Initiating A New Generation

Over the Fourth of July my brother and I broke out the old D&D Basic rules, circa 1983. My nine year old nephew was instantly hooked, and, after our brief and awkward first gaming session demanded for the rest of the week that we continue the adventure. The problem was that I hadn't played with this rules set in about twenty years, which is to say, it was completely alien to me. I'm not sure I ever really knew those rules very well-- our DM back then pretty much handled everything. So, trying to run a game with that rules set was not exactly easy. After a while I decided that I was only keeping the old RPG books for nostalgia's sake-- as collectibles. Not that I'm a D20 expert (obviously), but it is the rules set I am now most familiar with, and frankly I don't have the time or energy to learn a new one (though Castles and Crusades does sound interesting). So....

Anyway, tonight my brother has class and my nephew is in town for the week. So, I'll be picking him(the nephew) up from day camp and watching him until about 9 tonight. I've already seen Harry Potter, have no interest in seeing Transformers, and Ratatouille has been unequivocally claimed by his mom. What to do then? Well, I visited my local game store and got the tyke a late extra birthday present:



So, that's what I'm doing tonight... playing D&D with a nine year old (shouldn't be much of a different dynamic than usual, actually). I figure this set will be basic enough for him to handle, and still be a good introduction to the game.