I'm a teacher (5th Grade) and as the ARG was happening, I was freaking out at my desk as more and more revelations were taking place (both in puzzle solving awesomeness and in actual story content). The students were, of course, perplexed by the random faces I was making as my laptop lit up with more and more goodies, so a few of them stayed in at recess to figure out what on earth was going on. My passion for the game and for the ARG was pretty evident and students kept asking questions about the characters as each new comic cover opened up. "Who's THAT?" "Oh, that's Bunker; he's a little bit like Iron Man." "What about that bald guy?!" "Uhh...that's a girl...she's The Visionary. She has these awesome psychic powers." For days, they were asking me about new puzzles or trying to solve them on their own. They were completely distraught when the website crashed, haha...weren't we all?!
I kind of told them how the card game works and, of course, they were enthralled. So...I bought another copy of the core game. I figured, why not? I brought it today and the kids pored over every card! "I wanna be Legacy!" "The Wraith is so awesome!" "Ra?! Like the Egyptian god?!" We haven't started playing yet, but they are extremely excited to beat up the nefarious Baron Blade. Just thought the community would want to know how the game, and really the ARG, has impacted the rest of my recess times for the year. =) Happy times!
I've run SotM with my now-5th-grader & some of his friends on several occasions. If there are only 2 or 3 kids, I'll play. Otherwise, I'll run the villain deck & moderate. Some advice, based off these sessions:
1. If you can arrange it beforehand, give the kids a chance to look through the decks (which it sounds like you've done).
2. To the extent their attention spans permit, I'll read the flavor text on the villain & environment cards as those cards are played.
3. I find it really useful to keep the game moving with statements like "Legacy, you get to play a card." "Legacy, choose one power to use." "Legacy, you get to draw a card."
4. I will explain for them what a card does if they ask, but I will not advise which card is "better" if I'm not playing the game. I have certain play styles (so does the Grasshopper), but every hero has more than one valid way to play. For example, I think of the Utility Belt & Infrared Eyepiece as the Wraith's two key cards, but other people may want to go Throwing Knives/Microtargeting Computer.
5. First scenario - Freedom Four vs. Baron Blade in Insula Primalis. Swap Ra for either Tachyon or Bunker if you insist. There's a reason that's the official convention demo scenario.
Do you find that some kids get frustrated when they play Legacy? Legacy is super-powerful as support, but I've also seen him be frustrating in that you don't necessarily feel like you're doing things yourself.
My 11yo daughter loves the game AND the stories behind all of the characters. She's poured over the histories on the GTG site and the Wiki and jumps right to the bios section of the rulebook when a new set comes out. We introduced the game to her cousins as well and they all enjoy it too.
Hahaha, yeah, today the kids got some silent reading time and one of the students asked if they could read the bios in the rulebook. I LOVE that they are so passionate about it so quickly! Many of them have picked their favorites (without necessarily even trying their decks).
Great chance to show them any of a number of performances of a Maori haka so they can understand where his name comes from. :)
You can share with the bio-reading student that s/he should now know who two of the three heroes are that I have to consciously not call by their first name. Kim is the third. (Along with Ryan and Maia.)
I now officially have a funding counter up on the whiteboard. The kids are super excited when I erase numbers to raise the total, haha. They're all rooting for us, people!
It's slightly different than 5th grade, but I teach at the university level, teaching literature, creative writing, and general composition classes.
Being a graduate student, I haven't had the opportunity to implement it yet, but I have an idea for a creative writing/technical writing class uses SotM, where they would create their own characters, write bios and full-length stories, and also research technological advances, cultural themes, etc, for their own character. Then, using technical writing skills, write cards and rules, etc. It would be a good way to talk both about character, setting (environment!), and the particulars of language.
I have a Facebook friend/colleague I've met through facebook groups that teaches fiction writing exclusively through various RPG settings, including Fan-Fiction stuff for Game of Thrones, in his college classroomes. He's had lots of great success.
There is also a professional conference for Game-Based learning (which I learned about through him). I am sure they'd have some ideas for how to implement games like SotM into classrooms at all ages.
I find it helps to encourage kids to imagine what's going on narratively as a result of player action, especially if something cool or funny just happened. Well, actually, that works with adults, too. Things like "so now the volcano is still erupting, but with Ra's magic the lava is just constantly burning up the mimions instead of us!" and "but then right when Spite is about to murder this guy, Tempest punches him off into the sky, out of his reach!" or "Haka has just somehow absorbed the soul of an ordinary wooden barrel. Uh, good job."
That's what I try to do in demos. It usually helps build interest in the game, although there was the time I introduced it to folks who (it turned out) really prefer abstract games...
A friend coined the term POYR (acronym in Spanish "Ponerle Onda y Rolearlo" which is... uhm.. not exactly "Be Forthcoming and Roleplay", forthcoming as sociable and positive, fun outlook) and says some kind of games need to be played with tha spirit, SotM being one of those. It's fun to make everything a bit more silly and epic, using the art or flavour text to adapt it to the current game. Fun to play Setback's Risk like this: "So Setback jumps in the middle of Voss Minion's and... falls face first over one of them, killing it and with him needing again a nose job"
Heh, I wish they had interacted that much. They weren't even up for anything thematic about the game. It was all about the numbers and the effects. It went okay, but they… weren't impressed. It was one of only two demos I've ever run that did not go well.