February 4, 2010

Jididanondaidtopa - My Son's First RPG Character

Last month, I reviewed a game called Faery Tales, an RPG aimed at introducing the hobby to kids. My son, age 5, and I have been slowing reading through the introductory book together. He's genuinely interested in playing, dispite the absence of light sabers, lego batmen, or sponge bobs - which is encouraging. We haven't really started playing an earnest campaign yet - but we have been talking about his "character" and what he does and what his abilities are.

And this is the part that cracks me up.

His faery character is a sprite - the only stock sword and board style faery you can play in the game. I asked him to write down his character's name and to draw a picture of him. The result was a total genre mashup of faery + things that explode + ninjas + cookie cutters (?!). I'm at a loss of words, so I'll just leave you with the snap shot of his illustration...

I added the inset descriptions with the arrows, according to my sons description. "Exploding Sword that Throws Bombs" is priceless. And yes, the character's name is Jididanondaidtopa. I have no idea what the heck that is supposed to mean. And no, "there's no nickname daddy - you have to say the whole name every time..." 

I don't know if i should be proud, scared, or both...

9 comments:

  1. It's cute...I vote for being proud :)

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  2. There is a level of genius to your son. "You've made me read this book of RULES, I'm going to get back at you by playing the system against you. My character (which I own, it is mine) does not shorten his name.

    Kids 1. Adults 0.

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  3. Hahahahaha...that's brilliant. Scary, yes, but brilliant.

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  4. there's no nickname daddy - you have to say the whole name every time

    Now that is priceless. Jididanondaidtopa, say it with me jidida-nonda-idtopa! The idtopa bit is somewhat clumsy but the rest just rolls off your tongue. Funny stuff.

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  5. Sounds awesome. I have a five year old as well, and might be interested in trying out this Faery Tales game too. I look forward your sharing any experiences you have with the game mechanics.

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  6. Sounds good! I just had an artist friend of mine email me a sketch adaptation of my sons illustration.. LOL!!

    @Brian -- looks like we are neighbors! (checked out your blogger profile). I just finished a postdoc at the NIH a little over a year ago.

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  7. I've been playing Faery's Tale with my 8 and 5 year old girls (and my wife!), and it is a lot of fun. You can easily tailor the game to have less crunch and more fluff. Plus you can do a whole session in an hour or less, which is a good length for kids.

    Have fun!

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  8. Rob Torno, and artist I know through Nevermet Press, has taken upon himself to ink up an illustration of Jadida-nonda-idtopa; for use as a coloring page for my son. I've seen the sketch, it's awesome - even includes the cookie cutter on the pixie's forehead... I'll post it on TCM once Rob sends me the final ink.

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  9. Awesome!

    This reminds me of Axe Cop. Are you reading that? It's a comic written by a 5-year old boy and illustrated by his 30-year old brother.

    www.axecop.com

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