Shadows

[lumpley]

My 5-year-old Sebastian and I have been playing Shadows.  (Uh, let's see: Shadows.)  We're playing it without tokens, just very simply with the two dice.  We've played two sessions.  He loves it, he'd play it every day and twice on Sunday if his dad were up to it.

It's harder to run for me than I'd maybe think.  My poor old brain has a hard time keeping up with his younger, quicker, sharper, unfettered by a job and the cares of the world one.

He's smart and very literal, Sebastian.  He decided right away that what his character should do is ditch this shadow thing, as all it wants to do is get him in trouble.  So when he encountered gnomes in his living room, he enlisted them to help him build a spaceship (with parts he looked for and -- despite his shadow's efforts -- found in the basement) to go to some planet where the shadow couldn't survive.  He was a little irritated that his shadow went with him, but adapted quickly.  Now he's philosophical about it, off exploring strange worlds, and if his shadow comes along, whatcha gonna do?

I didn't intend for him to think of the shadow as an actual element in game.  Threw me for the first of many loops.

When I ask him what he wants and what his shadow wants, and remind him that his shadow wants to get him in trouble, still usually his shadow just wants him to fail.  I think it's because he's never really "in trouble" himself.  I'm betting that what he thinks of is Junkyard Wars: "Only an hour left!  They're really in trouble now.  Can they do it?"  (Actually, until we started playing this, I hadn't realized how much his imaginitive life has been influenced by Junkyard Wars.)  But give it a couple years.  He goes to school this fall, he's sure to learn all about getting in trouble.

Anyhow.  Great game, Zak!  Thanks!

-Vincent

Oh, I'm crossposting this to the kids-rpg Yahoo group.  Hope nobody minds.

[Zak Arntson]

Woot! It'll be interesting to watch him grow and change his mind about the Shadow and "trouble" concepts. The Shadow can be anything tangible or intangible, and I noticed that my six and ten year old kids began thinking of their Shadow as a real thing. But as soon as play started they revelled way more in coming up with trouble. You could try suggesting Shadow outcomes with more of a trouble aspect? But then, you know your kid and how to produce maximum fun way more than I do!

Lastly, I really like the shift from Shadow-as-enemy to Shadow-as-fact-of-life. Oh, and the planet-where-my-Shadow-can't-live idea. I'm looking forward to hearing more of your game, if you have time to post.

Thanks for playing!

(Crossposting is fine with me. Did you put a link to Shadows?)

[lumpley]

Hey Zak.

I sure did put a link.  It's generated at least one hit and a guy who says "wicked cool."

I'll let you know other people's comments too if you want.

-Vincent

[Zak Arntson]

I went ahead and joined the group. Thanks for pointing it out!

[Emily Care]

Each shadow is a self-generated non-primary play character that the player uses to protagonize their main character.

cool!

added after a bit more thought:
Well, since the shadow may not function as a "character" per se in the world, maybe it's more of an embodiment of Murphy's law, but it seems like the whole reason it's there is to give each character a chance to overcome difficulties.  It's particularly impressive that you've managed to help people do this to his or her own self.

My hat goes off to you, Zak. :)

--Emily Care