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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2012 13:48:31 GMT -8
Howdy!
A friend of mine has two girls, 7 & 9, and he's curious about a good RPG for them. He's looking into Mouse Guard. Anyone have any experience with it? Apparently it's based on the Burning Wheel system.
Thanks!
Monsewer
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Post by jazzisblues on Feb 2, 2012 15:30:15 GMT -8
I found MouseGuard to be fairly unpalatable from a gaming standpoint, but to each their own. Some people play it and have a great time.
As the father of 5 now grown kids who have been gamers all their lives I will share what I have learned.
1. Definitely want to focus on story and not on rules. Introduce rules as they get older. You'll know when you're there because they'll start arguing about things being "fair." 2. Obviously, you want to tone down the violence and keep things that aren't age appropriate out of the game. 3. Keep the game more light hearted.
My kids first games were actually rules created by them and the games were run by my eldest who was then about 6 or so. Then they would eavesdrop on our games through the vents and I could hear them making comments about what they thought the group should have done. I started mine out with D&D 2nd Edition games designed for them and as they grew we branched out into other games most recently Savage Worlds and Hero. It was my eldest who turned me onto Pathfinder, and she currently runs a ShadowRun campaign for her shipmates.
Just my 2 krupplenicks on the subject, your mileage may of course vary.
JiB
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Feb 2, 2012 17:21:07 GMT -8
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2012 17:47:28 GMT -8
Any rules-lite game might do, depending on their aptitude.
Getting kids interested is pretty easy. I take whatever their reading and use that. My 8-year old is reading through the Ranger Apprentice series, so that's an easy one, I just say 'hey, wanna play D&D, you can be a ranger?' Whatever they're into use it. Star wars, super heroes, sci-fi, etc.
Also, as a step into role-playing, there is Legos Heroica game. You build the dungeon, hainted forest, castle, or whatever, then you play a druid, thief, wizard, barbarian, and run around rolling dice for the killing monsters, gathering weapons, potions, and gold. Total gateway drug for kids.
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HyveMynd
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Post by HyveMynd on Feb 3, 2012 0:52:39 GMT -8
JiB will love this, but I would suggest a stripped down version of Savage Worlds for this situation. Take out all the Skills and Edges and just use the five basic Attributes to keep the mechanics nice and simple. Since the Target Number in Savage Worlds is (nearly) always 4, it should be easy for children to see when they succeed at an action. The concept of the Wild Die and Aceing might be a bit complex for them, and could be stripped out as well.
Another option is Cosmic Patrol since it's essentially a stripped down Savage Worlds already. In that game you add the results of your stat die and a D12 together and compare it against the GM's D20 roll. It could be a decent way to teach children math.
As JiB said, I would keep things pretty focused on the story rather than the mechanics. Try to have the children narrate their character's actions as often as possible and keep dice rolling to a minimum to keep things fun and engaging. Violence should be toned down, and alternate ways of "defeating" encounters should be encouraged. For example:
Child: I bonk the goblin on the head with my wand! Parent: OK. Roll your dice. Child: I win! Parent: You bonk the goblin on the head. What happens to it?
Child: I tell the goblin to go away and leave us alone! Parent: OK. Roll your dice. Child: I win! Parent: The goblin turns and starts to walk away. Where does it go?
Both are decent ways to handle conflict in a children's game. Good luck raising the next generation of gamers!
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Post by jazzisblues on Feb 3, 2012 7:18:05 GMT -8
JiB will love this, but I would suggest a stripped down version of Savage Worlds for this situation. Take out all the Skills and Edges and just use the five basic Attributes to keep the mechanics nice and simple. Since the Target Number in Savage Worlds is (nearly) always 4, it should be easy for children to see when they succeed at an action. The concept of the Wild Die and Aceing might be a bit complex for them, and could be stripped out as well. Another option is Cosmic Patrol since it's essentially a stripped down Savage Worlds already. In that game you add the results of your stat die and a D12 together and compare it against the GM's D20 roll. It could be a decent way to teach children math. As JiB said, I would keep things pretty focused on the story rather than the mechanics. Try to have the children narrate their character's actions as often as possible and keep dice rolling to a minimum to keep things fun and engaging. Violence should be toned down, and alternate ways of "defeating" encounters should be encouraged. For example: Child: I bonk the goblin on the head with my wand! Parent: OK. Roll your dice. Child: I win! Parent: You bonk the goblin on the head. What happens to it? Child: I tell the goblin to go away and leave us alone! Parent: OK. Roll your dice. Child: I win! Parent: The goblin turns and starts to walk away. Where does it go? Both are decent ways to handle conflict in a children's game. Good luck raising the next generation of gamers! I concur with one caveat: Kids LOVE to role dice. They love to play with them stack them rattle them around roll them etc. So, having them roll dice is not a bad thing, but keep it simple, don't worry about damage dice or anything like that. I'm about to run a savage worlds game for kids at OrcCon and I am leaving the wild die and the skills in the game but I'm taking out the damage dice. The plan is to have the kids narrate the result of their attack and run with it. Don't tell the kids, but they all get to turn into jungle animals in the game. JiB
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Post by ironnikki on Feb 3, 2012 7:36:28 GMT -8
I've never run a game for children before, but I would think that hyvemynd's suggestion sounds pretty spot on. I'm surprised to hear him tout SW, but he makes a good point. It's easy to strip out complicated rules from Savage Worlds, and even easier to tailor it to fit any setting the kids might be interested in.
I believe that there was a Pathfinder module made for kids (something about goblins, I think?) but I've got no experience with it. Pathfinder may be a bit complicated for kids that age anyway, but it might be something to keep in mind if their interest in RPG's is kindled.
On a side note, one of my friends used to work in a daycare, and was trying to find an activity for older kids (5th grade) to do while the younger ones were absorbed in story time/playing outside/smearing paint on the walls. He decided to try to DM a very watered down version of 3.5, being more focused on narratives rather than rules, and surprisingly, the kids LOVED it! Unsurprisingly, their parents weren't so keen on it, and their little gaming spree lasted about a week. I suppose that's only one of the consequences of living in good ol' Texas.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2012 9:19:42 GMT -8
These are great suggestions! Thanks, I'll pass this on.
Monsewer
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HyveMynd
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Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
Currently Playing: Monsterhearts 2
Currently Running: The Sprawl
Favorite Species of Monkey: None
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Post by HyveMynd on Feb 3, 2012 20:44:51 GMT -8
Man. How did I forget that kids love to play with stuff? Duh. I mean, I'm almost 32 and I still have to keep my hands busy 24/7. I don't have kids yet, but I've taught a lot of them over here in Japan, so I have some experience with rugrats. I get the feeling that girls of that age would be more inclined to sit still than boys would, but I could be wrong.
Sorry to hear that your friend's D&D club got disbanded, ironnikki. I wonder if the parents would have been OK with having their children play if it hadn't been a fantasy setting. D&D can be seen as being only about killing things to those who don't know anything about it.
Let us know how things go with your friend, monsewer. And keep us posted on you kid-friendly Orccon game too, JiB.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2012 1:15:01 GMT -8
I would take them to the local game shop and get whichever they think looks like the most fun.
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