Roll for Initiative.
So recently I fixed my arcade cabinet. Have I mentioned I have an arcade cabinet? I got it ages ago, when we were living in Texas, and I've since hauled it around with us even though my wife thinks it's hideous and would like nothing more than to see it spontaneously combust, probably. :) It had been monitor-less for a while, so when the wife switched to a netbook as her personal computer, that freed up an LCD monitor I finally got around to installing. So now it works (though the controls are a bit flaky, probably need to blow some dust out of there), and the girls and I have been having fun playing it again. Their favorite game seems to be Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, like so:
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Unfortunately my cabinet is only built for 2 players, otherwise we could do 3 or 4, which would be awesome. Maybe I should rig up a controller of some sort for a third player, at least.
Anyway, so there's that, and of course I'm thrilled that they like playing a game that's right up my own alley--pretty sure I spent more than a few quarters on that one myself, back in the day!
Then yesterday I came across a blog post where a guy said he'd had the notion to pick up the new D&D 5th Edition Starter Set, which runs just $12 on Amazon, and try it out with his kids (7 and 9 years old, just like my older two). He adjusted the play to make it a little simpler and easier, of course, and lacking miniatures they used LEGO to stand in for their characters and also to build their map/board for the adventure, and he reported great success. Now the LEGO thing I'd never considered! And it really got me thinking that the girls might thoroughly enjoy that as well. They already have an affinity for the D&D sort of fantasy world--remember how enthralled Hallie in particular was with the MagiQuest thing we did in Myrtle Beach--and combining that with family game time and building stuff with LEGO just seems like something that would be a big hit for us all around. I've never really played the tabletop version of D&D myself, but I've sat in with friends on occasion so I kinda know how it should work, and I certainly consider myself well-versed in the D&D world as a whole since I grew up with their computer games and books.
So what the heck, for $12 I took the risk and ordered the Starter Set, and in the meantime I'm misusing office resources to print up the free-to-download Player's guide from the D&D website. I told Hallie about it yesterday and she was pretty excited, and immediately took to the LEGO to replicate the sort of adventure maps I was showing her online. Hopefully Hermione will be willing to give it a shot as well, and maybe we can even drag Heather into it. Amy's a bit young, of course, but who knows, maybe she can roll a character and I'll play it for her when she tunes out. I can also imagine the older girls creating and DMing their own adventures once they get the hang of it all. So hopefully we'll try that out this weekend and see how it goes. :) I may also foresee a trip to ACME in Longwood, a nice big comic/toy/game store where they can maybe pick out a miniature for their characters. Exciting! And geeky! WIN!
<
Unfortunately my cabinet is only built for 2 players, otherwise we could do 3 or 4, which would be awesome. Maybe I should rig up a controller of some sort for a third player, at least.
Anyway, so there's that, and of course I'm thrilled that they like playing a game that's right up my own alley--pretty sure I spent more than a few quarters on that one myself, back in the day!
Then yesterday I came across a blog post where a guy said he'd had the notion to pick up the new D&D 5th Edition Starter Set, which runs just $12 on Amazon, and try it out with his kids (7 and 9 years old, just like my older two). He adjusted the play to make it a little simpler and easier, of course, and lacking miniatures they used LEGO to stand in for their characters and also to build their map/board for the adventure, and he reported great success. Now the LEGO thing I'd never considered! And it really got me thinking that the girls might thoroughly enjoy that as well. They already have an affinity for the D&D sort of fantasy world--remember how enthralled Hallie in particular was with the MagiQuest thing we did in Myrtle Beach--and combining that with family game time and building stuff with LEGO just seems like something that would be a big hit for us all around. I've never really played the tabletop version of D&D myself, but I've sat in with friends on occasion so I kinda know how it should work, and I certainly consider myself well-versed in the D&D world as a whole since I grew up with their computer games and books.
So what the heck, for $12 I took the risk and ordered the Starter Set, and in the meantime I'm misusing office resources to print up the free-to-download Player's guide from the D&D website. I told Hallie about it yesterday and she was pretty excited, and immediately took to the LEGO to replicate the sort of adventure maps I was showing her online. Hopefully Hermione will be willing to give it a shot as well, and maybe we can even drag Heather into it. Amy's a bit young, of course, but who knows, maybe she can roll a character and I'll play it for her when she tunes out. I can also imagine the older girls creating and DMing their own adventures once they get the hang of it all. So hopefully we'll try that out this weekend and see how it goes. :) I may also foresee a trip to ACME in Longwood, a nice big comic/toy/game store where they can maybe pick out a miniature for their characters. Exciting! And geeky! WIN!