Gaming with my Children.

megamania · Jan 25, 2010

This is awesome. I really appreciate reading this and as someone else said- you and your daughter will remember this forever.

My son's first word was "dice" so needless to say- I have begun playing with my kids.

A few years ago was the first attempt. Similiar plots but using the rules.

Now at ages 14 and 11 we are starting our official campaign.

My daughter wants to a vet so naturally she is playing a Druid that summons aid regularly. My son is a shifter Soulblade (seen too much Starwars). Its been a blast.

Thankyou for posting this and encourageing others to share their hobbies with the kids regardless of age.

Abciximab · Apr 20, 2010

Funny Story (At least I think so) ;}

At this point I have been gaming with both my children for a few years now and it makes me smile every time one of them says something like, “Ian could be a Mummy for Halloween and we could use the wagon as his sarcophagus!” I don’t think I knew what a sarcophagus was until I was 10 and started playing D&D (and I’m pretty sure I mispronounced it for a couple years).

My son started in earnest last year at age 4. He liked 4th edition for its Push Effects. I ran him through the sample module in the DMG vs. the kobolds and he loved it. When the kobolds would surrender he would make them go stand in the “green slime” in the 1st room to wait for his return. (Of course it was just slimy slime, not the kind that turned you into green slime).

With the kids age 7 and 5 now, we’ve recently made the game slightly more complex. We’ve started using dice for everything and included the concept of saving throws. We use Pathfinder for the general character builds. My son plays a Catfolk Sorcerer while my Daughter plays an Elven Sorcerer, both with the Fey Bloodline (3rd lvl).

Last night in the living room they were having a “Magical Duel”, each yelling “Magic Missile” while pointing the other then jumping behind furniture to hide. Then I saw my daughter get an evil grin as she hid behind the end table. She jumped up with her hand extended toward my extremely ticklish son and yelled, “Laughing Touch!”

The spell was quite successful. So successful in fact that I think my daughter suffered a little backlash as they both fell to the floor laughing wildly.

3+ your Cha modifier times per day? Obviously my children are quite charismatic, as that became the attack of choice for the rest of the night.

Nonei · Apr 20, 2010

Abciximab said:
The spell was quite successful. So successful in fact that I think my daughter suffered a little backlash as they both fell to the floor laughing wildly.

That is hilarious!

My daughter is 4 now - my son is 2 - and they are home sometimes when we play. My daughter kept asking and kept asking to play, so finally a few mos ago I said ok... she was extremely disappointed to not play with our friends in a "real game", but she settled for a 1:1 with me.

So I decided that the story would be that (since she was big into birthday parties at the time) her "cousin" was having a birthday party and the "bad guy" would steal the birthday cake and she would go and get it back in the style of her favorite show...

I gave her a simple explanation of each role (I gave her the choice of sword fighter, bow fighter, cleric, or wizard), and she decided that she would be the cleric so she could "go out and fight all the bad guys and then come home and heal all the good guys"

She stocked up at the store (I'd drawn out a few rectangles on our game mat for a town) and made friends with the lizardman owner, then went to her cousin's party, but - oh no, the Bad Guy had stolen the birthday cake!

And in true PC fashion, my 4 year old instantly derailed all my plans. "Ok," she said, "I walk over to the bakery and bake my cousin a new cake." Why make it more complicated than it should be LOL.

I wanted to teach her a little combat, so the Bad Guy made an appearance. She did try to hit him with her sword but with a series of bad dice rolls, she missed twice and he hit her once... and she decided she didn't like that and proceeded to back away and throw rocks at him LOL.

So she narrated the rest of the story: he got knocked out and went to jail and then when he woke up in the morning he decided that he didn't want to be bad anymore. And her character, the cousin, and her new bestest friend (the no-longer-bad-guy) went to the store and bought snakes for pets and had another birthday party, since the bad guy missed the first one.

Then it was her turn to tell a story... she carefully arranged all the minis we had out at the time (about 40 of them) and declared they were at a birthday party, and my character was there too. She then picked the biggest mini we have - a huge-sized clay golem - and stomped him across the table. My character shot an arrow at him, and I rolled a 5.

"5 damage." my daughter declared. "He's down!" (He, also, went to jail for one night and then decided to be good. If only life were so simple!)

Unfortunately she now knows what 'playing' means and is no longer content with just goofing off with the minis while we play... (Although Dora and Dragon Tales are still good to distract her!)

Abciximab · Apr 22, 2010

So I decided that the story would be that (since she was big into birthday parties at the time) her "cousin" was having a birthday party and the "bad guy" would steal the birthday cake and she would go and get it back in the style of her favorite show...

Yes, thank goodness for the shows that introduces the concepts of exploring and adventure to young minds.

I didn't start using dice until my daughter was a little older, she came up with solutions and I made a narrative of the results. She didn't like it too much when I introduced dice/random elements to the game. My son (From the start, age 4) wanted to roll the dice. Now they both like the dice. It just occurred to my daughter the other day that the dice she uses are actually hers. ("So can I take them everywhere I want?" - "Uh...")

Nonei · Apr 22, 2010

Abciximab said:
It just occurred to my daughter the other day that the dice she uses are actually hers. ("So can I take them everywhere I want?" - "Uh...")

LOL right! My daughter keeps begging me to buy her her own dice.

I usd dice with the intention of trying to use semi-real rules that could be built up - and she was very interested in rolling dice - but, I think she would have enjoyed narrative just as much, if not more. She did NOT like that the Bad Guy had a chance to hurt her.

I was really proud, though, that she came up with an in-game solution (backing off and throwing rocks) and still enjoyed herself immensely, rather than what she has a tendency to do IRL when things don't go her way (whine and quit).

Abciximab · Sep 15, 2011

So my children are now 8 and 6 and their RPG abilities continue to grow. At this point, we are running Pathfinder pretty much by the book with both of them and mom making up the party.

Son (6) – 10th level Paladin, John Ricus (I have no idea where the name came from)

Daughter (8) – 3rd/7th level Rogue/Sorceress, Whisper (Named after one of my friends character from my Shackled City Campaign)

Mom (Yeah, Right) – 10th level Witch.

We are currently about 2/3rds of the way through The Harrowing. A great module for kids, as many of the encounters can be solved without combat using many different skills (including your brain!) and a certain spoilery detail about the creatures makes them perfect opponents

(They aren’t “Alive” and can’t be permanently killed)

.

There are a few details I have changed or rephrased to be less… well maybe “more kid friendly” is the best way to put it, just a few very easy changes.

Having the Harrow Deck adds a lot as they divvy up the cards and each can search for any cards they might need during the game. RPG’s and (to a lesser extent) video games have both really motivated my son to work on his reading. He is working hard to move beyond being a “beginning reader”. They have all managed to find needed cards over the course of the adventure.

I have found the hardest part to be the dreaded “wait for your turn”. My son, especially, likes to describe what he is doing.

~Interrupts sister~ “I point my sword at him and tell him, ‘You must surrender or else!’”

“Ok, but your sister get’s to go first so hold onto that thought.”

I do have a piece of advice to pass on. Before either of my children were born I bought them each dice. The dice sat unused and unopened in a drawer for years before I thought they were old enough to roll them and I picked colors I thought looked “cool”.

It turns out they both switched to different dice fairly early on (why are dads dice always cooler?) and just the other day, we finally picked up dice that were just what they wanted (as per their request, Turquoise for my daughter and Red for my son). So if you want to save yourself some money, just wait until they are old enough to tell you their preference. Then get ready for it to change almost immediately. But hey, you can’t have too many dice and it’s never too early to start a collection, right?

Abciximab · Sep 12, 2012

After a few years of gaming with the children, I figure it’s finally time for an Adventure Path! And what adventure Path would be better than Rise of the Runelords! I’ve got the new Anniversary Edition, the minis, the maps and my family has the skills.

We’re running Pathfinder (of course) pretty much by the book and they do really well after those years of progressively more complex games. My 9 year old daughter is running a Human Magus, my 7 year old son is a Human Barbarian and my wife is running a Human Witch and sharing the workload with me for an NPC Human Oracle of Life.

They’ve just hit 2nd level after about three sessions.
Best Quote from my son after rolling damage for his latest attack…

GM: “What’s 8+9 equal?”
Son: “Against that? 8+9 equals Dead.”

And here is my daughter’s stream of consciousness journal for part of the adventure. She was keeping notes on a piece of paper and later typed it up as “Mia’s Butt Kicking Times!” Her 38 hp Critical Hit is the one with all the exclamation points. It contains spoilers for Rise of the Runelords.

So… we run into this guy knock him out, find his I.D. and he is Tsuto. We run into a sinspawn and we’re already kickin its butt. It’s dead. We try to loot it but all it has are dirty rags, and who’d want that? Besides it’s wearing them for clothes. And who wants a naked sinspawn? Oh great more sinspawn? Oh baby! A critical hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Confirmed even!!!!!!! Oh a statue. Wait its ranseur can be removed. Wow! +5 to hit! +4 damage!!! Awesome!!! Woah! A mutated goblin! Cool. He’s dead. And he has a… +1 long sword! Cool! +4 to hit!! It’s like my birthday! Ok… a quasit queen. A critical hit on the sinspawn! Cool! Ok she’s down. She kept summoning sinspawn and dire rats. Ok we’re resting. Uggh… what a fight.

Tumakhunter · Oct 14, 2014

These are some awesome stories. I've been working on something using Pathfinder for my 9 year old daughter, using the Keep on the Borderlands module as a base. Obviously I want to include more than just her, but we'll see how it all goes.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Abciximab · Oct 31, 2014

We just started Organized Play with 5th edition. My son is 9 now, running a Dragonborn Sorcerer and my daughter is 11 running a Tiefling Warlock. The GMs at the events have commented at how well they grasp the rules. Gaming from an early age for the win. They were also the only two at the table that knew what Vellum was made from.

sgtscott658 · Oct 31, 2014

Awesome stuff, my 3 y/o kid digs the monster manual and she wants to play too. So your ideas on introducing young children to gaming is very well done. I swear children are so awesome. Once more thanks for the write up and look forward to reading more of your escapades.

Scott