...in which my daughter makes me play her Untitled Goose Game map

So the other day I threw together an impromptu game session for my ten year old daughter, using the video game Untitled Goose Game as a base, and we had a blast.

Yesterday, she wanted to continue playing, but on the "north part" of the map, also known as the part of the map I hadn't drawn. Always eager to keep her interest up, I suggested that she also drew something while I was finishing the map for our game. So we sat down at the kitchen table with pen and paper (and crisps) (for continued motivation), and started drawing.

After a while she put down her pen and said: "Ok, my game map is finished, we're gonna play it first."

So apparently the game plan for the night had changed - she was so pleased with her map, she decided to be the game master, and naturally, I had to roll up a character.

A goose, naturally.

Character creation in her game started with me choosing one of several goose stickers, laid out in front of me:

 

(I picked the one in the upper-left corner.)

Then, I had to name it (naturally). I choose the name "Glåse" (like "Goosey", but with an L thrown in, so more like, eh, "Gloosey"...?).

I then asked if I should roll for any attributes. Yes! Of course! She started to name them, three in all, and then paused.

"You know," I said, "in some RPGs you only have three attributes, and in some, you have like...twentyfive."

(I didn't want her to limit herself to mimic my game from the other day.)

Which did the trick, because then she started to name attribute after attribute. This is my character sheet:

The attributes (to the left in the picture) are, in order from top to bottom:

• NAME
• RUN (as a noun)
• BEAK
• FEATHERS
• NECK
• EYESIGHT
• EAT (as a noun...?)
• CLUMSINESS
  

The last one was a secret attribute at first; she just gave me another set of dice and told me to roll. But then she couldn't keep it in, so she told me that it was clumsiness.

Oh, and I had to track hunger and thirst as well (middle column in the picture; "Hunger" and "Törst". The comment on the top is just "Likes grapes"). These were percentages, starting at 100, and going up and down whenever she remembered to...

After character creation, she revealed her map:

The lines are a bit bleak here and there, because she updated it during the game (as in: with eraser).

The map is of an apartment, seen from above. The entrance is the door in the top-middle with the cat door. Almost invisible square in the top-left is the bathroom (the door is the thicker line). There were two people (sorry, silhouettes) in a sofa behind a thin cloth. The thing next to the sofa is a waste bin with something that smells "sweet and nasty at the same time" (you can see the traced "smell lines" spreading all the way to the front door).

Apparently, Glåse was hanging around outside the apartment (as geese do, we all know that), when he suddenly found a piece of bread outside the apartment, and naturally, he took it, and entered through the cat door.

I started exploring, and just as in our previous game, investigating an area meant turning the paper over to reveal a "zoomed in" view, with more details:

 

We played for an hour or so, and in the end my inventory consisted of (the square boxes on the character sheet):

• Winter hat
• Two slices of bread
• Canned food (never got to open it, so don't know what's inside)
• Two slices of bacon (was three; Glåse ate one)
• Half a sponge cake
• Frog plushie
  

Glåse ended the session with having met yet another goose in the apartment, that had a secret, cosy den/nest, where they both went to bed (it's hard being a goose).

We had great fun, and it was impressive to see her improvise so freely.

HONK HONK.

 

(Oh, and the "sweet and smelly" thing in the waste bin? Turned out to be the sponge and a poop bag next to each other. "But it's ok!" she said, "the sponge is in a bag!")

Untitled Goose Game as base for my daughter's game

So, the other night, my ten year old daughter wanted to play some RPG, with me as the game master for once.

"And do a map!"

"Of course! Yes yes..." (slightly panicking, trying to hurry up before she loses interest)

She's not a big fan (yet...?!) of classic fantasy tropes, i.e. wizards and hobbits, so I just ran with what I know she loves - namely the video game Untitled Goose Game.

And since we've played that game more than it deserves, sketching a map that resembles the same layout wasn't so hard (the LAYOUT, not graphics - I still draw like crap). Here's the map:

So if you've played the game I hope you recognise the starting point at the lower left part of the map (indicated by the crude X). I took some liberty with the water (e.g. the thing that looks like a snake in the picture, that's swallowed something big) because I wanted it to be a bigger challenge than in the game (i.e. deeper and with more interaction).

The farmer is still there in the centre, with the gate and everything, but the houses are new.

We made a quick character sheet:

Since Swedish seems to be not as widespread as I'd like, the attributes are named from top to bottom:

• NAME (the name "måse" roughly translates to "goosy" or something, as in "the goose goosy")
• BEAK
• WINGS
• QUICK

All attributes were rolled using d20 + d10 (I believe, we just grabbed two dice). Checks are roll-under with the same dice.

The boxes to the right are inventory slots, and the small number inside the slot indicates where on the map the item was found. Måse currently holds (going from top-left): a fork, a sausage, paper tissues (e.g. Kleenex), a bag of crisps (I think - although Måse ate it halfway through the game which explains why it is slightly erased in the image), two zucchini (nicked from the farmer of course), and half a sausage.

We decided that the inventory slots defined what the goose could hold under its wings without dropping anything.

Oh, and on the back of the map we had zoomed in view of the stuff found at various sites (almost like an old Sierra game):

 

So for example, at site 1 (located at the bridge just across the water from the starting point), there were cutlery and a necklace with something shiny, which I expected her to grab.

So she took the fork, of course.

All in all, a fun session. I believe she enjoyed the exploration part the most; coming to a new place and asking what Måse found there, e.g. having me turn the map over and draw out some objects.

She wanted me to continue the map further "north" for future games, so I guess I'll have to do that soon.

HONK HONK.

Licker ghost

A licker ghost is a materialised ghost that casually walks around dungeon halls, picking up things at random, and licking them.

Their gait is pretty much like that of Liam Gallagher, a famous bard who may or may not exist in your home campaign.

It's not hostile but will scoff at anyone trying to get in its way - in its own, strange language.

Their tongue - extra stretchy - is actually not part of the licker ghost. In fact, large, parasitic slugs of various kinds have been known to take residence inside the ghost, as a mean to travel around the dungeon quicker. Most of these slugs are poisonous to various degrees, so try to not get licked at.

Some scholars claim that in certain extreme cases, the mouth of a licker ghost is actually a dimensional portal, and the "tongue" is the limb of an horrendous entity located at the far corners of space, where all light have gone out, and fleets of untold horrors are searching for a new home.

On the other hand, why would one believe scholars studying a ghost that walks like Liam Gallagher?