JoeBlank
Explorer
I just finished my first game as DM for my sons, ages 5 and 3. Joseph will be 6 in May, and Jacob will be 4 in July. (My third son, Benjamin, is 22 months old and napped during the game, but his time will come.)
We have played several sessions of a simplified version of the miniature game. They started that with one mini each, and we worked our way up to teams of 4. This helped them to learn the concept of rounds, and what characters can do on their turn. Admittedly, Jacob is not quite as into this as Joseph, and he tends to lose focus and just make the minis fight each other like army men.
Today I decided it was time to break out the D&D Adventure Game. In preparation, I bought some page protectors for the character sheets, so they would not tear the sheets. We also went to the FLGS this morning and let them each pick out their own set of dice. (Thanks to diaglo for this suggestion, it went over big.) Jacob selected translucent purple and Joseph translucent orange.
I broke out the character sheets of the iconics, which come with the game. I limited them to the fighters and rogues, as they have not learned spellcasting yet. Joseph selected Regdar (he reconized him from the Scourge of Worlds DVD) and Jacob went with Tordek. So we were stuck with two tank fighters. I decided against running an NPC, as I wanted them to be on their own.
The first adventure in the boxed game is very simple. The PCs are informed that a friendly unicorn has been captured by some goblins and is being held in a small dungeon outside of town. They were full of ideas for finding the goblins, but basically the adventure proper starts outside the door to the dungeon. I described the door, and gave them a little advice about being quiet and careful. I also showed them the picture of the goblins, so they would know what they were looking for. Jacob was actually a little scared, so I must have been doing a good job.
Joseph/Regdar tried the door and found it locked. As we had discussed their skills, they decided to make use of search to see if they could find a key. After some good rolls, they were disappointed to find nothing. I reminded them that when I lock our front door, I never leave the key outside on the ground (although I guess some people hide a spare under a rock or something). They decided the only key was probably inside with the goblins.
Both tried listening at the door, and heard goblins talking inside. They decided to bash in the door. Jacob/Tordek was going to try first. I reminded them that there were goblins just on the other side, and asked Joseph where Regdar was going to be, thinking he would want to be ready for combat. Joseph replied "I'll be one step back, because when he bashes the door pieces of wood might fly everywhere, and I don't want to get any in my eyes." That comment told this proud father that I had a roleplayer on my hands.
The door was smashed, and the goblins dispatched. We used poker chips for hit points, taking them away when they took damage. Tordek only lost 1 HP, but Regdar was hit for 7, which had Joseph pretty worried.
Other good bits: When Tordek was hit for the 1 HP, Regdar was engaged with another goblin about 15' away and had taken no damage. On his next turn, Joseph chose to disengage with his goblin and move over to Tordek because he "thought his friend needed help." And when they found the treasure chest after defeating the goblins and saving the unicorn, Regdar bashed the chest without even checking for locks. The gracious unicorn healed everyone.
A good time was had by all. I just had to share.
On Edit: Rather than start a new thread, I edited this one to ask for advice on how to handle my young gamers. More details are on page 2 of the thread. Thanks.
We have played several sessions of a simplified version of the miniature game. They started that with one mini each, and we worked our way up to teams of 4. This helped them to learn the concept of rounds, and what characters can do on their turn. Admittedly, Jacob is not quite as into this as Joseph, and he tends to lose focus and just make the minis fight each other like army men.
Today I decided it was time to break out the D&D Adventure Game. In preparation, I bought some page protectors for the character sheets, so they would not tear the sheets. We also went to the FLGS this morning and let them each pick out their own set of dice. (Thanks to diaglo for this suggestion, it went over big.) Jacob selected translucent purple and Joseph translucent orange.
I broke out the character sheets of the iconics, which come with the game. I limited them to the fighters and rogues, as they have not learned spellcasting yet. Joseph selected Regdar (he reconized him from the Scourge of Worlds DVD) and Jacob went with Tordek. So we were stuck with two tank fighters. I decided against running an NPC, as I wanted them to be on their own.
The first adventure in the boxed game is very simple. The PCs are informed that a friendly unicorn has been captured by some goblins and is being held in a small dungeon outside of town. They were full of ideas for finding the goblins, but basically the adventure proper starts outside the door to the dungeon. I described the door, and gave them a little advice about being quiet and careful. I also showed them the picture of the goblins, so they would know what they were looking for. Jacob was actually a little scared, so I must have been doing a good job.
Joseph/Regdar tried the door and found it locked. As we had discussed their skills, they decided to make use of search to see if they could find a key. After some good rolls, they were disappointed to find nothing. I reminded them that when I lock our front door, I never leave the key outside on the ground (although I guess some people hide a spare under a rock or something). They decided the only key was probably inside with the goblins.
Both tried listening at the door, and heard goblins talking inside. They decided to bash in the door. Jacob/Tordek was going to try first. I reminded them that there were goblins just on the other side, and asked Joseph where Regdar was going to be, thinking he would want to be ready for combat. Joseph replied "I'll be one step back, because when he bashes the door pieces of wood might fly everywhere, and I don't want to get any in my eyes." That comment told this proud father that I had a roleplayer on my hands.
The door was smashed, and the goblins dispatched. We used poker chips for hit points, taking them away when they took damage. Tordek only lost 1 HP, but Regdar was hit for 7, which had Joseph pretty worried.
Other good bits: When Tordek was hit for the 1 HP, Regdar was engaged with another goblin about 15' away and had taken no damage. On his next turn, Joseph chose to disengage with his goblin and move over to Tordek because he "thought his friend needed help." And when they found the treasure chest after defeating the goblins and saving the unicorn, Regdar bashed the chest without even checking for locks. The gracious unicorn healed everyone.
A good time was had by all. I just had to share.
On Edit: Rather than start a new thread, I edited this one to ask for advice on how to handle my young gamers. More details are on page 2 of the thread. Thanks.
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