This is a game mechanics question, so I'm posing it out of character ;)
I've been thinking the last few days about how we, Jess' allies, can more effectively assist her, both in a gaming sense and in the real life sense.
I recently joined SparkPeople, a very popular (and very free) health and weight loss website. Since I joined, I have learned a lot of things about my own behavior, but I think the most important thing I've learned is this: small steps, big goals, great success. That is, it's great to have big goals--in fact, we should have big goals--but the best way to get there is through setting smaller, more immediate goals to get you there. For example, I want to lose 75-80 lbs in the long run. One of my first goals on SparkPeople? To track the foods I'm eating for one week. That one week of tracking made me hyper aware of what I was eating, and I began to develop more healthy eating habits. In two weeks, I've already lost 6 lbs.
How does this relate to WoH? Back in one of the first posts on this blog, Jess listed assignments we can take her on. I'm not sure if those assignments have been officially divvied out yet, and/or if people have decided whichthey will take on. If not, we should definitely decide that. Then I suggest the following:
Each ally gets a task for the week. One small thing--or two, or three, depending on how active you are able to be--that will help and support Jess. If one of your assignments is to help Jess manage stress, maybe your task this week is to spend 30 minutes mediating with her (note: by "with her" I mean either physically or virtually, since I know many of us are not local). Or something like that.
At the end of the week, there will be a post we can all reply to sharing how our tasks went. If we completed them, we get XP!
...which leads me to another thought! If allies earn XP, I'm thinking we could use that XP to support Jess. My boyfriend Dave and I recently found this original roleplaying system that is...totally awesome, and I can share it with you if you like, but the relevant aspect of that system is dice pool. Each character has 7 dice per session that they can add to rolls they make... OR, they can throw in to rolls other characters make, to support their teammates. For example, if one character is piloting a plane and is about to make a piloting role, another character who is in the cockpit with him, rubbing his shoulders let's say, can throw in dice from her pool because she is positively affecting the pilot's morale.
I'm wondering if there is a way we can adapt this system for WoH, with XP? Like if I have 10 XP, and Jess is 10 XP shy of reaching some reward, I can give her my XP... and then I am directly helping her to reach goals and obtain rewards. It may be a great morale booster, and make Jess feel even more supported :)
What do you all think?
I.E. "*GROUP* rolls for save, Jessica takes half damage?" I like it :D
ReplyDeleteI like this.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I posted earlier a quest for the allies to create something for Jess. Trying to give us quests for her. Us doing separate quests would be great, both for her like the power mark, or on our own.
I think the more interactive we can make it, the better.
Also, awesome on your lose.
As so many of us are trying to lose weight, as her "trainer" I was hoping, when Jess gets the ok to exercise, of creating a separate gaming page of those of us to keep track and "train" with Jess so she is not doing it alone. As she wants to do to start 3X a week of 30 min, giving that goal at least to all of us. By us marking that and perhaps a food section, we get to work with Jess and quest with her. We could get xp for that, similar to your mediation idea. That way we can quest and also build up our pool to bolster Jess and keep her company in this, even if virtually.
Sound ok for another ally quest?
You are so awesome. Thank you for these suggestions - I was also thinking about XP for allies, because, well, you should get rewarded too!
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I would love to participate in a health and weight loss quest! We'd get XP for exercising 3X a week with Jess, and could create small goals for ourselves, like parts of larger quests in WoW, such as "lose 10 lbs" or "reach pant size 12."
ReplyDeleteJess, when you're physically ready for this, I am so in.
Oh I am totally in for that quest! :)
ReplyDeleteI will start putting together how to this and keep track. And then we will be a go when Jess is ready. And guys, this is not a girls only quest.
ReplyDelete@Courtney and @Lindsay: I love this idea. Could I ask you guys and JP to work out the mechanics of it and post it? Along with what the match-up is for allies and their missions? I think it would be great to have one post a week that recapped the previous week's missions and set up the upcoming ones. Wanna shoot for starting that on Sunday? Erin already totally helped me out with medical research, and John did the energy session today, plus a lot of you guys were sending me awesome funny stuff and recipes and generally being incredibly amazing, supportive friends, so I think you all have been 100% successful this week. :D
ReplyDeleteBy the way, as far as exercise - I'm definitely on restrictions right now because of the INR (literally, falling down could cause enough internal bleeding to kill me.) But I will be retested for that on Monday, and then know more about the surgery/biopsy mess at that point. Don't let me hold you back - if you want to set up the quest now, just put me in for meditation/energy working instead of exercise right now, and then we can swap my activities when I'm able to get moving again. :)
Already writing this up. I'll be putting up an in character post about this in a bit. I'll start the tracking tomorrow for the training and a recap of points for allies this week based on what's been shared (though I will say that I suck at giving myself XP, cause I always feel like I don't do enough.)
ReplyDelete