Family gaming: The Rescue of Edwin

With some time on my hands (and trying to keep the kids occupied), I organised a more complicated version of our family gaming, in that the kids chose their own adventuring parties, with different characteristics for different races and a more in-depth combat sequence.
Basically their hero (a model representing them) had superior stats that were representative of their character. Ie youngest son was a Fighter, so had better combat stats, but was small so had the ability to dodge 1 attack. Eldest wanted to be a sorceress so had access to more spells but had weaker stats. The equipment and magic was based upon Heroquest cards, all dice rolls on 2d6, heroes could take any two actions (from movement, to conversing, to searching, to spell casting) and all others had one action. Their retinue were made up of 1 human, 1 dwarf, 1 barbarian, 1 attack animal and 1 pack animal (purely because these were the only models painted!) Each of which had slightly different characteristics. Some pictures may help explain. The enlisting of an adventuring party:

The adventuring sheets (I miss a photocopier!) 

Here are the chosen adventuring parties with heros:

Eldest daughters, mostly female group. 

Middle daughters group, she was desperate to get the white horse and the witch! 

Youngest sons party, keen on swords, muscle and treasure hunting! 

So the scenario of the game:

The three children had been isolating at home, the parents had gone shopping for food, so would be a long time queuing. The kids played hide and seek and the youngest hid in an old wardrobe in his parents room, squishing in amongst the coats, onesies and musty cardigans that hadn't been worn in an age. He could hear his sisters getting closer and as the wardrobe door opened he leaned fully against the back of the wardrobe hoping to not be found. Expecting resistance, he was surprised to fall out through the back of the wardrobe... The girls knew he was in there, they had heard him wriggling around. They opened the door and rummaged inside, but he could not be found, so they emptied out the entire clothing range but there was nothing. The eldest had read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe recently, so checked the back, wooden panels and her hand disappeared through! She called her sister and they both tentatively squished through, calling out for their brother.... 

All three were greeted by a bald man in what looked like bathrobes. In a quiet voice he told them that he was Bayaz, the Mage and he had called them forth in a time of need. His son, Edwin, had been captured in the town of Rensburg, a town where night had permanently descended and a suffocating fog remained. The residents had locked themselves away, scared of the rumours and noises of the night. The brave adventurers were to enlist a team and go find the boy. 

So with the scenario set and the parties chosen, we began with all parties setting up along a table edge:

And then we were off, rolling a D6 to see who went first... 

Exploring the caravan, the sorceress found some gold, a potion and an orb. She looked into the orb and saw the crying face of a boy. When she returned her gaze she was surrounded by three ghosts. 

The young warrior led his party across the rickety Bridge. The clumsy barbarian made a racket and a swarm of bats flew out from beneath, swarming our hero. A few swings of his flail scared them away! 

The girls tried talking to the ghosts, with little response, until the sorceress held up the orb to them and the face of the boy appeared. The ghosts wailed and drifted towards one of the houses on the town square 

The boy searched the towns statue, reading the inscription on the plinth. As he did so the words lit up and a hole appeared. He put his hand in, took a wound but found a powerful potion of strength. Unfortunately the statue came alive and attacked!

The parties converged on the house marked by the ghosts, knocking on the door (so polite!) but awakening the undead - zombies! 

Having disposed of the bats and the living/unliving statue, the youngest approached a small cottage. Not knocking, but bursting straight in he saw a wardrobe and a pile of swords. The wardrobe offered up some chainmail and gold pieces whilst the swords became animated in the hands of some skeeltons - fight! 

Lack of photos here. But the boy Edwin was found in the house and coaxed out after fighting some more undead. Inexplicably my daughter, slightly peeved that she hadn't found Edwin first, cast a lightning storm on the ghosts. They attacked back and recruited some skeleton warriors. The fighting saw my daughter lose both her beloved wolf and her beautiful pony!

A quick look into the orb of clairvoyance showed a portal opening by the towns fountain, quick run and get out of here! Game over and tidy away! 

Family Gaming in Hauntsville

Kids imaginations never fail to entertain me, so I devised a very simple rule set for them to play with some models and some scenery. Too many rules constraints their imaginations so we played very much in the spirit of an RPG with some Mordheim and WFB mechanisms thrown in. Quite simply, they could do what they liked! The only restrictions were movement; 4" for humans and dwarves, 3" for the undead (apart from the Necromancer). Models could take two actions, but never the same two, the only exception being move and move (sprint) - which the undead could not do. Examples of the two actions might be: move and search, climb and shoot, fight and move, spellcast and communicate etc.

Dwarves and Humans (including Necromancers) hit on 3+ and wounded on 4+ (shooting and fighting). Undead (4+ and 5+). A model in cover got a saving throw depending on the type of cover. Skeletons were also armoured so had a 5+ save including a magic ward.

Each warband had a leader and second in command. One of which had to be a fighter and one a spellcaster. The fighters increased their hit and wound by +1 and had a save of 4+. Spellcasters could cast any spell they imagined, the difficulty (determined by me) affecting the difficulty of the dice roll. For example a simple flight or fireball spell might be a 5+. A destroy building a 10+. 

And that was it and even then I changed some rules as we played to help them engage with the game and do as they wanted with their warbands.

 So my 13 year old daughter, seven year old son and I went treasure hunting in a village named (by them) Hauntsville.

Three warbands were on offer, Undead, Humans and Dwarfs. My son was desperate to play the undead and my daughter wanted to play with the human heroes. I was left (but quite happy) with the Dwarfs. 

The Undead (my sons)

The Human Heroes (my daughters)

The Dwarves (dads)

I set up the village using my scenery and gave them a bit of background information:

The village of Hauntsville had been long abandoned by it's inhabitants. Stories of unparalled riches combined with tales of never-returning adventurers were told by neighbouring villages and spread through to larger communities. It was therefore inevitable that more professional adventurers would band together for safety in numbers and descend upon the ghost town looking for that treasure to fill their bags and pockets.

We set up along different edges, diced off for who would go first each turn and decided how many miniatures we wanted to bring on each turn.

My son went first and advanced all his skeletons forward in a long line. I went second and moved my Dwarf scouts forward towards the town center, taking out a skeleton with a well aimed crossbow shot. My daughter than came on and charged my dwarves with a successful Charge! spell (9+)!

A slightly rueful smile as my other dwarves back away and my leader knocks out one of her humans! (I decided at this stage that death after wounding was too harsh - therefore after a successful hit and wound the model was killed on a 5/6, knocked out on a 3/4 (recovers on subsequent turns on a roll of a 4+. 3+ etc) or lightly wounded on a 1/2 (-1 to movement and +/- to hit/hitting etc)

My dwarven boar then charges into the skeletons, taking one down

Before all the other undead gather and close in, eventually killing the tusked mascot. Some more skeletons fall to crossbow bolts and I decide at this point that I have run out of quarrels as my son is not enjoying removing so many skeletons to shooting. I remind him that he can raise the dead and he does, successfully passing his spell test and bringing 3 zombies back.

From the town center and in retaliation, my dwarves cast fireball and return those 3 zombies to the dead undead.

Meanwhile, my daughter has seen the folly in attacking the dwarves and decides to use one of her actions to communicate between her leader and mine, brokering a peace deal. We agree and concentrate our combined forces on the growing undead menace. My son (slightly surprisingly) relishes this!

A massive melee ensues, the action so frenetic that I can barely focus my camera

My daughters humans then decide to break off from the engagement and start searching for treasure in the houses and in particular in the graveyard. Searches were successful on a roll of a 7+ and D6 x 10 gold were found and kept a track of. My daughter was very successful gaining around a 100gp! My son's undead wanted some of this and broke off their engagement with the dwarves and also started searching! He got about 60gp and some new zombies from the graveyard! 

Her barbarian is still knocked out!

All combats are now off  (apart from a couple of skeletons who clearly want to cause more carnage) and everyone goes off searching. I think the wifes shout of "dinner's nearly ready" sped up the game to a conclusion!

The humans continue their successful search for treasure, with the occasional attack by a creature of the undead.

A mad dash for the only building not to be searched, the human second in command gets their first using her sprint, but is then caught, attacked and slain by a wandering skeleton! The dwarf wizard closes in  and destroys the skeleton with a slay undead spell. He then hoovers up the last of the gold coins before dinner is served. 

We tally up the gold coins (humans easily have the most), although the undead have swollen their warband significantly. For our next game I will write up ways that each warband can spend their coinage to improve their warband (extra members, weapons, equipment etc).

It was a fun couple of hours for sure.

Family Gaming - the tale of the wandering gerbils

It was the end of the Easter holidays so what better to do than break out the dungeon tiles and the Heroquest box and have a game with the kids!

I've simplified and adapted the Heroquest rules to better suit my 10, 8 and 5 year old kids with these rules to also make it more of an RPG game:

• A character can move up to 4 squares. 4 squares is considered a sprint and no other actions can take place.
• Characters gain an action point for every square they don't move; ie a character moving 2 squares gets two actions, a character not moving gets 4 actions.
• Possible actions: 

1. Fight (2 action points)
2. Cast a spell (2 action points)
3. Search, Pick up, Interact, Jump, Disable etc (all 1 action point)

• Characters can move and fight diagonally
• GM decides how hard a task is, some tasks happen automatically some will require a 2D6 roll above a certain number depending upon the difficulty of a task. I.e jumping up to a great height may be 9+, charging down a stiff door might be a 4+. Picking up a potion would be automatic.
• The spellcaster has a range of spells (created from previous games - and new ones can be also be created)- they must rhyme (so she actually has to say the spell) and have a variety of difficulties rolled against 2D6. She gets 1 attack dice and 2 defence
• The boy warrior can use his flail to attack all enemies around him. He gets 3 attack dice and 3 defence
• The girl assassin can throw a knife from 3 squares away. She can also use sneak (tested against 2D6 - usually a 5+) to attempt to go unnoticed. She gets 2 attack and defence dice.
• The sequence of player turns is randomly selected; Tom the Cat is controlled by the first player each turn. He gets 1 attack and defence dice.
• The kids should be thoughtful about their actions and the consequences they may bring!

The scenario:

The children had been left home alone by their slightly neglectful parents(!) and decided to play with their new pets, the gerbils named Jeff, Joe and Larry. The gerbils were happily playing in their spheres, running around and smashing into the furniture when out of nowhere Tom the Cat appeared and leapt onto Larry's ball. Pandemonium ensued as somehow there was a multiple collision and all the ball's lids popped open and the Gerbils scarpered for it, running underneath the kitchen cupboards before Tom could strike. 

The kids were incredibly upset but decided to have a good look for their pets (once Tom was safely moved away). During their search they found a secret trapdoor under a rug in the dining room and carefully lifted up the door to see where it led; they slowly descended the stairs into the gloom. Tom running down with them... 

After some fruitless searching in the first underground room, Sebastian the warrior boy opens one of the doors to find a man running towards him in terror. Sebastian decides to continue walking past him, completely disinterested,  towards the door at the end of the corridor! Lily the Sorceress decides to engage him in conversation after calming him down. Bob (the man in terror) tells our adventurers that there are monsters down here that are all controlled by a witch and a wizard and that he was trapped down here after he was fixing some of the sewer pipes and he'd really like to retrieve his tools. When asked if he'd seen any gerbils, he replied (slightly agog) in the negative. He did offer to help them with their task though.

Willow the Assasin says she will accompany Bob and that he should stay close to her as she's the best fighter. Sebastian the boy warrior starts bickering about this comment. Lily the Sorceress opens the double doors to discover three skeletons and some treasure.

Sebastian the boy warrior charges straight into the skeletons swinging his flail, taking two of the boney foes down. Lily the Sorceress decides to leave her little brother to fight by himself and selfishly search the treasure. She draws a wandering monster card  and is attacked by a Zombie. Sebastian guffaws!

Meanwhile Willow the Assassin decides to search the corridor rather than help her slightly overwhelmed siblings. She finds a secret switch which leads into a small chamber. Using her remaining action points she searches the room to find Nothing! She has a bit of sulk. Bob panics a bit due to his claustrophobia.

Sebastian the boy warrior and Lily the Sorceress join forces to wipe out the undead in the room using a combination of spellcasting and flail damage. The boy manages to complete a difficult jump onto the remains of the next floor and searches the treasure chest to find yet another wandering monster - another zombie!

Lily the Sorceress this time comes to her little brother's rescue, dispatching the zombie with ease. No one got hurt (apart from the zombie).

Exploring further into the depths of the dungeon, Sebastian the boy warrior encounters a room with stairs, a crow, some barrels and a ghost in front of the only exit.

Sebastian the boy warrior does not hesitate to attack the ghost only to find that his flail does no damage. The ghost wails in sorrow. Lily the Sorceress decides to engage the ghost in conversation (I had a word with my son at this point about considering his actions and the consequences!) and finds out that a witch has put a curse on him! The witch is in the next room and yes he did see some gerbils running past him! The kids are happy!

Lily the Sorceress successfully casts a spell on the ghost, removing the Witch's curse. A handsome man by the name of  Peter is now standing before her and pledges his allegiance to their quest as a favour for his freedom. During all this storytelling, Willow the Assassin again starts rummaging around and again draws a wandering monster card - here comes a zombie!

Sebastian the boy warrior decides to explore the pile of skulls and finds some gems, whilst Lily the Sorceress has a chat with the crow. He is a very clever crow and can speak human and listens intently to their quest. He tells them that the witch is in the next room and that they should be very careful as she is powerful, but not necessarily evil. He admires the kids bravery and grants them all a magic mini egg (cadbury's) which they can eat at any time to gain a power. He then flies off.

Willow the Assassin meanwhile opens the door to the witches lair. Tom the Cat searches the gravestone and unearths another zombie. Willow the Assassin tries to engage the witch in conversation, but soon tires of the Witches impatience and disinterest in their gerbils. The witch tells them to leave her quarters and to leave her alone. Willow the Assassin tries one more time and is threatened to be turned into a frog. The assassin takes some umbrage at this and throws her knife at the old hag! She in turn starts muttering an incantation....

All the adventurers charge in (including Peter, Bob and Tom the Cat), but cannot do enough to stop the witch's spell. Three armoured skeletons are raised to do her bidding.

The foes are vanquished - great teamwork!

Some gems (jelly beans) are discovered amongst the treasure, but they also awake a Werewolf!

And so the adventurers, full of confidence cautiously approach the final room. They see an executioner in front of his rack, two female prisoners and the evil wizard (who looks suspiciously like me - the GM). All the adventurers eat their magical eggs and receive a random gift. Magical armour for the boy warrior, protective shield for the girl assassin and courage spell for the sorceress.

Willow the Assassin sneaks into the room and unseen removes the rope that is holding the prisoner captive to her pole. Sebastian the boy warrior charges into the wizard hurting him with his trusty flail, whilst Tom the Cat and Peter attack the executioner. The assassin, still sneaking around, ties the wizards hands without him seeing and stops him from casting any spells. Great RPGing by her!

Surrounded by his foes the wizard threatens to kill the gerbils that he has trapped in the corner of his room, awaiting to be experimented on. Tom the Cat looks at the gerbils longingly but instead attacks the wizard with his sharp claws, finishing him off!

The prisoners and the gerbils are saved, treasure is taken and they all live happily ever after.