Cooking 24/7: Fantasy Food Edition (AAR)

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AsenRG

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Over the week-end, I ran a campaign custom-tailored for my daughter. It was inspired by the previous campaign ran by her mother (that went nowhere) and partially based on it... or rather, on the parts that she liked best about her mom's campaign.

I started it as a 1-on-1 game, though. Just because - don't tell anyone - I'm still the most experienced Referee in the house, and one of the most experienced in the country. (Of course, that being me, I'm also sure I'm the best GM in the house...but that's what the "don't tell anyone" in the previous sentence referred to!:tongue:)
This is the thread where I present an After-Action Report on her exploits and my cunning plans...which aren't going to be mine very soon: the daughter requested that her mom resumes the GMing duties. She wants me as a fellow player:grin:!
I must be kinda flattered, I think. And I want to play, that's for sure:smile:!

Oh, before you ask: the system is my "unholy Zenobia/Traveller mix"...really, really heavily adapted (sped-up chargen and removing the nastier criticals, mostly).
 
It started with Chargen...but things always start long before that, don't they?

So, I got this from an idea of a conversation with Big Daughter while I was playing Head* Dog of the sleigh (that she and her brother were riding...good times:shade:)!

The details of the dialogue are a bit fuzzy, not to mention unimportant. The important points are that I mentioned her mother's campaign, because she mentioned gaming (in regards to my PS4), which reminded me about RPGs. She replied with something along the lines of "I liked it, but I liked the cooking the most, and we were mostly chasing a treasure...though this is nice, too".
My immediate reply - years of indoctrinating new roleplayers haven't gone to waste - was "this kind of games is about what you want...you can be a cook looking for new ingredients like dragon eggs".
And when she replied immediately with "Cool", I knew I've got a sale possibility:dice:!

It took me all of a quarter hour to re-think my approach, and to create the simplified version of the system we're using. Then I only needed some calm time when she ain't got homework...but since she was recently sick and had to catch up, it took me some time to actually find a playing spot.
But I'm sure RPGs are better for her than Youtube, and not only for teaching her to do math operations faster... so I was determined, and ready to pounce:gunslinger:!

*And Only, too.

Then we got to chargen. It was shamelessly stolen...err, adapted - we don't use stats, just skills - from this Christopher Kubasik's post on using Classic Traveller for fantasy.
"You've got a character, knowing you she's a cook and a princess!"
"Yeah!"
"Tell me three things she's good at, and we can begin!"
I was going to mentally add a +3 to the first thing she mentioned, +2 to the second, and +1 to the last. But since the core of the system is closer to Zenobia - including opposed rolls for combat, and weapons that add to your attack/defence - any non-combat skills mentioned were going to be treated as a mix of Classic Traveller Out Of The Box skills, and Zenobia: you can usually do them without trying, at least for routine tasks, as long as you have the skill, no need for rolling. (Oh, what a coincidence: that's actually Zenobia's system, too! You can chalk it up to concidence...or to the fact that Paul Elliott, Zenobia's author, is actually a long-standing Traveller player).
I had also decided to use rolls for non-combat skills only to inform my judgement. She doesn't need to roll them.

And of course, my optimising child immediately stated: "Fighting with swords and kung-fu!" That's her first skill pick, no hesitation, so it's +3...I wonder, is she playing the Referee, or is she a natural:grin:?
The other two: Friend of the Unicorns (+2) and Book-Learned (+1). (She is currently considering to change Friend of the Unicorns for Shooting Bows...and she doesn't even know how nasty bows are in Zenobia's system, since the roll isn't opposed, and your defence is "the other guy must miss":hehe:).

To be continued with the actual session...:devil:
 
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My only session that resulted in the Referee being summoned to join the PCs
Of course, we had to find suitable dolls for miniatures first. No way around that:grin:!

So...some of The Princess's friends (she's named after one of Big Daughter's friends, I'm not sure which one) were sick. Her father paid for treatment, but alas...nothing worked until an old guy with long white beard appeared, leaning on a weird staff (undescribed).
He checked them, and then told her that her friends are sickened by a very nasty disease...which she knew. However, he also had a solution: in order to heal them, she needs to give them banitsa made with some unusual ingredients: A dragon's egg, flour from (Fagopyrum?) that blossomed at midnight, and cheese made from Samodiva milk!
(At this rate, I might need Pundit's supplement for working with a dragon's bodyparts. Or rather, the wife might need it).
He also decided the Princess needs some schooling in manners...I wonder what my wife would make out of this when she takes up GMing. Come to think of it, he never mentioned that it's actually a disease, or what caused it...:devil:

There you go: she immediately went to check on the local dragons, assuming there's such a book in the library.
She was right. There were three, indeed! She picked the least offensive one - also the least likely to have eggs, because he's young and, well, a he - and, after we negotiated about what she food she can take, off the Princess went!
It turned out that the dragon Glorfindel - she doesn't know the name - lives in a mountain past three obstacles: The Ensorcelled Forest, The Kikimoras Bog and...well, I don't think she remembers the third obstacle, but it was the Giants' Cornfield. Either way, it might change once Refereeing Mommy takes up the mantle.

In The Ensorcelled Forest: Not All That Glistens...
The Princess was told she must get out before it gets dark, or else, Elves Might Happen. And not the nice, fairy-like kind... and if she strayed from the trope, Elves Would Happen anyway, and she'd never be seen again, the locals warned her.
So, she travelled to the Forest, we noted rations off, and she began walking.
There were to be three challenges: of Niceness, Fear, and Illusion. If she passed them, all would be good.
First thing she noticed: a silver pegassus just a few meters away from the trope. Albeit pegasi are usually of flesh and blood, this one didn't seem menacing. Instead, he looked at her, and didn't make a move to run.
So, she decided that he must be good... and went to ride him. He allowed her.
Much screaming ensued as I described the flight. Except it ended on the roof of a tower from black marble, which was found in the forest in a direction that was decisively not her direction.
She actually thanked the horse for the flight, and he apologized. "The king has ordered me to bring a human for dinner", he explained.
Off the Princess went, looking for the King of Elves. She met some guards who actually have been ordered to bring her to him, and if that surprised them, it didn't show. He was big, black, and looked like Riddick. The elves were having a party, but food was conspicuously absent.
(Hey, if Vin Diesel can play a drow...)

"So, you're the one who wants to eat me, huh?", the Princess went. "Me? You dare?"
He looked at the little figure. And I did, too...because I'd never mentioned they intended to eat her. But yes, that was my intention from the get-go!
"Yes. I dare. Who do you think you are?"
"My Kung-Fu teacher is the best in the land!"
"No, that would be my master", he corrected her. "Anyway..."
And she challenged him to a kung-fu duel. With swords, because duh, what kind of kung-fu moron can't use a sword?
He pulled a huge sword, and assumed a stance. She attacked.

Here began the worst luck on dice I'd seen in a while. Her luck. Out of several attempts, she managed to roll 2 on 2d6 and 3 on 3d6! Luckily, she had 1 point more in her skill - tsars do hire the best teachers for their progeny, while elves...well, they just suck:wink:.
What's more important: in my rules, you need to get 4 or more over your enemy in order to inflict an immediate wound. Now, you can bring your result from one round to the next, if you win or tie.
But my luck wasn't much better: at no point did I roll over a 6 when she had a 2. So every round ended with one of them having an advantage, and could easily deliver a wound...but the advantage was immediately lost next round!

A long battle followed. The fencing phrases followed, one after another... but then it started to seem they're writing an elves-damned novel.
After the 7th round, the courtiers started to cheer both of them.
In the 8th round, the Elven King rolled a Morale check and failed jumped back, and offered her to call it a draw, and give her a ride to the end of the forest. Which she accepted.
She even apologized. What for?
"I'm sorry I had to fight you, but you see, a pegasus brought me here".
The king, who had sent the pegasus - a courtier indeed - graciously accepted the apology. The courtiers laughed, but then kept their mouths shut. That girl had just shown...well, nearly immaculate skills. And elves might be many things, but they're also creatures of ritual: you don't gang-jump someone who achieved a draw in a duel against the Elven King!
When they see the "pegasus" next, they're going to mock him mercilessly, of course...:tongue:
And then she was given a ride on a golden pegasus. It seems she had lost a day, however. Well, considering the stories about elves, that's...not much.
(And it also allowed another PCs to join. A group started to assemble mid-session!)

The Power Of Food
A friend of the Princess who hasn't caught the same disease managed to get to the bog by not straying one bitr off the road (we skipped playing that). She asked the local kikimoras about a Princess and, figuring that it would be suicide to venture in the forest at night, made camp near the bog.
The Princess arrived at dawn, riding a golden pegasus. That's how legends start!
Soon after, they noticed that a lot of the local animals can talk...and some didn't mind to. That's how they learned that kikimoras obviously like very much confiture as long as it's made from pickles!
(With thanks to Lubomir Nikolov for the idea. It was in an old gamebook written by him!)

Luckily, the other player knows the Princess likes pickles, so she'd brought some. And she likes sugar, so the food contained kilograms of it!
So of course, in best Tolkien's fashion, they started brewing Pickles Confiture (R) on open fire! It took most of their sugar, of course...but at the end, they had it. They even made pies with pickle confiture, too!
And then they exchanged them for safe passage.
I simply didn't see why I should spoil such a plan... and it was good planning for a 6-years old, if you as me. Moreover, it was consistent with what I had decided about kikimoras in the setting to accept that. So, it worked.
Besides, it was time to adjourn. Not only do 6-yo girls have shorter attention spans, I had stuff to do as well.
Thus, the session ended. Surprisingly, Big Daughter requested that I take my old doll as well, and join them.
So I'm not going to run the next session. It's going to be Refereeing Mum who gets the honour!
 
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Oh, and just in case it's not clear: Comments are more than welcome:smile:!
 
Also, the player is sick this week, as well as the Referee. Expect an update when that changes!
 
Finally ran another session of the Fantasy Food Challenge campaign (with First Daughter). Still no playing for me, and it was short, but at least she had fun!

So, after we sent First Son off to sleep, and First Daughter was still claiming she doesn't want to go to bed, I decided it's a good moment to run another session...possibly a short one.
Well, I actually decided it's a good moment to play another session. But we ran into two unexpected issues.
First, all the male dolls were in First Son's room, and we didn't want to wake him up. Since I refused to play a princess - I've done that, but was not in the mood for it at the moment - we were at a lack for props!
Second, her mom looked at the AAR here, changed in the face and whispered in my ear "I'm not sure I can make up stuff like that!"
So I decided to apply the rule "combine two issues to resolve them both", and suggested I'd run it, and she'd get the blonde doll...
This was met with total agreement, and finally we started playing!
Since she was just joining the crew, First Mum got to pick a character. She said she wants to play another princess, not a commonner. Her name? Leya.
Yes, you read that the same as Leia. I think I shall change the meaning of PCs in this game to Princess Characters. The friend of our princess can be another princess who just doesn't like being treated like one.


Well, I wasn't about to criticize, and after 30 seconds of chargen - see above - Princess Leia reached the Main Princess Character just as she was passing through the Kikimoras' Swamp.
They played a nice introduction scene by themselves - I only had to remind First Daughter that she can't prescribe another PC's what to say, no matter how much she wants them to say something specific - and off we went.

The Giants' Cornfield and The Hedgehogbees' Honey
They reached the fence of the Giants' Cornfield and saw suitably gigantic plants growing there. A friendly giant looked over the fence and greeted them (good Reaction Roll, but then, who can resist a group of princesses:grin:?)
"Good evening. Are you here with good or ill intentions?", he said, eating a giant-sized piece of banitsa.
"Good evening to you as well! We want to reach the dragon Glorfindel's lair. Can we pass by the field?"
"Sure. Come back tomorrow morning, we let travellers pass from 10 to 16 o'clock...so long as they don't try to steal our crops", he answered, looking them over.
Princesses are, after all, the scions of people who robbed so much they stole the land itself from the people who work it. Don't remember who said that, possibly the late sir Pratchett, but the giant sure knew that. So he saw fit to warn those unknown Princess Characters!
Then First Mum asked:
"Hey, have you got buckwheat*? How about buckwheat that had blossomed at midnight?"
I can bet she was thinking something along the lines of "you and your ideas for ingredients".
"Sure, but we're not giving it to just about anyone! It's very valuable!"
So a negotiation began...they need that for the healing banitsa - see upthread! The giant was ready to part with some amount of it for 5 kilograms golden apples (a small amount for him...), some amounts of samodiva's milk - but they need it as well, and he didn't know where to find some - or for bread with honey stuffing...but he wanted it to be made with honey from hedgehogbees! And he knew where to get honey, but couldn't reason with the bees.
They should be grateful he didn't want feathers from an owlbear for his hat, I say!
And soon our intrepid Princesses were stomping off to the hedgehogbees' hive. They met two of them soon enough, just as they saw the hive: in the trunk of a great walnut tree which looked like it had a face.
Of course, it's hard not to notice bees as big as a big housecat, with steely-looking spikes. Especially when those greet you politely, but firmly, and inquire about your intentions.
I'd ruled that the odds of a non-flier not taking special measures evading the bees' protective network is -2/6, in other words, I didn't bother to roll. Then again, not trying to evade them gave them a small bonus - which didn't actually matter - on the Reaction Roll: Very Positive attitude. Huh.
However...Very Positive=/=Stupid.
"We want some honey."
"Everyone does. We need it, too, to pass the winter."
"It's for the giant! Can we have it?"
"What do we get? The giant ain't doing anything for us, really. He needs us to cross-polinate his crops, not the other way around!"
First Daughter was contemplating frontal assault. I asked her nicely whether she knows how many bees are in a hive, and First Mum intervened.
"How about...you give us honey, and we tell the giant to plant more flowers? Then you'd have more floral pollen to gather..."
It was a start. The bees communicated silently - I didn't play it out, because there was no way they could understand it - and decided an improved offer might be good enough.
"You do that, and you make him promise he's not going to bother us 'till the end of the year - and we've got a deal!"
So they stomped back in the night. Persuading the giant required reminding him that if he improves his relations with the bees, they might give him more honey next year.
Another couple of hours of marching, and an hour or so of bread-making, and they had everything (the giant provided the flour, which was from his special reserves as well).
So a happy giant, savouring the last honeybread piece for this year, accompanied them through the garden. There, they saw giant beans...with stalks that seemed to reach the moon.
And the giant confirmed that yes, they did. If they wanted to climb up, he wouldn't mind: he used it to go visit other places. Climb on the stalks here, plant some stalks there, aiming carefully, and get to another place on Earth!
You can call this the Giant Druid's Space Elevator. I know I will!
They are now considering whether they want to go somewhere else. After all, as the giant pointed out, Glorfindell is a male dragon, and is unlikely to have an egg...now, a dragoness like Tiamath? She might have a lot. Though she's evil, so negotiating with her might be tough...but then again, stealing from her is OK, she really needs an even harsher treatment if possible!
But here we adjourned - or adnuited - for the night, because First Daughter, not unexpectedly, fell asleep. Maybe this makes me a boring Referee, but it also meant the kid was asleep. So it was all good!
I'm considering whether to introduce the concept of XP next session.

*Fagopyrum esculentum, which I didn't remember the name of when writing the first posts. It's "elda" in Bulgarian, thank you very much!
 
you know there is a 2015 manga Delicious in Dungeon that deals with a standard dnd party turning dungeon delving into a food manga? I just saw it the Barnes and Noble so I don't know if it age apporiate or not but it was popular enough to have a few volumes translated.
 
you know there is a 2015 manga Delicious in Dungeon that deals with a standard dnd party turning dungeon delving into a food manga? I just saw it the Barnes and Noble so I don't know if it age apporiate or not but it was popular enough to have a few volumes translated.
I had no idea. Generally, I'm of the opinion that if I want to read about dungeons, I could just play D&D instead...:smile:

That said, I can probably mine it for ideas, so thank you for the heads-up:wink:! But as stated above, the idea was just "run a campaign that's custom-tailored to First Daughter's interests", and I had noted she likes the part with cooking...
And since that's how my brain works, I immediately thought of omelettes of dragon and phoenix eggs, owlbear steaks, and other delicacies:grin:!
 
So, continuing with the sessions...which don't follow the usual structure of 4-hour blocks, because kids (and besides, I've almost never managed to make them 4 hours exactly, even with adults).
OTOH Firstr Daughter is very good at putting Second Brother to sleep when she decides she's played enough. So I've got additional reasons to want her to play:grin:!

The giant was moved by the good taste of the honeybread, so he claimed First Daughter is from now on Friend of the Giants. Then they left, going to Glorfindell.
Approaching the dragon, they learned he's got a contract with local peasants: he keeps their lands free from bandits, aristocrats and worse (he didn't mention the aristocrats). They feed him two calves per week, or one cow. As most lizards, he doesn't eat often.
He also proved to be a very friendly flying fire-breathing lizard...but had no eggs he could spare, as the giant predicted. So they asked him for some dragoness that might agree to part with an egg.
He suggested stealing one from Tiamat, the Babylonian dragon... or negotiating with the Black Mother of the Dogons(?).
Guess what: they were unanimous stealing is dangerous and bad. So, off to the Black Mother they went...or rather, back to the giant.
Of course, they climbed on beanstalks. No encounters on the Moon...such a disappointment! I had prepared them Star Samodivas...ah well, the dice said "not this time".
If they were to fail that on the way back, too, they'd need to find a normal one for milk.

And then they arrived right at a Dogon ceremony, when they were dancing around a statue...I forgot to mention the masks! OK, next time.
Anyway, Black Mother* can be one of the Nommos. (They are usually described as amphibious, hermaphroditic, fish-like creatures, also referred to as “Masters of the Water”, “the Monitors”, and "the Teachers”. I think a dragon would fit with some effort...and I needed a benevolent one).
So, they went and asked how to find the Black Mother. People were accommodating and told her the Black Mother is to be found by making a sacrifice on a hill (which bears a statue of a dragon from black stone), near the Niger river, itself two days from their village...
So they went, and made a sacrifice...a garland of flowers. Black, red, and yellow flowers, please!
At this point, I didn't know what to think, so I decided to roll some dice and see how the dragoness would accept that.
Turned out, she was pretty cool. Not impressed, but not angry, either. Yes, of course, she visited their camp!
"We need an egg to heal our friends".
"Please tell me you're joking...",
one of the 5 heads replied. (Why five? Well, why not? Besides, the dragons never have an even number, and 3 is too light, while 7 is for chtonic powers).
"But they need that to get healthy again! We'll make you the best antelope you have tasted!"

At the end, they did reach a deal: they prepare her an antelope. She tastes it, and if happy, would give them an egg, or tell them where to find one.
(If she likes it so much, they get an egg, alright. If she does like it, but not that much, she'll direct them to Niburu Dragon which nestles nearby in a cave).
So they marched to the village, then back. First Daughter is about to put her newly-acquired Bow-shooting (remember the changed skill?) to a test.
A water buffalo almost trampled them to death while they were waiting in an ambush...
They got an antelope later. She wasn't killed outright, though, and they followed the blood trail. When they did, they found a lioness had done the same...and didn't seem willing to give them her antelope!
But here's where First Daughter kinda lost concentration. So I ended it up on a cliff-hanger...which First Wife outright hates!

*Her name is not AT ALL a Darth Vader joke!
 
And we finally got to the end of the adventure. Yes, our organization was hard...mostly because First Daughter outright refused playing without her mom.
Except that the time when both me and First Mom are available for playing is also known as "the time when the kids sleep". And that means First Daughter should be asleep, too!

Scheduling is hard! And school makes it harder!

At least she's now happy. She got some limited ice powers due to killing the Ice Queen. She had no idea how seldom do such things happen in my games:devil:!
 
And now First Daughter is playing in the same dungeoncrawl as her smaller brother... :shade:
 
Seems like you had a some good fun, with your kids there.
It was a fun and interesting read.

Since you mentioned your PS4 and your daughter mentioned cooking.
I came to think about a couple of games, I have played on thet platform that involve cooking.
Maybe they would be something for your daugther and family.

Battle Chef Brigade: This is a game, were you slay monsters and when use their body parts in a cooking contest. It is very fun.

Overcooked: This is very fun, and quite frankly a bit stressfull coop-game, where you have to make as many meals to the customers, before the time runs out.

Here is links to them on PS Store:
Battle Chef Brigade
Overcooked
 
Seems like you had a some good fun, with your kids there.
It was a fun and interesting read.

Since you mentioned your PS4 and your daughter mentioned cooking.
I came to think about a couple of games, I have played on thet platform that involve cooking.
Maybe they would be something for your daugther and family.

Battle Chef Brigade: This is a game, were you slay monsters and when use their body parts in a cooking contest. It is very fun.

Overcooked: This is very fun, and quite frankly a bit stressfull coop-game, where you have to make as many meals to the customers, before the time runs out.

Here is links to them on PS Store:
Battle Chef Brigade
Overcooked
Thank you, but we're trying to get her more time away from a screen:shade:.
 
Thank you, but we're trying to get her more time away from a screen:shade:.

No prob. and it's commendable that you're trying to limit her screen time.
Now, if us adults could just learn the same....
 
No prob. and it's commendable that you're trying to limit her screen time.
Now, if us adults could just learn the same....
Well, most of my time outside of work is spent on non-screen-related activities. I could do better, but it's an improvement compared to a decade ago, so I guess I'm moving in the right direction:smile:.

And I can't speak about any other adults.
 
Well, most of my time outside of work is spent on non-screen-related activities. I could do better, but it's an improvement compared to a decade ago, so I guess I'm moving in the right direction:smile:.

And I can't speak about any other adults.

Well speaking for myself. Due to not being able to work anymore, because of my my mental illness.
I have a lot of free time. Therefore it's very easy to just end up in front of screen, playing videogames or going on the internet.
For this reason, I'm not on the internet with my phone. I do try to get out everyday, taking long walks.

Some people in my circles are completely addicted to their phones. Constantly checking it, even if you point it out.
 
Well speaking for myself. Due to not being able to work anymore, because of my my mental illness.
I have a lot of free time. Therefore it's very easy to just end up in front of screen, playing videogames or going on the internet.
For this reason, I'm not on the internet with my phone. I do try to get out everyday, taking long walks.

Some people in my circles are completely addicted to their phones. Constantly checking it, even if you point it out.
Well, I used to read lots of PDFs on my phone. These days, I tend to restrict that to just a few PDFs:thumbsup:!
 
I ran another session for First Son. I'm now proud(er) with him.
He met a quest-giving wizard NPC, and he tried to slap him:grin:!
Good instinct:devil:!


After that, he agreed to help a random NPC mermaid to deal with her problem:
The evil undead pirate Captain Moriarty and his crew of zombie pirates have been trying to take over the underwater world! And they had built a tower, where they had summoned the Kraken to help them in their plundering! Soon they'd have all the underwater under their thumbs, and could begin pillaging the overlanders' ships!
So now they're looking for black pearls to raise skeletons who would help them with the zombies. And they'd have to find some way to deal with the Kraken as well.
First Son has suggested "a rocket" and "making the water around the kraken very hot". There's no rockets in this world, but he might be able to find a spell for frying boiling the Kraken...

Anyway. They're now looking for black pearls, after he foiled* the first attack by two zombie pirates who were there to capture the mermaid. Turns out, Captain Moriarty keeps mermaids in his throne room so they could sing to him, like songbirdsfishes. Anyway: one of them captured her in a net and started dragging her away, the other attacked him with a trident. First Son killed him in singletime** and I decided this gives him time to chase the zombie dragging the mermaid. He made his rolls again, but the zombie dived under the sword and kept dragging the captive towards the palace with the Kraken. If it reached the distance where the Kraken's apendages could reach them, there would be no chance of escape!
And more zombies were at the rescue to the single zombie.
...which is when First Son slashed at the net to free the mermaid instead. Success, and the zombie didn't notice at first...so they made their rolls to escape!

This is where we stopped.


*Well, more like decapitated. He's not good at imagining how to use a foil, but a sword is all fine. He even thought of beating the trident aside to get in close (or at least that's how I interpreted his moves - he kinda explains his combat moves by LARPing them:tongue:)!
**For those that don't track my terminology, it means he killed the zombie as a counter to its first stab. There was never a second one. He even managed to snatch a purse with a black pearl from the zombie's belt.
 
Looks like this time I've got it right!
Ran a session for First Son last night, at his request:thumbsup:. It's the first session where a player falls asleep while thinking of how to react to an "en garde" call to begin a duel.
More to the point: he was told that they must go to the Devil's Throat underwater grotto and there find the Sorcerer of Devils' Throat, who has dived in the grotto, and there made a deal with demons. From him, they must obtain -one way or another a spell to raise the living skeletons with the black pearls.
Then they swam to a theater/arena, where a swordfish dressed in varous colours was performing on a guitar...not quite well, but everybody applauded it.
"Bravo, Cyrano", they all shouted, for some reason...
After that, they met a shark dressed in black and red, and it turned out it was a fan/friend of the swordfish...so it got them to meet the performer. "The only thing he's better at than singing, is fencing", it explained.
Our stalwart hero explained in turn that he's VERY strong. And the swordfish invited him to a duel to show him that dexterity rules.
The player fell asleep while thinking of a move...

Ran another session for First Daughter after this. I was accused of ending it on a cliffhanger, while actually I just ended it during downtime. Then she just didn't want the session to stop, but it was getting late.
So we had to, but she made me promise to run after I finish work (and I'm home anyway:devil:).

It was much more eventful, so I'm going to add the events tonight.
 
I've almost given up on chronicling those adventures.
But now I've decided it's time to explain the actual rules to First Daughter. Just like her mother, she was barely interested in how the numbers work, though:grin:!
"I know the character, she's good at fencing, cooking, and so on..."
And I'm starting to think it's hereditary:shade:

Can't argue there, though, she's acting quite consistently (and her characters are so much like less experienced copies of her mom's characters, that it's beyond funny:tongue:).
But I'd like her to know more so she could get more choices to make. Yes, I'm using the game to teach her tactics, too, since she's less likely to read up on that on her own. It's not like Sun Tzu's treaty is a book she has never seen lying around:tongue:!

So the big question is: should I teach her using Mythras, Blade of the Iron Throne, or Song of Swords:thumbsup:?
 
In the new update: of course I went with Mythras. Less dice rolling won.
I'm going to teach her BotIT at some point. But maybe not now.

Maybe a dozen sessions in, the daughter's Unicorn Princess With A Sword character is doing just fine. She even found out that the sorcerer who sent her on a three-missions quest has been mind-controlling her to decide to go...
Was he? Well, amusingly, I can't answer that:grin:!
I mean, we switched the system mid-campaign, so the fact that the previous system didn't allow mind-control might have influenced my decision. But this one allows it, and would he have used it? Definitely.
And of course, I've persuaded adult players to help the forces they were actively opposing. I guess it might count as mind control when I'm facing a girl that's not even a teen yet:thumbsup:?
Besides, it doesn't matter. That was the conclusion of some helpful NPCs, it's not proven one way or another. She is going with it, and regardless of whether it's true, the conclusion from that is right: she was duped to help a nefarious sorcerer get more power!
And she already murdered a king on his request. She didn't seem too bothered by that, because she has decided that the guy was an awful person...which he was. But he was also keeping his country out of the grip of sorcerers like this one.

Amusingly, despite the fact that I'm in a GMing slump, I didn't need any generator for Refereeing for her. I just ripped off media she is unfamiliar with...but that's harder with an adult group.
OTOH, that means that a mix of Warhammer, the Witcher, LotR and some old gamebooks worked just fine:angel:!
 
I got the boys as well:thumbsup:!


Until now, First Son and Second Son were too young, too easily distractable, and too immersed in a world of distractions.
So I got them while we were at the mountain retreat. Sure, they still had phones to distract them...but those phones need recharging at times. And sometimes it rains.

What does a Referee do to attract new players? Why, I waited until the phones were charging, and offered them to run a game for them, which is like the game they've been playing!
There was some kind of mouse in it which guards some kind of portal and you've got to collect cheese and keys. I don't know the details, but I've been running games for over 20 years...you think I can improvise something from there:angel:?
Well, I'm a Referee, but I'm also a martial artist. So what do I do? Simple: I just had to get timing right, and get an angle to circumvent the opposition's lines of defense...
So I began by getting an angle/laying the trap. First, get them via other media...
Thus, the night before I told them a bedtime story in which Spiderman investigated the house the aforementioned mouse is keeping. He found a world in which there were castles, no signs of supervillains, so he went back.
Next night, Spidey was busy with superheroes so he got Iron Man to send normal humans to investigate. An agent of Iron Man's corp went in...and found a world inspired by the Goblin Slayer TRPG. I haven't seen the manga nor anime, for the record.
The adventures of the agent stretched for a couple of nights. First he had to ascertain some features of the land, then he went to deal with a kappa infestation.
The day after, I offered them to play the other agents that were sent to look for the first. I offered them a couple of gadgets like what he had, and soon they were there, evading the mouse with gusto and helping a couple of yetis to fight off a bunch of goblins sent by the Dark Queen!

Bottom line, my boys played their first session at 5 and 4 years old, respectively. Getting them while they're young has worked for so many other hobbies, why not for roleplaying as well:shade:?

The ruleset? Ah yes, there was one, but it was FKR-inspired...and we didn't have dice, due to an oversight on my side. So we used cards instead (I removed the face cards, turning them into 2 decks of 1-10 results...so basically, a d100:tongue:).
I actually plan to use Goblin Slayer instead. Or maybe adapt Everywhen. Or maybe Heartsea game. We'll see, so far my group isn't into rules lawyering...and may it stay that way forever:grin:!
 
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