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12 months ago ::
Jun 03, 2012 - 6:20PM
#11
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Date Joined:
Aug 31, 2007
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@HighlandRaider and lokiare: did you ask them what, specifically, they like so much about 4E and dislike so much about the playtest? That sort of feedback would help a lot more than simply saying, "He hated it" or "They were bored".
What he "hated" were the low hit points. Too easy to drop. Mainly concerned about other characters dropping too easily and no healing surges, etc. to rely on. Dislikes rolling dice for spell effect for recovered hit points. He seldom became that concerned with characters in 4th ed. Also didn't like the -20 initiative if surprised. He said he did like the "cleanliness" of one sheet for his fighter and did like some of the abilities given as part of the Background/Theme. Not really sure why he "hated" it last night. But, as I said earlier, "Ah well" he did change his mind and say this morning he would give it a 3 or 4 (so 3.5) out of 5 star rating.
visit my blog about writing, voice-over,and games (and not necessarily in that order) at mdarinyoung.wordpress.com
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12 months ago ::
Jun 04, 2012 - 12:12AM
#12
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@HighlandRaider and lokiare: did you ask them what, specifically, they like so much about 4E and dislike so much about the playtest? That sort of feedback would help a lot more than simply saying, "He hated it" or "They were bored".
@OP: Sounds like a lot of fun. I played with my friend's son (who is 7), and he had a lot of fun. He played the wizard and really liked all the different spells. Thought to use Comprehend Languages right away.
generally it was that the mechanics were boring. Even though I had them describe their actions and allowed them to improvise, they still found that it was boring...
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12 months ago ::
Jun 04, 2012 - 12:47AM
#13
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I would gladly run the Next to my nephews ( probably with their father as he braught me to D&D in first place  ) , but the problem is language barrier - they speak polish, not know enough english. Know is Wizards will try on Free RPG Day some multilngual promo materials? Older girl ( almost 11 y.o. ) lovs to play polish version of Munchkin, and yonger boy ( 8 y.o. ) is Star Wars fanboy, so there are future players.  My boyfriend say he is glad we don't have kids, because they would play RPGs before be able to read. 
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12 months ago ::
Jun 04, 2012 - 9:45PM
#14
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Date Joined:
May 28, 2012
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I had an enchanting experience with my five-year-old brother as well. I'm so proud!
Due to his short attention span, I have a special campaign just for him so he can go away and pick up where he left off. He named all his characters after Transformers. To interest him, I went with the hook where the heir to the throne was kidnapped. I said they were looking for the princess, and he named her Arcee (a female Transformer).
He doesn't understand the game mechanics yet--he's still learning to read--so I usually try to narrate the action vividly and remind him of the various ablilities the characters have. He loves rolling the dice! I was pleased by his creativity at one point. The party was faced with the dilemma of whether to take a short rest and risk getting caught by any kobolds that might come to investigate the fighting sounds outside their lair. He decided to have the party hide in the nearby group of trees heal there.
As I've said, his attention span isn't the same as that of an adult player, so he gets bored after a while, but he'll get bored with just about anything. I take it as a great sign that he still asks me if we can play some.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 05, 2012 - 7:36AM
#15
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Date Joined:
Aug 16, 2007
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Eberg, very nice post, sir! Wish I had kids to share things like that with. I love how kids some up with creative ideas and think outside the box. I know that being young, they might not have a lot to compare it with but what did you guys think about the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic? The Race/Class/Background/Theme options? Healing?
Advantage and disadvantage is very straightforward. He had no problem wrapping his head around them.
I noted that when I described the characters to him, I did so by using the race and background in many cases, rather than race and class. Dwarf Soldier, Dwarf Knight, Human Priest. He dug getting to pick a mundane profession for the Commoner Rogue. He decided he was a hunter who used traps, so he knew how to make traps really well. 
We didn't get into healing overly much. Other than a use of Healing Word, it wasn't needed, because they were using creative tactics to avoid prolonged fights.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 05, 2012 - 8:14AM
#16
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Great post, and valuable playtest feedback! Sounds like the "ruling not rules" mantra is holding up to a 7-year-old stress test. Great session. My players wish they had a monkey!
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12 months ago ::
Jun 17, 2012 - 3:56AM
#17
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It's great to hear other experiences with kids! I've been doing it with my 9 and 11 year olds. We'd played original AD&D before - that went reasonably well, but this is much easier, and they've had more play out of it as a result. The best thing is that they've wanted to learn to DM, but original rules were too complex. Next is easy enough for them to just have a quick briefing, then create their own dungeons and go. That's been great fun for all of us.
I love Dave and the monkey. I fear to tell my children, otherwise they will insist that I introduce them too.
My eldest has got the most out of being DM - he loves being able to make up the environment and situation. For example, he had a particularly distractable (and hungry goblin), who broke off the battle (in which he wasn't killing anyone) to eat a sandwich. This was sufficiently distracting that we got a couple of extra attacks and killed him. You may argue that this is a ludicrous thing for a goblin to do, but my eldest thought it was wonderful, and really enjoyed retelling us all about the sandwich-oriented goblin after the game was over.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 17, 2012 - 6:44AM
#18
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Date Joined:
Jan 27, 2009
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generally it was that the mechanics were boring. Even though I had them describe their actions and allowed them to improvise, they still found that it was boring...
Every group is different. I DM for my sons and their friends, 6 boys 9-13, and we ran a version of the playtest the other day ( I say a version because I never play straight up, I always tinker with the rules). They all started with 4e and really enjoy it; however, most also really enjoyed Next as well.
At first they had problems getting used to not having specific "powers" and just improvising, but once they did they were off and running. FYI, all characters omly had basic attacks (even the wizard) and had to improvise everything else.
They were quite creative and had a great time once they got the hang of it (I had to give them some examples). No one did anything out of boredom (and I'm a pretty boring DM), so I think it is more an individual/group dynamic vs. the playtest material so much. After we finish off our 10th level adventure in 4e I think I am going to switch to a version of next (though I want to see maneuvers first).
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12 months ago ::
Jun 17, 2012 - 7:18AM
#19
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So jealous of everyone! My kids are five and three. Still, my five year old is really into maps and stuff like that. I think I'l pull out my old 1E Greyhawk maps this afternoon and see if it grabs her interest. You know, I was thining the other day how much Dora the Explorer is set up like D&D - the objective, the map, illustrating the series of challenges/encounters, and the monsters (mainly Swiper). Hopefuly it translates for my kids.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 17, 2012 - 2:00PM
#20
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The first time I played with my kids, using 1E rules, it went really well. My youngest was 5 years old but already able to read enough to understand the character sheet reasonably well, and was also able to deal with the numbers. Eldest helped youngest and I helped both, and we were fine. The imagination part comes really easily to them, and the mechanics can be simplified enough (or hidden enough) for them to cope. It's like a story where they get to influence what happens.
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