Re: Re: Low Level Heroquest and Kids

From: Bruce Ferrie <bruceferrie_at_...>
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 10:27:30 +0100

parental_unit_2 wrote:

 >

> 2. Use encounters that are annoying and weird, rather than life-
> threatening. For example, a giant snail that blocks the only path up
> the mountain, and is too big to shift by force. (The kids came up
> with a better solution than I anticipated, tickling its feelers with
> the flechette end of an arrow until it withdrew into its shell).

As an addition to this, though, kids do seem to like kicking monster butt. Now, HeroQuest does score well over certain other systems, because the results of defeats aren't necessarily lethal. It's a lot easier for kids to handle being beaten by a monster if their hero just gets knocked down, or scared off, rather than dying a horrible gruesome death. Sort of like in the cartoons that they're all used.

Alternatively, pick a "non-fighting" sort of setting. As I said, I'm thinking of running a game for my friends' daughter, set in Ancient Egypt. But she's a big fan of Thunderbirds (as is her little brother, but he's a bit too young for gaming, though they do like "rescuing each other" from imaginary things), so running a Thunderbirds type game would probably be great fun for her, and quite positive, with an emphasis n rescuing and do-goodery rather than killing people and taking their stuff.

Regards,

Bruce