Gaming with Family

Once upon a time, I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons. Solo, mostly. I wasn't the most social kid growing up, but I really loved immersing myself in a fantastic world of imagination. I wasn't exclusively a D&D kid; I played Star Frontiers, Top Secret S.I., Champions, Robotech, even Teenagers from Outer Space. It was a lot of fun, but there was always something missing.

I tried to play with my family once, when I was twelve or thirteen. I spent a couple of days with them rolling up characters for Basic D&D, and I proudly began to run them through the most famous of modules, the Keep on the Borderlands. Unfortunately, the game didn't go so well; it was my first time as a DM, and I was slavishly following the dice. Half the party died before entering the kobold cave, and that was the end of my time gaming with family.

Fast-forward to sixteen years ago, and my oldest son wanted to play. He was about ten years old. This time I found a few other players, and we had a decent little game going as I ran them through a 3rd edition series, the Shackled City. The game ended up on hiatus as one of the players ended up living several hours away for a few months, but he did come back and we continued on. Kameron, my son, played a young sorcerer and had a great time being part of the group. The other players, despite being twice his age or more, accepted him as one of their own, and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the group dissolved when we moved away ourselves, but I gave them a rollicking finale to cut the series short.

When we moved in with my future wife, she was not a gaming fan. And before long, the gaming was done. It was difficult, but I accepted it. I didn't give it up completely, however; I still had projects related to gaming going on, and some of those projects inspired my writing and the books I have published, including the newest one, the first Shadowmage book, Apprentice. But active gaming was off the table.

Things have changed; there is a homeschooling RPG group here on PEI, and my wife has reluctantly agreed to let our middle son, Tanner, play. Tanner is a lot like me; he loves fantasy (not so much science fiction), and reads voraciously. He's currently into the Harry Potter books which, while not my favorites, have sparked his imagination. And, as I've mentioned before, he loves D&D. He wants to get playing again, and I've suggested he ask some of his friends to join in. A group is always better than solo.

If we can get this game going, it's going to be based on the AD&D First Edition rules. I've had a long-standing project going where I've created a campaign setting based on those rules as they evolved over time. The setting is, of course, Meterra, more or less as it appears in my first two fantasy books, Arrival and The Devil's Playground. In fact, the latter is where the game will be set to begin with, in the deadliest labyrinthian setting I could come up with. He's already terrified, so I must have done something right in the books.

I'm really looking forward to showing him what old-school gaming is all about. It's quite a bit different from what he plays on his Xbox, that's for sure. And, as this is related to homeschooling, he might learn something from the experience as well.

Please check out my newest book, just published this weekend.