Julie Peters

Okay...our family is just now getting interested in gaming. Much
because we hear so much of it in unschooling/geek circles. But our
prediciment is we know very little about it all but would like more
info.

We have just started Warhammer 40K (still painting pieces and
learning at this point) with the Battle for Macragge set
(Ultramarines and Tyrinids) and the Sisters of Battle. The local
game store has been able to help alot. However, our problem is that
many of the games that go on in the store are not "family
freindly". Some of the players are rather aggressive or do not want
children to play. We know a few other kids that would like to play
but either their parents oppose or they are not availble (only on
Dad's weekends kind of thing). Has anyone had luck with organizing
a family/kid-friendly Warhammer 40K group? I've thought about
posting a notice on the game store bulletin board looking/asking for
family/kid leagues...but do you think anyone would be interested?

We picked up a D&D book but decided, unless we have some experienced
people to play with, we'd be totally lost. Same situation as
before...we won't have a family/kid-friendly group. Any ideas how
to find one? (Getting experienced D&D players/DM is the key.)

As for WoW, our perticular game store doesn't do WoW. And we know
absolutely nothing about it. I can go online...but it would be nice
to actually have a person explain the gist. I have to actually talk
about it and see it happening for it to make sense to me...I had to
do that with Warhammer 40K...I had to watch a live demo at the
store. DH knows a little about RPG type games and has filled in some
of the gaps for me...but he doesn't know anything about WoW either.
How do we find more info/people if the game store doesn't have
it/them?

Thanks,
Julie Peters

Ren Allen

~~Has anyone had luck with organizing
a family/kid-friendly Warhammer 40K group? I've thought about
posting a notice on the game store bulletin board looking/asking for
family/kid leagues...but do you think anyone would be interested?~~


Sure! Why not try at least?
Have you worked within your local home/unschool support group. We've
found other D&D players that way, and other gamers too.
Lucky for us, my boys were well-versed in D&D before we moved here
(our last group was built from homeschool support group kids) and they
could show Sierra and I how to play. We found another family that
wanted to learn (the Dad had played old style) and had a group going
for a while.

As far as the other games, the conference might be a great time to
pick the minds of other gamers! They always have a big gaming area set
up and at least one main play time where they've got it all up on big
screens....a giant LAN party for everyone. Great time to learn the
basics probably.

You could buy the game guide, which walks you through most everything.
But the best way to start is just do it. You'll figure stuff out by
being on there and asking questions. There are areas where lots of
level 1's have just started and you won't feel so out of place. I know
some other unschoolers that Sierra plays with if you wanted to create
a WoW character on that server so you could learn from my 9y.o. and a
few others.:) She's a newbie at it, but just playing and asking
questions in order to learn it all. She's lucky enough to have an
experienced level 60 in the house too....but most of what she's doing
is just being online playing.

Ren
learninginfreedom.com

Julie Peters

> Have you worked within your local home/unschool support group?

I am almost afraid to ask. They think it's a sin to even shop at
non-Christian book store...much less a game/comic store.

We are in Cleveland, TN and the only HS group around is radically
Christian...for lack of a better term and no other unschoolers (At
least not yet...I'm working on some of the traditionalists). In
fact, the HS group's message board just got finished discussing
whether TV/electronic entertainment is "evil" or not and how much,
what, and how often to "allow" it into your home. Could you imagine
if I brought up gaming? Mind you, we consider ourselves Christian
but we look like out right pagans compared to these people.
Needless to say, we don't rely on or socialize much with the HS
group.

I know some Christian gammers (they actually own the game store in
town) but they are a far exception to the rule here.

Most of the support I get is from the unschooling message boards
(UB, TNUS, & CL)...Thank you!

> As far as the other games, the conference might be a great time to
> pick the minds of other gamers!

I hope to be able to attend this year with it being in NC. We'll
have to see what the budget looks like by then. I noticed all the
gamming that went on at the website. It was a factor that lead to
our family wanting to start gamming.

> But the best way to start is just do it.

I know, that's why I'm frustrated...just can't find a place to fit
in. So, WoW is an Online game? That just confuses me even more...I
thought it was more like the others with a "board & pieces".
Aaagghh, help!

But I'm optomistic...something will work out.

Thanks, Ren.
Juile Peters