The Family That Games Together

I recently went home to good ‘ole Mississippi last week. My brother was getting married and as a bridesmaid I had to get all dolled up for the event. But whenever the family gets together, one thing is always certain…there will be gaming.

Every time my family gets together we end up having a family game night. I’m not talking about Candyland or Yahtzee.

The Family History

Gaming, from video games to tabletop, has always been something dear to my family. My father has always been a fan of miniatures, painting and playing, so that was one of my first exposures to gaming. I’d watch him and his friends play some Warhammer here and there. I’d see him stay up and paint his miniatures. When I was of age, which was probably seven or eight, it was my turn. I started with some casual video games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Combat, and my parents started to include me in their D&D games. I think my parents knew that they were molding little gamers out of myself and my two older brothers. They knew what they were getting themselves into.

And it begins.

Tthis particular week in Mississippi, we played games of all shapes and sizes, new and old. We started with a bit of Magic TCG where I played my first game of EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander). My brothers coached me, and since I didn’t have my own EDH I got to play one of theirs. I played with the minx Oona, featured to the right, and won. They may have let me win because I can get a little competitive but who knows. I can still gloat.

After that one of my brothers, Alex, mentioned a possible game of Pathfinder over the break. Oh no. Alex, our resident Dungeon Master, has been known to be a very spontaneous DM. Just picture, your character is walking through a field and all of a sudden she randomly explodes ending your game of Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, that spontaneous. Lets just say I was a little apprehensive to play. I pushed the idea to the back of my mind and continued to play Magic.

Stupid Dice.

The next game we played was one called Quarriors! Dice Building Game. Basically, you’re a fierce warrior called a quarrior, and you have the ability to use dragons and wizards to defeat other players with dice. You use your dice to buy the monsters and/or attack with the monsters. It’s a pretty simple game. 

It was after this that we decided to play a “friendly” game of Risk. Everyone knows what Risk is and everyone knows the game isn’t too friendly. Our Risk games could be a separate article all together, so I will shorten it: bloodbath. I will just reiterate that I suck with rolling dice and therefore attacked as little as possible and stayed where I belonged – over in Western Australia hording the purples. In the future I’ll talk about how brutal our games can be, but for now lets just say that there was a little bit of screaming and some rage quits.

A Gnome Riding a Shield.

Alex’s idea to play Pathfinder would just not die. He had gotten the party all ready. We had a half-orc barbarian, a human rogue, we even had the wizard. Oh and a gnome ranger with a giant owl and blue hair. Whose character was that? Well, if I play Pathfinder, I’m playing it with the character I want! I got a couple margaritas in me and was ready to start my first D&D experience in I can’t tell you how long. All in all…it wasn’t so bad. No spontaneous combustions. Mostly me, the gnome, riding on my father’s shield. He was a half-orc barbarian.Yeah it’s pretty cute, not going to lie. I was just pretty disappointed that my gnome couldn’t ride the owl I was bonded to. In future – must play as a halfling.

One great thing about playing Pathfinder with my family is that they know what they are doing. Rolling for initiative, getting all the bonuses, very simple when the people you’re playing with have been doing this for a little less than 20 years.

We didn’t reach the final encounter in our game session. I guess when your party knows how to play properly… you end up interrogating goblins most of the game. We’re planning to Skype the rest of the adventure since we live pretty far away from each other.

If you’re interested in hearing about more gaming adventures with my family please let me know. I’ve started playing World of Warcraft with my father. Father’s Day is right around the corner and it makes him happy. My aunt also plays, so between the three of us I know we’ll have some stories brewing!