About a year ago, I read little bits of this fantasy Choose Your Own Adventure book to my eldest daughter, Briella. Though we both found it mildly intriguing, that particular book - though it came highly recommended - didn't really trip our triggers.
Over the last few weeks, I dropped hints that I was thinking about ordering another CYOA book. One that I remember fondly from my youth - Zork. I also was able to talk Briella and her sister into watching The Hobbit (animated version) - which they both enjoyed.
Briella is 5 and 1/2 now and really wanted me to find the CYOA book we already have. I couldn't find it, but I told her that we could still make characters and play Dungeons & Dragons. We looked over a few entries in the AD&D Monster Manual to get things going.
Eventually, Briella said yes and a bit later, so did her sister, Illyria, who is 4. Hey, if I could teach them to play poker - which I did last week - then I could guide their imaginations to a sword & sorcery dungeoncrawl!
While the twin boys slept, our 18 month old, Trinity, needed to be watched (very closely). So, we enlisted her help, too.
It seemed obvious to me that I'd have to simplify the rules. More on that later...
Briella's character was named Nyla. She's a human who can turn into a mermaid or fairy. A magic-user wielding a wand named Lyra; the wand can turn into a sword with a poison blade. Nyla can also become invisible and be very fast when she wants (I talked her down from "every power in the galaxy"). She wears a rainbow sparkly dress and her familiar is a pet ghost bunny who wears a little bell named Skippy.
Illyria's character was named Starry, a mermaid princess with diamond wings. She had the magical power of transformation, and wore a short pink dress decorated with snow flakes.
Briella wanted me to explore the dungeon with her, so I not only DMed but played a human fighter named Jorr. He wore all black and wielded a two-handed sword.
I told Briella that our characters were traveling through the forest. I asked her why we might be traveling and she said to kill monsters. Fair enough.
Just then we noticed a steel door barely noticeable through all the branches. The door had ancient writing upon it - runes. Jorr suggested we have the thief check the door for traps. I rolled for Trinity and got a 1. She didn't detect any traps, which was a pity because I had already decided that the door's runes were trapped.
Nyla volunteered Madison to open the door. The pixie-fairy was blasted back 10' and took a point of damage. Ok, time to share some rules...
Anytime a PC wants to do something within his power, he rolls a d6. If the result is a 3 or higher, he succeeds. If the result is a 1 or 2, he fails. Enemies, NPCs, and monsters usually require a 5 or 6 to succeed - unless they are quite powerful. Each successful hit is a point of damage and most low-level monsters and such only have a single hit point. The PCs each have 3.
To the east and then south, there was a triangular room containing a green slime blocking the way to three alcoves in the far wall. Perched upon the middle alcove was a demonic idol with ruby eyes.
Nyla used her wand / magic poisonous blade to destroy the green slime, and then we took the idol. There was some talk of not taking it, just in case it was cursed. But our party's greed won out.
Further to the east was a grand, hexagonal chamber where 6 priests in robes stood in front of a tremendous black hole in the far wall. One of the priests blew into a horn. I used the cardboard paper-towel roll to make the sound... and it was impressive.
Not knowing what was going on, Nyla asked one of the priests what they were doing. Summoning Demogorgon, of course! Since Demogorgon was one of the things we read about in the Monster Manual, Briella realized he was bad news - especially when the cultists (!) went on about using him to destroy the world.
Jorr and Starry missed the first round. With 6 opponents and a few lucky rolls, it didn't take long for them to whittle Nyla's hit points down to zero. She died, and the cultists soon followed. It looked like Briella might cry, but she didn't.
The survivors looted their bodies, finding 32 gold pieces and that magical horn of demon summoning.
The adventurers decided to leave the dungeon and go back to town in order to find a temple so that Nyla could be revived. It only cost us 32 gold.
Our party came upon a circular room with a pool in its center. The pool was filled with an iridescent water which Starry decided to fill in a glass container and take with us.
Walking south, we encountered a square room with 3 goblins guarding a treasure chest. They were easily dispatched. Our thief checked for traps on the chest and found it to be trapped indeed. She disarmed it and we pocketed 930 pieces of gold.
A door to the east led to a long, rectangular room containing 4 skeletons with swords. Jorr and Starry each took a point of damage before dispatching the undead.
The room seemed to be a dead-end... until our thief checked for secret doors and discovered a triangular room to the north. It contained a marble statue of a beautiful woman - possibly Athena.
Starry wanted a closer look. Examining the statue, she found a button at the statue's base. She pushed it and the statue slid across the floor, revealing a spiral staircase leading downward.
We walked down and entered an octagonal chamber with a door at each cardinal direction. Starry opened the door to the south only to discover the hallway led to a dead-end, and tripped a trap as she did. A red laser blast shot down the hall, striking Starry. She was now down to 1 hit point.
At that point we had to call it a day and get on with our Christmas Eve activities. It was a fun-filled hour of D&D (though, more like Crimson Dragon Slayer for children).
Though Briella frequently gets discouraged when things get hard, I find that she eventually gathers her willpower to fight another day, struggling against opposition until she's successful. I'm confident that she'll be interested in playing again soon.
Thanks for reading,
VS
