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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6692986" data-attributes="member: 4937">In SIPS, this would be handled a bit differently, but even where Grimm suggests you take your kids might not even be necessary.  In my experience, it doesn't even make sense to have the cookies be enchanted.   Cookies to a 4 year old are already enchanted magical artifacts with potential curses to them.  You don't have to call them out as supernatural and draw on the mythic power of cookies.  It's already there.  Simply eating too many cookies is something that they can understand.  And your players are likely to be good RPers - much better than adults.  The question of not eating the cookies won't even come up (unless they've been instructed not to).  The characters will eat the cookies because they themselves would eat the cookies, because "Cookies!".  If they are told however that the cookies are poisonous or had been on the floor, it wouldn't make sense to them that they'd want to eat the cookies - "Yuck!"  The idea that the kid would want to eat bad cookies could be difficult to convey, and the idea of cookies that make you want to eat them even though they are bad could fall in the "Seriously Scary, I need a Timeout IRL" category.So for me, playing this scene with four year olds, the question is, "Can I be good and take just 1 cookie, or will I eat the whole plate of cookies?"This is a challenge of life that is fully engaging to a 4 year old.  In SIPS, not eating a whole plate of cookies is a fairly difficult challenge that even many grown ups would have difficulty with.  As such, it has a DC of probably about 4 or 6 depending on how yummy the cookies look.  Facing the cookies is a test of Heart, so the players would take their heart dice (anything from a d4 to a d12 depending on how they arrange their stats), and add any one skill they have that they think is relevant to call out - like 'obedient' or 'willpower' or 'sensible'.   Skills are open ended and usually initially descriptors of their character by the players, guided by the GM, and sometimes added to the character by the DM in play.  The player can also describe how their super power is relevant to the task and if successful, they can add their superpower dice.   Early on, I found that most challenges need be only DC 2.  Eventually as the kid 'grows up' and the player has a better handle on leveraging their skills and superpower, they can handle more and more serious challenges.  The big thing is that challenges should usually be overcome.  If the player feels that they can't do what they intend to do regularly, they'll start considering this game inferior to their own empowered imaginative play where they can do ANYTHING.  Delayed gratification isn't easy for a kid.  Making failure be engaging is important.If they are successful in resisting the challenge, they can put a check mark by the skill they called out (or possibly gain a new skill).  When checkmarks exceed the ranks of the skill, they can roll to add to the skill.  If the roll beats their current ranks, their ranks go up by 1.  If they aren't successful in resisting the challenge, they suffer a consequence set by the GM.  In this case, the consequence might be 'Sugar Rush' or 'Feels Sick'.  For each consequence a kid is currently suffering, the DC of checks is usually increased by 2, but in the case of 'Feels Sick' it might actually make resisting cookies easier.   That's left up to the GM, as this is meant to be highly freeform and adaptable.  Consequences usually go away on their own after a suitable interval, but they can be alleviated either by another kid thinking of a suitable plan and making a suitable check or by enlisting the aid of Mom (under the "Mom makes it all better") rule, provided Mom (or equivalent adult super-powered entity) is available.   In this case suitable plan for "Sugar Rush" might be, "Let's run around outside and get our crazies out!" or a suitable plan for "Feels Sick" might be, "Let's go take a nap."   In either case, getting rid of a consequence requires mutual help, playing with a friend to get the crazies out (probably a test of Feet) or mothering/comforting the friend so they can sleep (probably a test of Smile).This is all geared with getting the kid to "use their words" and play out the problem.  In short, the sort of thing my kids enjoyed as kids was nothing like what I would structure for older players.  Fun can have completely different definitions, in no small part by just how much better the kids are at RPing than adults.  For example, when their character is injured, they fully imagine it.  Running around regularly getting yourself injured the way you do in D&D strikes them quite reasonably as insane.</blockquote>

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