I came home the other night and was sitting down in my normal chair having a little post-work/post-school meeting of worlds with my son, Gar. I must have missed his first mumble or two, because gradually I understood he was describing an adventure he had taken part in, where he was a half-orc with a Jade Sword, and fighting Ninjas with different colored uniforms (and different lethality levels), and getting treasure. “And then we drew a map as Michael called out what the room looked like, on graph paper,and moved our guys around. It was fun!”
I blinked.
Gar was describing playing a tabletop roleplaying game. The old fashioned way. Not on a video screen. Not on a computer. With real, live people, using his own imagination to fill in the pictures. I pressed him for details. “It’s called Dungeons and Dragons, Dad. I play with Michael and some other kids at school during lunch. Didn’t you used to play that? You know what D&D is, don’t you?” (adopting a pained, “do I have to tell you everything?” expression). “Why yes, I may have heard of it somewhere.”
I was absurdly pleased. For all the noise about “growing my own set of opponents”, I don’t really push my hobbies on my children. The most we manage is a beer and pretzels card game at Chinese carry out (fairly regularly). These are not very taxing and for the most part, the kids love that kind of game. But anything really complicated? Nah. I don’t want to turn them off from games. Some things, like the Ameritrash collection in my basement, are an acquired taste.
So to discover that independently, with NO prodding from his bumptious father, Gar has A) hooked up with some gaming buddies, B) picked up D&D (which can be pretty thorny for newcomers), and C) plays it enthusiastically.. well, it’s genuinely heartwarming. That’s the only word for it.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Vivat for the next generation!
Oh, I didn’t mention the best part: “Dad, could you run one of these for us some time?” “Oh, think I might be able to help you there. I’ll have to go look in my study for some materials…”
Third Point of Singularity 
And then you woke up, right Walt? You didn’t just dream all this? Seriously, I would wet my pants if either of my kids asked me to run a game for them (of course, they’re 5 years and 18 months, so it would be a bit of a stretch for them). The closest I come to this is playing “Zombies!” with my girlfriend’s sons (admittedly my Christmas gift to one of them).. but their Mom has suggested that “maybe if they keep playing this, we could play one of my games someday”. Why, yesss dear… of course we could. Anything for the family, you know that.”
I never quite got into D&D.