Advice and encouragement needed in picking up the ole dusty

[Lurker]

..... you might be surprised at how blood thirsty your daughters are...

...

Oh I know me and what I am made of, so I know they are blood thirsty ... However, your "how" was spot on.

That said, Saturday morning, we made characters - both squirrels, my older daughter made a ranger, and the younger made a fighter - and I gave them examples of rolls and skills/ability uses as we made them.

The back stories were a touch disturbing ... My older daughter's was fairly standard - father an adventurer that retired and stayed to raze a family. Then something happened so he went on one last adventure and was killed. So, her character a few years later, after being old enough, decided to follow in his foot steps. However, something happened to the mom and she died too. My younger daughter's story was her father was a thief, her mother the cousin of the sheriff ... so the father killed the mother and ran off ... yeah bloody.

Then Sat evening I ran an intro game for them - a mouse family's farm was raided, and lots of grain and nuts were stolen. Multiple rolls to find the trail and follow it . (It is sad and funny when the ranger bolos the roll to find the trail, but the fighter gets a 19 - so I have to narrate it to make it fit the roll but not humiliate my older daughter)

Then the ranger notices something in the trail ahead - avoiding a possible ambush - and their first combat. 2 on 2 A few missed rolls but fairly one sided in the squirrel's favor. It was amazing to see them into it and feeding of my narrative and building off it. It was real nice to look at them and see them using some of old original dice I got from my first time I played. Also, to see my younger daughter (with her 8 1/2 year old twig like arms) doing a happy dance and showing off her muscles after cutting down the rat

Then they followed the trail into a possible ambush by creek frogs ... It took me a lot of hints and holding back to get them to figure out that they could try and talk their way out of the fight, and possibly make friends. Then I noticed a trend ... my older daughter bolos another roll, and your younger sister easily makes it ... so the frogs didn't like the ranger but became fast friends with the fighter. They even told the squirrels how many bad guys passed through the area and a short cut to get ahead and ambush the rats ...

Then, on the race to get to the ambush site, Lauren rolls here first big fail ... So, they get to the ambush site right as 3 of the rats ... So their 2nd fight ... It is back and forth, and then my older daughter supriess me ... she ducks and runs to get cover and avoid being shot at and leaves her sister exposed and being shot at by all 3 rats ... She says " you have a lot better AC than I do, you'll be ok, just don't roll a 1 and hope dad doesn't roll high" ... It is almost like she learned to fight by watching Tree's Druid/thief character ...

Again the trend of the ranger missing and even rolling a couple of 1s ... However, I also rolled my share of 1s too ... so a good fight for them ... & I realize that not just roll 20 & map tool loves giving me 1s it was my trusty dice, some of them over 30s old ...

They knew there were other rats, so they hid the signs of the fight (the ranger rolled her first 20 !) and set down to ambush the last rats ... They sat for hours, so I eventually let the rats come to them at sunset (emphasizing the importance of the fact that rats have twilight vision and squirrels don't) . So, they finally get a true ambush ... and the ranger rolls a 20 on her attack, and max damage soooooo ... she narrates the arrow sticks through the rats neck and sticks it to the ground . Then I roll a 1 on the other rat's wis check, to figure out where to run, sooooo it runs and jumps behind the log that the squirrel fighter was hiding behind in the ambush. ... an easy attack roll and another max damage ends the fight.

And the cheering and high fiving and happy dancing began .... and 5 min later they were asking when we were going to play again

Yeah, they are now hooked

[Lurker]

For those of you that were interested, I've been running a few game for the girls now and it is a blast.

I started them as hired guards for a merchant train, with the back story that they grew up in the area of the town they were traveling back to (so did have friends there)

They were involved in an ambush by mice led by 2 squirrels brigands - good combat good chase through the trees, and good 'make a decision - do you stay and finish off the one you just arrowed in the shoulder and knocked them down, or do you run over and help your sister's character who is starting to lose the fight - and then another fight where they saved the mouse guards that were back at the wagons outnumbered 2 to 1.

Plus, I was able to establish a long term minor bad guy (the squirrel brother and sister leading the highway robbers) that will be a hindrance and a help in the future games.

I was able to have the girls make different CHA checks to figure out exactly who their friend are in the town. Have them get in an impromptu contest in the inn's common room, an arm wrestling match - and my younger firl made an 18 an 14 and a 19 on her str checks ; to win against a suirl that looked much stronger than her ... and a 17 on her cha check to keep him from being mad and make him a new friend.

Which makes up for the 2s my older daughter rolled at the church to have a fried there (it fits with her being a ranger, and there being a druid 'outside type church' she has a friend in already) but the look on her face when it was sooo low was priceless, and 3 the fighter rolled when trying to make a friend among the merchants and traders in the town square (plus she failed a de check at random, so I said she knocked something over, which tripped someone else and the hit into someone else, soooo all the merchants were mad at her)

Then they hired with the sheriff to do out laying patrols of the area - I wasn't planning much on this but they roll 11 & 12 on almost every random encounter , and then my older daughter (playing the ranger) rolled 18 or higher on ALL her tracking or spot check ... soooo I had to make up on the fly lots of impromptu events. Trail brigands (till the ranger finally fails a track roll - the most 15 + rolls I've seen in a row I tell you !) stumble into a wolf spider's area, and get the fighter's sword stuck in the web (finally a 1 rolled by someone other than me) etc.

Then they stayed at a farmers house (sleeping in the barn for free) and 22 hours after sunset noticed something ... someone sneaking around outside the hedge row ... stupid 20 on Kaity's spot check ... so they both started sneaking out (backed up by the 2 mouse undersheriffs that were sent with them) to try and catch who they are sure has been the rat vermin they have been seeing the tracks of all this time.

Then my younger one makes a good roll on her spot check to see someone sneaking around the outside of the houses already in the farm area .. they decide to have the ranger sneak up on the outside one, and the fighter sneak up on the inside one ... and they do ... how does a fighter in a chain shirt roll an 18 & a 19 on two dex checks to sneak back to back !!!!

Un fortunately, this puts them in killing distance of 2 mice farm kids trying to ... well you know ... in the dark and thinking they may be rat thieves.

Finally my older daughter makes a wis check to see the one she is behind doesn't have any weapons (she doesn't care, she readies her bow to ... and her sister says wait what if they aren't rats .... who are they ... what if they aren't bad ... I say of course, you aren't there you are behind the one in around the farms you can't say anything ... she sets there with her hand over her mouth about to explode not being able to say anything ... and I go back to the older daughter ... who hesitates ... Go back to the younger ... she fails her wis check to notice what she is sneaking up on isn't an armed thief ... so can't act like she knows it is unarmed like the one outside that her older sister is about to put an arrow into, but then fails her dex roll to sneak, and the farmer's daughter sneaking out to ... well you know ... hears them turns sees a armed and armor squirrel 15 feet behind her in the dark with sword out and shield ready ... and screams !

The girls start laughing, and then in character, my younger daughter (in a gruff fighter's voice) says "Stop screaming of I will stab you" so she screams louder ... "I mean it! STOP screaming. I will stab you if you don't" ... (should I be worried that her reaction was to threaten deadly force on someone to stop them from screaming, well she is my child, so I shouldn't be surprised) ... soon enough the farmer is out and figures out what is going on ... and the girls make a 17 and a 19 on cha checks to somehow keep everyone from being mad at them for almost killing 2 mouse farmer kids sneaking out at night to ... well you know ...

It was a blast and good role playing (influenced by exceptional good rolls along with it).

[Captain_K]

Wow, great fun by all. Good to hear!

[Lurker]

Well, I just finished a good one with the girls ... The last 3rd of a big battle (between the sheriff's men from the town the girls are living in, frog allies, against a foreign 'robbers and highway men' that had been raiding and burring farms.

It ended with a running fight straight out of "Last of the Mohicans"- I did have to nudge them with my older daughter's friend to get them started chasing down the torch bearers going to burn all the grain the thieves had stolen - but the 2 archers (my older daughter and her friend) jogging and shooting down the rats and vermin (and at least soften them up) as my younger charged forwards running, swapping away or spearing those in his way, and storming into the torchers and keeping them from throwing all but one of the torches, then frantic putting out the fire as the 2 archers caught up and killed the torch bearers.

After the battle, as all rested and recovered, I stared dropping hints on all the wisdom checks they had made during the battle ... Hints about a distant giant dead tree (at one time with the invasion leaders flag off the top most branch, later the pennant missing) ... to bad for the whole first day after the battle, they failed (horribly failed) their perception check to re-notice the dead tree off in the distance. Eventually, they made the check to notice it. Then I showed them the drawing (outline of the tree with the level maps, and a matching cover to hid the levels) & ..... the girls loved it then ...

"We have to go to it, and it hollow, that is soo cool daddy" ... My reply "Why do you 'have to go' and how do you know it is hollow?"

"Daddy because, it looks so good and it we weren't supposed to go there you wouldn't draw it like that , and if it wasn't hollow you wouldn't be hiding what is in it with the cover like you are" ... 9 1/2 & nearly 11 years old and already have player logic

To bad they failed to find the 2 hidden doors into the tree and had to go up to get attacked by the hawk watching the top of the tree (and rush trying to get into the hatch before the hawk gets it 2nd sets of attacks) having to make str checks to wrench open the hatch, a dex check - with a nat 1 - to keep from falling down to the floor below, then nervously trying to start a torch and lamp in the dark ...

They have started their first dungeon crawl ...

[Captain_K]

go baby go, keep us informed... I miss those days.

My son and his friends always wanted to eat the guys they killed.. don't know why

[Rigon]

go baby go, keep us informed... I miss those days.

My son and his friends always wanted to eat the guys they killed.. don't know why

Must be from living in Erie.

R-