TOPIC: Kids at True Dungeon

My wife and kids are going to be joining me at GenCon on Friday night for the first time this year. I know that there's a policy to not have kids under 13 play True Dungeon; however, I've had younger kids playing in my groups in several occasions, and I've seen comments here that the age limit ends up being more of a "guideline" than a hard and fast rule. I've seen it work fine on most occasions, with only two exceptions that I can remember. In one case the child was really obnoxious; in the other, the child was great, but he seemed to be getting overrun by the older members of the (pick-up) group.

My daughter will be 11, and my son 9 (8/17, the day we'd be running, is actually his birthday), this year. I was thinking about buying a whole run on Saturday for my wife, kids, and friends to play; there would only be six of us, but I was going to ask a few folks I've played with before to give the other tickets to.

My question, for both those with kids, and those that have run with them, would you recommend this? It's not a huge deal if we don't do it this year, but I thought it would be fun (especially since we're moving this year, and this may be the last chance for my kids to go). Honest feedback is appreciated.

If you buy out the slot and tell folks there are going to be kids along when you sell off the extra tickets I don't really see a problem. I know personally it wouldn't bother anyone in my group.

I would definitely recommend not doing it unless you buy the whole slot and everyone that goes agrees. You are still taking a risk that True Dungeon won't let them in. I know a couple of years ago I brought my nephews, and one of them looks young for his age, and he was very nearly not allowed to participate.

If it weren't for your last line, I'd be tempted to suggest you wait until they're older, but if you're going to take all the tickets in a run, and they may not get to play again (I guess your move is a distance away?), sure, but yeah, you might get some questions going in.

I wouldn't bring kids below 13 unless I had the whole run, either. My thinking is that whoever plays, myself included, spend quite a bit of ca$h for TD, and it really, really isn't a "kid" event. My group has 2 13-yr-olds this year, and I'd be hesitant to even have them on a run that we didn't fill...

Yeah, I wouldn't do it without buying the whole run. We are moving to Raleigh this year; it's not too terribly far, but it's not within reasonable driving distance anymore (we are moving from St. Louis). I might bring them when they are quite a bit older, but that will be dependent upon their interest at that point, too.

I would suggest talking to quip. He has brought his son for a couple years and his son is around that age. Your kids may even enjoy having them join you for the run!

I for one would have no problem. My concerns are more about the darkness and sounds. If they are mature and can handle it then it shouldnt be a problem.

Rafiq

go for it.

if need be I'm sure some of us will happily volunteer to help fill in any run.

I would, so long as I'm not working.

I started TD in 2007 because my younger son (then 12) was amazed by what he read about it. He and I walked up to the starting area at 9 pm on a friday night not having any idea what would happen except that we knew how to play D&D. We asked a few questions and some incredibly nice people told us how to get tickets, generally how it works, and then more nice people allowed us inexperienced strangers to be picked up into their party. Some of the players even gave my son their tokens after the run because he was a kid. That very positive experience cemented our interest in TD. The only resistance and negativity we got was from some forumites who didn't like kids and tried to say it would open TD up for lawsuits and other such nonsense (kids do not have a corner on lawsuits - any idiot can start one).

My suggestion is that as long as you own the run, the rest of it is nobody's business.

On the one hand, age is just a number. Maturity should trump calendar age, so it should be fine.

On the other, there may be legal or insurance considerations. So before investing in tickets I would want to discuss the plan with someone in authority. They could veto everything regardless of what the rest of us say.

Second Binia's comment about Quip - I've run with him and his son several times over the past few years and I gotta say - so long as everyone knows ahead of time and you've got the whole slot to yourself... you should really have a great time! Heck I'd volunteer to go with on a run like that if you were short a spot (provided that I wasn't already booked up or volunteering. I think if the kids are really ready and mom and/or dad are going to supervise - why shouldn't they have the opportunity! (Not to dis the rules... just saying maturity is the key here!) Cheers!

You just moved to Raleigh,I just moved from WI to an hour away from Raleigh!!!!

I would go one step further, I would email Jeff and okay having your kids there.