Keep on the Borderlands and my kids

Aside from the propensity to throw the dice too strongly, move figures and terrain around, and scribble on character sheets when I  wasn’t watching the kids surprised me with how well they took to the RPG format of gaming. I was fudging the old Basic D&D rules for the game but will mix in some elements from 4.0 elements when I have time (namely detailing movement in squares instead of feet- easier for a child to count our their squares).

The 8 year old chose to be a warrior princess named Suzana and the 4 year old chose to be a magician princess named Miana Mia. The choosing equipment had a funny moment when I suggested that the magician princess could carry a knife (didn’t want to explain what a dagger was so I said knife) or a staff. She promptly told me that she couldn’t have a knife as knives were dangerous and she wasn’t suppose to play with them. That made the decision simple; staff it was. Since she was a magician princess she got to have a spell so I limited the choice to offensive 1st level spells but not wanting to try to explain "Charm Person" I offered "Magic Missile" and "Sleep" but since magic missile was sort of difficult to explain she sort of settled on sleep and spent most the game threatening to put everyone to sleep.

They made their way to the tavern and ate cheese, apple juice and stew before the bartender asked if they were looking for work. Promptly one said yes and the other said no. It turned out the merchant in the tavern had been robbed by the lizard men and was offering reward for recovering his goods. The princesses traveled to the swamp and searched for the lizard men till they found the lizard men’s mound. One challenged them and told them to go, they demand the stolen stuff back or the lizard men would be put to sleep. The lizard man said no and they he was going to steal all the princesses’ stuff. Suzana the warrior princess decided talk was done and charge the lizard man but four others jumped out of hiding. Miana cast her sleep spell and put 3 of them to sleep. Suzana fought with the leader and the other last lizard man charged Miana and hit her with a spear. The last round of combat saw Miana drop another sleep spell and take out 1 more lizard man and Suzana knocked the last lizard man down with a mighty blow, causing him to surrender.

The princesses made the lizard men return the stolen goods and promise to stop doing bad things before letting them go. However, the game master wouldn’t let them move the wagon without horses. So one stayed with the wagon while the other went back to the castle for horses. Then they got their reward and we ended the session and played Candy Land.