Hi All,
Yesterday I introduced my girls to Heroquest, at the tender ages of 7 and 9 they have mithered me for the last year to let them play. They are of course far more accomplished at role playing than any adult, as they do it in almost every game they play.
My oldest daughter had spent days on her character, she drew pictures, wrote stories and developed complex abilities for Emmiludu the Sorceress, a Unicorn rider from the dark forest of Hallam's Wood, who was orphaned as a child and was raised by the elves of the forest. Her winged cloak, twin swords and cunning potions were lovingly drawn in detail. Although my favourite ability of the character was "Bizarre but stunning haircut".
My youngest produced Sarah the Dragon Rider, like her big sister's character this was a magically inclined character, but with a more martial bent. Her dragon Emily was a cowardly beast, who enjoyed nothing better than a good hot curry at which Sarah was accomplished in producing. My daughter created a good backstory, a clan of dragon riders who lived in a smoky castle and would come to her aid in the direst of need.
I initially kept the story simple, they girls had been called to aid in the rescue of Matilda the mayor's daughter. The girl was supposed to have wandered into the forest with a local boy and not been seen again. However the story quickly became more complex as I began to realise that the girls could cope with more complex plots. In fact the mayor was being blackmailed by a troll called White-Eye, she had never gone to the forest but had been snatched from the river, Norbert her boyfriend was a river man. The girls hunted for clues, confronted the Mayor about his secrets, and set upon a quest to find White-Eyes lair. They befriended the local Marsh people and traded with them to look after the Unicorn, before assaulting the island.
White-Eye was a big gruff fairy tale troll, all threats of stew pots and bashes on the heads with his club. He was aided by four goblins Flinch a Magician, Squinch and Grinch both Warriors, and Pinch a Thief. At first the battle went well, I decided that all violence would be comedic, non-violent and in the manner of a good fairy tale. The HQ mechanic works wonderfully for this, all as I had to do was describe the defeats in an appropriate manner, so Grinch had his bum burned by the dragon and ran away etc. However as in all good stories the girls were temporarily defeated, captured in nets and hung up in a cage in White-Eye's cave. Matilda was a slave in the trolls kitchen and not too happy with the girls. The girls realised that they could use their small and skinny skills to wriggle out of the cage after several other escape attempts failed. They fought the goblins, this time victorious.
The final battle between White-Eye was handled by my youngest, she pulled off a complete victory, pinning the troll to the wall with her sword and demanding that he leave the kingdom forever. In true roleplayer fashion the girls looted the dungeon and rescued the girl.
I used simple contests in the main, we did a couple of augments and hero points were a mechanic they both understood easily. Okay so this wasn't Glorantha, but the game was great. It took less than an hour, which was long enough for both girls, but they desperately want to play again. They readily burned hero points to develop relationships with Matilda, the Marsh People and the Town's People. They quickly followed the mechanics, the rules of gaming and Heroquest let me run "Thier kind of game" rather than forcing them to play my kind of game.
I heartily recommend you try this with your kids, even if it is just to have an hour of solid attention with lots of laughter, smiles and gasps. My youngest daugter has literacy and speech problems, but I am convinced that the game brought out strengths I have never seen in her before. I cannot wait until next time.
Simon
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