| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Last year, I wrote a few posts talking about the successful experiences I had introducing my kids and several of their friends to Pathfinder. Most of the kids were my older son’s friends, but my youngest and one of his friends were part of the initial group. Aside from the larger sessions, I run a campaign exclusively for my two sons.
Age 7 is a bit young for lengthy Pathfinder sessions and although my youngest likes to play, it’s usually less frequently and for shorter periods. A few weeks ago, my youngest told me he was working on a Pathfinder story for dear old Dad. I smiled, saying that would be great, grateful for the enthusiasm and hoping that if not age 8, perhaps when he turned 9, the RPG seed would flourish.
Then, a few nights later, he asked if I would show him how to make characters and monsters in Hero Lab. I did, but stressed that he should only make full characters for important characters.
A few nights later, he informed me that he had selected a map. The map he had selected was of an island taken from the front of one of his novels. I was impressed. I complimented him on his imagination as well as his ability to not try to do too much work for his first Pathfinder session.
The next night he was working in Hero Lab again. However, this time I noticed that in addition to working on the computer he was making notes in a little notebook. When I asked him what he was doing, he brought the notebook over and showed it to me – and what he’d written in it blew me away.
There was an outline (or the bare bones of one). He had a section where he’d listed the characters that he wanted to include, a list of the monsters he wanted to use, and a list of events comprising his plot.
His brother and I played through his initial session that weekend. It only ran for a little over an hour, was disjointed at times, and was wildly unbalanced (throwing a dragon at us seemed a bit unfair) – but boy, it was a blast. 2014 looks like a good year for gaming.
RPGs are truly a great pastime & hobby. Thank you, Paizo, for the wonderful game that is Pathfinder.
|
Hah, I was exactly like that when I was 7 years old and first heard of D&D. First thing I did was jolt down a child's version of an adventure and force my friend to run through it. My parents were always impressed at the amount of organized, efficient writing the game had me doing. Nothing in school motivated me nearly as much. Needless to say, I was hooked for life.
It's so easy to get used to the idea that Pathfinder/D&D is an adult game because we are adults playing it... but for most of us it started when we were kids. That initial outburst of excitement that we now have someplace ordered to direct our imagination is one of the greatest things that many of us experienced, I'd wager.
Glad your son is walking in your footsteps :)
Too cool for words, I have nothing relevant to add. I hope you hang on to that notebook :)
Cheers mate, that was awesome. Thank you for sharing.
-MD