Goodbye Dragonfly.pdf

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Goodbye, Mister Dragonfly!
A game of words and magic for kids
Note: ‘Mister’ simply sounds the best, but make no mistake:
This is a game for women, men, children, parents, siblings, enemies,
and corporations (who are people in the United States!)
Writing & Design​
: David Schirduan | Version 1 | June 2015 
Cover Art:​
 Lauren Schirduan 
 
 
Released under Attribution­ShareAlike CC BY­SA 
This means that you can remix, reuse, and even sell your own products based on this game,  
so long as you credit me. Go nuts! Get Creative! 
 
 
Introduction
Most dragonflies are the small silly creatures you see buzzing around and playing tag with each other.
However, there is one dragonfly with a magical secret: Long ago, it was a real dragon. It breathed fire,
was the size of a house, and used beautiful magic to change the world.
However it had one problem: the dragon needed magic to survive. It ate magic, like you might eat a
sandwich. Over time, this dragon realized that it was eating too much magic, and all magic would
eventually run out! To prevent this from happening, the dragon shrink itself down to a tiny tiny size, so it
wouldn't need to eat as much magic.
That's why it looks like a normal dragonfly; but still has a little bit of that magic. There are many stories
about how the magical dragonfly visits brave and adventurous children, and takes them on incredible
adventures using its power and magic. And this is one of those stories…
Storytelling
Hey mom, dad, guardian, older sibling, or babysitter,
I wrote this game for you, in the hopes that storytelling, imagination, and tales of dragonflies will pass to
the next generation. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope that storytelling changes your life, just like it did mine.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the power of stories. They fuel our imaginations, cheer up our
dreams, and makes our hopes real. Stories are true Magic, make no mistake, and the best stories are the
ones you can tell with other people.
What I mean is that a group of people can work together to tell a shared story, taking turns to add details
and unexpected twists or turns. Everyone agrees to a certain structure or format for adding details to the
story. Usually, one person will be the leader (called the Dragonfly in this game).
As the parent, you will most likely fill this role for the first few times, although one of your kids may want
to try being the Dragonfly at some point. Until then, it's up to you. When leading a story, there are a few
things to keep in mind:
★
Your goal is to gently encourage your children to contribute to the story, while still keeping some
basic structure in place.
★
Use the rules of the game as little or as much as you need to to keep the story engaging.
★
Keep your eyes open for hooks, ideas, or paths that you children may want to explore further, and
adapt the story to lead in that direction.
That may sound like a lot, but don't worry. With a little bit of magic, you'll be just fine.
How to Play
The basic structure of the game is that you lead your kids through an adventure, present them with
obstacles, let the kids propose solutions, and depending on their actions, continue the story in many
different directions.
After a child has presented their solution to a problem, they must spend a token, or a letter in order to
ensure their solution succeeds. This creates a simple resource management, and puzzle element to the
storytelling.
I’ve listed 3 different sets of rules that can be used interchangeably. Pick whichever one you think will
work best for your kids. The rules add structure to the story-telling, but aren’t like many boardgame rules.
There isn’t any competition. The rules exist to inspire creativity, not determine a winner.
Game Rules (Default)
❖
Have each child write down a word of their choice on a notecard or piece of paper, 4-10 characters long
(​
dragon
​
a great default word). This is their
​
agic Word​
is
M
. Magic is hidden inside words, and each letter
of their word has different kinds of magic.
❖
Whenever a child wants to overcome an obstacle, they explain how they will solve the problem, and
then they must cross out a consonant to succeed.
❖
However! They must come up with a solution that uses one of the letters from their Magic Word. So if
they want to ‘Unlock the Door’, they’ll need to cross out one of those consonants. (d, n, c, r, etc.)
❖
The vowels are used to add new things to the story. Whenever kids want to, they can add something
new to the story, as long as it contains one of the vowels from their
​
agic Word​
can be something
M
. It
magical, something silly, or something to help them with an obstacle.
❖
Each kid has their own word but all words must be the same length between the kids, and when kids
work together, they both cross out letters.
When a kid runs out of letters, you can end the story there, or tell them to write down another word and
continue forward! Choose longer words for longer stories.
Game Rules (Older kids)
For older kids, you can set the restraint that whatever it is must START with that letter (“sword” means
you cross out an "s"). This is the version of the rules I use with my fellow adults, and it can get pretty
difficult. Especially when the last letter you have in your word is a Q, and you have to get past an ogre.
(hint: The correct solution is a
​
Quiet Stealth Suit
​
)
Game Rules (Younger kids)
Skip the words/letters, and simply give each kid 5 poker chips/dice/animal crackers that they can spend
like consonants or vowels to overcome problems. Refill their pool if it runs out. The tokens are mostly
there to reinforce their actions in the story; they presented their solution, spent a token, and win!
Leading the Story
Parents, You will usually be playing the part of the Dragonfly. You will also be describing the world that
they are exploring in their imagination. It’s the job of the Dragonfly to create an initial story, and lead the
kids through it.
Before your start, be sure to prep your kids for play. Explain that you are going to be playing an
imagination game, and that you’ll be pretending to go on a wonderful adventure. The things that happen
in this adventure are for fun.
Also, make it clear that you
​
need their help​
. Stress their participation, and that this is a little different
from normal storytime. Your kids will be adding their own details and directly affecting the story.
Before you start your adventure, you need to have a basic outline for where you are going to go, and what
you are going to do. It doesn’t have to be detailed or exhaustive; but it should at least contain the
following:
❏
3 locations (garden, pirate ship, beach)
❏
one obstacle per location (locked gate, sea monster, old man needs help)
❏
something to connect those locations (a pathway, a boat, magic, etc)
Once you have some basic prep, just start at a location, present your obstacle, and see what your kids do.
When possible, try to guide them to your prepped locations, otherwise it will be up to you to make things
up on the spot as you go.
It isn’t as hard as it sounds. Just let your statements follow each other logically. “Alright, Susan opened
the door lock, but what happens next…..”. If you run out of ideas, use some of the starter adventures
provided later in this guide, or steal ideas from books, TV, movies, etc.
This is a great way to let your kids explore their favorite universes (Star Wars, Adventure Time,
Spongebob, Minecraft, etc.) Set your adventures in places that they already know, and have some of their
favorite characters make an appearance.
Also, this is an excellent reason to involve yourself in your kids entertainment. Watch their shows, read
their books, and checkout what video games they may be playing. Steal from those media, and use it to
fuel your own adventures and stories that you have together.
This kind of stuff can help blend your worlds together.
Anyway, here’s a basic cycle or instructions for you to follow. You can usually get away with just going
through the process step by step, and restarting back at the beginning after each cycle. Let things flow
naturally from one place to the next, but always keep it moving.

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