CanadienneBacon
Explorer
Last Friday, I asked around here for advice on which adventures and settings would be good for a game for kids. I have three girls, ages 6, and 5-year-old twins--all on winter break from school right now. A couple of folks on EN World suggested Grimm. I initially thought that might be too violent and...grim...for them. Boy, was I wrong. A couple of other EN Worlders suggested I try Faery's Tale Deluxe. I still plan to do try Faery's Tale, but it'll have to wait until we finish the game we started this afternoon.
Progress report. My husband pointed out to me that we have a 2E board game called Dragon Quest. I dug the game out of the closet the next day and looked it over. It comes with a large board (much like a monopoly game) that has a pre-printed dungeon on it. Also comes with a bunch of folded paper markers for characters (nine choice on PCs), monsters, and doors. You pick which of the included adventures you want to run, then put the doors onto the game board as the characters explore.
Each girl got to select at random one of the nine included PCs. All three of them ended up getting fighters, two of them human and one of them a dwarf. Since it was their first time playing, I also let each child select two cards from the deck of spell cards. Then they looked at their character card and each got the equipment cards assigned to said character. That amounted to a total of about 7 cards per child. Not too much for them--at their ages--to manage.
We started play by starting in an abandoned mine that the local innkeeper had told them was scaring the local townfolk, who kept hearing strange noises coming from the mine at night. I explained that their characters were all friends and that they needed to work together. The innkeeper (they liked the innkeeper's voice quite a lot) instructed them to check out the mine and report back.
The girls trudged down the first hallway and came to a door. Since all three of them wanted to open the door, we rolled initiative to see who got to it first. They opened the door and came upon two goblins inside a 20-foot square room. And, man, I tell you--it was on! I didn't even have to explain what the deal was to the girls. The littlest goes, "I'm gonna whack that goblin with my---[pause to look at her equipment cards]--Hey, sister, should I use my hand axe or my dagger?"
Two rounds later and the goblins had been vanquished. Later, when they encountered an orc, the eldest got creative and disarmed the orc rather than attack it outright. I was mighty impressed and proud of her for that.
When they opened a trap door only to reveal a zombie laying in a hidden tomb, they tried to turn the zombie, but unfortunately for them things went awry when they belatedly realized that they had the zombie cornered as they tried to turn it. Because the zombie was turned but had nowhere to flee, the zombie got to go on the rampage on its turn. I about keeled over laughing when all three of the girls had their PCs flee the zombie room. Once they got over the shock of their plan not quite working out the way they'd expected, all four of us laughed so hard we wound up in apoplectic giggles for a number of minutes.
When someone's PC almost bit it at the hands of an orc, all three of the girls were on the edge of their seats, biting their nails with worry about the fate of the dwarf. One of the twins' PCs stepped up to the plate and cast the first magic spell of the game--revive. Having saved the dwarf from near death, they were delighted to discover that they could use their spell cards to cast magic spells. It was on all over again after that. Magic missile, wall of fog, sleep...until the last gnoll ran from the mine and was chased down and slain.
Man, I wish all my games could be this much fun. Best fun I've ever had as DM. Wish you guys could have seen their faces light up. When I announced that the game was done and it was time to clean up, the eldest (age 6) cried, "NO!" I explained that we'd been playing two hours and mommy needed to do other things around the house. We cleaned up, agreeing that after we finish this adventure they can try making their own characters.
They want to play girls.
Progress report. My husband pointed out to me that we have a 2E board game called Dragon Quest. I dug the game out of the closet the next day and looked it over. It comes with a large board (much like a monopoly game) that has a pre-printed dungeon on it. Also comes with a bunch of folded paper markers for characters (nine choice on PCs), monsters, and doors. You pick which of the included adventures you want to run, then put the doors onto the game board as the characters explore.
Each girl got to select at random one of the nine included PCs. All three of them ended up getting fighters, two of them human and one of them a dwarf. Since it was their first time playing, I also let each child select two cards from the deck of spell cards. Then they looked at their character card and each got the equipment cards assigned to said character. That amounted to a total of about 7 cards per child. Not too much for them--at their ages--to manage.
We started play by starting in an abandoned mine that the local innkeeper had told them was scaring the local townfolk, who kept hearing strange noises coming from the mine at night. I explained that their characters were all friends and that they needed to work together. The innkeeper (they liked the innkeeper's voice quite a lot) instructed them to check out the mine and report back.
The girls trudged down the first hallway and came to a door. Since all three of them wanted to open the door, we rolled initiative to see who got to it first. They opened the door and came upon two goblins inside a 20-foot square room. And, man, I tell you--it was on! I didn't even have to explain what the deal was to the girls. The littlest goes, "I'm gonna whack that goblin with my---[pause to look at her equipment cards]--Hey, sister, should I use my hand axe or my dagger?"
Two rounds later and the goblins had been vanquished. Later, when they encountered an orc, the eldest got creative and disarmed the orc rather than attack it outright. I was mighty impressed and proud of her for that.
When they opened a trap door only to reveal a zombie laying in a hidden tomb, they tried to turn the zombie, but unfortunately for them things went awry when they belatedly realized that they had the zombie cornered as they tried to turn it. Because the zombie was turned but had nowhere to flee, the zombie got to go on the rampage on its turn. I about keeled over laughing when all three of the girls had their PCs flee the zombie room. Once they got over the shock of their plan not quite working out the way they'd expected, all four of us laughed so hard we wound up in apoplectic giggles for a number of minutes.
When someone's PC almost bit it at the hands of an orc, all three of the girls were on the edge of their seats, biting their nails with worry about the fate of the dwarf. One of the twins' PCs stepped up to the plate and cast the first magic spell of the game--revive. Having saved the dwarf from near death, they were delighted to discover that they could use their spell cards to cast magic spells. It was on all over again after that. Magic missile, wall of fog, sleep...until the last gnoll ran from the mine and was chased down and slain.
Man, I wish all my games could be this much fun. Best fun I've ever had as DM. Wish you guys could have seen their faces light up. When I announced that the game was done and it was time to clean up, the eldest (age 6) cried, "NO!" I explained that we'd been playing two hours and mommy needed to do other things around the house. We cleaned up, agreeing that after we finish this adventure they can try making their own characters.
They want to play girls.
.
