I'm running the BECMI Red Box with my kids, 8, 5 and 5

[johnbragg]

Partially wanted to brag, partially wanted to keep a record.

I'm nerfing as much as possible, and updating mechanics as I go. They completed the Players' Handbook solo adventure in Sessions 1 + 2 (as a group), with mommy playing a fighter for Session 1 (and an absent player for session 2).

Today, they start the sample Dungeon from the DMG.

My 8yo daughter is a witch (magic-user with access to cleric spells), my 5yo son and daughter are both Thieves. Although my son is playing more as a Fighter, the dice keep going in his favor.

[Lord Torath]

Awesome! Great to hear! Are there any plans for the Caves of Chaos?

My wife played a thief for the first session, but decided she was done after that. My kids are currently trapped in Castle Amber.

As for bragging rights, my kids are 12,12,12, and 9 ;).

[johnbragg]

In Session 1, Princess Paws (witch 1, 8yo daughter, with 10 bonus cantrips plus her 1st level spell), Sneaky Small (thief 1, 5 yo son), Purple Puppy (thief 1, 5 yo daughter) and George the Brave (fighter 1, my wife) boldly went forth against the solo adventure in the players' handbook. (Thief skills were quickly and roughly d20-fied, modern Armor Class, Base Attack Bonus are all in effect.)

They tore through a surprise attack from a goblin at the entrance to the dungeon (my son was upset at being in the back instead of the front, so I had to make the back more exciting.) Ventriloquism disoriented the goblin, and critical fumble rules came into play, as the goblin rolled a 1, which I ruled as Sneaky Small knocking the spear out of his hands with his shortsword. The goblin would have surrendered, but before his next action Sneaky Small rolled quite well and gutted him.

The bold fighter stepped up to do battle with a strange creature, who missed its touch attack and was quickly peppered to death with arrows and a Spark of Flame (cantrip, 1 damage on successful ranged attack). Princess Paws made an arbitrary knowledge check to determine that the creature was a Rust Monster. Here they discovered a potion in a bottle marked with the symbols and runes of the Healing Guild (knowledge check)--a healing potion, a prized asset on a dungeon crawl.

They went back the other way and conquered the rats. Purple Puppy was convinced that, although ringing a bell may scare the rats away, it would not be very stealthy, and she is a sneaky Thief.

Beyond the chamber of the Rust Monster was the disgusting lair of a Ghoul. Sadly, ventriloquism had no effect on this undead monster, but a Knowledge check by Princess Paws told the bold heroes of the ghoul's paralyzing touch, and bows and arrows brought down the fiend.

The final challenge of the first session was a pair of skeletons. I ruled that although undead were immune to illusions, they were not immune to thieves' abilities to Hide in Shadows and then Sneak Attack with bows. With Princess Paws spending the last of her magic on Cure Light Wounds and Cure Minor Wounds spells, the swords of George the Brave and Sneaky Small and the bow of Purple Puppy brought down the skeletons, bringing the party to a locked door. What monsters and treasure might lie behind it? PAtience was exhausted, so the answers had to wait for the next session....

[Lord Torath]

Princess Paws, Sneaky Small, and Purple Puppy! Those names are priceless! One of my 12-year-olds (9 at the time, I think ) named his fighter Luke (after Skywalker, of course). All my other kids just used their first names. My wife named her elven thief Brin.

[johnbragg]

Awesome! Great to hear! Are there any plans for the Caves of Chaos?

My wife played a thief for the first session, but decided she was done after that. My kids are currently trapped in Castle Amber.

As for bragging rights, my kids are 12,12,12, and 9 ;).

My eldest is handling the game well (especially given lots-of-cantrips instead of cast-one-spell-per-day and then suck.) The younger ones are not ready, are pretty distracted and aren't great with any kind of frustration. My son gets upset when the dice don't go his way, and my younger daughter is roleplaying a pretty thorough coward, having to be reminded of the ethical implications of running away and leaving your friends to fight the horrible thing you're running from. Oh, and my younger daughter has run through a different name for every session.

Right now there are no solid plans after the DMG dungeon. Two hours is about the limit to a session, the sample dungeon is light on monsters and heavy on traps for their taste. Today's session (the third) got them to the front door of Castle Gygar, past the goblins (originally kobolds) guarding the entrance. They're pretty beat up, most of the magic is spent, and they have treasure from a carrion crawler's hole to lug home.

So it'll be another two or three sessions before they get past Dungeon Level 1. Then Dungeon Level 2 is good for a few sessions. Then a climactic battle with Bargle and his charmed minions.

I still have to decide how to do experience--old school XP-mostly-for-treasure, or new-school 10-tough-encounters-per-level. New school, they're halfway to second level after 3 sessions. They don't much care about treasure, they want to kill things. (They don't want things to kill them, though.)

[Lord Torath]

It's hard to run a session longer than 45 minutes with 5-year-olds, that's for sure. My youngest was 6 when we started, and she was playing the cleric. Choosing spells was a real trial (we're playing 2E AD&D, so she got spells at level 1). Now she's level 6, and one of her favorite spells is Flame Blade.

[Rushalt]

I can't wait to play some tabletop games with my kids but since they are only 3 and 1.5 atm I've got some time to wait :smallfrown: