By Mark Walters

I have embarked on a new campaign, one that might interest some of you

... I've gotten my wife and kids into the act. We play every Saturday

night week for a few hours on very short little adventure-lets that I

usually write up a couple of hours in advance.

My wife and I are 29, my kids are 5 and 7.

I know what you're thinking ... A 5 and 7 year-old playing AD&D? It's a

lot easier and more fun than you might think. I have to tell them what

to roll, and why, and we've had to simplify the rules a bit to cut down

on the die rolling ... but they have great fun. Their imaginations are

perfectly tuned for role-playing.

The most difficult part of the whole thing is keeping the kids from

getting too excited! They like to shout and carry on when things are

going well, and get up from their chairs to act out their parts.

Our campaign involves very little violence, and quite a bit of humor and

fantasy storytelling. Mom goes along to be the leader of the party but

only butts in when the kids aren't sure what to do (which is actually

quite rare).

We get into a lot of "Good vs. Evil" kind of stuff, which has had a

positive affect on their sense of right and wrong. Naturally, the

entire party is LG. Kids are great at playing Lawful Good characters.

They play fighters (easy to play), and my wife plays a mage.

The adventure we're currently on involves rescuing a kidnapped princess

from the tower of an evil prince. With lots of heavy borrowing from

Rapunzel, Clash of the Titans, and The Princess Bride. Lots of gnomes

(funny to the kids), centaurs, elves, and other things thrown into the

mix.

Even thought he campaign has a decidedly fairy-tale quality to it, my

wife has said that she's enjoying herself, and I admit it's a lot of fun

to DM.

Sure beats watching TV!