Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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My girls keep begging me to play more pathfinder. On a whim I went down to the basement and fished out some old 1st edition TSR Modules I had: "Keep on the Borderlands", "Sinisiter Secret of Saltmarsh", etc. They of course picked "Palace of the Silver Princess" which I am adapting for them on the fly.
That was the very first D&D module I ever played, and I guess you could say it worked on me! :)
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My son's too much into Rome Total War....he decided he needs to go to the keep and hire 20 archers and a phalanx of pikemen to go into the Caves of Chaos.
5 year old is still going strong on playing. My 8 and 10 year old's have slowed down on interest.
We did the were-rat/duergar caves in Fighter's Challenge today. I made the Water Naga friendly and had it eat the BBEG..my kids are starting to see the point in allies.
Pathfinder TOTAL ROME! ;)
jh
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I had one each under the tree for my girls (10 and 5). They got some dice for Christmas too. We played the next day and they both LOVED it.
My oldest took some time to read over her section and the solo adventure, as she decided to play Ezreth the Wizard (nice, easy sex-change for the pregen), while my youngest went for Merisiel because she's 'stabby.' Something about all the daggers, I think. A quick briefing on the 'd20+modifiers' basic concept and we were off to Black Fang's dungeon (joined by my stepson (22) playing a fighter, and who has some RPG experience).
They took out the goblins, fought the goblin King and his minions, and had a bit of a rough go with the sea creature. This was all on Boxing Day. They were a bit worked over so retreated to Sandpoint and we stopped. I also gave them some roleplaying encounters from RotRL summary of Sandpoint, which definitely helped frame the 'not just combat' concept of the game, though my 5 year old definitely loved kicking butt.
The next few days were busy with the holidays, but not a day went by without exhortations from both girls to play more Pathfinder. We got another game in before school started and they made it to the dragon, but had a rough time with the dragon. The heroes went down one by one until finally, my youngest picked up the magic sword from the fallen fighter and lays a max 'to hit,' max damage (and almost critical) on Black Fang, who flies away vowing never to forget them.
One last game session before I had to leave on a posting to the east coast. In this one I had to write in a 'connecting' adventure as they head for Kaer Maga and "The Godsmouth Heresy."
As they poured through the box contents, it was like reliving the days when I started, back with the 'Red Box' D&D basic set. That sense of wonder, the seeking to understand what this game really was, then that point where all the possibilities open up. It was pure magic.
Sadly, I am on the opposite side of the country for a few months, due to the necesseties of the Service. However, we are going to try to play by Skype on weekends, and my oldest is planning to start a campaign with her friends. The moment I gave her a PF GM screen and 'handed over the torch' was purest, most fully distilled awesome (I was the GM for my brother and I, as we knew no one else who played when we started. Playing came much later for me).
Not only did the kids love it, but my wife had several hours of blessed solitude. She likes all the geeky stuff (and we even found her old D&D character binder while sorting ancient boxes), but is not of a mind to play. Suits us all just fine. Roleplaying is now part of family game night, and I couldn't be more thrilled.
The BB is one of the best products of the year. Soon they'll be at level 5 and I can open the door to the full rules. My oldest has already been eyeing my Pathfinder shelf.
This was the long-winded way of saying: Well done, Paizo!
Edit: Quote of the game: "Dad, this is lame. We need some music." Spoken by my 5 year old (utterly, deadpan serious) as we normally play with appropriate music (LotR, Conan, etc) when gaming. It just hadn't been turned on yet.
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I bought two Beginner Boxes, one for my 10-year old son, and the other for my 12-year old nephew.
Both boys have spent the past month delving into their boxes. At the behest of both of them, I GM'd Black Fang's dungeon for them with my sister and brother-in-law filling out the party. This is pretty significant, since I began roleplaying with the D&D Erol Otus Cover Basic Set in 1981. At the time my lifeling obsession began, this same sister would gripe incessently about my silly, pointless hobby. So here she was, with her son and husband ready to willingly step into my realm.
Now, my nephew, sister, and brother-in-law live in Ohio, while my son and I are in North Carolina; so, we played over Skype - webcams pointed down at our dungeon maps.
It worked marvelously, and we completed the lair in 4 hours. I decided NOT to have Black Fang flee the fight, as I wanted them to have the satisfaction of killing the dragon rather than just chasing it off.
The party succeeded, but every one of them had a brush with death (negative HP) at some point in the quest.
They had so much fun playing that they are already looking forward to the NEXT adventure for their intrepid band.
(Those of you physically separated might want to look into a VTT - virtual tabletop, software that let's run maps, dice, and tokens on the computer. I play with my kids here in Colorado with my nephew and brother in PA via Maptools & Skype)
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I have been playing several sessions with my kids with the Pathfinder Beginner Box. This past weekend my 8 year old son took a try at running a game. He did awesome and with minimal questions of me! He designed his own adventure and did a great job running it. I did a write up over here:
The Iron Tavern: The 8 Year Old GM
Mission Accomplished!
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Contributor
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Hi, All!
My kids do like it. I've been playing RPGs with them off and on since they were six, and even tried a couple of sessions using the full Pathfinder RPG rules, but they really enjoy the Beginner Box.
I just did a guest blog spot with some of my "lessons learned" on Theodric the Obscure's blog, Mythopoeic Rambling. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!
Here's the article: Tales from the Junior Front: Playing Pathfinder with my Daughters
I loved reading your article, IronWolf. Your son is obviously a talented and clever young man. You must be very proud. Congratulations!
Definitely very proud. He has a great time with it and we have a regular family game running now which is great!
I'm really thrilled by how many people are using the Beginner Box to introduce their daughters to gaming!
My daughter always enjoys sitting at the table and even at age four recognizes the Pathfinder logo on sight! Of course it leads to some really interesting questions from her at times.
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CEO
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I have been playing several sessions with my kids with the Pathfinder Beginner Box. This past weekend my 8 year old son took a try at running a game. He did awesome and with minimal questions of me! He designed his own adventure and did a great job running it. I did a write up over here:
The Iron Tavern: The 8 Year Old GM
Mission Accomplished!
Very awesome write-up! Your son seems to really catch on to the rudiments of being a GM. Perhaps we will see him in RPG Superstar in ten years or so! :)
-Lisa
Really good stuff! Thanks for sharing these, folks.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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My two sons (5 and 4) played with me again last weekend and had a blast. My 4 year-old was especially good as Kyra, becoming a protectin', healin' machine. Discretion was the better part of valour however, after Black Fang chomped down on his big brother.
They've already vowed revenge.
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I'm really thrilled by how many people are using the Beginner Box to introduce their daughters to gaming!
About seven months ago, my brother-in-law, my daughter, and I played through a short homegrown Pathfinder campaign using my Pathfinder books. My daughter is now nearly ten which is about the age I started playing D&D in 1978. She loved the gaming sessions and leveled her Fighter up to sixth level before the conclusion of the campaign.
For Christmas, I bought her a Pathfinder Beginner Box (also purchased one for my nephew.)
The day after Christmas, she walked up to me with her arms literally hugging the Beginner Box and with tears running down her cheeks said to me "Daddy, I really love this present!"
No Joke. She was earnestly choked up and I think honored to be given her own set of Pathfinder rules which I so obviously revered. I recall preaching "Honey, careful not to write in the Pathfinder books". During the campaign with Brother-in-law, she had carefully put sticky notes on some of the pages of my Core Rulebook so that she could easily get back to the pages she wanted to find without damaging the book.
A week after Christmas, she had invited one of her friends over to our house and convinced her friend to give the Pathfinder Beginner Box game a try. I was so proud of her efforts to Dungeon Master the session for her friend.
About seven months ago, my brother-in-law, my daughter, and I played through a short homegrown Pathfinder campaign using my Pathfinder books. My daughter is now nearly ten which is about the age I started playing D&D in 1978. She loved the gaming sessions and leveled her Fighter up to sixth level before the conclusion of the campaign.
For Christmas, I bought her a Pathfinder Beginner Box (also purchased one for my nephew.)
The day after Christmas, she walked up to me with her arms literally hugging the Beginner Box and with tears running down her cheeks said to me "Daddy, I really love this present!"
No Joke. She was earnestly choked up and I think honored to be given her own set of Pathfinder rules which I so obviously revered. I recall preaching "Honey, careful not to write in the Pathfinder books". During the campaign with Brother-in-law, she had carefully put sticky notes on some of the pages of my Core Rulebook so that she could easily get back to the pages she wanted to find without damaging the book.
A week after Christmas, she had invited one of her friends over to our house and convinced her friend to give the Pathfinder Beginner Box game a try. I was so proud of her efforts to Dungeon Master the session for her friend.
Awesome. This puts a bit of a tear in my eye reading that. ^_^
KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS
wtih 8 year old, 6 year old and me. My 6 year old has GMed several times through his own creations and now my 8 year old says she wants to be the 'narrator.'
Key things: They bribed the lizard men with fish and got some recon on the spiders and where the dead elf was at. They also didn't fall for the bandits' ruse that they were simple hay farmers (because they discovered that there was a merchant tied up and buried in one of the haystacks). All offenders were brought to justice and put in the Keep's jail.
I've been using the "Vanquished" rule from Arcanis where the enemy doesn't die when they reach 0, they just surrender or are "defeated." For monsters, yes, they die. For humans, I'm doing the "bring them to justice" bit.
On to the caves of chaos next session.
jh
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Awesome. This puts a bit of a tear in my eye reading that. ^_^
The day after Christmas, she walked up to me with her arms literally hugging the Beginner Box and with tears running down her cheeks said to me "Daddy, I really love this present!"
Liz, thanks for this feedback. There is no doubt that the Beginner Box was a huge success for our family. I'm grateful to Paizo for producing this product.
I got the Beginner Box at the request of my 10yr old son. I GM'ed for him and his 14yr old sister (I posted a session report in the main BB forum thread is called "Tale of The Two". When it was time to stop my daughter was more vocal than my son was. Kids can't wait to find out what happens to their characters.
Thank you Paizo for re-awakening my love of RPGs.
Good that so many girls are getting the hobby.
As much as I like hanging out with the guys, the hobby circle has needed widening for a few decades now.
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I bought the beginner box set to play with my 3 boys (ages 6, 10, and 12)and with my wife. None of us had ever played D&D or any other RPG, so this was a totally new experience for us. I spent a day studying the handbooks, and then played the Black Fang scenario. All three of my boys loved it, and beg every week to play again. We had so much fun sitting around as a family basically telling a story together. I loved the creativity it inspired. At one point one of my boys was caught in a spider web. The boys came up with the idea of tossing the fire ruby (makes the holder impervious to fire) to the guy in the web, and then having the wizard blast him with fire. Not bad for a bunch of young boys on their first adventure. Later I created my own quest that had them stuck in a dark cave with no light and being attacked by a giant rat. They couldn't see anything. I then had different members of the party randomly roll perception checks. At first they were confused and didn't know what to do. They kept trying to swing in the dark but missed. It was my 6 year old who, without any prompting decided to throw his dagger once he "heard" something with his perception check. He skewered the rat and has been bragging about it to anyone that would listen. He tells everyone "man, I have crazy perception skills...you should have seen how I got that rat with my dagger." We play a lot of board games in my house, but all of my boys agree this is their favorite game. Days after an adventure they sit around and tell stories of their exploits. I can't think of a better family activity. The "Beginner Box" is perfect for people who have never played before and have no experience, even if they're as young as 6 years old. Amazing product.
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I'm loving all the stories here. My son turns 5 in June and has taken a great interest in my Pathfinder books when he sees me reading them and is always asking me about the pictures "Who is that? Is he a good guy? What's his name?"
He can't read himself yet, but once he gets it down I'll probably get the BB for him and give it a try.
Yes, my 5 year old has a similar obsession with good/bad. It has led to her telling my wife that certain characters in her Star Wars book are neutral, to my wife's delight.
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After our third weekly session, it is safe to say that my kids are HOOKED. My 14 yr old daughter actually called her friend during the session to tell her friend to "stop texting me, I'm playing Pathfinder with my dad and brother and I have to fight a dragon now." I was speechless. (sometimes I think the cell phone is grafted to my daughter's ear/thumbs.
Kids finished the Black Fang Dungeon. Now to come up with another cool adventure for them for next week.
Their are a few free modules here (the 3.5 modules need a little updating, but are still great)
Hollows Last hope is a good free module.
And Crypt of the Everflame is also a good module.
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Chief Technical Officer
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After our third weekly session, it is safe to say that my kids are HOOKED. My 14 yr old daughter actually called her friend during the session to tell her friend to "stop texting me, I'm playing Pathfinder with my dad and brother and I have to fight a dragon now." I was speechless. (sometimes I think the cell phone is grafted to my daughter's ear/thumbs.
Kids finished the Black Fang Dungeon. Now to come up with another cool adventure for them for next week.
Love it!
Thought I would share my story. My wife doesn't have much experience with rpgs but I talked her into letting me run her through the beginner box. I had her choose two characters to start she picked merisiel and valeros. Halfway through when she was getting the hang of it I had her find ezren wrapped up in a spider coccoon. Then while fighting the skeletons in the crypt I had her find kyra trapped in a sarcophagus where she was trying to hide because she was in over her head. I warned her right before the dragon battle to get prepared and think about a strategy or plan of attack. She looked at me dead serious and said Leeeeeroyyyyy Jennnnkins. No idea where she picked that up. Great time! And she killed the dragon witth only valeros going down.
My sons (12 & 8) absolutely loved this. My RPG background involves mostly basic D&D from the early to mid 90's. When 3E came out I bought several of the books but never really got anything going (did manage to play a little Sunless Citadel though). So its been over 10 years since I've even attempted to play a table-top RPG.
My older son did the "choose-your-own-adventure" style introdution from the Players Book, then we jumped right into Black Fang's Dungeon. I have to say right off the bat that this is an excellent introductory product. Having not been involved in any role-playing in many years I was able to pretty much play this right out of the box. I probably missed a few rules, but it didn't matter because we had a blast.
As far as the dungeon itself, they cleared every room except the fire-trap. They used the 4 pre-generated characters provided in the box (2 NPCs), but my son renamed the fighter Conan. They fought the Goblin King rather than talk, and managed to kill them all. I do remember that one being a tough battle though. When the King had maybe 1 or 2 hp left my younger son did a huge amount of damage with the fighter, so I added a little flavor by saying his head was lopped off with the last strike. He then decided he wanted the carry the head around the dungeon. Anytime they ran into anymore goblins he'd hold the head up for them to see. Also, during the battle with the Razorclaw, he proceeded to throw a dead lizard at it. We had a good laugh about that.
They managed to make it to Blackfang and were able to do a nice chunk of damage before he flew away. The cleric was the only character that went into negative hit points during that battle.
So now they are back in Sandpoint awaiting the next adventure. They ask a lot when we're going to play Pathfinder again. I think I might do the short downloaded adventure with the dwarves and then maybe a couple from the GM book. After that we may move on to the full rules.
My children are definitely interested. It's just a matter of dad (me) getting off my rear and running a game. :-)
So my son is 9 and he had been having quite a bit of trouble with reading at school. So as any other concerned parent would do I tried everything imaginable to help him get better to no avail.
While I had tried games to help teach I had never thought to try Pathfinder. Until I stumbled on this thread and discovered that people were teaching children to play as early as age 4. The more I thought about it the more a I realized that Pathfinder was the perfect tool to teach him without him feeling like hes being taught, unlike if you were to sit a child in front of somthing like "math blaster" where they realize they are being taught in a few seconds and lose interest if that makes sence.
So I decided to try a shot in the dark and buy the BB from my FLGS and take it home. I figured if he didn't like it at least I got some more pawns lol.
I was astounded at how quickly he picked up the basics and how much he enjoyed himself. It was like pulling teeth before to get him to sit down and read a book but now I had him a player companion or the innersea world guild and off he goes (with a bit of assistance as needed).
It has been a little over a month now and we now play weekly every friday night.
I have four girls ages 14, 11, 10 and 6. I recently started a family game with them using the full Pathfinder rules. They each created their own characters and I started them off as slaves being transported through a jungle. They escaped when the caravan was attacked by worgs and they are now trying to find their way back to civilization with minimal equipment. This gets around the whole "do we kill the bad guys or take them to town" problem, since they are fighting mostly plants and animals. They have recently come across a magical "pollution" that they are going to track to its source and deal with. (They were quite upset that someone was "ruining" the jungle.)
The 6 year old is enjoying her barbarian with Lesser Beast Totem power of claws. When I told her she could get claws and rip the nasty things apart, she got the scariest gleam in her eyes. The 10 year old is playing an Oracle who's a party girl and really pretty (high Cha) but kind of self centered. It's helping her come out of her shell. My 11 year old is enjoying her Gnome sorcerer of the Elemental Air bloodline. She's looking forward to flying at higher levels. And my 14 year old, who already plays a fighter in my adult campaign, is having fun with her monk, who she styles as a "half-Orc Jackie Chan". I helped them a lot during character creation, doing most of the crunch work for the younger ones, but they made all the important choices and they all made back-stories, some quite detailed! I even got my wife to join us, creating a Ranger who is very child-like and simple, due to raising herself in the wild, like Tarzan without the ape tribe. Her biggest concern is finding food, or "crunchy-munchies" as she puts it. They are all loving it and ask when we can play again constantly.
Ran through the adventure this weekend and had a great time. My 10 year old asked if we could just split the party and I laughed and then had to tell him. As your GM I would advise against it.
im glad that kids today are getting into rpgs like pathfinder
thank you for sharing
I'm gearing up my 10 and 9 year old for our first encounter with the Beginner Box. We recently played Hero Kids, an indy RPG that is available on DriveThruRPG that was quite simple and effective, but really got their imaginations going. I got into Basic D&D back in '83 at the ripe old age of 10, and it really jump started my imagination, a gift I'm still blessed with. I hope to keep the next generation going with this wonderfully crafted set, something I bought a year ago an instantly fell in love with.
I'll post a synopsis of our experiences afterwards. Knowing and contrasting my son's personality with that of the Golarion goblin, we're going to have a match made in hilarity...
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Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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Not only am I planning to schedule the Kid's Beginner Track that we debuted last year at Gen Con, but we are introducing 5 new adventures with Kid's Advanced Track this year! There will even be a new certificate the child can earn if they finish the the Advanced Track after the Beginner Track.
So all told at Gen Con this year, a kid will have the opportunity to play in 9 different Beginner Box adventures, receive four one hour lessons on the basics, earn two very cool certificates with benefits that roll over into the Pathfinder Society if they choose to join, and some other very cool and nifty surprises :-)
im glad that kids today are getting into rpgs like pathfinder
thank you for sharing
So, I'm reading this thread because I have little girls who I hope will one day get into RPGs, but I couldn't help reading this post from a hilariously dark perspective. You know, like we parents are sharing our kids with the Demonic Warlord by letting them play RPGs like Pathfinder. Leading them down a path to darkness, all that hysteria.
Thanks for the chuckle!
And thanks to all who are posting.
im glad that kids today are getting into rpgs like pathfinder
thank you for sharing
So, I'm reading this thread because I have little girls who I hope will one day get into RPGs, but I couldn't help reading this post from a hilariously dark perspective. You know, like we parents are sharing our kids with the Demonic Warlord by letting them play RPGs like Pathfinder. Leading them down a path to darkness, all that hysteria.
Thanks for the chuckle!
And thanks to all who are posting.
As in; "Thanks for sharing your children. We appreciate it, for they are such small morsels yet so incredibly delicious."
So wrong, yet so funny... ^o^
Then again, chocolate covered toddler is one of my favourite treats. Chocolate just tastes better from a giggling apple-cheek, IMHO. :-D
Not only am I planning to schedule the Kid's Beginner Track that we debuted last year at Gen Con, but we are introducing 5 new adventures with Kid's Advanced Track this year! There will even be a new certificate the child can earn if they finish the the Advanced Track after the Beginner Track.
So all told at Gen Con this year, a kid will have the opportunity to play in 9 different Beginner Box adventures, receive four one hour lessons on the basics, earn two very cool certificates with benefits that roll over into the Pathfinder Society if they choose to join, and some other very cool and nifty surprises :-)
Would still love to see something like this offered at PaizoCon, and not necessarily just for the kids. </nudge> :-)