Scott Heine Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 I remember signing up for a demo game of this new fangled Champions thing way back at DunDraCon 25 years ago. Now I'm going to teach the game to my kids. I've got three teenagers, and they've always wondered about this Champions thing their dad was into. Spending the weekend up at HeroCon in Baltimore only piqued their interest. So they've asked if I would run a campaign for them and introduce them to the Hero System. When did I become so old? I'm going to be GMing for my kids! My teenagers-that-drive kids! Oh my... It's funny how I'd forgotten what it's like to introduce total newbies to tabletop RPGs. I think I've helped them understand by talking about the art of "shared storytelling;" at least my daughters seem to get it. They're already thinking through character personalities and backgrounds and how they'd like to see a character develop through play. My 17-year old son, on the other hand, is thinking much more like a wargamer, and is interested in how the stats of the game will give him the greatest chance of beating the opponents he'll eventually face. He wants to "win the game," so it's gonna be a bit of a challenge to help him get into the episodic nature of what we're doing. All three of them spent a big chunk of last night trying to figure out what exactly is possible in the Hero System. "Can I have some kind of mind control?" "Is there a way to turn someone into a completely different object, like Medusa turning a guy to stone?" "Ooo! I want to be able to create illusions in people's minds! Can I do that?" Yes, yes, and yes... thought not necessarily in the game we'll be playing. (I'm nervous about my first-time newbie kids having Mind Control or Mental Illusions as a primary ability. "Hey, guys, let's think of something more simple. Sweetie, what about a character that is really strong and can punch things?") Then my son discovered that Champs characters get to roll a lot of dice. "Wow! I bet that's cool to see all these dice rolling on the table and then counting up the damage!" "Yes, son, that's really cool." They don't know it yet (and don't read these boards, so I can share here), but I'm going to set up a simple campaign world for them. They'll begin their adventures waking up in the wreckage of some really strange vehicle or machine. They won't know it, but they've been sent from the distant future -- a time when aliens have invaded and enslaved the human race, introducing all sorts of funky technology. A small band of freedom fighters has been holding out but facing a losing battle. They use all their efforts to send an elite team of their best fighters -- people who have been genetically altered or cybernetically enhanced using alien tech -- back in time to the day when the first scouts of the invasion reached earth. But a side effect of the time-travel process has been the complete erasure of their memories. The players will have no idea who they are or why they're there. There will be other survivors of the crash; some will become allies, others will become enemies. Everyone will be trying to figure out who they are and why they can do all these wonderful things. There will be an increasing presence/threat from aliens. Not-so-nice scientists are gonna want to steal some of the wreckage to assimilate the far-future tech, creating another source of enemies. Every once in a while, events will trigger flashbacks (flashforwards?) in the memories of the players that will fill in a bit of the storyline so they discover what they're up to. I'm finding the whole thing really, really interesting to put together -- primarily because I'm a dad doing this for my kids. (Man oh man I feel so very OLD!) Just thought I'd share... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Samson Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Kudos and props for spreading the fun to another generation. My son is a few years away from dice throwing (he just turned 6 months old) but if he is interested, I plan to intoduce him to gaming too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Warping young minds is important work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Scott, I can sympathize with feeling your years (I have a few on you AAMOF); but they say nothing makes you feel young like spending time with young people. I think it's terrific that your children are interested in the same hobby as you. Knowing your past RPG work, I know that they couldn't ask for a better GM to introduce them to the game. Your campaign premise sounds intriguing. Who knows, maybe we'll eventually get to see something from it in Digital Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattingly Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... If the future scientists knew the risk of memory wipe, maybe they sent along an instruction book of future events. Sort of a Gray's Sports Almanac that predicts major news events that the time travelers are supposed to make better. Once some of the other characters on the ship find out about it, that would give them reasons to continue to interact with the PCs -- they're all struggling to get access to the future's past to gain power now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Congratulations, Mister Heine, on introducing yet another generation to the wonders of roleplaying! May your dice never roll a critical failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix3 Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Sounds like you'll have a great time. If I might ask, are all of your children interested? If so, that sounds like a great family activity. Also, why did you wait until they were teenagers? Were they not interested before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... You are not old, just more experienced! Don't forget to introduce your kids to the Galactic Marauders, which were responsible for many interesting and entertaining hours, at least in our campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Heine Posted November 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... ...Are all of your children interested? If so' date=' that sounds like a great family activity. Also, why did you wait until they were teenagers? Were they not interested before?[/quote'] Yeah, they're all interested. I'm slowly bringing them into the wonders of geek entertainment. (They love Doctor Who now, for example.) We've always enjoyed playing games together, and they're big into board games like Settlers of Catan and such. But my wife's never been interested in Champions (perhaps editing my 4th edition books burned her out?), so it wasn't a family thing. As a result, the discussion just never came up much. Too many other things to occupy our interests (such as soccer, soccer, and more soccer it seems). Now that the kids are older, they were curious. I suggested maybe I could run a game and show them what it was all about, and they got excited. The more they learn, the more interested they are. I think it's gonna be a blast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... That is so cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilkmanDan Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... I'm looking forward to doing that myself someday, but I'm guessing that, at 5 and 3, my kids aren't quite ready for Hero System yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrix3 Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... ...but I'm guessing that' date=' at 5 and 3, my kids aren't quite ready for Hero System yet.[/quote'] Hmm, yeah, the math might be a bit much at this point. There is a thread around here somewhere that discusses good RPGs for younger players. I have an 18 mo. old daughter, so she won't be playing for even longer. Although, I have amused my wife no end by carrying on "conversations" with my daughter, pretending that her babblings are epic stories of her daring pulp adventures in distant lost lands. My wife has asked that I not have her fighting Nazis quite so much, though...that could be an embarrassing word for her to blurt out at daycare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiducia Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Hey if you can't teach your kids to HERO then who CAN you teach? I think it's pretty cool they all want to learn about your hobbies! I remember after the poker game at HEROCon Baltimore when you called home to tell your wife that you're to never to go to Vegas. I'm not sure which of your three kids answered the phone but the response of, "It's your DAD" was classic! The game world you've got going sounds like the perfect experiece for them too! They discover things about themselves as they discover things about the world and as they learn more and more about the system and how it works. Bravo! Have fun! Let us know how it goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... I remember signing up for a demo game of this new fangled Champions thing way back at DunDraCon 25 years ago. (Man oh man I feel so very OLD!) Just thought I'd share... Hey I resent that. Knock off the cracks about old I resemble those remarks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Hey I resent that. Knock off the cracks about old I resemble those remarks Yea, really. Says yet another 43. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... I've done a couple of simple combats with my kids playing, and even let my son 'sorta' participate in a couple of combats in regular games in the past -- but I've let him play as a real member of the game for the newest campaign I'm running. Been mixed results so far (especially since I have to resist my usual darker tendencies), but he's getting more involved and still wants to play so it can't be going too badly. The fact he's 11, and everybody else is mid-twenties and up (I'm the oldest at 42), I'd say he's doing pretty good... The fact he's playing the speedster probably doesn't hurt either... My daughter is already asking when she can play... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilkmanDan Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Hmm, yeah, the math might be a bit much at this point. There is a thread around here somewhere that discusses good RPGs for younger players. I have an 18 mo. old daughter, so she won't be playing for even longer. Although, I have amused my wife no end by carrying on "conversations" with my daughter, pretending that her babblings are epic stories of her daring pulp adventures in distant lost lands. My wife has asked that I not have her fighting Nazis quite so much, though...that could be an embarrassing word for her to blurt out at daycare. 18 months old? Well, then she's probably way too advanced for D&D at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... You know ... it's funny. The Sketchettes, who are 13 and 11, would like me to run some Hero for them sometime. The funny thing is, I'm helping my group (where Mrs. Sketch is the youngest at 28) play Hero and they're having some problems grasping the rules. My kids on the other hand picked them up like they'd been playing it for years ... now they want HeroDesigner on their computer and some Hero Dice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Liberty Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Never had any children, but I have introduced the children of other gamer friends to Hero on a few occasions. Some very interesting games. I ended up being part of a group that one of the kids ran a campaign for as a senior project (alternative school). Not a bad campaign, either. Werewolf though, not Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... I tried with my kids a couple of years ago. My daughter just wasn't too interested, and my son lost interest after I told him he had to roll dice to see if he clobbered the bad guy. It may be about time to try again though. My son used a gift card to buy a Heroscape expansion for the cool minis, and later became interested in the rules. Once I parsed them out, we played a little game of it, and he was okay with the dice rolling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... You youngsters...always rolling those new fangled dice....why in my day we used spinners, and we liked it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... You youngsters...always rolling those new fangled dice....why in my day we used spinners' date=' and we liked it![/quote'] Spinners?? That there is the high tech stuff. We used flat rocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steamteck Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... I GM very occasionally for my teenager and her friends but its not a very regular thing. My 10 year old son on the other hand is hooked. I GM regularly for him. He's also inherited my old 4th edition book and is in process of making a 2nd campaign for his buddies. He just finished his simple first one and wants to try something more ambitious next. he really really loves creating characters. It's pretty darn cool!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Threads like this are the closest thing to ever ever me wanting to have kids. You are all pretty cool parents by my book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Re: I am so, so old... Threads like this are the closest thing to ever ever me wanting to have kids. You are all pretty cool parents by my book. ditto on both counts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.