Gaming with the kids ...

I run Faery's Tale from Firefly Games for my kids, ages 4 and 5. It's wonderful.

rom90125 said:

One question. My son's best friend lives next door, and that boy has shown real interest in wanting to participate, but, I am finding it difficult to address the topic with his parents even though we get along... Have any other parents that allow their kids to play encountered anything along these lines?

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Ask the parents if you can invite him. If you ask them first and let them decide if the kid is free to play in the game. Then you are keeping the parents not only informed, but empowered. I'd also suggest being ready to explain the basics of the game if they really don't know.

I'm starting a game for my kids this winter (ages 9, 6, and 4) and talked to the neighbor boys parents (he's also 9) and just told them in a matter of fact that I my children wanted me to play D&D with them and wanted to know if the neighbor could play too. Yes, I felt an ounce of trepidation, but I didn't let it stop me. You can't break stereotypes if you live within them. They answered that yes they would love it and their kid is very welcome to play on the weekend.

My next step is to invite the rest of the homeschool kids to play. We run a "Games Week" party in November, but stay away from RPG's because it takes too much time to play them (and we get a lot of board games in on that day), but I intend to offer the familes a chance to see roleplay in action (through participation). They are mostly Christian, conservative, and don't like things like video games, but I'm not going to let that stop me.

One key thing to remember is that 'roleplay' is a mainstream word. Not just for nerds and shrinks -- I've had to roleplay in more than one corporate environment. People understand the value of it, so you don't have to sell roleplaying as a fun positive option... you just have to not sell yourself as an evil corrupter of children. Make it safe, have other adults around (invite the parents to watch for instance), and kid friendly. From there you are gold and anyone who has a problem, does so in a literal sense. The problem is them.

Beldar,
My advice is to talk to the boy, since he's had time to deal with it, he'll probably be fine. The key is to respond to his feelings, not your own. If it's important to him, make it important, if it isn't don't. Don't read too much into it. Kid's emotions run high sometimes.

If he knows that he can get another familiar, maybe even a better one, then he has something to look forward to and has learned an important lesson within the context of the game. It may be important to stress that it's a game and has ups and downs.

Otherwise, just roll with it. If you provide him some moments to shine, it will outweigh the setbacks of his character.

I hope that helps.
Game ON!

nyrfherdr said:

Beldar,
My advice is to talk to the boy, since he's had time to deal with it, he'll probably be fine. The key is to respond to his feelings, not your own. If it's important to him, make it important, if it isn't don't. Don't read too much into it. Kid's emotions run high sometimes.

If he knows that he can get another familiar, maybe even a better one, then he has something to look forward to and has learned an important lesson within the context of the game. It may be important to stress that it's a game and has ups and downs.

Otherwise, just roll with it. If you provide him some moments to shine, it will outweigh the setbacks of his character.

I hope that helps.
Game ON!

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That's probably better advice than my "keep killing his familiar every session until he get's used to it" idea.

Rel said:

That's probably better advice than my "keep killing his familiar every session until he get's used to it" idea.

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Just because your DM is still doing it to you Rel doesn't make it okay for the next generation...

And yes I should be writing my Story Hour rather than making fun of you.

Rel said:

I've pimped it in other places but it's worth mentioning here: Consider getting a dungeon crawl boardgame for kids. The one I specifically recommend is Descent by Fantasy Flight Games.

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I would also keep an eye out for the out-of-print "Heroquest", the UK D&D Board game (and expansions) through e-bay or Amazon and the Heroscape board game. All of them are pretty good lead-ins to straight-forward D&D, as well.

beldar1215 said:

I had one loss his Snake familiar last week and he sat at the table and cried. I'm going to pull him aside this week and talk with him about it. Any ideas of the best way to handle this situation?

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Give this kid the opportunity to get a new familiar in like a week or a couple of days. This is what I have always believed about familiars. They take too long to get back.

dshai527 said:

And yes I should be writing my Story Hour rather than making fun of you.

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It writes the story hour or it gets the hose again!

Rel said:

It writes the story hour or it gets the hose again!

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Tell him Rel!

Ok, my kids (9 yr old twins; boy/girl) rolled up their chars tonight.

My son is a human Ftr1 (18str 16dex 16con 13int 15wis 13cha)
My daughter is a human Rog1 (16str 18dex 16con 15int 13wis 13cha).

Tomorrow night Mom will roll up her human Brd1 and we will begin adventuring in the sewers below the city, slaying dire rats, alligators, and whatever else gets in our way!