Tuesday 6 June 2023

Gael Fairleaf (First RPG Character for a 9 Year Old)

 

This is Gael Fairleaft, a half-elf druid, and the first role-playing character of my nine-year-old daughter. 

A while back, my daughter got interested in the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds book that was sitting on the desk, so I took the opportunity to make a character with her. A couple of days later, I ran her through her first session. This consisted of Gael venturing into a cave, looking for a lost fairy. She found the fairy in a bed of sleep-inducing mushrooms, but managed to rescue the fairy using her wildshape ability to turn into a eagle and lift the fairy out without setting off any mushrooms. Then, a particularly aggressive and mobile fungus chased after her, but she managed to lose it in the caves before making her escape. 

All-in-all, it was a good little session, and my daughter has expressed interest in playing again. Savage Worlds is a pretty easy system for the most part, especially its dice rolling where a '4' is always a success. And I think they've done a great job translating those rules to the high-fantasy Pathfinder setting. We just used pencil and paper for the first session, but I thought it would be fun to use miniatures in the future, at least some of the time. So, I let her pick out a mini from Reaper's website. She actually picked quite a complicated one to paint, but I really enjoyed it (I offered to let her paint it, but she wanted me to do it). 

I'm starting to think about Gael's next adventure. I'm thinking I might have to send her back into the mushroom cave, as I think there a lot of play left there, and I think the mushroom threat works well for younger players. (A lesson taught to us all by Super Mario Brothers!). Plus, I've got some minis I can use.

I'm thinking this could be the gateway to getting my whole family into role-playing. I've bought my son a miniature as well. At 6 years old, I think he'll need the added familiarity of a miniature/game piece representing him.

5 comments:

  1. I've heard nothing but good things about Savage Worlds! I really should check it out someday! 🥹

    I'm loving your scenario ideas; very L. Frank Baum! I hope your daughter enjoys herself and I hope to read more on the exploits of Gael Fairleaf, please! 🥹

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  2. Fantastic! I started my kids on Savage Worlds as well!

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  3. Great looking figure and certainly one that will encourage your daughter to further adventures. I look forward to seeing what you have got for your son too.
    Alan Tradgardland

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  4. It's great that they're interested. Mine are now #1) a huge anime and cosplay nerd (in a nice way) and #2) seriously into dance. But #2 still has a half built and part painted skeleton warband backed up by a couple of plaguebearers. They see a little bit of love from time to time.

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  5. I love this! I'm taking my son (10-11 years old), two friends, and one friend-dad through the Lost Mines of Phandelver (dungeons and dragons) together, and we're having a blast.

    One of the kids is particularly enamored by my collection of minis, dwarven forge, terrain ... etc. and every time I try to run a quick theater-of-the-mind bit (e.g., traveling from place to place, or a quick encounter in a tavern) he vociferously expresses his discontent! I should probably add that he picked the most awkward character to find a mini for: a dwarf bard. Jeez louise did that one take a while to find. :)

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