Gargoyle
Adventurer
I apologize for the length of the post, but I assure you it's all relevant.
My oldest son Ashton is 10, plays 4e, and loves it. Caleb is my youngest and he's 7; I let him play ocassionally for short games and he likes it, but he doesn't yet have the attention span for longer sessions, naturally preferring to do other things after a while.
Some fun things:
Despite my warnings about the possibility of getting bad rolls, I'm proud to say that my boys insisted on rolling dice for their abilities....no point buy or standard array for them. The oldest rolled a 17, 16, 14, 10, 11, 8. He created an eladrin wizard named Wiz.
- The youngest got 18, 17, 10, 11, 10, 10 and created a dragonborn rogue named Rhogan. (chosen from the list of suggested names I think)
- They were appropriately excited...I was too. I never got rolls like that as a player!
- My wife Heather was appropriately jealous...she rolled her abilities and while not as lucky did quite well herself for her human ranger...named Kira the Brave.
- I don't fudge dice rolls unless I realize I've made an error and need to correct it. I do give them hints since they're young.
- Heather roleplays, Ash is more interested in destroying the bad guys, but occassionally hams it up. Caleb is quiet and open to suggestions, but takes a lot of delight in rolling dice....any dice for any reason.
- Wiz died due to some bad die rolls, and being a sensitive guy Ash didn't take it well. He was very upset until I explained to him that he could be raised from the dead. The party pitched in the loot they had and the ritual was done. He was annoyed at the -1 penalty to his rolls but very happy to have his character back, and I think he learned from it....wizards aren't really good at running up to the front lines, and he could just as easily blast things from further away.
- My DMing isn't the world's greatest, especially when it comes to describing NPC's and room after room. But lucky for me kids have low expectations. With very little effort I have them laughing or nervous, or whatever emotion I want. It's surprisingly fun to DM for them.
- Ash surprises us sometimes. He asks some very astute rules questions and comes up with some good ideas now and then. Most of the time, he's just excited to be playing, caught up in it all. It's the same kind of joy I get when I'm gaming.
- My wife is having fun with it too, and particularly enjoys using both bow and longsword to good effect, moving in and out of range to protect the others, and she likes the family time too.
- With only 2 players (and no healer), it's a lot deadlier, so I have resorted to a sort of "solo template" for the player characters, to give them more actions and hit points. I've allowed them to use second wind as a minor action, up to 3x per encounter, and I award an action point at the end of every encounter. I usually design the encounters to be a little below their level, but give them plenty of quests.
For example, at 2nd level, I try to keep the encounters at 300XP or so, which would be a normal encounter for three level 1 players. Some encounters are tougher, and most feature a lot of minions with one or two regular monsters. This seems to work out ok, allowing both characters to shine.
We're having great fun with the new system, and it got me thinking about the next generation of gamers. I feel a bit old at 37. I started playing D&D in 1982 with the red box. I love BECMI and especially the Rules Cyclopedia. But I also loved 1E, 2E, 3E, and 3.5E, and I love 4E. I guess I love D&D in all its incarnations, even in video games. I'm not a fanboy... there are things in each I dislike, and would never look down on anyone for disliking a system.
Enough background, here's my point:
I don't think new gamers are much different from old gamers. We love rolling crits. We feel sad when a character we love dies. We are typically smarter than average, or at least we think we are.
I see a lot of references in a lot of threads about the new generation of gamers. They want instant gratification, they are addicted to computer MMO's, they want dumbed down rules, and their RPG's are more like miniature boardgames. I don't agree with all those sentiments.
I think roleplaying has evolved...it's not what it used to be because there is so much more available now, and so many other forms of entertainment competing for our time. But gamers are the same at heart. Younger players, new players, they want to roll high and survive to see what comes next, just like us "old timers". They want their characters to do cool things. They want to have fun with their friends (and family), and while that fun is perhaps obtained in new ways (hey I like to play WoW now and then too), it is up to us to show them that tabletop gaming can be particularly gratifying.
My point is that one should be cautious when generalizing this so called new generation of gamers with negative comments. They may have many more choices than we did, but they are reflections of ourselves. I think it is far wiser to embrace them, bring them into the hobby. I didn't think my boys would be interested in D&D...they have video games and books and sports and TV, etc. But as it turns out, my sons are just as interested as I was when I was young.
And that makes me feel younger.
My oldest son Ashton is 10, plays 4e, and loves it. Caleb is my youngest and he's 7; I let him play ocassionally for short games and he likes it, but he doesn't yet have the attention span for longer sessions, naturally preferring to do other things after a while.
Some fun things:
Despite my warnings about the possibility of getting bad rolls, I'm proud to say that my boys insisted on rolling dice for their abilities....no point buy or standard array for them. The oldest rolled a 17, 16, 14, 10, 11, 8. He created an eladrin wizard named Wiz.
- The youngest got 18, 17, 10, 11, 10, 10 and created a dragonborn rogue named Rhogan. (chosen from the list of suggested names I think)
- They were appropriately excited...I was too. I never got rolls like that as a player!
- My wife Heather was appropriately jealous...she rolled her abilities and while not as lucky did quite well herself for her human ranger...named Kira the Brave.
- I don't fudge dice rolls unless I realize I've made an error and need to correct it. I do give them hints since they're young.
- Heather roleplays, Ash is more interested in destroying the bad guys, but occassionally hams it up. Caleb is quiet and open to suggestions, but takes a lot of delight in rolling dice....any dice for any reason.
- Wiz died due to some bad die rolls, and being a sensitive guy Ash didn't take it well. He was very upset until I explained to him that he could be raised from the dead. The party pitched in the loot they had and the ritual was done. He was annoyed at the -1 penalty to his rolls but very happy to have his character back, and I think he learned from it....wizards aren't really good at running up to the front lines, and he could just as easily blast things from further away.
- My DMing isn't the world's greatest, especially when it comes to describing NPC's and room after room. But lucky for me kids have low expectations. With very little effort I have them laughing or nervous, or whatever emotion I want. It's surprisingly fun to DM for them.
- Ash surprises us sometimes. He asks some very astute rules questions and comes up with some good ideas now and then. Most of the time, he's just excited to be playing, caught up in it all. It's the same kind of joy I get when I'm gaming.
- My wife is having fun with it too, and particularly enjoys using both bow and longsword to good effect, moving in and out of range to protect the others, and she likes the family time too.
- With only 2 players (and no healer), it's a lot deadlier, so I have resorted to a sort of "solo template" for the player characters, to give them more actions and hit points. I've allowed them to use second wind as a minor action, up to 3x per encounter, and I award an action point at the end of every encounter. I usually design the encounters to be a little below their level, but give them plenty of quests.
For example, at 2nd level, I try to keep the encounters at 300XP or so, which would be a normal encounter for three level 1 players. Some encounters are tougher, and most feature a lot of minions with one or two regular monsters. This seems to work out ok, allowing both characters to shine.
We're having great fun with the new system, and it got me thinking about the next generation of gamers. I feel a bit old at 37. I started playing D&D in 1982 with the red box. I love BECMI and especially the Rules Cyclopedia. But I also loved 1E, 2E, 3E, and 3.5E, and I love 4E. I guess I love D&D in all its incarnations, even in video games. I'm not a fanboy... there are things in each I dislike, and would never look down on anyone for disliking a system.
Enough background, here's my point:
I don't think new gamers are much different from old gamers. We love rolling crits. We feel sad when a character we love dies. We are typically smarter than average, or at least we think we are.
I see a lot of references in a lot of threads about the new generation of gamers. They want instant gratification, they are addicted to computer MMO's, they want dumbed down rules, and their RPG's are more like miniature boardgames. I don't agree with all those sentiments.
I think roleplaying has evolved...it's not what it used to be because there is so much more available now, and so many other forms of entertainment competing for our time. But gamers are the same at heart. Younger players, new players, they want to roll high and survive to see what comes next, just like us "old timers". They want their characters to do cool things. They want to have fun with their friends (and family), and while that fun is perhaps obtained in new ways (hey I like to play WoW now and then too), it is up to us to show them that tabletop gaming can be particularly gratifying.
My point is that one should be cautious when generalizing this so called new generation of gamers with negative comments. They may have many more choices than we did, but they are reflections of ourselves. I think it is far wiser to embrace them, bring them into the hobby. I didn't think my boys would be interested in D&D...they have video games and books and sports and TV, etc. But as it turns out, my sons are just as interested as I was when I was young.
And that makes me feel younger.
