Ruining the boy

We have fully brought Jacob into the fold of Geekdom.

We have taught the boy Dungeons and Dragons.

For those that don't know, many Saturday evenings in the Feesh household are dedicated to playing table top role-playing games. Other geeks gather, and we toss dice and mark of things on character sheets until the wee hours.

And eat Cheetos. One must never forget the Cheetos.

Jacob has grown up around these Saturday rituals, so he knows the base components: miniatures, game mat, markers, sheets, and dice. He didn't know, however, how they all fit together.

Last Saturday, he asked if he could play. We had to say no (let's just say my current adventure is a bit... earthy for seven year olds to get), but it got me to thinking. Why couldn't he learn the basics of the D20 system? I thought about my first experience with gaming, and remembered how I only ever seemed to look at a few stats and my weapons. As I grew more familiar with the system, I started using skills and worrying about what my willpower was, but in the beginning, I could have fit my relevant character sheet on an index card.

Monday, I drew up an outline for a youth-oriented character sheet. I only worried about bonuses for three stats, two weapons, some basic armor, and hit points. I had JT roll a D4 to see what his attribute bonuses were, worked out his AC, and we were off.

Of course, he demanded that IB play as well, so IB drew up a similar character sheet, and they were off exploring my impromptu dungeon.

JT. Loved. It. He was so sad at 8 pm when we had to stop, because we were out of rooms to explore. I promised him we'd do some more later in the week. This morning, he verbally mapped out his own dungeon to us, along with the villains we'd find ("five zombie ducks" was my favorite) and the treasure we'd get ("a fire sword! Like in City of Heros!").

He picked up the mechanics rapidly. Rolling high for him was good; the monsters rolling high was bad. I think he was picking up that his bow used his dex bonus and his sword used his strength bonus. Adding slowed us a bit, but I can sympathize. I have issues with adding when I'm in the middle of a fight.

I'm going to post his character sheet later. I'm thinking of writing something on gaming with children if this goes well. The gamer in me is delighted he likes another thing we enjoy, and the parent in me is already thinking of ways to sneak a bit of education into the games (A letter he finds and has to read? Some problem solving? Deduction?)