^{Originally published on BabyCenter.com March 9, 2016}

I don’t try to get my kids interested in my hobbies, but it’s inevitable to a certain degree. I spend time watching Little Einsteins and drinking imaginary tea, and in turn they want to join in my card games and help me write. That’s how they got involved in a role-playing game with me this past weekend.

My son asked for a picture of a zombie, but the printer kept jamming so I couldn’t give him one. Instead, I reached into my copy of the Pathfinder Beginner Box and gave him a stand-up counter of a zombie. The fact that I had this stuff on hand stirred up his curiosity in a huge way.

I figured the Beginner Box would be fun to play with my kids sometime, but I didn’t image it would happen at 4 and 2. It does have a lot of cool stuff, though — funny-shaped dice, pictures of heroes, and cool-looking maps. The more they looked at it, the more both kids wanted to play.

The game is made for preteens, so I had to simplify the rules. The basic concept, though, is easy to understand — tell me what you want your character to do, roll a die, and I’ll tell you if you were successful. The most important rule is to have fun and do whatever you want.

The choice of characters was interesting. My wife played a rogue, our friend played a fighter. Not knowing the formal roles in the game, the kids picked out their favorite counters. Our son played his zombie — a good zombie, he emphasized. Our daughter picked out the piece that looked most like a princess.

The selection of the princess led to a bit of dismay on my part when our son asked, “So we need to save her, then?” It’s a tad disheartening that even at four years old, kids connect “princess” with “damsel in distress.”

As the princess showed when the game started, though, she could handle herself. Our daughter consistently chose two actions — kicking things and shooting them with a magic wand. The goblins and spiders in the cave the adventure occurred in didn’t stand a chance.

Our son’s zombie focused on eating monster’s brains, but also showed the most variety in his actions. He drank from a magic fountain (which made him sick — a result that almost had the poor guy in tears until we explained that it wasn’t a big deal) and later helped some goblins defeat an evil zombie.

As the group continued exploring the map, I was happy to find that the good zombie had a diplomatic streak in him. Instead of fighting with some goblins, he asked to make friends with them. This got the group a capering green-skinned sidekick, who turned out handy at the adventure’s climax.

The group came upon a deadly dragon, who attacked them. The goblin…ran away. Why did he run away? Because my son wanted to recruit more friends to help. The goblin returned shortly afterward with a new friend: a giant spider that caught the dragon in its web and helped defeat the monster.

The kids really couldn’t tell you thing one about the rules of the game we played, but that doesn’t really matter. They got the most important part of the game down pat: Use your imagination, and don’t be afraid to do something interesting and unusual.

The game was chaotic but very fun. My biggest points of pride came from our daughter proving that princesses can kick butt too and our son deciding that zombies could not only be good guys, but that they could make unusual friends. A good time was had by all, and that’s what matters most.

_{Featured Image: Sarah Brooks}