The Quests of Samantha the Red (pictures included-updated 8/5)

This is so cool that it moved me to tears.

Fantastic, man- I'm going to have to point this out to all the gamer spouses (who plan on ever having kids).

Once again, let me thank everyone for the nice things you've said about the story of Samantha's adventures. I truly hope you all get to experience the beautiful imagination of a child firsthand someday. It is really inspiring. Now on with the adventure!...

Two Faces

The journey to the Two Faces was a short one. These mysterious Oracles had inhabited the area for as long as anyone could recall and were easily located within the dark recesses of the temple they inhabited.

Samantha entered and wasted no time getting to the point. “I’m looking for Rainbow Cat’s wings and tail! Where are they?”

The Face on the Right responded, “Calm down, young one. The answers may yet be revealed but first you must answer our riddles.”

Samantha the Red was an old hand at this riddle game and was not intimidated, “What is your riddle?”

Right Face smiled and queried, “What number is bigger than 12 but smaller than 14?”

Samantha paused for just a moment in consideration. She quickly decided that the best way to solve this was simply to count. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen…wait. I don’t know.”*

Right Face was patient, “Then I guess you need to try again.”

Samantha sighed. Math was much less interesting than adventure. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve…THIRTEEN!”

Right Face smiled, “Correct! And now I shall reveal what you seek.” The face moved out of the way slightly and Samantha could see a rainbow wingtip peek from behind it. She seized the wing and triumphantly placed it in her backpack. Right Face continued, “You may also ask me another question if you wish, but I cannot answer Left Face’s riddle for you.”

Samantha decided to postpone cashing in her free question for a time. She addressed the Left Face, “What is YOUR riddle?”

“Ah,” responded the face on the left, “it is simple: How many eggs does the Dragon have?”

“What dragon?” asked Samantha.

“That is not for me to say?” said Left Face smugly. Where as the Right Face was fairly friendly and helpful, Left Face seemed more conniving. But the faces has always been rather two-faced like that.

In a flash of insight, Samantha turned back to Right Face, “Where is the Dragon?”

Right face smiled, happy to answer such a good question, “He lives in a cave near the base of the castle. Near the back of the deck.” Samantha knew just where this was and set off immediately to find the Dragon’s cave.

She arrived there a short time later and approached cautiously to find the Dragon in a rather cross mood. “What is wrong, Dragon?”

“Well,” she replied, “I have a bit of a problem. I’m getting quite hungry but I can’t leave my eggs unattended to go hunt because I’ve got to keep them warm.”

This was just the sort of dilemma that Samantha the Red was used to tackling and she quickly consulted the contents of her backpack to look for anything suitable. Her gaze instantly locked on the Magic Candle that she’d bought from Binky. “This can keep your eggs warm!” She uttered the magic words, “Candle, candle catch on fire!” and the candle flame sprang to life.**

With the Magic Candle now warming the eggs, the Dragon was free to go hunt for some food. “This is wonderful, Samantha! How can I repay you?”

Samantha was already getting partial payment by counting the eggs. “One, two, three, FOUR! Four eggs!” It was then that she noticed that the third egg looked like it was made of gold. “The Golden Egg!”

The Dragon asked young Samantha, “Would you like that Golden Egg? You can have it. The golden ones never hatch anyway.”

“Yes please,” said Samantha, remembering that it is always best to use good manners where dragons are concerned. She carefully gathered up the Golden Egg and put it in her backpack. Then she bade the Dragon farewell, “Bye-Bye, Dragon!” and hurried back to answer the riddle of Left Face…

*Samantha the Red is sharp as a tack in most ways. But she seems to have trouble remembering the number 13 when counting. Perhaps this is superstition or perhaps that she almost never gets to use numbers this big in practical situations. Either way, we’re working on it.

**No actual fire was lit by Samantha the Red in the making of this adventure. And she doesn’t know where we keep the matches.

Wow....that's great. I have a son on the way (due in Feb) and can't wait to do this sort of stuff with him, even though its...well 3 years or so off.

And I already forwarded this address to a couple females out there that just recently started gaming. Hoping they enjoy this as much as I did. Thanks, Rel.

Woot!

Rel,

I have no time to post...but I just had to stop by for this one...way too cool! Since my little guy is almost 2, how did you decide on when to start...how long does each adventure take? Does it take all of your DMing skills to hold the attention of a 3-year old?

Great stuff!

~ OO

Old One said:

Rel,

I have no time to post...but I just had to stop by for this one...way too cool! Since my little guy is almost 2, how did you decide on when to start...how long does each adventure take? Does it take all of your DMing skills to hold the attention of a 3-year old?

Great stuff!

~ OO

Click to expand...

OO, knowing how busy you are, I'm honored that you'd stop in to read this thread. I saw your post in Faded Glory and I hope your wife is doing ok being on bedrest. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys.

The "adventures" really started almost a year ago when I started telling her stories using these pewter figurines that I collected as a kid. I had a fairy princess, a castle, a wizard, a dragon and so forth. So I would tell her stories using these characters and places and they got more elaborate as I innovated (mostly out of boredom from telling the same story over and over).

Eventually I started to add rudimentary tests in the story as teaching tools. I would say "And a big snake jumped out of a cave and told Fairy Princess to STOP! She has to pass his test before she can go on her journey to the castle. She has to count to 10!" And she would. We worked on counting and the alphabet a lot with this sort of thing.

Recently after my daughter went through a spate of watching Dora the Explorer videos, I noted how simple the setup was for Dora's adventures. Basically there was some overarching goal ("Return Little Star to his place in the sky" or "Take the books back to the Library"), three places to go ("Bridge, Tree, Tall Mountain") and something to do at each stop. One day after watching one of these videos, I asked her if she wanted to do an adventure of her own. She jumped at the chance so I spent 30-45 minutes setting it up. You can read about the results in the thread linked at the start of this one.

Since then I've discovered that it really only takes me about 15 minutes to set one of these up. Continuity and consistancy are less important to the average 3 year old than to most of my regular RPG players . What is important is just a few things:

1) Good Props - I've found that I have tons of stuff laying around the house that I can use as props for these adventures. Stuffed animals make good NPC's and I have all kinds of little bottles, play jewelry, plastic easter eggs and so forth that I use all the time. She loves this stuff.

2) An area to travel in - On a rainy day we did an entire adventure in the house but I usually try to put our large yard (about an acre) to good use and have her hike around to find places and things.

3) A simple goal, but not too simple - The goals I have her try to achieve as part of the adventure are very basic (usually "Go get this thing") but I also add in complications along the way like somebody won't give her the thing unless she does something for them and so forth. Sometimes I have to remind her of the original goal and I find that the best way to keep it in her memory is to repeat it several times at the start.

4) Help them out, but not too much - When she seems stumped, I ask her questions to try and get her back on track. But I try to avoid simply giving her the answer and letting her give up. If she gets whiny then I say, "You seem tired. Maybe we should finish our adventure another day." She almost always sucks it up and focuses on the task at hand.

Hmm, looking back far too much of those suggestions look applicable to roleplaying in general. Scary, huh?

Samantha the Red wasted no time on pleasantries when she arrived back at the Two Faces. She went straightaway to the Left Face and exclaimed, “I went to the Dragon and counted her eggs!”

“And how many does she have?” asked the Face.

“She has fo…wait,” Samantha’s brow furrowed as she considered. “She HAD four but I took the Golden Egg so now she has THREE!”

(This bit of reasoning made me one proud papa.)

“That is correct!” the Face exclaimed. He turned to the side to reveal another of Rainbow Cat’s wings hidden behind his leathery exterior. “And now you may ask another question.”

Samantha happily grabbed up the wing and stowed it in her backpack. “Now I have both of Rainbow Cat’s wings but I still need his tail. Where is his tail?”

The Face answered her question as was his nature, “The tail was kept by the Troll that lives on Mulch Pile Mountain. You’ll find it in his treasure chest.”

“Thank you! Bye-Bye!” And Samantha the Red was off again with the Egg Wizard in tow.

As they traveled, the Egg Wizard continued to bellyache about being involved in this adventure. “I’ve heard that the Troll at Mulch Pile Mountain has some pet rats.”

“That is true,” said Samantha but she was clearly unafraid at the prospect.

“These are not just regular sewer rats. I’m talking about very big rats. Rodents Of Unusual Size!”

Samantha rounded on her reluctant companion, “And I’m gonna’ POKE em’ in the BOTTOM!” That seemed to lay the matter to rest for the moment and the Egg Wizard fell silent.

At last they arrived at the base of Mulch Pile Mountain only to find that he only way in was guarded by a stout wooden gate. Samantha the Red paused and wondered aloud, “I don’t have a key. How am I going to get inside?”

The Egg Wizard was quick with a suggestion, “You’ve still got that potion I sold you that makes you very small! You could drink that and squeeze through the gate! Alas, not being so very small myself I could not join you, but that’s ok. I’m not really much of a Rat Fighter anyway.”

Samantha doffed her pack and began rummaging through the contents. As she sought the Potion of Smallness, her hand fell upon another draught. “I KNOW! I’ll drink the Potion that makes me very Strong and PUSH the gate over!” The Egg Wizard muttered something in response but she couldn’t quite make out what.

She quaffed her Potion of Strength and stepped up to the gate. Heaving with all her newfound might, she toppled the entire structure and the way to proceed was clear. But what was that squeaking noise she heard rapidly approaching?

Wow!!!

I first started reading this a couple of days ago. This is a beautiful story. I am excited for Samanta and Egg. I hope she fares well. Keep them coming. She sounds like she is having a ton of fun.

Uh-oh. I think you've got a budding hack-n-slasher there!

Thanks again for the stories, Rel.

Ben

Samantha seems like a rogue, probably level 2 or so. (She likes poking stuff in the back!)

I'd say the Egg is a level 5 expert. Or aristocrat.

The Egg Wizard was quick with a suggestion, “You’ve still got that potion I sold you that makes you very small! You could drink that and squeeze through the gate!...

Samantha doffed her pack and began rummaging through the contents. As she sought the Potion of Smallness, her hand fell upon another draught. “I KNOW! I’ll drink the Potion that makes me very Strong and PUSH the gate over!”

Click to expand...

Sounds like the reasoning one of my old players used to use.