Adventure games with my Daughter #1: Return to the Contoony
Princess Flower Heart and the Space Penguin Princess Cupcake return
I’ve decided I wanted to make this separate publication to more frequently post about what’s going on in the experimental and indie world of Mythic Mountains, and keep the main blog dedicated to the “big” posts I’ve been doing that take more time and research.
One thing I’ve really wanted to share is the single best adventure gaming experience of my life: beginning to play with my 2 year old daughter.
I say “beginning to play with my 2 year old” but, in truth, she’s 4. I’ve got some play reports to catch up on!
In brief, I play a series of games with my daughter and have for the past couple of years. I did mention some of this in my blog post here.
The Floor Game and the Adventure Game
I separate the games we play into a few big categories. There’s “tabletop games” which are done with little figures and a stuff on our kitchen table usually with others. We play Dolmenwood together a lot that way. And then there’s “floor games”, inspired by the pattern of play and setup of HG Well’s “Floor games” with his own children.
We also play board and even wargames (an unexpected turn.) We mostly play floor games though, and of those there are adventure and story games. (Mentioned in the post previously linked.)
I want to emphasize this is all her doing. While it is the highest point of this hobby for me so far, she has insisted on playing “D&D” (despite me always calling it the ‘adventure game’ and despite her having no other exposure to the brand). She insists on playing, pretty much every day. And for the most part if time allows just 40 minutes we play the adventure game every single day I’m home and not away at work.
Today she wanted to return to something she hasn’t seen in a year and a half. I’m not even sure she had turned 3 yet when she went to the interdimensional space called the “Contoony” (also mentioned in the linked blog post.)
Our approach to the Contoony was more Dreaming Dragonslayer ‘s “Storygame” method if I recall correctly at that time. She get’s emotionally attached to things from even 2 years ago even though she was 4, and she remembers every detail of everything she’s ever seen usually.
I tried to tell her that world had changed, but if she really wanted to go back there, we could. She insisted so we went back to space again.
The first time didn’t go well
I had been planning this game but didn’t have it finished. We actually tried my favorite space adventure game “Traveller” (1977) and it…did not work at all.
I tend to lean very, very heavily on a “Free Kriegspiel” type of approach with my daughter, but how I do that is specific. I use lots and lots of abductive reasoning and fiction, but I depend more on procedures and tables because things move so quickly.
She loves this about old school D&D, and in fact, the preferred game for both of us is simply Original Dungeons and Dragons (1974). I run that game straight from the book for her with ease, and weave in Andrew Lang, Hans Christian Anderson, Tolkien and Grimm with no difficulty.
I figured Traveller would work just as well because of those hygienic procedures that could act as a springboard of choices, meaningful and persistent consequences and the application of fiction to results through abductive reasoning.
Unfortunately, not only was Traveller a bit heavy on hard science for her age (not that I was shying away from that) but it held core gameplay aspects rooted in American Pulp Sci Fi. That meant nearly everyone, including her, was a criminal as a result of Law rolls and interacting with random persons and starships that were authorities. It was unfair, and well, that’s a pretty good representation of the world, but we also live in a world where you can and should usually follow the rules and I want her to know that. Traveller shows the life of a criminal, and that’s a lesson we can look at in the future.
Facing unfair circumstances with monsters makes sense to her, and it’s in the fairy tales I read her. Death, unfairness, fear. All of that is being alive, human and good. But not trusting authorities who are shaking you down at the starport for something you didn’t do? It’s all a bit postmodern and gray for her right now.
I was a bit stumped for a while on what game to use. I considered just using D&D but using parts of Traveller for space, making something of my own, and I looked at things such as Ken St Andre’s “StarFaring.” Of course, any of that is a possible solution, but I’ve found having a strong central axle for things to rotate around is pretty helpful.
I used “Perilous Void” but it was a bit complicated and adult too. I have plenty of other Indie sci fi types of things but they all tend toward the adult and the cynical. What did I have which could be more open and left to my Daughter’s choices, with less of a heavy hand of fiction?
I was surprised to go back through my collection and find my way back near the beginning of my FKR journey: White Star.
White Star: The Space Adventure Game
White Star is of course the masterpiece of James M. Spahn .
At first I didn’t return to White Star because I remembered how bare bones it was (on purpose, and at the time I primarily used the original version). It had character and resolution mechanics I really didn’t need anymore. But out of curiosity I checked.
What I was delighted to find in the “Galaxy Edition” was the back section. In the back is basically everything needed to play out of the book right away, fleshed out planets and sectors, and most importantly procedures for the game. Encounters and events for space, planets and persons.
The tables are flavored more toward a mashup of over the top pop sci fi or space fantasy.
It was perfect. We had rediscovered the perfect space game for her.
Back in Space again
She loves seeking treasure in D&D so much, I decided to pull from Ken St Andre’s game and make the game about finding space crystals which are both valuable, magical and make sci fi stuff work.
I took some little fake gems from another of her favorite board games (with her permission) and tied them to certain encounters and the map.
I kept the sector map open, she didn’t know what was out there.
She started back at the Contoony. Things had changed. In that way I’m a hardcore simulationist. I believe above all in treating the world like a real place. Especially so when playing with her.
The Spider King was sad. She had rung the “in charge gong” and now he was enthralled to her. But they couldn’t leave the Contoony because she had taken the stars to dance with his children. Now they had no gems to leave this interdimensional pocket.
She offers to travel with her Penguin friend into space to find a gem for them.
Then
BAM
(She was dithering a bit so I rolled an encounter check.)
A space rabbit-person called a “Lagomorph” crashed into the Contoony! He had lost the stars to navigate by thanks to her taking them and making them dance with the Spider King’s children!
He blamed her and demanded she pay to fix his ship!
She admitted she didn’t have the money to do so, but perhaps they could go get the gem and then get all of this fixed. He agreed and joined their crew of three.
Immediately upon entering space she had a series of disasters. First she jumped into an asteroid field and started to dodge space rocks!
I gently started throwing stuffies at her in the room and acting like rocks were coming toward her as she laughed and dodged them. I framed some options requiring her to act quickly and she decided to jump again.
This time she jumped near a blackhole. I started to grab her leg and pull her like she was getting sucked into a black hole and she cackled and she started to pretend to push buttons on the starship to get it to jump out again.
Thankfully, she jumped near a mining station. Wouldn’t you know it? They mine space crystals. Her ship was damaged and out of fuel, but they agreed to help her if she would clear some monster out of the mine.
Eventually, she reluctantly agreed to go into the mine and there found a Void Knight.
Now, Princess Flower Heart is familiar enough with The Way and has a Star Sword but they are no match for the mighty Evil Baron. He first tries to corrupt her, offering her 6 of the crystals if she’d only steal them and walk away. When she refuses and tries to fight he puts them all to sleep and steals the crystals he can. They wake up to only find one left. The miners are simply relieved the Dark Knight was gone and helped repair her ship and allowed her to take the crystal as payment (though she did nothing.)
She returned to the spider king, taking fuel on a jungle planet (and taking her little starship and pretending like it was taking off and landing from the paper) along the way and gave them the crystal. Then they had a party.