Threnody

Hi all,

Steve - in reference to your post about breaking kids in: Mike Naylor has been playing a few adventures with his kids. Geared towards them and their quirks, and a very stripped-down version of 3.0 D&D - a lot of fun. I ran 'em through a one-shot, and it went really well - rescue some townspeople from the evil Necromancer and all. There were some tears, when Maggie went to half hit-points, but I say crying is fine in D&D, and it's the kind of thing that builds character. You can find some used 3.0 books (PH, DMG, Monster Manual) and that'll give them something to read and obsess over and all. Fun!

There's also an online MMPORG that's very kid-friendly (and 37-year-old-grad-student friendly), called Runescape. Runs in Java through a browser - and I use Safari no problem. Cheesy graphics, simple browser, enough complexity to be interesting, language filter and a big focus on kid-friendly. http://www.runescape.com/ is the URL - Chris turned me on to it, and I've been having a good time building my fishing and firebuilding skills, and killing goblins and spiders, and tooling around exploring. You get some online strokes, sure, and it's more fun to play with your family, but it's an option.

The first time I played was with Mom and Dad - Dad ran us through B1 or B2 - I played a cleric and an elf, mom played a fighter and a thief. That's when 'elf' was a class . . . Dad used the second hand of his watch as a random number generator, and we played at Meadowbrook waiting for the summer concert to start. It sticks in my mind, 32 years later, as a good time - we explored a dungeon and fought kobolds and orcs, and found some gems and healing potions. Fun! Although I imagine, the way you raise your kids, that you hate doing stuff like playing games with them, and you don't want them to use math or problem-solving skills or their imaginations at all . . . .

Anyway. You've got a huge source for ideas and assistance here - we all want the next generation to be gamers, I'm pretty sure. Keep us posted if you run anything for them!