Bedtime Campaign: Indiana Nico and The Golden King (and his take on RPGs)

Earlier today we were driving to the restaurant for a family dinner. I’m telling my 7 year old son Nico about how long it’s been since we did an interactive story.

Nico “I’d like to have another of those stories”

Chatty “You know Nico, you’re old enough to play the real game of Dungeons and Dragons now”

Nico “I’d rather do the story… Dungeons and Dragons is just full of… rules you have to follow you know?   In the stories we can do whatever we feel like doing!  And the people reading about them like that, no?”

Like my buddy Dave would say:  Zing!

So I guess we’ll stick with interactive storytelling for the time being…

Later, when I put my son to bed:

Chatty: So do we do another story game?

Nico: Yes!  I want to do Indiana Nico!  You know, he’s just like Indiana Jones, but he’s also me.

Sure thing!  Okay what’s the mission?

I dunno…

Hmmm, how about we have Indy go and find a golden statue?

Ohh! I know, last time we went out and got some Golden Feet from that king who had lost his own and replaced them!

(I had no recollection of doing such a story but I went with it)

You mean there was this king a long time ago that lost his feet and made some out of gold?

No, he had a whole statue of him made of gold… and then he had an accident and lost both feet.

Oh, I get it and he used the golden feet of the statue to replace his feet?

Yeah, and when he died, his statue was lost somewhere and his feet got lost somewhere else, but we found them last time and now they are at my university… Oh, and the rest of his body became a mummy!

(Bang, instant backstory people… that little man is a genius!)

Okay, so we have the golden feet at your University.  We’ll say that the legs of the golden statue were stolen by thieves who are hidden in Mexico.  And let’s say that the rest of the statue is in the hands of some Russians hiding out in, let’s say, the South Pole, ok?

Cool!

Where do you want to go first?

I want to go to the South Pole!

Okay, what do you prepare?

Oh, the usual, some ropes and tool and lots of dynamite.

Oh yeah, never forget your dynamite.  What else?  It’s really cold over there.

Hmmm, how about this really hot snow suit that actually has a flamethrower built in so I can get hot real quick and melt ice creatures with it!

Sure, that’s a great idea! Okay, so in order to get there, you need to take a plane to Argentina, then you’ll take a second smaller one to get you to land near the University base where a student of yours will be waiting for you.

Okay.

As you board the plane, you see two men with big furry hats follow you. (I was going for the KGB trope…)

Oh, I know, they are the bandits from Mexico (alas a trope is only good if the audience recognizes it..)

Right you are.  Throughout the flight to Argentina, nothing happens much, but you notice that they’re following you in the airport.

I go and see them!

Okay, they go “Hello Dr Nico, we know what you’re doing here”

Yes, I’m going to recover the lost parts of the Golden King statue!  Including the part you stole and are hiding in mexico.

When you say that, they get out large wooden sticks in order to hit you!

I take out my whip and steal the sticks!

Your whip disarms both men who recover rapidly and get ready to attack you with their fists!

I grab the sticks and bonk each of them real hard on the head!

You have 2 unconscious bandits at your feet.

I search them!

You find a set of keys and a small piece of tube that seems to have been recently cut from an airplane!  It seems they were trying to sabotage a plane.

I alert the whole airport that a plane could be damaged!

(I was proud to see that he knew what sabotage meant… wait, should I be worried? )

Excellent, the authorities find that it was your plane for Antartica that was sabotaged.  The fuel line had been cut and your plane would have run out of fuel over the ocean!

All right! (Nico was getting really excited, always a good sign).

Okay, so you fly over the ocean and over the ice of Antarctica.  You land on skis and you see a man with 2 dog sleds waiting for you.  It’s your student.  All right Nico, enough for tonight…

Daaaaaaaad!

Just kidding, the man is waiting for you.

I go and meet him.

It’s really really cold out here.  The man says his name is Frost and he will take you to your university’s base at the South Pole. He gives you a dog sled.  he tells you that to have the dogs start running you have to say ‘Mush, Mush!’

Mush, Mush, Mush!

You’re going really fast over the snow and ice.  The wind screams in your ears.  You hear Frost trying to tell you something but you can’t hear, he’s to far behind!  What do you do?

I go faster!

Okay, but a few seconds later your first dogs slip and fall in an crevice… it’s a deep, deep hole that you can fall into!  What do you do?

I stop and I try to pull my dogs out of the hole.

Frost arrives shortly after and helps you.  He was trying to tell you to be careful about those crevices.  Okay, a bit later you’re at the base and getting ready to go to the Russian base where the statue part is.  There’s going to be guards all over the place, what are you going to do?

Hmmm, maybe I could dress like them?

That’s a good idea.  Okay so you take a Ski-Do and you and Frost drive to the Russian base.  It’s got 2 towers with one guard in each.  A Fence surrounds the base and the base is this one large building.  You also see another guard patrolling around the base on another Ski-do.  When he stops near a place where you are hiding, you step behind the guard and stun him!  What do you do?

I take his clothes!

But it’s freezing out here?  What will happen to the guard?

(Nico becomes uncertain) But Dad, what can I do?  I really need his clothes!

Do you give him your own?

No, I don’t want to!  Oh, what can we do?

Frost tells you that he’s got a spare coat and hat, so you can cover him with that, is that okay?

Yeah! Now I enter the base from the back exit (apparently there was one)!

Okay, so you enter the base and see a pair of big Russians playing cards.  Beside them is a huge box written: Fragile, ship to Moscow express!

That’s the statue part!

Yes.  The big guards look at you and ask you what you want.

I tell them that I’m the guy who’s picking up the statue for shipping.

Okay, they ask you for your shipping papers.

Hmmmm, I don’t have any!

The guards don’t believe your story, they grab you and they tie you up!  Okay, enough for tonight!

Dad!!!! I don’t want to finish like this!

You’d like to have something good happen to finish off?

Yeah!

Okay, so a some time later, while the guards are watching you, you hear explosions outside.

It’s Frost who’s using dynamite to save me!

You’re right!  The Russian guards leave the base to see what’s happening.  What do you do?

Can I use dynamite to untie myself?

That’s a bit too drastic, you can use a hidden knife you have on yourself.

Okay, when I’m free I open the base’s door and I throw some dynamite at the guards.

(Of course… payback time!) BOOM!  No more guards!

Yay!  I take the statue!

You return to your base with the statue!  You’ve won! Good night Nico!

Good night daddy!

Man, I missed doing this!