I rounded up the boys (which includes roughly 50% women) for a Halloween Call of Cthulhu session, and decided to run Night Floors, from the Hastur Mythos as set forth in Delta Green: Countdown. It's been over two years since I last played Call of Cthulhu, and in that time I had forgotten how truely excellent this game is.

Because of the game's age (it is, after all, the oldest game published that is still owned and published by the founding company), the notion of "traditional" scenario plotting is pretty much defined by this game. None of the cool techniques presented by a lot of the indie games published by forge members. It relies strictly on good plotting in the scenario with no railroad tracks (you can't railroad this game easily, because the players react so unpredictably to the events), and a well-prepared GM with an eye for making people wet themselves (I caused a marine sniper to be unable to sleep while on maneuvers).

Player demographics were pretty wide. One very experience player who re-introduced me to roleplaying a few years back and is part of my regular gaming group, one mildly experienced roleplayer who shares my taste for trying new games (part of my playtest group when I'm working on a game), his wife who is best described as a functional mindset (the sort of mind that makes a great clerk or dog trainer, and a lousing writer or computer programmer), and my twelve year old step son to be.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Haster Mythos as presented in Delta Green, it's very different than most Cthulhu. If playing regular Cthulhu is like smoke tea, an adventure using the Delta Green take on Hastur is like eating mushrooms.

So our evening started out with a somewhat onerous investigation, including the cataloging of a deranged packrat's belongings. Strange and somewhat curious things were noted, but the characters are actual not functional until they start to loose sanity. Once they loose sanity, things unfold and doors open (or more specifically, they disappear).

Being as this was so non-traditional, I was a little nervous. Add in the fact that the scenario really had a lot of background material, and I wasn't as prepped as I prefer to be for Cthulhu. So as sanity dropped, I had to fall back on some of my collegiate recreational pharmacology studies to guide things. Given that my step son is scared of beer (he once broke into tears when I offered him one), and my friend's wife has never even been properly sozzled (by properly sozzled, I mean that you have found yourself on the lawn, holding on to a blade of grass so that you didn't fall off the far to rapidly spinning world), it took some work to convey the concept of an altered state of reality.

I seem to have done it, because as my friend's wife lost even more sanity, she seemed to comprehend the new powers of her altered state better, and by the end of the evening she was navigating the warped reality of the night floors like a delusional pro. My future step son also had a great time, and wants to join our regular gaming group now that he can see what it's all about.

That brings up a very serious issue: introducing children into an adult gaming group. This group has been together in one form or another for 12 years or more (I've been with them for five). My step son is twelve, and twelve year olds tend to be boisterous and obnoxious. He is no exception. When the mouth starts, it doesn't stop, and the volume only increases.

If I introduce him to the regular group, I would of course discuss it with them ahead of time. People have been asked to leave the group before when they were too obnoxious. It gets more difficult when the obnoxious person is somebody's child. I don't want to put my friends in that situation. These are the people that I'm inviting to my wedding (and trust me, that list is exclusive - most of my family isn't invited, and I like my family). I'm not interested in jeopardizing the relationship.

So I'm presented with alternatives: introduce my step son to the regular group, after discussing it with them, or start a second, crossover group that looks a lot more like the group in this writeup. If you've managed to keep reading this far, I'd like to read your opionion on it. I haven't made up my own mind yet.

First of all, it sounds like a really awesome game. Glad you guys had fun.

Regarding the issue of the 12 year old, that's a hard one. We are in a similar situation with our 11 year old cousin. She wants to play so desperately, but is on such a different maturity level that it's fun for a while, but gets really frustrating as time goes by. Just because she has not had the life experiences that we've had and her mind works in a completely different way.

I'm sure part of the reason he wants to play with you guys is that you are so super-cool and you've let him be a part of your group. He's 12, after all... My suggestion would be to see if he has any friends who are interested in playing or other people closer to his age to form a group with you as GM (if you're willing to take on the job). They can all be obnoxious together and not really disturb each other, and learn and mature as a group. He'll also have his own group independent of yours that he can take over and run with if it works out.

Include him in your regular group on an occasional basis, with the group's blessing, but keep it at that. Let him get a few more years under his belt before you consider making him part of the group for good.

Hope this helps. Have a great day.

melodie

I think that's a particularly good suggestion - form a kids only group. That group broke up, I suspect due to lack of interest in the sorts of games that a 12 year old can effectively run.

Yeah, kids are kids and adults are adults. It's hard to hang with a kid socially unless they are in some way related to you, and even then they can drive you nuts. The intentions are usually really good, but he'd probably have much more fun with kids his own age.

Once you've got them good with rules and actual play, he could take over if he wants and it would be his group, which includes social aspects as well.

Good luck finding a group of kids who want to play.

melodie