DnD For the Kids

Today's post is a bit of a deep topic, but I think it's important to understand moving forward, particularly as we bring the next generation into D&D or TTRPG's in general.  What separates the tabletop from the machine? Our kiddos are coming into this game from a completely different context form whence we started 20 or 30 years ago... Good lord, it hurts to say that. 1992, when I opened the black box for the first time feels like yesterday. Anyway, when we (assuming you are nearly as old as I am) got those polyhedral dice in our hands for the first time, we had never heard of hit points or armor class . We may have read a fantasy book or two, but the class archetypes were nothing that we had codified. We had to learn from the rules that mages were squishy but had the potential to deal out massive damage or status effects on our enemies. Our kids know this. They have experience playing a character role, gaining experience, and watching their hit points in a multitude

So, a lot has come up recently that I want to talk about, but none of it necessitates a whole post. So, what do you get? You get a little ttrpg tapas table of goodness. Without further adieu, on to glory! New [ish] Products First of all, I bring you product reviews. Understand that my early D&D experience looked a lot like Travis Miller's, as outlined here . That said, I try not to focus too heavily on buying stuff. Sometimes, though, I like to buy things. Don't we all? Then, I like to review those things here. Towns & Taverns For Christmas, my wife got me The Dungeon books of Battlemats , which I talked about in my Holiday Gift Guide . Meanwhile, I pre-ordered the Towns and Taverns set from my friendly local game shop,  Comic Store West  because I do a lot of Urban-ish adventuring. My primary, longest running campaign is Waterdeep Dragonheist, and I also have a Saltmarsh campaign, where we spend a lot of time in town.  Again this is a great set. It's portable, ver