Geek Parenting Win
Mar. 15th, 2009 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peteyfrogboyI've had a very productive day so far, despite being a war widow(er) for the next week. Laundry is almost completely caught up, dishes likewise, the living room has been picked up and vacuumed, and the new TV computer has been installed and is running fine.
I have also fulfilled the dream of many a geek parent: I had a satisfying D&D session with one of my children.
I'm going to give a fairly detailed rundown of the session so I'll have something to refer back to for the next time. I've tried gaming with her before, but it's been a good long while. Her math skills were never in much question, but her attention span is greatly improved. Also, she's been watching a lot of Naruto recently, so the concept of mindless violence is more appealing to her. :)
I didn't want to slog through character creation with her, so I cooked up a simple trio of characters. To shortcut having to figure out character motivations and whatnot, I decided to make her a pair of twins (prince and princess of a small mountain kingdom), along with their elven advisor. I'm using the Pathfinder 3.5e variant rules, though I'm necessarily playing a tad fast-and-loose to keep things moving. The characters are as follows:
Princess Ashleigh Faren (LG Ftr 2 - 18 STR, 8 INT) The goodie-two-shoes of the pair, groomed by her parents to take over the kingdom. Straight up sword and shield in-your-face type of fighter. Not the sharpest sword in the armory, but has a good head on her shoulders.
Prince Lucas Faren (CG Rog 2 - 18 INT, 15 DEX) The rebel. Doesn't like following the rules, and prefers hanging around with the "common people". Pretty standard skill set.
Elwyn the Green (NG Sor 3 - 19 DEX, 18 CHA) The voice of reason. His job is to keep an eye on the kids, and therefore when I need to give her a nudge in the right direction it's in his voice. Water elemental bloodline, mainly non-lethal spells (though he still packs a sword and bow).
We began with the three being summoned into the royal audience chamber. The traders that had been sent down the main road out of the mountains are a week overdue. The few soldiers available to the kingdom are busy patrolling the borders against bandits or otherwise doing defensive jobs. This seems like a good test of the heirs' skills, as well as a chance for Lucas to learn to take some responsibility. They are sent with Elwyn to figure out what happened.
They set off down the road, with Lucas scouting the road ahead (her first suggestion:" Let's split up!" I helped her tone that down to something a bit more tactically sensible). He spots a group of five goblins, two wagons , four tied up traders, three live horses and one being roasted. He sneaks back to the others and they move in. They blow the surprise when they come back, but Ashleigh wins initiative. She advances, then gets pounded on by some lucky goblins. I was worried that the girl would be disheartened by two max damage hits right out of the gate, but she kept on going. A sleep spell, flanking sneak attack, and critical beheading charge later, they were victorious and had two prisoners to take back home.
Under interrogation (while we ate dinner), the goblins convinced Elwyn that there were hundreds of them up in the mountains (good Bluff check). The king decided to call on the nearby dwarven kingdom for aid. To give a little kick-start to the treaty they'd been ignoring for the last ten years, he sent the group with a coffer of silver bars as a gift to the dwarven king.
They headed up the wide dwarf-made road, flanked on either side with sheer walls carved with figures of ancient kings. Hidden ten feet up behind one of these carvings was a goblin tunnel, from which they were pelted with rocks. Courage failed a bit as Ashleigh and Elwyn used their high initiatives to start running, leaving Lucas and the mule with the silver behind (though Elwyn tossed a sleep spell up into the tunnel with good results). Goblins began leaping out and tangling with Lucas, though the sorcerer kept them well controlled with repeated sleep spells. Ashleigh returned to the fight at the end, and the final tally was 3 dead, 2 prisoners, and one snoozing up in the tunnel.
They took the two prisoners with them and made it to the dwarven gate. They were challenged by the door guard and told their story. When asked to give their names, D was itching to come up with a lie ("I want to make a Bluff check!"), but couldn't come up with a compelling lie or reason to tell one. In the end honesty was the best policy, and the heirs were granted an audience with the king. The gift was well received, and they were told the source of the goblins. The dwarves had been successfully driving orcs out of their lower halls, which in turn drove goblins out of the mountains and into the Faren valley. In keeping with the old treaty (now shiny and new like bars of silver), the king sent them back with a dozen dwarven warriors to help patrol the mountains and deal with the goblin incursions. This is where we ended our story for the night.
Honestly, I've had far less satisfying games with adults. I am well pleased.
I have also fulfilled the dream of many a geek parent: I had a satisfying D&D session with one of my children.
I'm going to give a fairly detailed rundown of the session so I'll have something to refer back to for the next time. I've tried gaming with her before, but it's been a good long while. Her math skills were never in much question, but her attention span is greatly improved. Also, she's been watching a lot of Naruto recently, so the concept of mindless violence is more appealing to her. :)
I didn't want to slog through character creation with her, so I cooked up a simple trio of characters. To shortcut having to figure out character motivations and whatnot, I decided to make her a pair of twins (prince and princess of a small mountain kingdom), along with their elven advisor. I'm using the Pathfinder 3.5e variant rules, though I'm necessarily playing a tad fast-and-loose to keep things moving. The characters are as follows:
Princess Ashleigh Faren (LG Ftr 2 - 18 STR, 8 INT) The goodie-two-shoes of the pair, groomed by her parents to take over the kingdom. Straight up sword and shield in-your-face type of fighter. Not the sharpest sword in the armory, but has a good head on her shoulders.
Prince Lucas Faren (CG Rog 2 - 18 INT, 15 DEX) The rebel. Doesn't like following the rules, and prefers hanging around with the "common people". Pretty standard skill set.
Elwyn the Green (NG Sor 3 - 19 DEX, 18 CHA) The voice of reason. His job is to keep an eye on the kids, and therefore when I need to give her a nudge in the right direction it's in his voice. Water elemental bloodline, mainly non-lethal spells (though he still packs a sword and bow).
We began with the three being summoned into the royal audience chamber. The traders that had been sent down the main road out of the mountains are a week overdue. The few soldiers available to the kingdom are busy patrolling the borders against bandits or otherwise doing defensive jobs. This seems like a good test of the heirs' skills, as well as a chance for Lucas to learn to take some responsibility. They are sent with Elwyn to figure out what happened.
They set off down the road, with Lucas scouting the road ahead (her first suggestion:" Let's split up!" I helped her tone that down to something a bit more tactically sensible). He spots a group of five goblins, two wagons , four tied up traders, three live horses and one being roasted. He sneaks back to the others and they move in. They blow the surprise when they come back, but Ashleigh wins initiative. She advances, then gets pounded on by some lucky goblins. I was worried that the girl would be disheartened by two max damage hits right out of the gate, but she kept on going. A sleep spell, flanking sneak attack, and critical beheading charge later, they were victorious and had two prisoners to take back home.
Under interrogation (while we ate dinner), the goblins convinced Elwyn that there were hundreds of them up in the mountains (good Bluff check). The king decided to call on the nearby dwarven kingdom for aid. To give a little kick-start to the treaty they'd been ignoring for the last ten years, he sent the group with a coffer of silver bars as a gift to the dwarven king.
They headed up the wide dwarf-made road, flanked on either side with sheer walls carved with figures of ancient kings. Hidden ten feet up behind one of these carvings was a goblin tunnel, from which they were pelted with rocks. Courage failed a bit as Ashleigh and Elwyn used their high initiatives to start running, leaving Lucas and the mule with the silver behind (though Elwyn tossed a sleep spell up into the tunnel with good results). Goblins began leaping out and tangling with Lucas, though the sorcerer kept them well controlled with repeated sleep spells. Ashleigh returned to the fight at the end, and the final tally was 3 dead, 2 prisoners, and one snoozing up in the tunnel.
They took the two prisoners with them and made it to the dwarven gate. They were challenged by the door guard and told their story. When asked to give their names, D was itching to come up with a lie ("I want to make a Bluff check!"), but couldn't come up with a compelling lie or reason to tell one. In the end honesty was the best policy, and the heirs were granted an audience with the king. The gift was well received, and they were told the source of the goblins. The dwarves had been successfully driving orcs out of their lower halls, which in turn drove goblins out of the mountains and into the Faren valley. In keeping with the old treaty (now shiny and new like bars of silver), the king sent them back with a dozen dwarven warriors to help patrol the mountains and deal with the goblin incursions. This is where we ended our story for the night.
Honestly, I've had far less satisfying games with adults. I am well pleased.