How to explain Dom3 to a 5 year old?

[Chazar]

How can you explain Dom3 to a 5 year old child?

Are there any very simple turn-based children's games that feature Wizards & Dragons fighting?

The story:
My 5 year old son caught me off guard while I was watching half a dozen Tarrasques obliterate my monkey PD, trapping my pretender inside a castle. He watched struck by awe (Bug-Report: Tarrasques don't show the Awe-Attribute that they must clearly have ), and asked me what this game was all about.

So I shortly replied that these "dragons" attacked me and that I was just pondering how to defeat them, but that it was horribly complicated. However, my son continued to ask questions, and I made the mistake to mumble something about "using my wizards to bewitch the dragons". Well, I hoped that he would drop the issue after another day or two, but Wizards & Dragons apparently have a certain appeal for 5 year olds, so he keeps asking me about this strange game he does not understand on and on.

Now delving deeper into Dom3 will only make it worse. So I am looking for other ways to satisfy his curiosity.

So are there any remotely similar games featuring Wizards & Dragons (for PC, Android or Table-Top) that are suitable for a 5 year old that cannot read, and can only read and compare numbers up to 19?

It should also be turn-based, because I think he has a problem understanding the concept. He asked me to try this and that tactic to fight the dragons,* but I said that I would take another day to see the results, since my opponents need to make their moves too Most games he plays are action oriented, e.g. AngryBirds, where results are immediate. However, he does play turn-based boardgames, so I think that the concept of planning a turn is difficult, but possible to grasp for him. The problem surely lies in the scale that he could not understand (days between turns).

(* "Get some knights with lances!" "The dragons are surrounded by poisonous fumes, so we cannot get close." "Then shot them with arrows!" "The dragons have thick scales, so the arrows won't harm them." ... - I cannot remember what he replied, but he came up with several suggestions after each of my responses... )

[Gandalf Parker]

There are things that are good to teach 5 year olds.
Taking turns, formations, sometimes going off script, money management, the difference between real history (units, weapons, armor, commanders) and the mythologies attached to them, defense, offense

[SsSam]

I mean.....Why not let him play?

There's nothing wrong with him playing, is tbere?

Now, he may not play in the same way that you play. I let my little ones play civilization when they where about that age. They had fun. They are older now and sometimes still play civilization. Not in the same way that I play, but....it's play, right?

[Stagger Lee]

I agree, let him play. I mean, most of the MP community is pre-k.

[sansanjuan]

Originally Posted by SsSam

I mean.....Why not let him play?

There's nothing wrong with him playing, is tbere?

Now, he may not play in the same way that you play. I let my little ones play civilization when they where about that age. They had fun. They are older now and sometimes still play civilization. Not in the same way that I play, but....it's play, right?

If he plays... you may want to steer him clear of nations with blood sacrifices until he is at least 6..
-ssj

[SsSam]

Originally Posted by sansanjuan

If he plays... you may want to steer him clear of nations with blood sacrifices until he is at least 6..
-ssj

Heh. I spent several years playing dominions before I would play a blood nation.

I spent several games playing Middle Era Jotun without going into blood.

[samoht]

I don't think there is anything wrong with playing a game of Dom 3 with him. I mean there certainly are some themes I wouldn't want my 5 year old exploring (like previously mentioned blood sacrifices) until he was older and better able to grasp some of the concepts, but a simple game between you and the AI, where you pick the nations involved (and thus are able to reasonably avoid some of the more complex/grimmer themes) would be a pretty good idea. With some adult supervision you could reasonably walk him through and avoid anything you don't want to go into too much detail.

You could explain the basic mechanics to him, let him give you commands that you input into the game, and go turn by turn and let him see how a game unfolds while you answer any questions he might have. Send a bunch of knights at those dragons and if it doesn't work? Maybe suggest a different course of action for him to take.

I know it isn't exactly the same, but at roughly that age I finally broke my dad down and had him teach me how to play Axis & Allies. Sure, at age 6 or 7 I just wanted to play with little plastic tanks and bombers, but it was some great quality time and I was able to start learning things like allocation of resources (few that they were) at an age where most of my friends were playing Mario (not that there is anything wrong with Mario).

You could build some fond memories with the little fella between turns of subjugating the heathens.

[Chazar]

Hm. I might give it a try playing Dom3, but my worry here is that it might be too boring for a 5 year old. He got interested while seeing an action packed battle replay, but playing Dom3 actually means spending very little time on replays (at least for me).

Wesnoth appears to be better suited at first glance, since each decision is immediately followed by a feedback: if you click on the knight to fight, the fight happens immediately and is even animated so that a child can understand what is happening. This is a problem with Dom3: I think he did not even understand that a battle replay is just a replay, i.e. without interaction, that you cannot just play and "retry the level" by having a different battle setup, etc. Also, in Dom3 one plans several battles at once, and keeping all that is going on simultaneously in mind is hard enough for me already.

However, the drawback with Wesnoth is the unintuitive graphics: they are cute, but much harder to understand than those found in the battle replays of Dom3. In Wesnoth, every unit is drawn same size and you do not see a difference between an archer and a knight attacking. The animation is pretty much the same. If you cannot read, you do not understand the advantages and disadvantages of different units. In Dom3, you easily see that a Tarrasque is a huge mighty monster, how an archer shoots his arrows from a safe place in the far back, or that a mage's lightning bolt is pretty destructive force. It's not only impressive, but there is no reading required. It is intuitive to understand in Dom3! So I guess I am looking for a game with Dom3-like Battle graphics, but with Wesnoth-like immediate turn based movements, and not simultaneous turns (which is why I love Dom3 for myself, incidentally).

From the screenshots, Land of Legends, which I do not know, might fit the bill well, but apparently it is impossible to get hold of the game right now (not listed in the Shrapnel Webshop and posts on the forum say it is not available).

CoE2 does not seem to fit what I am looking for either, for a child might have trouble understanding the crude graphics.


I am not worried about what he sees in Dom3 or what he might blubber about it elsewhere. I am worried that he is turned off because Dom3 is too complex and slow (or non-interactive) for him to play. I want him to understand the flavor of these games and why I find them interesting; I got one chance, and I want to have some chance of success.

[brxbrx]

Originally Posted by SsSam

Heh. I spent several years playing dominions before I would play a blood nation.

I spent several games playing Middle Era Jotun without going into blood.

You're making me feel like a psychopath... I think I first started with Mictlan in domII. Of course, I was 16-17 at the time, and I've always liked Aztecs.

[Gandalf Parker]

Of course having had children I can understand the fear of what a 5-year old says.
There are some parts of Dom3 that might not go over well coming from a 5year olds mouth in unprepared company. I wish I could think of a substitute game