Quest!

Nikola has been intrigued with playing Dungeons & Dragons. Her teacher Ms Williams (who uses games in a lot of her teaching) created a D&D-like game for the students to learn about food chemistry (such as using the group’s individual skills to figure out how to feed the yeast monster). Apparently it has been very well received. She has been asking for us to try D&D at home.

I found a blog of a woman who created a couple of D&D modules for kids as an introduction to the game. We tried it as a family game. Nikola was swallowed by a bulette in the first round, but then was spit out the next. Alton figured out the advantage of his character’s ability to jump in for a strike, then dash out of range of the bulette’s next attack. Shaynee cast a spell. Since we had a late start on the game we didn’t get a whole lot further, but I suppose that is how all good all-night D&D sessions begin.

So we supported our local game shop Card Kingdom. There are so many different board games nowadays! Nikola wanted to play all of them. I think that it would be a nice avenue for the kids to get more into board games. Already, they love playing Labyrinth and Forbidden Island. Bought a D&D Starter Kit, which has some pre-created characters and a light introductory adventure (wish there was something like this when I was growing up). Alton was a bit put-off that the kit did not include any pre-painted figurines, like the Skylanders gamed on the PS3. I explained that those figurines are painstakingly painted by people who really love that game and is part of how they enjoy that game. Perhaps some day he could do that himself.

However, the actual D&D game is orders of magnitude greater in detail and complexity than what we have played. Perhaps save it for another day.