Long ramblings of a step father


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Not sure if this is where to put this but I'm sure if its the wrong spot one of our friendly mods will move it.

For those of you who are interested spoilered below is a bit of background that will help frame this a little.

Family history:

Due to some irrelevant events in my wives past she has lost custody of all 6 of her children so I don't get much time with my kids. What time we do get is with only our 13 and 16 year old boys since her mom has custody of them and has agreed to let us see them. I hadn't met either of the boys until the day before my wedding 4 months ago so building our relationship has been...difficult to say the least. We also live 3 states away from them.

I just wanted to let everyone know I've successfully gotten my step son addicted to Pathfinder. I believe I've even managed to stave off his trying of 4th and possibly 5th edition in favor of Pathfinder though that surly wasn't my intent.

He's been expressing interest in table top gaming for a little while to me through our limited time together(see spoiler above) and with them visiting us for about 2 weeks I figured this would be a great time to try to get him into the fold. He had mainly expressed an interest in D&D because that's what his friends family plays so I was slightly concerned that he wouldn't take to Pathfinder. I got him the beginner box about a month ago and impatiently waited for the time to give it to him.

That time came on day 2 of their visit between doing other activities with the family. He saw the immense library of books I had down stairs where the boys were sleeping and started to ask me about them. After a few minutes of conversation I asked if he'd like to give Pathfinder a try and he said he would but didn't know where to get started. I just let out a casual laugh and gave him the beginner box. He's eyes went wide and immediately gave me a hug. I was actually taken aback by it because it was the first time that he'd hugged me when I wasn't leaving a visit so that was another monumental moment in our relationship. He then ran down stairs and tore it open. I haven't seen him this excited about something since we met and it felt good to know that it was something I have him that was bringing that Joy.

We were leaving about 15 minutes late to go see a movie and all the way there he talked about the type of character he wanted to play and even created a background off the top of his head. I knew then that we might have a success on our hands but I didn't know the level of it. We made plans to go to the game store the next day to get him a set of dice and some other books so he could start learning about Pathfinder. Being that he is 16 and incredibly mature and intelligent for his age I thought he could handle the full rule set so I planned on getting him the core rulebook.

The next day we went to the game store and he and his brother picked out their own sets of dice and we picked up the bestiary, the game masters guide, and a copy of Raise of the Runelords adventure path so he would have something to run his brother through when they went home. The store didn't have the core rulebook and we were slightly disappointed but I let him know he could use my autographed copy as long as he promised to be careful with it and didn't forget to give it back.

All the way home he sat in silence reading the bestiary and I knew he was hooked. He practically dragged me down to the basement where him and I started to work on his character as well as his brothers character. I had a work meeting I had to attend to unfortunately I had to leave soon after getting back from the store but my wife was nice enough to finish up all the characters so we could play when I got back.

I flew home after my meeting and we quickly scarfed down dinner and raced off to the basement. There we sat, him, my wife, my sister-in-law, his brother, and I around the table which I have spent many many hours playing pathfinder. It felt almost surreal to be sitting down here with two of my kids after just meeting them 4 months prier. We quickly wrapped up any final details on characters characters and then we were off to start the adventure.

We made it through my almost 2 hour role-play session in Sandpoint before the adventure even began and I found out what an amazing role player he is. Not only did I see him come out of his shell but he showed great innovation when interacting with the NPC's I had in town. We then set off on the actual adventure and made it through the first couple of rooms and played until about 2 in the morning before we had to call it quits so I could get some sleep. With in minutes he was on Skype telling his friend back home all about Pathfinder.

The last week and a half have been spent finishing up the beginner box and then transitioning to the full rules and starting on Carrion Crown. He's having a blast and every night after I get home from work I'm greeted by "Dad can we play Pathfinder?" I've created a bit of a monster but boy am I happy to have done it.

So are there any other step parents/parents that want to share their experiences here? Feedback is also appreciated.


I linked to several such experiences in the following thread:

Great Player Feedback Stories from Kids

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