We Interviewed Michael Low The Creator of Luck of Legends!

We had the pleasure of chatting with Michael Low all about their work!

Hi, I’m Michael Educator, game designer, editor, writing coach.

I’m a live-scan certified CA high school English teacher, parent, story-teller, and game designer. I teach kids non-violent conflict resolution, collaboration, confidence, critical thinking, and creative writing using games, inspired by a love of learning, not fear of failure.

I also work in curriculum development, editing, and teacher mentoring. I welcome any chance to talk about my work – feel free to reach out and start a conversation! You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, Itch, and LinkedIn.

-Michael Low

1. How long have you been in the RPG space?

I’ve been running writing classes using StoriesRPG.com’s core rules (along with the boosts on my Itch page) at LuckOfLegends.com for three years now, and have gone full time since last fall.

As a classroom teacher, I’ve been running games for my students for years, and I’ve been designing games ever since I realized I could (my highschool graduation project in 1997 was an original game in which you played prehistoric hominids, and had graduated success rules). The fact that it took so long for me to start teaching using role-playing games, given how compelling I know them to be, honestly boggles me!

2. What inspired your work?

I had a biweekly game group with my son and neighborhood friends when the pandemic hit. We went virtual, and I thought “all right, let me see what’s easy to run online.” I grabbed Lost Mine of Phandelver and booted it up. What I realized was that this wasn’t the game I wanted to run for kids; they were being pushed, continually, to confront problems with violence, and encouraged to see people as “villains” who deserved to be hurt. It was against my personal ethics as a parent and my professional ethics as a teacher.

There had to be a better way.

I went back to the drawing board. I developed a core set of rules – characters began with intuitive statements. Instead of being defined by “hit points” or “armor class,” they were defined by their Drive, Downfall, Deeds, Traits, Quirks, and their Bonds. Were they “best frenemies” with another player’s character, or “the best chef in the Willix Valley?”

The rules were designed to put story first. Any problem could be solved by leveraging these lines to build a dice pool, and it focused players on who their character was and how they solved problems first, not “what” they were or could do.

Another issue was accessibility. Many people think DnD is the only game out there, and its a game almost no-one learns without being first invited to a table – it’s just too complicated to figure out without help! I wanted to create an intuitive, educational approach that could help families and people of any age start playing and learning together.

Working with Daniel Hinds of StoriesPodcast.com (oldest and largest kids’ story podcast on the web – I raised my own son listening to his stories!), I developed these rules into StoriesRPG and the amazing Starsworn series – a set of play-to-learn, zero prep, all-ages adventures, illustrated with coloring-book art from the amazing Rob Hebert. Starsworn follows a crew of heroes chosen by falling stars to wield mighty powers – and face the chaos created when everyday people and places develop incredible powers. Along with the books, Daniel created a series of incredible AP podcasts, so families could listen and learn, then print and play.

StoriesRPG is now featured in Long Tail Games’ awesome Tiny Tome, and there are more chapters of Starsworn and new adventures on the way!

3. Tell us all about Luck of Legends?

Luck of Legends is where I use my games to help kids become creators – proud, joyous writers with confidence, passion, and pride in their writing. My classes are 100% virtual, so I designed a series of Google Slides templates – more than 12 different settings, at this point – fully illustrated, with all the rules and character sheets contained there.

Kids in my classes first vote on a setting – perhaps Beast Preservation Corps, where they play magical researchers trying to protect endangered mythical creatures, or monster teens in Transdimensional High trying to make friends and keep their cool on the first day of high school. We play through dramatic scenes, using Drama Clocks to create tense situations and tactical moments without the need for violence: can you find your way to class through the maze of the Catacombs, or successfully calm the land sharks so they don’t attack the farmers who ruined their land?

At the end of each game, we discuss what they’d like to write for the next class – a story about their character’s history, a new land they want to visit, a creature they might encounter – whatever they imagine, if they write it, it becomes part of our collective story.

At the beginning of the next class, we read the tales aloud, cheer wildly, and do some editing and discussion to make all the tales connect. There’s no penalty for failing to write, but if you do, Story Points let you buy new lines for your character, special abilities to help in dramatic moments, or even re-rolls in the event of an unfortunate outcome. I’ll also assign challenges based on each student’s areas of growth – more dialogue, description, a change in point of view – and issue bonus Story Points for those willing to take them on.

The key? When kids get to share and be cheered for their writing, they’ll write with fierce joy and deep engagement; when they can then take on the role of their characters and see the people and places they’ve created brought to life? The connection is profound, as is the academic growth – I give qualitative, in-depth feedback to families on their students’ skills aligned to Common Core standards.

Kids often stay on after class to collaborate, and many have gone on to write novel-length renditions of our world – and this is a class for kids 7-13!

4. What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into RPGs?

Just jump in! Doing so can be tough without help, but there are many wonderful places to meet with groups online in addition to local game stores. If you don’t have friends who are into the hobby, try some collaborative RPGs designed for new players – I have Holdfast Station and Zero Samurai, which require no prep, up on my Itch page, and games like For The Queen can help you build understanding, confidence, and expertise to help unlock the joy of RPGs.

Failing that, go watch some of the amazing APs out there! There are a thousand shows that help show how fun games can be, and watching can be a great way to get excited and get a “how-to” explanation. StoriesRPG.com’s Starsworn is a great place for families to begin playing together, and requires no special skill or prep – just some time, drawing supplies, three six-sided dice, and a desire to have fun and tell zany stories!

5. Goals for 2023?

Luck Of Legends classes are ongoing, and I’m excited to be offering them year-round. I had the chance to work with Daniel Reem of Teachers In The Dungeon piloting a classroom approach, and we’re planning a full-year curriculum for the fall. I’ve started a TTRPGs Teach Game Jam to help put the power of role-playing into teachers’ hands, and I’m working on both an educator’s guide to RPGs and a series of training materials to help teachers master RPGs as a classroom approach.

We’re looking to print physical copies of StoriesRPG through a crowdfunding campaign soon, and I’m planning a new series of adventures, educational games, and podcasts for Giga-City Guardians with the help of Daniel Hinds. I’ve got a book chapter on using games to teach and articles to write, and in the fall, Lampblack and Brimstone is putting out Holdfast Station – a game I made with Ashy Feet’s Moe Poplar: zero-prep collaborative story-gaming in which you play a community of asteroid miners struggling to survive in the far reaches of known space.

It’s exhausting to think about, but exhilarating. I love what I do!

6. Where can people support your work?

You can find my classes and blogs at LuckOfLegends.com (or ActivityHero), my all-ages Starsworn series at StoriesRPG.com, my other games at LuckOfLegends.itch.io, on Twitter at @LuckLegends, and on Instagram at @LuckOfLegends.

Feel free to reach out – I’m always excited to chat about what I do!