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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jcosby" data-source="post: 2401567" data-attributes="member: 29386"></blockquote>How old is your son?  I'm reminded of a vaguely similar story involving a younger player. The party opens a door and is confronted by what appears to be a human/squid crossbreed. The player, a BBN, decides these guys can't be so tough, doesn't listen to the other players around him, and winds up food. It happens. Hopefully this will help him develop risk assessment in a fantasy world rather than out with his friends.[/QUOTE] My son is only 9 years old but he is very sharp.  In reconsidering my wording during the encounter I feel a bit like I lead him into the trap.  After the combat I asked the party to let me know what they were doing in the room.  I like to have a good idea what players are doing when there are unresolved "issues" in an area such as this room. One player did state that he was going to prod the water with a large pole that he was carrying.  This wouldn't cause him any damage as he wouldn't be anywhere near the water. (The ol' 10' pole rule <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )  It was the way that I worded the response to his probing that triggered my son to investigate further. When a player searches something and doesn’t find anything I don't give direct answers.  An example to this is a thief checking a door for traps.  If there is a trap and they do succeed then the answer is direct.  “Yes, there is a trap” etc.  If there is no trap or they fail the roll I like to use the response "Looks clean to you." My son using in game information (A journal entry) and his own hunch that something might be hidden in the pool went to investigate closer.  His two mistakes I believe were; 1. Not discussing this with the party.  He doesn’t have too, but at his experience level (player not character) it would be wise to get valuable insight from the more experienced.  2. He didn't get healed before he attempted this.  I believe if he would have done the first it would have lead to the second, or just getting healed first would have solved the problem. I don't fault him; he was honestly playing his character.  I find that my son at 9 years old plays his character with much more honesty to the game and his character then most of the older more experienced players.  He doesn’t even know what Meta-gaming really is yet...  He truly goes off instinct and what he thinks his character would do in that situation based on what he knows in game.  He doesn’t let outside information dictate his moves, like most experienced players do, it's hard to avoid sometimes it is after all human nature. So in the end, I'm happy (game mechanic wise) with what happened.  I don't like to kill characters usually (Ok, the annoying ones. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )  and I hate to see him get killed in a semi-cheap fashion, but I hope he takes this as a learning experience. Thanks for all the responses everyone. Jcosby[/QUOTE]

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