Tuesday 30 April 2013

Dadhammer, gaming as a dad rather than in spite of it.



So a great many of us have time commitments that far outweigh this trivial business we call fun.  I cannot see it as a mere coincidence that most of us Oldhammerers are within the same generation and have young children, some time ago I coined the phrase Dadhammer and this is perhaps the first true Dadhammer post. Dadhammer is all about, “cheating”, to get the most bang for your precious time. In the future I’d like to start posting up tips of how to do that or links to other sites such as Blues one.. Blue has specifically gone for dipping because of the time constraints of a busy Father. Dadhammer is also about sharing your hobby with the little ones and Rabhere is leading the way with his Goblin quest, it may not be warhammer but it’s close enough to consider it Dadhammer. Or how about Springinsfeld over at Broadswords andthe Beasts proudly having a Dadhammer moment. In short if it makes the most of your limited time or brings the kids into the fold its Dadhammer.

Now to bring the predicament of a Dadhammerer into focus here is a list of things to do in no particular order:

Get some more roll20 games in with Oldhammerers.
Get some real world games in with my brother and friends.
More dungeon cards, I have quite a stack written and just need to get them edited and pasted into the cards.
More games of Hammers and Helms with my eldest. Lots of fun and I promised to explain the dice.
Post regularly to Sofonto’s pbp forum game of Labyrinth Lord. My hafling Esro is proving to be lots of fun as we delve into Stonehell.
Finnish those third ed Orc crossbows. Base colours done and layers are being added as we speak.
Post up the last Realms of Chaos Warband battle as a comic style report.
Work on warband to finish painting it.
Update the painting on my existing O&G army, needs to look good for August.
Paint some otherworld goodies, monsters and adventures.
Post up a 4th ed battle report.
Post up more 4th ed articles.
Oldhammer fanzine, some good people on board now so should be able to get a good zine out incorporating Oldhammer stuff, RT stuff and perhaps some 90’s love too.
Forenronds last stand terrain to paint.
Show my elf cavalry some painty love to update for August.
Look forward to receiving some Dwarven forge stuff this October (this is Dadhammer at its laziest, throw cash at it!).
Update the list of Oldhammer blogs on the Oldhammer blog.
Write some dadhammer articles!

That’s all to get done in whatever free time is left after the more obvious dad duties. Mutual support and encouragement that’s the way forward.

14 comments:

  1. I too am looking forwards to dadhammer moments with my children. An impressive list of to dos too. How about I coin a phrase while we are on the subject... Dare I say, what about creating the impossible? Wifehammer anyone?

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    Replies
    1. Wifehammer?! Where will it end...motherinlawhammer?

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    2. I have run D&D games with my wife, my mother and my sister as the players. And they enjoyed it. My mother gets a little too into character!

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  2. I did try heroquest with the wife once but she said she couldn't' understand it. However I think she was just pretending, I'm reliably informed by her brother that as a kid she ran a thief character in ADnD.

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  3. I got my best Wifehammer results with Talisman. The DnD board game was a bust though. I think board games are the way forward where the whole family is concerned, though female gaming is on the rise.

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  4. I playtested one of the early versions of Skulldred with the wife.

    My attempt at playing Rogue Trader wasn't as successful...

    Good to see the Fanzine on the list - let me know if I can do anything :)

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  5. Hello,

    Your blog is really very interesting. I am an enthusiast of old CITADEL miniatures and old GAMES WORKSHOP products.

    Bravo!

    Sir Roland
    http://jeux-de-plateaux-et-roles.blogspot.fr/

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  6. good stuff, I play Dadhammer but the other way round me (40 this year) with my Dad (66 years young)

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    Replies
    1. Well good to know it can last, I look forward to 40 odd years of gaming with my sons!

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  7. My wife wants nothing to do with the hobby...which is fine by me. She's a professional artist and the last thing my ego needs its fir her stuff to be paired better than mine! Dadhammer, though, I am really looking forward to. I'm in the process of getting Heroquest ready for my boys. I need a couple of years to get the models painted so I'm starting early, while the oldest it's only three.

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  8. My son just turned five, and I am thinking up ways to game with him. I'm interested in the Hammers and Helms system.

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    Replies
    1. Glad you like the look of it, I must post some more about it up.

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  9. My Boy is 10 and my girl is 8. My girl is more creative and likes to paint with daddy and will slap on a thin base coat of red on some bloodletters quite happily. My boy just wants to play ... I have been able to play Heroquest, Warhammer Quest, Space Hulk and Talisman with them so far....Happy days.

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  10. Yes! Dadhammer is a great way of putting it, and it is a special sort of pleasure that is in many ways completely different to 'normal' gaming. So far mine are still young enough that I want them to 'win', even if it's really close. I'm looking forward to that developing to the point where the conclusion is totally open to the roll of the dice.

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