One of my son’s plays his character as if he is all that, and tries to hit on the daughter/barmaid or a powerful NPC who runs a tavern/inn. The characters know Olo’ (short for Ologran) is powerful, because they have seen him in a fight and other patrons of the tavern talk about him. He is a retired adventurer who got tired of the risks, but likes to help out other adventurers with good equipment and tries to steer them away from the dangers he knows about that green adventurers should avoid. Although the players are free to ignore his advice….

My son acts like his character is important and the rules of social convention don’t apply to him, so I throw it back in his face, and Olo’, charges him exorbitant prices or ignores him.

My son acts this way IRL, and my attempts to show him this is not right via his interactions with NPCs has caught his attention. Raising children is hard, but this is one way I can get through to him without him suspecting that I am trying to get through to him.

I have the wisdom of years and experience to know how to play the NPCs, in the character of the NPC, and not end up with a scene.

What is funny, is that since we play AD&D, there is training before claiming the skills and abilities of the next level. Olo’ trained him for 2nd level fighter and beat on him pretty good for a couple weeks. He made it to third level fighter and got beat on for three more weeks. He quit hitting on Olo’s daughter, but still tries to talk to Olo’ like he is his equal or his better. Olo’ believes in merit and honor, but is not above an tall tale, or embellishments of his exploits. Those who know him, are never quite sure when Olo’ is telling it straight, or stretching the truth, or just making it up.

I find playing with my sons to have a different quality than playing with my siblings and friends. I find that I am teaching them lessons about life, where the game parallels real life.

It is fun playing with my sons, and we still have moments of laughing at the silliness of some situations or things that happen with dice rolls. In our last session, if I made the initiative roll, I couldn’t hit, but if I lost initiative, I tended to hit.

I have read of other dad’d playing RPGs with their kids of different ages and there is a different aspect of teachable moments at different age levels. The youngest kids, it is about understanding the game, and making good choices about equipment, etc. From my experience, the teaching of teenagers and older, comes in the roleplaying and how they choose to have their characters interact with NPCs.

What sorts of teachable moments have you had with your kids, grandkids, nieces & nephews, etc?