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<blockquote data-quote="hastur_nz" data-source="post: 7060470" data-attributes="member: 40592">What's done is done, best to move forward IMO.&nbsp; Who knows, maybe your ten year old didn't really understand Strahd's offer, maybe he thought he could rule as the 'good guy', whereas Strahd is looking (but only half-arsed) for someone to be the next BBEG.&nbsp; It's a complicated conversation, best done at the time or not done at all.Setting up your youngest, to be tempted into playing the role of the &quot;PC turned evil&quot; sounds like exactly the kind of behaviour we *don't* want to encourage in new players - it's something even seasoned veterans don't always want to get into.&nbsp; Or even if he plays the good guy straight, you are tempting him to set up a situation where Strahd (i.e. you, the DM) sets him up then screws him over (even if it's an NPC that is the victim, it's his fault and he'd rightly resent you for it) - again, something I think isn't a great starting place for new players, especially young ones.I absolutely agree that encouraging new, and young, players to have &quot;a degree of agency and power in the game&quot; is crucial to their enjoyment.&nbsp; But you, and the other players, can encourage that in lots of other ways.&nbsp; D&amp;D has loads of complicated rules, even 5e - the simple &quot;what do you want to do&quot; question, where you as DM help them achieve that, can go a long way towards encouraging creativity and buy-in to the idea that the 'story' is a collaborative one, not one where they are just a spectator that rolls a few dice every now and then.&nbsp; So he wants to rule in Strahd's place?&nbsp; Maybe an NPC overheard, and so during the next session, that NPC makes an offer to help him - that's a genuine, good-aligned response, which doesn't set up any conflict except for the most basic one - players vs Strahd, with you as the neutral judge.&nbsp; There are plenty of NPCs in the adventure that could do that, depending on where you are in the story - even a simple commoner could help the PC find a better NPC to help.&nbsp; That's your chance to open the conversation again, see what your son comes up with, but do it in a genuine way where everyone can help him (you as the NPC's, and the other players too).&nbsp; If he's changed his mind now, so be it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="hastur_nz, post: 7060470, member: 40592"] What's done is done, best to move forward IMO. Who knows, maybe your ten year old didn't really understand Strahd's offer, maybe he thought he could rule as the 'good guy', whereas Strahd is looking (but only half-arsed) for someone to be the next BBEG. It's a complicated conversation, best done at the time or not done at all. Setting up your youngest, to be tempted into playing the role of the "PC turned evil" sounds like exactly the kind of behaviour we *don't* want to encourage in new players - it's something even seasoned veterans don't always want to get into. Or even if he plays the good guy straight, you are tempting him to set up a situation where Strahd (i.e. you, the DM) sets him up then screws him over (even if it's an NPC that is the victim, it's his fault and he'd rightly resent you for it) - again, something I think isn't a great starting place for new players, especially young ones. I absolutely agree that encouraging new, and young, players to have "a degree of agency and power in the game" is crucial to their enjoyment. But you, and the other players, can encourage that in lots of other ways. D&D has loads of complicated rules, even 5e - the simple "what do you want to do" question, where you as DM help them achieve that, can go a long way towards encouraging creativity and buy-in to the idea that the 'story' is a collaborative one, not one where they are just a spectator that rolls a few dice every now and then. So he wants to rule in Strahd's place? Maybe an NPC overheard, and so during the next session, that NPC makes an offer to help him - that's a genuine, good-aligned response, which doesn't set up any conflict except for the most basic one - players vs Strahd, with you as the neutral judge. There are plenty of NPCs in the adventure that could do that, depending on where you are in the story - even a simple commoner could help the PC find a better NPC to help. That's your chance to open the conversation again, see what your son comes up with, but do it in a genuine way where everyone can help him (you as the NPC's, and the other players too). If he's changed his mind now, so be it. [/QUOTE]

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