A little while ago I was playing a simplified version of DnD with my 6 year old nephew. He had a great time, and when it was over, he wanted to play again. But, it was a little late, so we both sat on the couch and I made up this other game called "3 Spells." The premise was very simple. You are an apprentice wizard, and you only know 3 basic (and silly) spells. As the story teller, I gave him some scenarios to overcome, and the only way to do it was to use the spells that he knew.
In this game, he had the following spells:
1) Make a little rain cloud that can rain on something.
2) Turn himself into a little girl. (I was curious to see how he would use this.)
3) Turn invisible (his choice).
It was a lot of fun. He turned invisible to get to the dragon, and used the rain cloud so that he wouldn't get burned. With very little rules, it was all about creativity, and he showed a lot of it. At one point, I said he was on the way to the dragon and ran out of food and water. I assumed he would use the rain cloud to get some water, but he had something else entirely in mind. He turned himself into a little girl and went up to everyone saying, "I am lost, I can't find my parents, and I am hungry. Can I have some food?" I couldn't stop laughing, and we both had a great time.
The problem was that afterwards, he wanted to play again, but I couldn't think of any spells off the top of my head. So, I was thinking I ask the forum. If there are enough spells, I could just make a deck of them, and he could draw three at the beginning of the game.
I was also possibly thinking about making a small deck of obstacles, so that we can play together, and I don;t have to be the one telling the story. With more people, you could also add in some basic rules, for example, you can only use each spell once. This could really get the creative juices flowing.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
That's brilliant.
You might want to check out a game called Gentlemen Thieves (I think) which has a very similar kind of thing going on - you have to break into other people's vaults to steal their treasure, narrating how you use the items you have to get past their defences. Not for a 6-year-old possibly, but I was immediately reminded of it.
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
Hmm... Sounds like a good game for kids.
Spell ideas:
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
My daughter and I used to do stories like that a lot. She was always a princess and she would get different powers. She could make a rainbow anywhere, she could make anything into a pony and she could throw apple pie at your face. Sadly she got into sports and we don't play that much anymore, but she is a good little footballer.
She'll still make a throwing motion and yell "Apple pie on your face!" when I'm acting silly.
For my spells I would take D&D style spells and make them less impressive. The rain cloud is an awesome spell, I used to be able to make a small light, look around corners, see in the dark, tickle things from range, make an echo, throw a snowball, summon fireworks, turn into a mouse, make someone sneeze, and make anything smell like flowers. (That last one really annoyed the Trolls)
She would often come up with great uses for my spells, and often steal them for herself in a later story.
Wow! Lot's of great ideas here. Keep them coming...please.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
“You gotta have blue hair."
-Reckless
What kind of unholy powers are you peddling?
Next thing we know you'll be telling us about this great opportunity waiting for us if we join Ronway.
Oh, a variant on that sneeze spell:
Make any target allergic to something else. My daughter made a door allergic to the wall, it sneezed open.
Haha!
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
Anyone up for trying some of these ideas here? We just need one storyteller and a few players.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
I would be interested in this :D
“You gotta have blue hair."
-Reckless
I don't know what makes me different and I don't care. Maybe it's not my problem, but why do they stare? - The Living End, Strange
Great opportunities await those who seek enrichment by following The Way of the Ronway. We follow a simple guideline that was developed to enhance the experience of life. If you are looking to get the best of life, make plans to visit your local Way of the Ronway recruitment center.
Haha. Ronway sounds just like my mom used to say "wrong way" (with a heavy Spanish accent).
"No mijo... donn go ther... dats thee ronway!!"
You sure she wasn't saying Ronway this entire time?
OMGYES!
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
I could give it a go, unless someone else wants to run the story.
I don't know if we would want a more serious story or a silly one, mine have always been with my daughter so they always involved kittens, dragons, princesses, little bear and lots of silliness.
Sounds perfect. Everything's better with kittens and dragons and princesses and little bear and silliness!
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
The more ridiculous the spells the better too. Nothing that has obvious uses
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
This does indeed sound fun :D. Many of the spell ideas people have suggested have reminded me of various magic talents from the Xanth series. Let me see if I can suggest some random abilities myself...
Cause a few words/lines of text (or an image) to appear on the wall
Be able to make a certain animal noise, or force someone else to do so (so they can only, for example, quack like a duck instead of using words)
Turn part of your body (or someone else's) into that of another species (eg your feet into horse hooves or your ears into those of a cat)
Cause an illusory hole to appear in the ground
Cause an actual hole to appear in the ground
Change a plant or creature into a different but related species (eg a lion into a tiger, an oak tree into a horse chestnut)
Be able to stack up dice/pebbles etc without them falling over
Remove all light from the surrounding area
Cause everyone to have a certain response (eg say a certain phrase, stop to tie their shoelaces, dance a little jig) whenever you say a particular word/phrase (good for distracting guards or something ;))
Summon your own theme music whenever you enter a room full of people
Change the appearance/colour of your clothing (change your clothes without actually...changing your clothes! ;))
Omg I could go on, but it's half past one so probably should stop and finish checking my forums so I can go to bed ;).
I am the Wordweaver...
Basically, I like writing stuff ;)
I was going to volunteer you, anyways. Right now, we have:
StoryTeller: phantaskippy
Players:
BluehairedMeerkat
Silverleaf
Me
Anyone else want in?
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
I'll play
I don't know what makes me different and I don't care. Maybe it's not my problem, but why do they stare? - The Living End, Strange
OK, I'll do a round.
Will be up soon. I will need to limit the number to four people.
Any rules or guidelines for this game?
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
There will be,
There. Will. Be.
(Duh duh duh!)
Me-me-me-me-me-me! Wants to play teh game plzzzz! ;)
I am the Wordweaver...
Basically, I like writing stuff ;)
Let's say I want to put these ideas onto cards, anyone know the best way? Is there some template I can just type these up in and print them out?
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
I'd be up for this as well. Maybe we could get two groups going?
The space/time continuum was broken when I got here. Honest.