th, the learners get their first mystery to solve.

The week of September 20th, the learners develop their home base further.

The week of September 27th, the learners get another mystery to solve.

Vaesen is excellent for an Ongoing class. Each mystery is a stand-alone adventure. Thus, players during session 5 are not tied down by the decisions made by the players of session 4, but are free to explore some completely different part of the world, and make other decisions for the home base. Further, since the players start with a home base, it is easy to come and go. If a player attends the first session, and then misses the second session, their character is simply assumed to do things in the home base, etc. Also, character creation is much faster than in DnD. In DnD, it takes a new player about an hour, if not more, to create a new character. In Vaesen, it takes closer to 15-20 minutes, because the rule-system is fast and easy to learn. Note that a player does not have to be present on class 1 or 2. The learners who are present on those classes get to make certain decisions re: initial base design and the first mystery, but each mystery is a stand alone story, so it is easy to join later and still get to be involved in how to develop the base and participate in new mysteries. Thus, if a learner joins after week 4 or even later, we can build a character together quickly and then jump straight in, as the game system is easy to learn.