The purpose of this blog is to provide new and inexperienced players/parents with some tips for running a long adventure with the Hero Kids system. Maybe a little of my background will help you understand why I decided to write this. I love playing games, and I love telling stories. Unfortunately, I never was introduced to any games beyond the standard Milton Bradley variety as I was growing up. It wasn't until I had my own kids that I even discovered that the "non-standard" board games were often more fun than the "standard" ones. I knew that after we had quite a bit of fun with Catan, Castle Panic, and Forbidden Island (and Desert) I wanted to introduce my boys to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Only I had never played it. I had always wanted to, but I neither had friends interested (or experienced) in playing nor the free time to devote to finding and joining a group. During some research I found the Acquisitions Incorporated D&D games to watch and finally had an idea of how to run a game. I didn't know how to write a game or system of rules, though, so I still couldn't play with my kids. I got the D&D 5th edition starter kit and started reading the rules. I knew my kids wouldn't be able to handle that many times without someone already skilled in running games and keeping track of the rules. Plus, the content was completely inappropriate for their age. I began looking for kid-friendly rpg's. After a total of about a year-and-a-half, I finally found Hero Kids. It was perfect. I bought the bundle with all the adventures included. The first adventure, Basement O' Rats, indicates a running time of about 30 minutes. After 2 hours, when we hadn't even made it out of the first room, I realized that they were going to want something more in depth with a bigger plot, multiple linked adventures, and leveling. I wasn't sure how to do this, and so I want back to the research. I couldn't find much on any of those within Hero Kids so I decided to try my own hand at creating a story. I'm finding that to be quite fun and my boys are loving it more than they would if they started over every time.
I know that there are kids out there that are ready for a longer form campaign. I hope this makes that idea a less daunting endeavor for those inexperienced Game Masters out there. Take this in it's entirety, piece by piece, or use the ideas to generate your own adventure completely.
A couple of notes:
I won't include any major portions of any of the already written adventures by Justin Halliday or enough of the rules to run the game without purchasing it. This is out of respect for Justin and the product he created that has brought my boys and me so much enjoyment.
It took us over 9 hours to complete Basement O' Rats. One session lasted over 4 hours. That's probably a bit abnormal. My ADHD boys of 10 and 7 would not let me quit. Don't worry if the kids in your games don't last more than 30 minutes.
I've bought 3D papercraft modeling stuff for maps and games. I'll post pictures, but ... and I can't stress this enough ... none of it is necessary for the game. None of it. I ran a small size adventure for one of the boys that involved 1 map of the inn. That was it. He loved it as much as the stuff we do now.
Have fun. Tell stories. Have fun.
Happy gaming.
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