What I learned today

I sat down while the kids were at school, and decided to work on my GM/DM/AM/referee skills a bit. That's Game/Dungeon/Adventure Master. I've been reading a lot of blogs about how to be better, tips for newbies, and general improvement. Most of them agree on the first rule: This is a game. Games are fun. If it isn't fun, do something about it.

What makes it fun? Personal involvement for one. The players need to be emotionally attached to whats going on in our shared world. I want them to want to slay the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy/Girl). Because he is messing with their friends and their family. He is the one who set fire to the General Store. He burned down the Warrens. He is sacrificing the towns people. He is planning ... well, you get the idea. Emotional involvement on their part will make the gaming experience much more intense and memorable.

We did not actually sit down and "play" tonight. I reviewed my notes from our first session where we generated their characters. Luxord is a human fighter. Stevo is an elven mage. Sonic and Zoey are halfling rogues. I discovered some ... things ... about my children. When I summarized those things, it surprised me. My son's characters wanted to improve themselves, just to be the best. The best fighter. The best wizard. (His master sent him away because he couldn't teach him anything more.) My daughter wanted to go out and help people. Wow. What a difference. I've never really seen them in that light before, and it was an eye-opener. I'm not sure its a totally accurate representation of them as individuals though. But, I do think they are too young and inexperienced to create characters totally unlike themselves. Frankly, I'm surprised my daughter is playing a male character at all. (This is cute though. He's on the road to be with her. He got lost. He seems fairly clueless and inept. I wonder if this says something about her view of men in general, or someone in particular.)

After supper, I pulled my daughter over, and talked with her about her two characters, Zoey and Sonic. I knew they were cousins, but where did they come from? A farm. Why are they out on the road? To help other people. What skills do they have? Parents? Siblings? Home life? Village, forest, mountain, farm, city? We sculpted the background of her characters, and it was fun for both of us.

Then on to my son's two, Luxord and Stevo. Luxord's parents died when he was 15. Stevo's died when he was 15, too. (That doesn't look good for me, but, he's reading the Harry Potter books. So, I hope its a HP thing, and not a wish to be orphaned.) Luxord's little brother is apprenticed to a blacksmith, while Luxord does odd jobs. "Oh, you're a loafer," said Faith. "No!" "Yes!" we both said. "You won't get a job. You just do enough to earn money when you need it." "No!" Well, that's what it sounds like to us. Stevo was apprenticed to a wizard when he was 40. (Stevo is an elf, so ages and timelines are ... weird.) What did he do in the intervening 25 years? We don't know. Loaf? Odd jobs? He said he'll have to think about it.

When we were done, he said character/world building was just as much fun as actually playing. Cool. I think so too. I also learned quite a bit about my children as I reviewed my notes. I hope this game of ours proves to be character building in more than just one way.

Fighting Dust Bunnies

We're still hard at work. But not cleaning. Well, a little bit, I guess.

The kids and I continue our fantasy role playing game. They were staying in the Inn of the Burning Heart, but got evicted by the owner/operator, Tusk. It seems they've been going out and slaying skeletons and zombies, and stirring up trouble. The more they kill, the more come out of the Woods and attack the town. They even burned down the General Store.

So, they had no place to live. Garrett, the sheriff, says, "Hey, how about the old haunted house. You can live there, since its abandoned. Of course, you're going to have to 'clean it out first.'"

So, what do you find in an old abandoned house? Whose owners mysteriously disappeared? Giants rats and feral dogs. Vines growing out of the walls. Oh, and rabid vampire dust bunnies!

You know what those are, don't you? You certainly expect to find dust bunnies in any house. But this one is rife with bad mojo. Soooo, vampire bunnies meets dust bunnies. The brave adventurers walk into an innocuous, though dirty, room. Once inside, dust bunnies come out of the corners and from under the bed, surrounding them. They're doing okay, then Luxord the Human Fighter (my son), rolls a critical fumble. (That means on a 20-sided die, he rolled a one. Not only did he miss, he ended up hitting himself.) He sliced his leg wide open, and the bunnies smelled blood. Oooooohhhh.

You should've seen their faces when I told them that the dust bunnies were vampire dust bunnies. Their teeth lengthened and sharpened, their eyes turned red, and little bat wings popped up. They took flight and swarmed towards Luxord, who was already bleeding freely. Snarling and snapping and zipping around the room. (Of course, there was very little danger to the adventurers, but they don't know that yet. They haven't played RPG's enough.)

Finally, the last vampire dust bunny (I just can't say that enough) bites the dust. No pun intended. An explosion of dust and dirt and teeth and tiny little bat wings that leaves the adventurers coughing and sneezing. What does Luxord do? He suggests they go to sleep. Its got to be, what, 11am now? Yeah, thats right. 11am, and he wants to sleep so his fighter can get his hit points (health) back.

Yeah, sure, I say. You won't to go to sleep in a house that you haven't fully explored yet. And then wake up at night when the zombies and skeletons are up and about. Are you sure about that? The face on his face was priceless. Everyone else burst out laughing.

That is why I play this game with my kids. What do you think? Any ideas? Tips? What do you do to connect with your kids?

The Adventures Continue ...

So far, our family game time has been a mixed success. The kids love it. I love it. Faith won't play, but I'm not blaming her. Its just not her thing.

Unfortunately, each game can from one hour, to four or more, and it takes a fair amount of prep time, which I'm not getting during Christmas Break. I'm not getting much free time period during "vacation." I'm sure most parents know what this is like. But, the kids go back to school on Monday. Then, I can go back to playing games, reading, writing, surfing the internet, and now "prepping."

This "prepping" is a lot like writing for me. I need to know characters, their histories, motivations, ethics, and so forth and so on. I need to know the lay of the land, politics, religion, politics, natives (human, non-human, aggressive, etc.) It is "creation" at its greatest. I love it. But instead of typing it all up and posting it, I get to live it with my children.

They each have two characters they are running. Ryan has a human fighter named Luxord, who left home to see the world. He heard stories of his father's youth and how exciting it was, so left when he was big enough. His other character is an elfin mage named Stevo. (Steve-o? Well, its his character, I guess.) He was trained for years by a local wizard, who finally told him he had taught him all he could (which left him as a level one? whatever).

Hope has two halfling rogues. I guess she likes rogues, and halflings. *shrug* Hers are cousins named Zoey and Sonic (which is Ryan's current favorite video game). They left home because Zoey wanted to go out and help people. Sonic justed wants to be with Zoey.

I laid out a piece of paper, and started drawing a map for them of the town they started in. On a hill, I drew a large building. They both automatically knew it was a church, and Ryan's first response was "I need to buy good clothes. I can't wear armor to church." lol That's too funny. Now, if I can just get him to stop wearing shorts and t-shirts to church IRL (In Real Life.)

They (Zoey & Luxord) found lodging in a local inn. After a day or two, Ryan realized they needed to go find jobs, so they could continue living in-doors, and eating, and buying other supplies.

I've learned a couple things about my children from this time. First, both are fairly timid. They run into one monster, and immediately want to run back home and heal up, rather than pushing on. I don't suppose that is a bad thing, in children. But adults? Well, we'll see how they turn out.

Secondly, they are somewhat responsible. Hope's first order of business was to secure room and board. They don't sleep in the woods. They don't hunt. They don't break and enter. (I'm not sure she knows what a "rogue" is.) Ryan suggested they find jobs to support themselves. Most gaming experiences I've been through didn't involve jobs. It was usually "kill things and take their stuff" to make money. They may get to that point, but right now they have jobs.

I see places in the game where they aren't doing things the way I would. I suppose their age and inexperience is the reason for that. They haven't played a game like this before. But, then again, they haven't had much experience at life either. Both of these will change.

Oh, I just have to add, after our last gaming session, Ryan said it was more exciting than video games. High praise indeed.