Those of you who are of the observant sort are sure to have noticed this. On the sidebar of the blog, there is a new addition, a character box for a Dungeons and Dragons style character. Her name is "Mommin". She's part of an adventuring party called "The Gypsy Band". She undertakes daring and difficult adventures! Mommin is a hero, working with other heroes to make the world a better place.
What kind of wondrous tasks does this "Mommin" undertake? I'm sure you've had this question cross your mind. Does she slay dragons? Does she defeat demons? Does she combat horrible monsters? Well, I suppose in some ways, she does. She and her adventuring party undertake only the most challenging of adventures, things like defeating the laundry monster, and taming the unruly lair in which she sleeps. All of this she does in hopes of some gold, perhaps a valuable treasure, or even to gain a few levels, accomplish more with her life.
That's right, you heard me. Cleaning. The adventure party goes off in search of chores to be done, and does them. Why? Because a clean home is a happy home, and what better way to bring happiness to a home than to get things done? Besides, it's kind of fun!
Here's a bit of a run down of how it works. One person registers an account. You select to start your own party. You invite all your house members (or office mates!) to be a part of the party. You select the chores you wish to be done. You select how much experience they're worth. You can award gold, treasure of your own design, and give a chance of random encounters with monsters of your naming. Everyone joins up and the adventure begins!
As each party member does a chore, they mark it off as it's done, or in the case of young children, you can register them as "NPC"s and log their work for them. As each "character" logs their chores, they gain (or lose) stats based on the chore. There's a log of which chores are done and by what party member. You gain level, gold, and treasure. How you use it or what you do with it is up to you!
Now, there's actually no benefit in having gold in the game. There's no point to the treasures found. The game doesn't tell you what to do with that information. Leveling up doesn't get you anything spiffy or dazzling. It's really all on you how you play the game. The system is simply for logging and recording. There's all kinds of suggestions on what you can do with the rewards gained by each party member. In our house we have a "speed potion" treasure, which can be "used" to get one soda. There's the "never-ending-glass-of-milk" which when redeemed means you can get as much milk as you choose to drink in one sitting, instead of the regular "one glass per meal" rule we've kind of instituted. We have a "giant bowl of cereal" which is good for one extra large bowl of cereal for breakfast, instead of just the normal size. I'm also thinking of adding a "mind control scroll" that grants you the ability to pass one chore on to someone else. The gold we're planning to assign a monetary value to. That will count as an allowance. Yes, we're putting the whole house on an allowance! You can only spend what you earn! Of course, that doesn't count for room mates and things, since it's only our family listed in the whole thing, but it's something we're working with right now.
We really needed something to inspire the kids to do their chores and I think I've found it. It's a game that promotes work. It's not flashy or dazzling, but it is kind of cute and does make the possibility for some nice rewards. It's a good way to track how much allowance is earned. I think it's wonderful. For anyone who wants to check it out, you can find Chore Wars at www.chorewars.com as well as www.worldofchorecraft.com or by following my profile box in the sidebar. Much luck to your party. You just might need it!
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