Dragon Con 2015: Growing your child's IQ through imagination, games and comics
By Mo Barnes
DragonCon 2015 (Photo Credit Maurice "Mo" Barnes with Steed Media Services)
Parents today should be looking for anyway to increase a child's learning and intelligence. One of doing this is through developing your child's imagination and DragonCon participants show this is possible through games and comics. When it comes to games there is a genre that some Black parents do not know about called fantasy role playing games or RPG's for short. An RPG is unlike your traditional game such as Monopoly or Life. It requires knowledge of math, science, strategy and science.
The first RPG "Dungeons & Dragons"
In the 1980's a game called Dungeons & Dragons grew in popularity across the United States and soon across the world. The game was based on the character types seen in literature such as J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings book now made into highly successful movies. A player decides whether they want to be a fighter, wizard or thief in an imaginary world created by another player known as a "Game Master" , Dungeon Master (GM or DM). This imaginary world creates a story and plot that players have to navigate through called campaign or adventure. The difference being an adventure can be played in 1-2 hour sessions while a campaign can be many sessions spread out through several more hours or days of play. Some players will group together and play long sessions that stretch into the night or next morning. As a whole players of RPG's are called gamers. The GM has the most difficult job because they are responsible for creating an adventure full of swords, monsters and magic and act as a referee. A well detailed adventure offers hours of playing fun. The GM is a player who sits behind a small table top screen to hide the results of dice rolls as situations in the narrated adventure develop. These players are often the most knowledgeable about the game system being played. RPG's such as Dungeons & Dragons offer completely generated adventures known as modules if the GM decides to forgo the planning of a complete adventure.
Players in the game using pen, paper and dice create a character for play in an imaginary world full of monsters and magic. The goal of the game is not to go around a board and collect points but rather after play, develop your created character. This is done by the awarding of what is called experience points to the player which are used to gain new powers and skills. When first playing the game, the creation of the character is the most important part by using multi-sided dice and math skills.
The dice used are not just the familiar 6-sided dice but also dice that come in various geometric sides and values. These dice are formally known as polyhedral dice and range from 4-sided to 20-sided dice to generate values from 1-100. The numbers generated are then assigned to character traits such as strength, intelligence, dexterity and charisma. The higher the value traits are the more powerful your character. The value of these character traits are then plugged into certain game formulas to further flesh out the character type. A player also has the option of using a pre=generated character to cut down on the time it takes to make one up from scratch. Character generation is integral in the game and for many it is the part that is most tedious but also the most fun. After your character is complete a player selects weapons, armor and other items for play in the GM created campaign.
RPG's today come in many different genres that differ greatly from D&D. Now a person can play games that are based on comic book superheroes, science fiction and many other types. These fantasy worlds help to grow a player's imagination, math skills and social interaction with others. Today these games are played by the young and old. DragonCon offers a 24-hour gamer's floor that will allow a player to explore the hundreds of game systems on the market. An entire industry is devoted to RPG's and players that generate millions in revenue each year. Game systems vary in prices starting from $25-$50 for the basic set of rules. Some players who like more creativity will even purchase other items such as miniatures and tabletop playing mats to muffle the sounds of the rolling dice and offer a printed playing surface to measure out distance when using miniature figures.
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