I've joined the ranks...

[Nolgroth]

...of HERO parents passing on their hobby. :)

Yesterday afternoon, I introduced my children to the joys that is HERO. We played a short session wherein they escorted a caravan from one town to another. Adventure ensued.

The adventure started out with three PCs; Kurion Tallbow, Mattilde, and Davin. Kurion is obviously the archer, played by son. Mattilde is a "Shield Maiden" or brick if you prefer, played by my daughter. Davin is the acquisition specialist and is played by HERO Boards member Merovign. Later, my wife joined in with a Paladin type.

Synopsis
The characters were hired on a pretty typical "caravan duty" mission. With the help of Merovign, the group managed to do some legwork before the journey and turned up information that the goblinoid species were on the move and banditry is becoming more common.

About halfway to their destination, the caravan was (obviously) attacked. The characters were able to slay all but one of the bandits, though Kurion Tallbow was cornered by some bad guys and took some severe punishment.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and the caravan arrived safely. After collecting their reward, the characters proceeded to find a healer for Kurion. As coincidence (and GM Fiat) would have it, they ran into Brother Dharick, a warrior-monk.

Together, the group elected to head back to Havenport. Along the way, they decided to investigate the passage of a large force of goblinoids that they had seen earlier. This led them to an outpost, where they ambushed the other side and had a pretty one-sided combat in which all the orcs and goblins were slain.

After the battle, they found evidence of a pretty massive goblinoid troop buildup in the region and decided to return this information to Havenport.

Commentary
I had a lot of fun introducing my kids to the mechanical aspects of the HERO System and they had fun with the combat system. Even my son, who got tagged pretty bad in the first combat, had a blast.

There were some great funny moments as well. For some reason, Vitals came up quite often as the Hit Location rolled. A lot of goblins died with falsetto voices this day. ;)

Another funny incident happened where the two frontline fighters tripped over the piled up bodies in the doorway to the tower in subsequent segments.

In the end, I got to spend an afternoon/evening with my family having a great time. The kids can't wait to play again and HERO has even usurped Heroscape as their game of choice. I got to remember just how fun sitting around a table is.

Extras
Instead of throwing the kids headlong into the character creation process, I wanted to give them a chance to experience how the rules worked. As such, I crafted each of the characters (except Davin and I edited some things about him) and transferred the characters to Open Office documents that I had created to simplify and explain things.

I'm including a zip file of PDFs and HDCs that I used to run the game. I did not exactly double check the HDC files, so I might have made some modifications to the Open Office documents that is not reflected in the HDC files.

For the bad guys, I simply reused the stats from the first encounter for the second one. All locations were hand doodled on a battle mat.

[ghost-angel]

Sweet :thumbup:

Next you should introduce them to the concept of extended story arcs and see if the attention span sticks across game sessions.

Gaming - it's like family dinner time, only with more interaction.

[Lucius]

There were some great funny moments as well. For some reason, Vitals came up quite often as the Hit Location rolled. A lot of goblins died with falsetto voices this day. ;)

.

And now you're bringing up another generation with a misapprehension about what the word "Vitals" means. :(

But other than that, it sounds fantastic! :thumbup:

Thanks for posting about it. :celebrate

Lucius Alexander

Making a hit locations chart for the palindromedary

[Steve Long]

Sounds like a great game, and great family fun!

IIRC there are a couple of good websites out there about family RPGing. Maybe you can write up your experience in more detail and submit it to one of them.

[matrix3]

About how old are your kids? And, have they shown interest before and you held off until now for some reason, or are they just now showing interest?

[Nolgroth]

And now you're bringing up another generation with a misapprehension about what the word "Vitals" means. :(The Great Vitals Debate again. ;) Everything is open to interpretation there. Mine is that you follow the list down. I did explain to them that it could mean hitting any vital organ in the torso, but we were going for low-brow humor. :D

But other than that, it sounds fantastic! :thumbup:Thanks.

Thanks for posting about it. :celebrateThanks for responding.

[Nolgroth]

Sweet :thumbup:

Next you should introduce them to the concept of extended story arcs and see if the attention span sticks across game sessions.

Gaming - it's like family dinner time, only with more interaction.What do you mean "next time?" They are already interested in seeing what the results of their impromptu recon is going to lead to. And by interested, I mean they are practically beating me up to play again. :)

And yes, it is like dinnertime, especially when we had dinner to go along with it. Chili and fries. Yum.

[Nolgroth]

Sounds like a great game, and great family fun!Indeed. I had truly forgotten how great table top gaming could be. And as for great family fun, anytime I get to see my kids laugh and jump around in excitement, I am a happy man. That I was a part of that is cool beyond words. :thumbup:

IIRC there are a couple of good websites out there about family RPGing. Maybe you can write up your experience in more detail and submit it to one of them.I'll have to look around, though honestly, HERO is my community. I frequent no other boards like I do here. I tend to share my positive experiences with y'all because this is honestly a great place to hang out.

[Nolgroth]

About how old are your kids? And, have they shown interest before and you held off until now for some reason, or are they just now showing interest?My daughter, Morgan, is just shy of 13. My son, John, just turned 11.

They have both shown interest in what I do every Thursday night for some time, but it was only recently that they expressed an interest in playing. To be honest, I held off out of the sheer feeling of awkwardness I felt with bringing in new players. When I was younger, I could never do that. Lack of patience I suppose.

Finally, early this week, my daughter asked when we were going to play. I had a whole, "what the heck" moment and pulled some characters that I had been working on for an "Intro to HERO" project I had been working in, modified them a bit* and we sat down and played. The awkwardness I thought I was going to feel was completely absent. So I suppose this was a moment of growth for me as well.

At the end of the day, I realized I had one of the best days of my entire fatherhood. No exaggeration. The entire family, including my best friend, who is more my brother than friend anymore, had a blast. I am so looking forward to next game session. :)

*The original versions of the character sheets had an additional page that offered a brief explanation of how customizable the character creation process is and offered a couple of options for expanding the characters with Disadvantages.

[ghost-angel]

What do you mean "next time?" They are already interested in seeing what the results of their impromptu recon is going to lead to. And by interested, I mean they are practically beating me up to play again. :)

And yes, it is like dinnertime, especially when we had dinner to go along with it. Chili and fries. Yum.

awesome. :cool:

[Lucius]

I'll have to look around, though honestly, HERO is my community. I frequent no other boards like I do here. I tend to share my positive experiences with y'all because this is honestly a great place to hang out.

Absolutely! I have other places I go to, but compared to the Hero Boards the rest of the web is...

well, it's a jungle out there!

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary feels at home here

[Cancer]

I started a campaign a couple years ago that has languished for several months since I've been way busy. My kids are the same ages as yours.

[Nolgroth]

I started a campaign a couple years ago that has languished for several months since I've been way busy. My kids are the same ages as yours.Well I hope you get a chance to pick it back up when you are less busy:cheers:

[Eosin]

Soo cool. I can't wait - mine are about 3-4 years away from being ready to play. Rep coming your way.

[incrdbil]

Glad to hear how successful it was. I'm working up a game for my kids to start with, and realized I'm probably overthinking the preparation. Our first game will be next weekend, I'll report how it goes.

[Merovign]

Interestingly enough, I think the decision to start "combat heavy" was actually a good choice - the rules get lots of practice, and the story is easy to follow.

The kids were both excited and, apart from the obvious fidgits and natural newbie mistakes, surprisingly on top of the game. There was the obvious "wait do I want to roll high or low" thing (because, when you're young, you think your intentions control the dice... :) ), but all those years of NWN, Oblivion, KOTOR and other computer games gets kids ready for concepts like stats and attack and skill rolls.

And look at it this way - it's an even better incentive for the kids to get their homework done. :)

And yes, Nolgy, I'll run a game sometime soon. (He never gets to play.)

[Nolgroth]

Glad to hear how successful it was. I'm working up a game for my kids to start with, and realized I'm probably overthinking the preparation. Our first game will be next weekend, I'll report how it goes.I believe that was one of my problems at first too. Then I realized that all the things we consider "old hat" or "cliche" are pretty new to kids. They will grab onto the mechanics first, because it is something they can immediately grasp. Even if it takes them a few tries, the rules are concrete and easily digested. The story will come second and getting more into playing roles will come in third. You'll be surprised at how quickly they grasp all three concepts in a single 6 hour session. I know I was. :)

I was worried that character creation mechanics might take all day and a couple of more besides to explain, so I made the characters for them. After a few times playing, I am going to sit down with them and start explaining that process a little better. I just want them to get down how Skills and Combat work first.

I am also going to start being more story and "in-character" oriented as we progress and let them ease into the roles. Both of my kids showed an amazing tendency to display what they imagined their characters to be like. They were much more comfortable and outspoken about who their characters are than I was so long ago.

[Nolgroth]

Soo cool. I can't wait - mine are about 3-4 years away from being ready to play. Rep coming your way.It is cool and I believe that you will enjoy it greatly. I think they will too.

When I was growing up, the games I loved to play the most were the ones I got to play with my parents. Back then it was Yahtzee, Aggravation, Dominoes, or Rummy. For my generation it has become Heroscape and Hero. Same traditions, just new faces and games at the table. :)

[ghost-angel]

It is cool and I believe that you will enjoy it greatly. I think they will too.

When I was growing up, the games I loved to play the most were the ones I got to play with my parents. Back then it was Yahtzee, Aggravation, Dominoes, or Rummy. For my generation it has become Heroscape and Hero. Same traditions, just new faces and games at the table. :)

I grew up playing Battle Of The Bulge, and other Avalon Hill games with my Dad.

Might explain some of the damage I have. Yahtzee might have been a nice change to losing. :D

When they get to creating their own characters give me descriptions - I need practice with visualizing other peoples ideas.

[Nolgroth]

When they get to creating their own characters give me descriptions - I need practice with visualizing other peoples ideas.Will do.

[solron915]

Excellant Nol I'm glad to see you and your family had so much fun for their first gam ing session.

[Nolgroth]

Excellant Nol I'm glad to see you and your family had so much fun for their first gam ing session.Thank you.

[Nolgroth]

Session Two (Part A and B) were played yesterday and the early morning today. A little background. I lifted one of those old metal public servant desks a few weeks ago. In the process, I pulled a muscle in my right shoulder. Tonight it flared up bad and I took some painkillers which knocked me flat. Strangely it only did so for about an hour or so.

Anyway, this afternoon before my Gemini Ascendant game, I ran part A. In that session, the characters did some research and picked up a Scroll of Dispelling Magic to use on a trap door that they had discovered in Session One. After returning to the site where the trap door was, they disenchanted the trap door and continued into the dungeon. Therein they fought a Carrion Crawler. They looted some magic items and moved on to find an ancient tomb. They fought a couple of undead creatures and we ended it in a larger chapel/worship area.

Part B picked up around midnight. Yeah, I'm a bad parent. My kids stayed up late to play with me. And we picked up right where we left off. The party explored further into the tomb and fought some more undead, located the tomb of a paladin and ultimately destroyed the corrupted wight that "guarded" the tomb.

Some commentary. All the above sounds like a massive Dungeon Crawl and it was. It was intended to be a dungeon crawl. I want to throw the rules at the kids (and wife) for a few sessions until they get the gist of the HERO mechanics. Once they are comfortable with the rules, I can take it to the next level and start working on other types of adventures.

Also, with the release of and highly active discussion about D&D 4th Edition, I really wanted to test the theory that HERO could do dungeon crawls as well as D&D. Theory is tested and proved.

Again, I had a great time and the kids did too. The looks of concern and triumph were wonderful to see. At one part my daughter looked at me, almost guiltily, and said that she was starting to care for the characters. I couldn't help but smile. In my mind, that is what it is all about.

My son's character must be cursed. Two sessions and two times he nearly died. If not for the healing ability my wife's character has, he would have actually kicked the bucket.

[teh bunneh]

Sounds like everyone had a grand time, Nolgroth! :thumbup:

[Spence]

Some commentary. All the above sounds like a massive Dungeon Crawl and it was.

Nothing wrong with a good dungeon crawl ;)

And you raise a good point. A crawl can be one of the best ways to teach a game system.

[ghost-angel]

Sounds like it was awesome fun. :thumbup:

Nothing wrong with a good old dungeon crawl. Aside from being a great tool to teach a lot of the mechanics, sometimes it's just fun to kill things and take their stuff.

[matrix3]

*Bump*

How goes gaming with your kids, Nolgroth?

[Nolgroth]

*Bump*

How goes gaming with your kids, Nolgroth?The kids asked to go back to public school this year as a "try out." Since I only have Thursdays off, we have suspended the game until next summer. If I can ever convince my boss to give me weekends off, I will resume earlier than that.

Thanks for asking though. :)

[CTaylor]

Nothing at all wrong with dungeon crawls, personally I think they are pointlessly and mindlessly opposed as being too boring and typical. We're not writing Shakespeare here, do what's fun and you have ideas for. Dungeon crawls can be a blast - and given the massive trend against them for years in RPGs, I think they are actually fresh and can be very original and unique, still.

[Nolgroth]

Nothing at all wrong with dungeon crawls, personally I think they are pointlessly and mindlessly opposed as being too boring and typical. We're not writing Shakespeare here, do what's fun and you have ideas for. Dungeon crawls can be a blast - and given the massive trend against them for years in RPGs, I think they are actually fresh and can be very original and unique, still.I've had a lot of fun with dungeon crawls. The first time I actually got to play through Temple of Elemental Evil was an absolute hoot. I've played in a lot of dungeons over the years, but that one was the most fun I think.

In the specific case of my children, everything is sort of fresh. Dungeon crawls are just easy to manage and present so it is a prime venue for me to use.

[JmOz]

RE Dungeon Crawls, for my Fantacy Game I have been using "In Search of Adventure" a old anthology for D&D that I converted over to Hero. I bought it online for about $5 as a pdf (RPG NOW), and should provide me with about 7-10 sessions...Can't complain about that...

[Nolgroth]

I have so many D&D adventure modules sitting on the shelf that I could plot and plan an entire campaign from combining them. That doesn't even count the Dungeon magazines that are also sitting over there.

If I had my druthers, if I were to go that route, I'd start with Under Illefarn and move onwards from there. I may just convert the characters (NPCs) over one day.

[DusterBoy]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Nolgroth, it seems like you have a great thing going here.

I think my nieces are too young yet (8, 6 and 2), but I also think that a "magical girl" campaign based on the Barbie videos they watch might be a good idea in a couple of years' time.

[Kal'El Wayne]

Just stopped by to say congrats on the whole 'fresh meat'...I mean, 'new recruits' thing.
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Just kidding! Yeah, good luck, though.