So here we are

50 Episodes in the can folks...Yikes.

Here is a request I promised an answer to, a while ago. How to play Descent with young kids.

Well, here goes. I play DnD like with the goal of adding in enough elements to play the true game at some point.

First observation. My son hated the idea of monsters spawning "out of nowhere". I guess he felt like he'd kill a bunch of skeletons then why would more pop out. I can't blame him it is a frustrating feeling. The second thing he did not like was Me vs. Him. Also he really could not handle all four characters. And I worried about his attention level.

Now the good news: At the age of 8, he was totally able to comprehend the tracking of his one hero card. The weapons cards, boosts to his fatigue, counting his wounds, etc...100%. Tactic wise he still just wants to run and charge the monster but who doesn't?

Ok, so what did I do. Ok, We build the map together. He loves that part. I then look up a dungeon including the big bad monster. I use the money and the character beginning rules. No issue. I keep all the monsters handy, and put some more treasure in the dungeon. This gets him all excited and boosts the character strength. He plays just one guy.

Then that's it, I narrate a short scene from the get go. "The wizard in the town wants you to find his magic stone and bring it back to him. You will have to beat the Giant to do it." First one: "You enter the room and hear the sound of dripping water. There are two doors, what do you want to do?" Of course, there are two treasure piles in the room. So where does he want to do. TREASURE. Hey he is a boy after all.

"As you approach the treasure....A spider drops down from the ceiling" He jumps with glee. And the battle rages on per normal dice rules.

That is it, that is the whole game. If he squishes the spider easy. I boost the level of the monster right on the card. Just like a DM does.

What happens? Well, it for one amazing keeps his attention for waaaay longer than I thought. When I played this with his two cousins, who are not gamers by trade, they loved it and wanted to play for hours.

By narrating the monsters in, and not playing with a hand of overlord cards, they get the used to the feel of monsters popping in but don't quite feel like I am playing against them. As a matter of fact I mention I am NOT against them, I am just the storyteller. This helps too.

It really is that easy. As a matter of fact don't worry that the monsters will kill them without overlord cards, the monsters are easy to squish.

Next I intend to use some overlord cards to "help me". And we can ease into using them.

That's it, easy as pie.

Enjoy!

HD

And then there were leeks...

So as you have heard the Breakfast Gaming Club tried out Gates of Loyang thanks to Myriad Games, Netlix Gaming Option.

Man I am so torn on this one. The price is better it is 59.99 and you do get a massive bag of veggie meeples that would probably cost about 40.00 bucks retail. The game play was fun in a boring kind of way. I mean you start out and you are like man, this is boring, and then you get going along and then the game grows on ya. Pun intended. Do I like it better than Rune Wars, hard to say, different type of game. Do I like it better than Agricola? No. Le Havre. No? But I do really want to have it in my collection, but not if no one will play it 3 months from now. I think crazy as this sounds, my group will play it some more. It is not as much a brain buster as Le Havre and Agricola can be, so it has a nice relaxing feel to it.

Had a blast painting up my WM guys again. I need to decide what to paint next. I think I might actually try to do some terrain. I have always wanted to, now I can for my War Machine Battles. Matt Wilson has made just a nice sweet game. I mean the game is smooth. Plays well, plays hard, a good feel when you are done.

Also really looking forward to Stoni hitting level cap too. It will be my first. Still enjoy adventuring in Middle Earth. I am looking forward to Stoni hitting 65 though so I can then play some BioShock II.

Well Brian Aherne is here we are getting lunch!

HD out