This is a spin-off thread from the who's going to Gary Con discussion about events for kids. I am all for this! I may be bringing my eight-year-old, who is an enthusiastic gamer, and this semester I started teaching a D&D afterschool class at his school for kids 8-11. I had kids in mind when I did the description for the event I submitted based on Pana's terrain - GaryCon Terrain Challenge #1: Treasure Beneath the Brown Hills: "Who will retrieve the most gold from the Temple of the Elder Elemental God and make it out alive? Terrain Challenge #1 is the first annual D&D competition using the fantastic miniatures terrain contributed to GaryCon by Pana. This year’s adventure imagines a roleplaying spin-off of Gary Gygax’s classic 1971 Chainmail scenario, Battle for the Brown Hills. Third level characters will be provided; all ages welcome." The all ages part, and the beginner listing, are meant to encourage the young'uns: the miniatures help make the game part of roleplaying concrete and easy for new players to latch onto, and the two-hour time slot is less arduous for young attention spans. Another thing I've been meaning to do that might be fun for kids is some real-life mapping - doing like our D&D characters do and constructing a map of some physical spaces (the hotel complex, the Lake Geneva library, etc.) I find this fascinating as an adult - even though I cheat and use modern tools like a laser range-finder it reveals a lot about why your characters move so slowly and have to rest one turn out of six when they're mapping - and it's a chance for kids to run around outside and get hooked on graph paper maps. Who is thinking about bringing kids? What other ideas for kid-friendly events are there?
I am thinking about it. Mine are 10, 12 and 14. Not gamers other than playing the occassional game of Dungeon or Wizard's Quest. Never played any rpgs. My big issue will be sports. Oldest daughter plays travel softball and they are doing indoor league in winter this year, so weekends can be tough. My son (12) plays travel basketball in winter and they always play on Saturday. But basketball is a conditioning sport for him - he is more of a baseball and football kid. Youngest plays regular league basketball but they play on weekdays so she is clear. Still, I think I can arrange it. Give the wife a weekend of complete freedom! My kids are pretty adaptable and they would be game for just about any event. I love the idea of an actual mapping expedition. Also, my kids have all younger cousins so they are quite good with younger kids. They would absolutely help out with games like Fantasy Forest for young kids.
I may fire up the Harvesters (anthropomorhic C&C rpg game) if anyone is interested! I should have at least three different adventures to run.
Well, I'm still interested in running something that teaches kids how to make their own board games and whatnot.
Hey Tavis! I'm bringing both my kids; my daughter and son. By the time the con rolls around they will be 9 and 10 respectively. They've play D&D 3.5 and a bit of the 4e starter set as well as my son running us (my wife, daughter, and myself) through an intro adventure of Warriors. I've been away from these boards for a while and this is only the second thread I've checked. But i'd love to have an event or two that focused on kids. Hey - even if its unofficial we could get a game going with just us and our kids and whomever wants to join in!
Well, if Family Badge registration packages are any indicator, we'll have quite a few under 16 floating around this year. We are looking to have at least one youngster friendly event each day, and looking for a volunteer who might be interested in assisting with the coordination and organization of these events. If you're interested, please drop me a PM.
Well, looks like the kids aren't coming with us this year. At least my wife (at this time) has indicated that it would be great for us to have some time together with no kids! We haven't done anything like that in (by the time of GaryCon) over 12 years. There was talk about bring the daughter and living the toddler with Grandma but that idea has changed. The really good part is that if it's just my wife and me she will actually be able to game. She doesn't get to do that very often and without the kids it will be much easier.
Well, I just got some good news. My wife got her schedule cleared, and I'm in, and will have my wife, and 3 sons (11, 8, and 4) along for the ride. So, I'm interested in this "kids stuff" now.
Spells n Stuff is kid friendly except that there are lots of reading involved ... and lots of dying probably. If small kids sign up for the event a parent MUST be nearby to help them read/identify their newfound equipment,spells and power cards and to make sure they dont try to eat parts of the game. Children who can read and are 'gamers' already should have no problems though. Other than that, imagine the kid's face when he/she is told that their head explodes right after "reading the book". It may scare them away from a life of academia, who knows. :lol: Also, imagine telling your kid that they won the castle grand prize. I cant think of a better toy for the kids (it is rather large though) unless they decide to swallow parts of the castle that have fallen from siege (or mishandling). :roll: JP
Any sense of the age ranges we're talking about? It might end up requiring a couple of events. Five years-old kids will likely find certain things entertaining at which 9 year-old kids will roll their eyes...
If you guys give me some age ranges, I will talk to my wife (who is a Kindergarten teacher) and see what games we can recommend for younger kids. On a similar note, I can say that if Castles & Crusades is being run that Steve can do an awesome job for youngsters aged 10 and up. He ran a game at TrollCon that my daughter really enjoyed and she was just 11. Let's also remember that quite a few of us first played the early versions of D&D at the ages of 10 & up as well. So, I am sure that many of them would have no trouble playing in many of the games being run at GaryCon. I also have some Hackmaster friends who have children playing the game that are under 10 years of age so that might be a choice for some of you as well.
I've got a few more years before the grandsons' are old enough to drag with, & then it'll be the granddaughters'. Ahhhhh! To be able to warp these young minds, just prior to sending them back home to their parents. Isn't payback wonderful?! :twisted: :lol: :lol:
I can do simplified D&D for young kids - my daughter ran through her first adventure with my wife when she was 5. And I've run real D&D for as young as 8.
So it is official that my kids will be arriving sometime Friday afternoon. I have games pretty solidly booked for Friday Night, and one for Saturday morning. Everything else looks pretty open. Anyone want to start planning for something on Saturday? We'll be bringing Gama World as my kids really want to continue their previous excursions (the stuff included in the box). But they are open to D&D or other games. Tavis - how does the crowd look for your various Treasure Beneath the Brown Hills? ETA: Ah...I missed that other thread...looks like the Treasure Beneath the Brown Hills is going to be a riot! Good Luck!
Jim, I think my first Treasure Beneath the Brown Hills starts at 6 pm on Friday. (Or maybe 8 am). In either case I'd be happy to run it for y'all earlier in the afternoon. My cell is 917 749 6938 if you don't see me around!
I had a great time playing Tavis' event on Sunday morning with Jim kids---they were a blast to play with
I'm planning my nephew's (11 years old) first game with people other than myself April 17th. Basic Red Box D&D. I hoping he can get some exp (Pun intended) before I take him to Gary Con IV. That is if he can go with school and all.
My kids played in: Jeffrey St. Clair's No Sleep Required AD&D Tavis' Under the Brown Hills Donal's traditional Sunday morning Dungeon! game They had a really good time in all of them, and all three of the guys running the games conducted them very well. My oldest (turned 12 on Monday the 28th), ran his first D&D game as a DM in our hotel room at the Dells. He did an excellent job. He's actually interested in running a game himself for kids 12 and under next year. Another great thing about the con: one of my buddies from high school drive up for the con on friday and saturday. He brought his 10 year old son, who had never played any table top games before. Not only has my old friend rediscovered his inner gamer, his kid is hooked now too: already has a dice bag and they've made a few trips to the local gamestore. You can advertise all you want, but there is no better way to get people into gaming than face-to-face and word of mouth.
I talked with a friend over at the Kenzer Boards and we're thinking about openly running some games geared toward young gamers. Actually having events for gamers aged 8-13 or along those lines. I'm going to talk to my friend about it and see what he thinks and I'm looking into actually officially running some of those events. At GaryCon I've always been about running pick up games instead of scheduled events just in case an emergency comes up and I have to leave or can't come but I'm really thinking about putting something together. I've seen Stephen Chenault from Troll Lords do this for young gamers (my daughter being one) and he does an excellent job. So, with that said, if any of the organizers want to try and coordinate a "Young Gamers Arena" for 2012 that would be great. I'm thinking of using Basic/Expert rules and running them through some classic tournament adventures from "back in the day." We will also do a little character generation or I may use pregens.....it all depends. I think it would also be great if we could get one of the Trolls to run a kids game as well. I can even think of ways to slot it so they flow from one to the other. What do you guys think?
