Beginner's guide RSS

Board games and role-playing games procure many benefits all while allowing us to spend quality time with friends and family. They can teach us many valuable skills as children and as adults: strategy, patience, math, logic, history, empathy and much more. They give us opportunity to connect through a shared interest, make new friends or learn more about them.

Sometimes we have time to indulge in these pastimes but no one to play with. Other hobbies can fill that gap. They exist to provide what some call “me time”. Reading, writing, running, gardening, painting are futile for some and necessary for others. Certain people like to look for additional hobbies that relate closely to their passion for games. Fun things that they can ultimately integrate into their gaming sessions. Things like painting small figurines with small brushes and lots of patience. It sounds challenging but it is also very relaxing!

Discovering a new hobby is an exciting and empowering experience but it can also make you feel clueless. "Where do I start?" is usually my personal reaction. Taking your first steps into a new world can be intimidating, especially when it comes to tabletop games.  Playing with your family is one thing but finding a group outside that circle of trust has its challenges. Ultimately it takes a bit of courage, a leap of faith so to speak. I always say: "The water doesn’t stay cold for long once you start swimming!". You will quickly realize that all tabletop players have...

Summer is over and with it our first family adventure in the Forgotten Realms. As I introduced my kids to tabletop role playing games, I rediscovered the joys and intricacies of DM’ing, or GM’ing, call it what you want. My 9 and 12 year olds have lived through their first exploits as characters that live only on paper and in our small gaming group’s collective imagination.Was it a resounding success? A flawless exercise in make believe? Did we capture lightning in a bottle? At times, it certainly felt that way while on other instances the magic was missing and we...

Summer is here and for many it means a long or even very long holiday. That is the case for our kids and since we obviously cannot go away for nine weeks, we have been looking for activities to keep them busy with. Some are things they can do by themselves and others we do with them. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I had planned to introduce them to tabletop roleplaying and I am happy to report that, indeed, I am running a game as Dungeon Master (DM) for the first time in a great number of...