Much to Codename: The Wife’s chargin my three-year-old daughter has expressed an interest in gaming after watching/sitting in on a few of my older daughter’s Swords & Wizardry game (if you want some details on this game listen to the latest Save or Die‘s e-mail section). Being that she is only three (a rather smart three-year-old but none-the-less, three) I figured I would play a game of +Justin Halliday‘s Hero Kids with her.
I didn’t use a specific adventure or even give her a character, I just gave her the dice and gave myself some and told her she was in a large castle that was dark and spooky. Much of the twenty minutes of game was exploration and puzzle solving. However, near the end she looked under a bed and was attacked by a giant evil cat (with only one, yucky yellow eye). My daughter bolted, running from the cat at top speed. Unfortunately she ran into a dead end, and was trapped by the cat.
“What do you, Roe?”
“I … I make a fairy appear!”
“Ummm …”
“A Fairy … like Tinkerbell!”
I was a little stunned, I figured she’d attack it or cast a normalish spell since she likes fantasy stuff … nope, she summons a fairy. I didn’t want to break flow so I just rolled with it.
“Okay, Roe.” Hand her the dice. “Roll!”
She an I both roll, her magic (I decided) was 2 dice and the Cat’s defense was 1 dice. My daughter won with a 6 and 5 over my 2. She summoned the fairy.
“Okay, Roe … now you have to tell the fairy what you want it to do and roll again.”
She rolls first … because hey my kids and following directions … ha!
I roll too and get another 2.
“Okay fairy!” My daughter says and points into the open air. “Make kitty nice!”
The fairy shoots forward, sprinkling the cat with magic as it circles around it. The cat only has on life block so the “attack” works and the large evil cat transforms into a cute little kitten. The fairy returned to my daughter and vanished. The game ended with her picking up the kitten and petting it.
I was a fun little game and Hero Kids works especially well with such stream of thought gaming … my daughter left the table telling me she wants to make a dragon appear next time … oh boy.
So now my daughter is watching/playing with her MLP: FiM toys and I’m sitting at my desk trying to figure out some bloody rules for a summoner hero for Hero Kids!
Post Script – I’m thinking of using the Pet Cards Justin has already released and allowing the player to pick six pets. If the player’s magic outshines the defender’s defense the summon is successful and the pet comes into play.
A Summoner can only have one pet at a time and can make no attacks while the pet is in play.
Attack: Summon Pet
Special Actions: Quick Call – Call your pet to you. It heads in a straight line to your side, making 1 dice attacks to all enemies between the two of you.
Bonus Actions: Best Friends – Gain 1 extra dice to defense when adjacent to summoned pet.
Inventory and Skills: Lore (animals), Food, Food, Gold
