jbear
First Post
This Saturday Afternoon we inaugerated our first game of 'Kids Dungeons' and we all had a blast!
The 'we' I refer to are the players from my weekly 4e game and their kids: My wife, Judith and our 5 year old son H, our barbarian Javi and his 7 year old daughter L, and our cleric Mar and her 5 year old son D.
It all came about quite naturally, sparked by the interest that the kids were insistently showing in having a chance to play 'Dungeons' like mum and dad. We've been playing pretty consistently now for well over a year and the kids have been fascinated by the sparkly shiney dice and terrifying miniature monsters, but up until now they had been pretty much off limits. We were talking about that one afternoon when I jokingly said we could organise a kids game and as soon as the kids got wind of that ... well it was like a dog with a bone! They weren't letting go no way no how!
This weekend we were 2 players down which means a cancellation. My wife suggested we could have the kids game we had talked about, and so we got the ball rolling and made it happen.
I asked each of the kids what kind of heroe they wanted to play in the game. They also had to tell me what they wanted their mum or dad to be, a small companion that would accompany them and help them on their adventures. So this is the feed back I got:
My son H wanted to be able to turn himself into any animal. We had played one weekend just me and him, a kind of desriptive role game, based on Dora the Explorer and had lots of fun. He wanted to be Ben 10 basically (a kid who can turn into 10 different aliens using the Omintrix, an alien watch he found), and we refined that to turn into animals. He remembered that and insisted that he wanted to be the same this time around as well.
He wanted his mum to be Tinkerbell, flying near him doing magic and healing his wounds.
Javi's daughter, L, wanted to be able to shoot lightning bolts from her mouth and fire and ice from her fingers. When I described the different races she like the idea of being an elf that could teleport.
She wanted her dad to be a dragon that could freeze people with its icey tail.
Mar's son, D, wanted to be a dragon that could breathe fire and fly. We refined that down to a dragon man with a giant sword that could breathe fire.
He wanted his mum to be Scooby Doo.
So on one of my free afternoons I sat down and hammered out some characters for everyone based loosely on what I have seen from the essentials previews. I decided to use proper 4e mechanics (AC, REF, FORT and WILL, HPs, Surges etc), even though the kids are really young, figuring that with Mum and Dads help they could manage and slowly become familiar with the system so that it would be very easy for them to pick up the proper game in the future. However I simplified/unified a lot of things a la essentials, but perhaps even more so. This is what I did:
The kids got SUPER stats: 20, 18, 17, 14, 12, 10; the Parents got a regular 18, 18, 12, 12, 10, 8 spread. No racial modifiers (or rather everyone gets +2 in 2 of their most relevant stats which is already taken into acount)
Kids got 3 at will powers and a basic attack; Each has an Encounter Power attack (but powerwise similar to a daily power); Each gets a racial encounter power; Each has some special power based on their class. Each has a special skill. Parents got something similar but less powerful.
The final results after the kids named their characters:
H has a Human Druid named Ecto:
Ecto can turn into any animal the same size as him. 1/encounter he can turn into a 'special' animal of a different size or with some special characteristic like flight or breathing underwater
His basic attack in Beast form is Claws to drag his enemies around.
In Beast form he can also summon a swarm of Killer Bees the bite and distract enemies.
In Human Form he can call a Freezing Wind that blows enemies around and slows them down and summon a Fire Hawk that attacks and hovers above the enemy waiting for another chance to attack again.
His human encounter power is called Courage, used to succeed when something goes wrong.
His special Skill is Nature: Used 1/Encounter to call the Spirits of Nature to help in any way he can think of.
His Encounter Attack Power is called Earthquake!
His Mum is Tinkerbell who is pretty much a bard/wizard who can make someone fall over, sing a blast song of war, hypnotise enemies to make them attack each other, and 1/encounter give a powerful Kii Shout that leaves her enemies dazed. She also heals 2/encounter and can turn invisible. Her special skill is Diplomacy
L is an Elf Wizard named Salmaria. She can do several tricks like making magical sounds, picking things up from far away and turning on magical lights.
She can shoot 2 Ice bolts from her fingers that still hurt even when they miss.
She can blast lightning rays from her mouth that push her enemies backwards.
She can also throw a fireball that explodes and sets her enemies on fire. She can also conjure an illusion, a ghostly creature that attacks her enemies minds.
As an Elf (and not wanting to get bogged down with explaining the difference between an eladrin and an elf) she can teleport 1/encounter.
Her special skill is Arcana, she can use her magic to do something cool that she imagines 1/encounter.
Her magical encounter attack is Sleep which instantly sends her enemies into a deep sleeep leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Her dad is a Pseudodragon called Spyro (sorceror) that also spits bolts of ice, breathes fire and can freeze enemies with his bite. Enemies that come into his aura are damaged by the cold or by fire. 1/encounter he can strike with his icey tail leaving enemies immobilised. 1/encounter he can use his dragon blessing to heal. His special skill is Intimidate.
D is a Dragonborn Knight (paladin) named Red Dragon. He has a massive sword to attack his enemies. He is very resilient and protects his allies with his firey breath if enemies try and attack them while he is close.
He has 3 different stances he can choose: Hope heals an ally 4hp when he hits, Vengeance does even more damage than usual and Weakness weakens his enemies blows.
1/encounter he can strike a massively powerful blow called Sacred Strike, which sets his enemy on fire and leaves them vulnerable to attack.
He can also breathe fire 1/encounter
He can also sacrifice his Second wind and let an ally heal themselves.
His special skill is Religion, drawing upon his strong inner faith he can achieve whatever he can imagine 1/encounter
His mum is Scooby Doo himself. Scooby is basically a very cowardly Rogue who throws things and bites his enemies backsides. He has the abilty to shift around the battlefield effortlessly hiding in the most unsuspecting places. His ability to Flee in Panic has got him out of many sticky situations but 1/encounter he can call on all his courage and deliver a deadly blow called Moment of Bravery which can fling his enemy across the battlefield. Scooby has two special skills: Stealth and Thievery.
So with a very basic homemade character sheets with hand drawn icons marking each power we were ready to approach the adventure.
I began by sketching out a fantastic hometown where their all their initial adventures could take place. Here I stole shamelessly from several of the cartoon series I know they watch. Basically they are in their final year at Hero School preparing for their final exam before they become adventurere. Their teacher Dumbledore (yes, thank you Harry Potter!!!) has sent them to Dragon Mountain, backdrop to their hometown, Unificacia (now known by law as Magnacia by royal decree of King Magnus himself and rigorously enforced by the town guards), where they were to by some magical fire to be used during the final exam. But the guards sent them back saying the King himself had ordered that noone was now allowed to go to Dragon Mountain. On their way back to school they hear some strange flute music and sudenly a bright light flashes before their eyes leaving them unconscious, when they awake they town is very very quiet and noone can be seen. When they get back to school they don't see anyone around. They get to the door of their class and total silence, not a soul in sight. And so the adventure would begin:
I got the idea for the adventure when I found out that the new game at school during the break is Zombies (basically tag but if you're caught you turn into a zombie). Besides I figure fighting zombies is pretty black and white. I don't usually do black and white in my normal game, so this was an easy way to go for me.
I don't have time to run through the entire session so I will resume things quickly.
The went into the class room to find everyone inside asleep at their desks including the teacher. When they went to wake them up they discovered they were all zombies! Battle ensued and they destroyed nearly all the zombies before they could even react, except for a few and the teacher. But more came smashing through the windows upsetting the table of fire experiments and the web experiments on the other side. The class was set on fire and a massive magical web exploded only catching a few zombies. But the Heroes dealt to them and brought down the teacher amidst roars and cheers of excitement.
But the class was on fire! Luckily they found a book on the teacher's desk that the wizard could read and cast a spell that put out all the magic in the area. On the blackboard they found a note from Dumbledore telling them to go to the Safe Tower, a place they had to go in case of emergency.
Out into the corridor they heard a growling on the otherside of the opposite door that went into the Veterinary. Ignoring the adults protests they flung open the door to battle the zombie animals inside: 3 zombie dogs, a zombie tiger, gorilla and bear! A fierce battle but victory once again. Amongst the animal medicine they found 3 magical healing apples.
They decided outside was the best way to go to the Safe Tower. But outside were hundreds of zombies shambling towards them. They went back inside. They took the short path to the gymnasium where they neede to get past the obstacle course to reach the high entrance into the Safe Tower. However the Anti Magic Tower made it impossible to use magic in the gym until someone reached the top and hit the Off button. The tower was protected by 4 Golems that wouldn't attack unless someone entered the tower area. But they also protected teh door into the special equipment room where the kids had the magical objects they would be awarded when they graduated. The voted to turn off the anti-magic tower, fighting the golems and also recover the magical items. Scooby dealt with the lock into the equipment room as Ecto flew to the top of the tower turning into a bird in the hallway where he could use magic, while the others pummeled away at the golems. The pizzas for dinner arrived so Ecto suddenly found a secret button which disactivated the golems. All that was left was to take the gear and pass the obstacle course. Still in bird form Ecto flew with Spyro and Tinkerbell up to the entrance. Salmaria used her teleport power to arrive. Red Dragon used his strength to swing and leap up to a platform where he rang a bell that called a giant bat which he rode up to the entrance. Scooby fell into the boiling mud but Tinkerbell, Ecto and Spyro went to his rescue pulling him out of the mud and flying him up to the entrance and to victory. Strangely though Dumbledore is not there!
3 encounters, 3 hours including the intro and expalanation of the norms and the kids were totally loving every omoment. THe two boys lost concentration after the first fight but with a few words they came and sat back down and stayed focus. Unanimous opinon: Loads of fun, everyone loved it, parents included. All the kids want to play again.
So with all the negative threads on the boards at the moment i thought I'd share this moment of joy and fun with everyone, just to remind ourselves what an awesome game it is. D&D is nt dead! It's in our hands to pass the torch!
The 'we' I refer to are the players from my weekly 4e game and their kids: My wife, Judith and our 5 year old son H, our barbarian Javi and his 7 year old daughter L, and our cleric Mar and her 5 year old son D.
It all came about quite naturally, sparked by the interest that the kids were insistently showing in having a chance to play 'Dungeons' like mum and dad. We've been playing pretty consistently now for well over a year and the kids have been fascinated by the sparkly shiney dice and terrifying miniature monsters, but up until now they had been pretty much off limits. We were talking about that one afternoon when I jokingly said we could organise a kids game and as soon as the kids got wind of that ... well it was like a dog with a bone! They weren't letting go no way no how!
This weekend we were 2 players down which means a cancellation. My wife suggested we could have the kids game we had talked about, and so we got the ball rolling and made it happen.
I asked each of the kids what kind of heroe they wanted to play in the game. They also had to tell me what they wanted their mum or dad to be, a small companion that would accompany them and help them on their adventures. So this is the feed back I got:
My son H wanted to be able to turn himself into any animal. We had played one weekend just me and him, a kind of desriptive role game, based on Dora the Explorer and had lots of fun. He wanted to be Ben 10 basically (a kid who can turn into 10 different aliens using the Omintrix, an alien watch he found), and we refined that to turn into animals. He remembered that and insisted that he wanted to be the same this time around as well.
He wanted his mum to be Tinkerbell, flying near him doing magic and healing his wounds.
Javi's daughter, L, wanted to be able to shoot lightning bolts from her mouth and fire and ice from her fingers. When I described the different races she like the idea of being an elf that could teleport.
She wanted her dad to be a dragon that could freeze people with its icey tail.
Mar's son, D, wanted to be a dragon that could breathe fire and fly. We refined that down to a dragon man with a giant sword that could breathe fire.
He wanted his mum to be Scooby Doo.
So on one of my free afternoons I sat down and hammered out some characters for everyone based loosely on what I have seen from the essentials previews. I decided to use proper 4e mechanics (AC, REF, FORT and WILL, HPs, Surges etc), even though the kids are really young, figuring that with Mum and Dads help they could manage and slowly become familiar with the system so that it would be very easy for them to pick up the proper game in the future. However I simplified/unified a lot of things a la essentials, but perhaps even more so. This is what I did:
The kids got SUPER stats: 20, 18, 17, 14, 12, 10; the Parents got a regular 18, 18, 12, 12, 10, 8 spread. No racial modifiers (or rather everyone gets +2 in 2 of their most relevant stats which is already taken into acount)
Kids got 3 at will powers and a basic attack; Each has an Encounter Power attack (but powerwise similar to a daily power); Each gets a racial encounter power; Each has some special power based on their class. Each has a special skill. Parents got something similar but less powerful.
The final results after the kids named their characters:
H has a Human Druid named Ecto:
Ecto can turn into any animal the same size as him. 1/encounter he can turn into a 'special' animal of a different size or with some special characteristic like flight or breathing underwater
His basic attack in Beast form is Claws to drag his enemies around.
In Beast form he can also summon a swarm of Killer Bees the bite and distract enemies.
In Human Form he can call a Freezing Wind that blows enemies around and slows them down and summon a Fire Hawk that attacks and hovers above the enemy waiting for another chance to attack again.
His human encounter power is called Courage, used to succeed when something goes wrong.
His special Skill is Nature: Used 1/Encounter to call the Spirits of Nature to help in any way he can think of.
His Encounter Attack Power is called Earthquake!
His Mum is Tinkerbell who is pretty much a bard/wizard who can make someone fall over, sing a blast song of war, hypnotise enemies to make them attack each other, and 1/encounter give a powerful Kii Shout that leaves her enemies dazed. She also heals 2/encounter and can turn invisible. Her special skill is Diplomacy
L is an Elf Wizard named Salmaria. She can do several tricks like making magical sounds, picking things up from far away and turning on magical lights.
She can shoot 2 Ice bolts from her fingers that still hurt even when they miss.
She can blast lightning rays from her mouth that push her enemies backwards.
She can also throw a fireball that explodes and sets her enemies on fire. She can also conjure an illusion, a ghostly creature that attacks her enemies minds.
As an Elf (and not wanting to get bogged down with explaining the difference between an eladrin and an elf) she can teleport 1/encounter.
Her special skill is Arcana, she can use her magic to do something cool that she imagines 1/encounter.
Her magical encounter attack is Sleep which instantly sends her enemies into a deep sleeep leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Her dad is a Pseudodragon called Spyro (sorceror) that also spits bolts of ice, breathes fire and can freeze enemies with his bite. Enemies that come into his aura are damaged by the cold or by fire. 1/encounter he can strike with his icey tail leaving enemies immobilised. 1/encounter he can use his dragon blessing to heal. His special skill is Intimidate.
D is a Dragonborn Knight (paladin) named Red Dragon. He has a massive sword to attack his enemies. He is very resilient and protects his allies with his firey breath if enemies try and attack them while he is close.
He has 3 different stances he can choose: Hope heals an ally 4hp when he hits, Vengeance does even more damage than usual and Weakness weakens his enemies blows.
1/encounter he can strike a massively powerful blow called Sacred Strike, which sets his enemy on fire and leaves them vulnerable to attack.
He can also breathe fire 1/encounter
He can also sacrifice his Second wind and let an ally heal themselves.
His special skill is Religion, drawing upon his strong inner faith he can achieve whatever he can imagine 1/encounter
His mum is Scooby Doo himself. Scooby is basically a very cowardly Rogue who throws things and bites his enemies backsides. He has the abilty to shift around the battlefield effortlessly hiding in the most unsuspecting places. His ability to Flee in Panic has got him out of many sticky situations but 1/encounter he can call on all his courage and deliver a deadly blow called Moment of Bravery which can fling his enemy across the battlefield. Scooby has two special skills: Stealth and Thievery.
So with a very basic homemade character sheets with hand drawn icons marking each power we were ready to approach the adventure.
I began by sketching out a fantastic hometown where their all their initial adventures could take place. Here I stole shamelessly from several of the cartoon series I know they watch. Basically they are in their final year at Hero School preparing for their final exam before they become adventurere. Their teacher Dumbledore (yes, thank you Harry Potter!!!) has sent them to Dragon Mountain, backdrop to their hometown, Unificacia (now known by law as Magnacia by royal decree of King Magnus himself and rigorously enforced by the town guards), where they were to by some magical fire to be used during the final exam. But the guards sent them back saying the King himself had ordered that noone was now allowed to go to Dragon Mountain. On their way back to school they hear some strange flute music and sudenly a bright light flashes before their eyes leaving them unconscious, when they awake they town is very very quiet and noone can be seen. When they get back to school they don't see anyone around. They get to the door of their class and total silence, not a soul in sight. And so the adventure would begin:
I got the idea for the adventure when I found out that the new game at school during the break is Zombies (basically tag but if you're caught you turn into a zombie). Besides I figure fighting zombies is pretty black and white. I don't usually do black and white in my normal game, so this was an easy way to go for me.
I don't have time to run through the entire session so I will resume things quickly.
The went into the class room to find everyone inside asleep at their desks including the teacher. When they went to wake them up they discovered they were all zombies! Battle ensued and they destroyed nearly all the zombies before they could even react, except for a few and the teacher. But more came smashing through the windows upsetting the table of fire experiments and the web experiments on the other side. The class was set on fire and a massive magical web exploded only catching a few zombies. But the Heroes dealt to them and brought down the teacher amidst roars and cheers of excitement.
But the class was on fire! Luckily they found a book on the teacher's desk that the wizard could read and cast a spell that put out all the magic in the area. On the blackboard they found a note from Dumbledore telling them to go to the Safe Tower, a place they had to go in case of emergency.
Out into the corridor they heard a growling on the otherside of the opposite door that went into the Veterinary. Ignoring the adults protests they flung open the door to battle the zombie animals inside: 3 zombie dogs, a zombie tiger, gorilla and bear! A fierce battle but victory once again. Amongst the animal medicine they found 3 magical healing apples.
They decided outside was the best way to go to the Safe Tower. But outside were hundreds of zombies shambling towards them. They went back inside. They took the short path to the gymnasium where they neede to get past the obstacle course to reach the high entrance into the Safe Tower. However the Anti Magic Tower made it impossible to use magic in the gym until someone reached the top and hit the Off button. The tower was protected by 4 Golems that wouldn't attack unless someone entered the tower area. But they also protected teh door into the special equipment room where the kids had the magical objects they would be awarded when they graduated. The voted to turn off the anti-magic tower, fighting the golems and also recover the magical items. Scooby dealt with the lock into the equipment room as Ecto flew to the top of the tower turning into a bird in the hallway where he could use magic, while the others pummeled away at the golems. The pizzas for dinner arrived so Ecto suddenly found a secret button which disactivated the golems. All that was left was to take the gear and pass the obstacle course. Still in bird form Ecto flew with Spyro and Tinkerbell up to the entrance. Salmaria used her teleport power to arrive. Red Dragon used his strength to swing and leap up to a platform where he rang a bell that called a giant bat which he rode up to the entrance. Scooby fell into the boiling mud but Tinkerbell, Ecto and Spyro went to his rescue pulling him out of the mud and flying him up to the entrance and to victory. Strangely though Dumbledore is not there!
3 encounters, 3 hours including the intro and expalanation of the norms and the kids were totally loving every omoment. THe two boys lost concentration after the first fight but with a few words they came and sat back down and stayed focus. Unanimous opinon: Loads of fun, everyone loved it, parents included. All the kids want to play again.
So with all the negative threads on the boards at the moment i thought I'd share this moment of joy and fun with everyone, just to remind ourselves what an awesome game it is. D&D is nt dead! It's in our hands to pass the torch!
