So the one-on-one game I have going with my son got a little play time last night.
His band (he plays a Wizard, and has a couple hirelings with him) was in a forest, and came to a raging river where I’d placed a rope bridge. His character has a -1 to DEX, so he decided rather than trying to cross the bridge he wanted to spout lore about this area, pulling Clark Lewis’s Journal “A Journey through Darkwood” (which I thought was pure awesome-sauce since he’d learned about Lewis and Clark earlier this year at school) from his Bag of Books and rolling a 7, + 2 (INT) + 1 (for the book) = 10. I told him that not too far upriver, through some thick undergrowth, there was a spot of maybe 25 yards or so where the river actually went underground. Of course he went that way.
It’s interesting to note that if he’d used DEX to Defy Danger his mod roll would have been 6 and we would have fallen into the river and lost some goodies!
I feel it’s SO important to remember to “Play to find out what happens” because I (unfairly) assumed he’d just go with what I gave him (DD with DEX) rather than finding a better solution.
Man, how old is your son, that sounds awesome
He’s 14 and amazes me sometimes with how smart he is, especially for someone who doesn’t read much outside of school and spends a lot of time playing video games!
I asked him why Celebrimbor (his Elf Wizard) would have that particular book in his bag, and his answer was “He figured he’d probably be travelling through Darkwood so he grabbed it off the bookshelf. Unlike me, he reads a LOT dad”.
I’m always amazed at how easily he differentiates his character from himself!
your son is legit goals
He loves learning, but doesn’t really like to read. It’s strange!
He came home from school one day and said “Mr. so-and-so is having us read Magic Kingdom Sold or something and it’s like this fantasy book that I think you’d like”. I replied “Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold by Terry Brooks. Cool book, how far are you?” and he just laughed and said “Well of course you’ve read that!”
Never though of playing one-on-one with my kiddo. He’s 15. He’d probably like it, and it’d be a great way for us to spend some time together!
Now, my son would MUCH rather be playing video games (he’s really into Battlefield 1 right now) but he saw me finishing up a campaign with some friends and thought it looked interesting enough to try. We only play for a couple hours at a time before he has the itch for his PS4 controller.
These are the moments in gaming that I cherish. The roads less traveled.