I saw a 1yr old playing games on a phone lol I think 4 yrs olds are smarter than they look. Now if I had a 4yr old relative I'd try that out and I bet it would fun. The fact that it's based on the combat centric yet still RPG 4th edition D&D has the fun gaming and interaction possibilities that can either be preplanned as if you're the DM dungeon master or the random draw which is how the DM's guide book suggest handling random dungeons is part of how they got the idea imho one game like that will be fun for you seeing him discover instead of completely random draws which could frustrateĪfter that take the same cards but shuffle them at random. it looks like there's tokens in dinosaur island he's used toĪ few minutes of pre planning one game can be less confusing and quicker game in the long run even if the card draws don't surprise you it will the kids. such as you have to collect the holy water and wooden stake tokens so put them on the tile when the card is drawn. Throwing some object tokens in is relatively simple. but you could treat it as object and open them in the middle of a turn. The rules for coffins in hunt for strahd are at the end of a hero phase flip it over if you're next to it. and surprises are fun if they allow rolling dice or a moves a monster. summoning circle when you find the arcane circle and essentially it's a wandering monster that appears out of nowhere. other encounters that roll dice like treasure chest mists of terror roll. use bat swarm roll disadvantage would satisfy the excitement of rolling dice just leave it in play for both hero turns 'then they fly away' and remove it. Use encounter attacks such as animated armor or gray ooze which essentially are one shot monster attacks without minis that you think of what they looks like in your mind. glyph of warding uses a marker and is simple and fun. in game straight forward ones like lucky charm reroll, holy water 1hp undead, potion of healing, icon of ravenloft choice of who gets hp back and prior to the vampire the thematic wooden stake tome of strahd. Remember each hero starts with one treasure item so don't pull one at random give the fighter a sword and the wizard the glyph of warding you can walk them thru or simpler. don't use more than one of each even with the exception of adding a wandering monster zombie using the summoning circle encounter card depending on how many tiles you want to go thru. Start with rat swarm wolf skeleton zombie and work your way up to more complex monsters like ghouls blazing skeletons and a gargoyle. dark fountain and that's where you find holy water to kill undead
![castle ravenloft board game castle ravenloft board game](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ea2I4mSBBWU/maxresdefault.jpg)
Stack some visually fun ones like the arcane circle towards the front and then stahds crypt last. Take 5-10 minutes to pre-plan/stack the deck before the first game. (stay away from the ridiculously boring non d20 rolling ranger power 'careful attack' that hits an adjacent monster for 1hp killing it its sort of the RPG magic missile lol) admittedly the reversed out light italic font is difficult to read. Very important to read the flavor text on all cards out loud.
![castle ravenloft board game castle ravenloft board game](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/34cAAOSwo6dgV-vZ/s-l300.jpg)
I would have the kid play the wizard because it's relatively simple and has fun magical spells the names sound exciting like fireball and magic missile with descriptive flavor textĪnd you could play the fighter hero who's also a relatively straightforward prototypical D&D hero and dad hero-like you don't have to play every game that way just the first one. it can be semi-preplanned and then a little ad libbed as you go along. Make up your own scenario or repurpose Dinosaur Escape he/she's familiar with and has fun with for one game. and they have a goal in mind like find the wizards magic scroll that saves the unicorn I've seen someone play their own version of D&D RPG in which they ask the girl what they want to do next with their hero. Preplanning thematic tile and card draw approach is in my mind a ridiculous amount of time including closeups but interesting effort really.
![castle ravenloft board game castle ravenloft board game](http://www.orderofgamers.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/castleravenloft_minis03.jpg)
I'm working on a youtube video that combines elements of CR, WoA and LoD and is pre-planned in detail to show different scenarios and cards thematically. I don't have kids so this post is fun for me to brainstorm once from a different perspective. Yes I have seen grown men cry at the sight of the encounter WoA walls of magma when continuously laying down narrow passages that do auto damage if you're next to a wall lol