On Friday (4/23/10) we had our Family Game Night, and we played our favorite game Swords and Wizardry (Dungeons and Dragons Original Edition). The session went very well, although the little ones had a bit of a hard time maintaining concentration. They were doing very well, even though Rose, three years old, tried to cheat on her dice rolls several times. We had to have a few talks about that. After this game session, Lily decided to write a book on the adventures of Raeow and Lucy! I can't wait to read her perspective on the story.
A quick note on our game, although we are playing Swords and Wizardry, we are using OSRIC to fill in the gaps, mostly in random monster tables and random dungeon generation. We have even used the monster stats from OSRIC, and had no problems putting the nasties down. In the future we may go all OSRIC, but for now the hybrid game is working fantastic!
In dealing with kids, I've found that its best to dive right into the action. After a quick summary, we were off and rolling. A few rolls on the random encounter tables, and they were fighting a small pack of jackals.
This encounter went rather poorly, for one the Jackals managed to surround them due to the players missing a few hints. Then the team split up, with Lucy (Lily, 10 years old) sending the soldier traveling with them to the far side of the battlefield to check out a noise. Thats when three Jackals pounced, one of the beasts being bigger than the other two. While one of the smaller took on the girls the other two jumped the soldier. Although he managed to cleave the larger Jackal in twain, he took damage before Lucy and Raeow could subdue their beastie.
Thats where it really turned ugly, actually. Lucy tried to rush to the soldiers aid, making a straight line to the soldier's position. This blocked Raeow's shot, so she couldn't fire at the beastie. Then as Lucy closed in on the Jackal, she rolled a critical fumble ( a one on the d20 ) and dropped her sword. This put her out of the battle for the next round. The soldier managed to miss the jackal with his sword, and this brought the creature to deal his second critical wound, causing the soldier to fall over unconcious. Before Lucy could recover her weapon, Princess Raeow (Rose, 3 years old) slew the beast with a well placed arrow and nice roll on damage.
Once the dust cleared, they had to figure out what to do about the soldier. He was still alive, just unconcious. Lucy attempted to revive him by splashing water on his face, but to no avail. After running through several ideas, Melissa (my wife) helped them come up with the idea of creating a makeshift gurney to carry him into town.
Arriving in town, they were met by the town guard. They immediately recognized their comrade and hauled him away to be healed. They said his wounds were too great for him to continue with the ladies, and Lucy managed to divulge too much information to the guards. He was not happy with this brave soldier being injured under Lucy's command, and when she told them they were rescuing Apple the Dragon's baby, he really flew off the handle. However they would allow the girls to check into the inn and enjoy their evening in town, but in the morning the princess would be escorted back to her home. Lucy was to be relieved of command.
Completely demoralized, they headed into town to find the Inn. They stumbled across "Chipper Helga's Cool Mart" general store. Entering the store, they fed Helga some story about escorting the princess to her aunt's palace, which didn't add up since they were heading south and the Palace was north. As they were talking, the door swung open, and the girls noticed the same soldier entering the store. Not noticing them, they ducked behind some inventory in back, and eavesdropped on the conversation.
The guard said he lost track of the princess, and needed to know where she was. If the owner of the shop saw them, he wanted her to let him know right away so he could keep an eye on them in case they had the bright idea to skip out of town early to avoid the forced escort home. She claimed she had not seen them.
After the guard left, the owner told the girls it was all clear. After some coaxing, she got the true story out of the girls. The shop owner was not a fan of the goblins the girls had planned on clearing out to rescue the dragon, and offered them gifts. She gave the party eight healing potions, Raeow got a +1 Elven Longbow, and Lucy got a +2 Elven Longsword. She also let them in on a little secret, Helga's real name was Helena, and pushing back her hair revealed pointed ears. She was an Elven maiden, and wished to assist the girls on her quest.
She snuck them out the back door, and into the Deep Woods near the small town, giving them a map to a secret residence in the trees. The Deep Woods had a canopy so thick you couldn't see the sky. The girls followed the map closely and found the hidden rope ladder near a very ancient and large tree. Climbing the ladder, they entered the thick canopy, finding a hidden elven treehouse. The house was large, with a common room, kitchen, and three small rooms. Two of the rooms were furnished bedrooms. In the common room was a spiral staircase leading to a platform on the roof. From there they could see the stars clear and bright, but what really shocked them is the many lanterns lining the forest ceiling, a whole elven tribe was hidden in the canopy of the Deep Forest.
They planned on getting an early start to the journey and cutting through the swamp where Apple the Black Dragon most likely lived. Although they kinda hoped to run across her, they decided that after their experience in town they decided not to go "looking for trouble" so to speak, just in case Apple turned out the be evil.
We ended the session on good terms, the girls had a great time, and I loved presenting them with their quest. I love doing these on the fly organic stories. With enough resources to randomize things, its amazing what grows out of a few encounters! Plus the girls are having a blast. Now to come up with some plot twists, perhaps a grumpy old troll? I'll need riddles!
Until Next Time
Happy Adventuring!
DM Arthur
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