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Post by Dominic on Oct 23, 2017 23:20:04 GMT -9
I want to introduce my kids to the fantastic realms of roleplaying (for so many reasons that we are all aware of, I think). The oldest is 9, followed by a 6. I do not expect my 3 to participate yet... Anyhow, I am looking for something simple, with few rules, and preferrably not bound to a certain setting. At least it would be cool to have the freedom to "go wherever we want" with this, and to introduce them to new settings along the way.
We (the adults-in-age-only) have played DND, starting with 3.5, then a lot of 4E. We do not have tried 5E yet. We recently gave the FATE system a try, and I like the concept of aspects, but I think it is something you need to get into, and it works best of you know how to use the system to your advantage. I think a little dice-rolling and a modicum of stats would not hurt either.
Any suggetions?
(Another problem might be the language barrier - my kids do not speak english yet. Having something that comes in German would be great, but I have no problem with translating - so long as it does not get too much...)
Thanks!
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Post by Papercraft Warrior on Oct 24, 2017 0:29:38 GMT -9
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Post by cowboyleland on Oct 24, 2017 5:50:14 GMT -9
I played 3.5 with my kids when they were young. You should run NPC spell-casters and let them be Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins, Rangers or Rogues. You will need to help them with character creation and leveling up, but you were going to do that anyway.
The biggest challenge is helping them to find the numbers they need on the character sheet. A shield shape around the AC will be useful and high-lite their usual weapon.
They will story-tell and not meta-game. You may need to remind them to split their actions up into what can actually get done in one turn but it will mostly go fine. Also, they may be quite fearful of everything so anticipate saying things like "It is OK, you can take one goblin."
I want to plug @oakumarts "Save the Day" here, but I have never tried it. "Mummy Issues" would be fun for Halloween, since you probably won't actually be trick or treating in Germany. When I lived in Regensburg (20 years ago, how did I get this old?) I carved a jack-o-lantern for Halloween and my 4 year old neighbour was fascinated.
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Post by oldschooldm on Oct 24, 2017 12:44:56 GMT -9
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Post by jeffgeorge on Oct 24, 2017 19:23:58 GMT -9
Omigod, oldschooldm, I'm so glad you linked your We Be Goblins session! I skimmed it just this minute, and I can't wait to read it clear through. But yes, Hero Kids is a great game for introduce grade-school-age kids to RPGing. I ran it the first time for my daughter (and my wife) when she was 7 or 8 (my daughter, that is. My wife is quite a bit older than 7 or 8!). It's got just enough rules to be a game, rather than just playing Let's Pretend, but few enough that anyone can learn it in five minutes. I highly recommend it as an introduction to roleplaying, for kids or for adults, for that matter. In fact, if the paper minis that come with it had back art, it would be worth buying just for those!
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Post by Dominic on Oct 24, 2017 22:12:59 GMT -9
Thanks, guys! So much to check out, and they look very interesting1 Papercraft Warrior: the Nighttime Animals intriguing, but I am not quite sure how it would work out... I will have to read through it again a little more thoroughly. Having an evening stroll would be a good thing, though, and the game a good excuse to have one. cowboyleland: the problem with that is (in my mind) that we (the adults) have not played 3.5 in ages, so getting back into that would be a rather large hurdle. I think the amount of rules would be okay for the 9yr old, but the 6yr old does not quite have patience yet. oldschooldm: why would I have them play Goblins, they do that already, pretty much all the time. Seriously, though, this looks like a great entry point - especially when it comes to not playing humans. I will give that a try, and the Hero Kids system looks promising - and they have the basic hero cards in German as well (only those, but better than nothing). I try not to get too excited here between the fantasy and space options... I think I will give the Goblins a go first and take it from there. And try not to be too giddy... Thanks again for your input!
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shep
Eternal Member
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Post by shep on Oct 25, 2017 2:23:08 GMT -9
Hero Kids is pretty good, was designed for kids beginning to play, is not very expensive, and comes in a fantasy and in a scifi version... You could of course just as well play okumarts »Darkfast Dungeons« (fantasy) or »Save the Day« (super heroes)...
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Post by okumarts on Oct 25, 2017 16:46:31 GMT -9
I've run Save the Day at Birthday Parties for kids aged 10-11 and it went well. I've also run Darkfast Dungeons with kids and they love it.
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Post by nullpointer on Oct 29, 2017 6:37:58 GMT -9
The D&D team at Wizards has released a rules-lite version of D&D intended for kids 6 and up called Monster Slayers, along with two short adventures ( One, Two). Lasers and Feelings is a 1-page "quick-play RPG" with extremely simple mechanics that simulates adventures on a star ship, much like Star Trek. Its system has been adapted to several different settings, for example: Scrolls and Swords
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Nov 7, 2017 19:37:05 GMT -9
I'm gearing up to run a Save the Day game for my 6yo to help with his reading and math skills.
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Post by Dominic on Nov 7, 2017 22:50:09 GMT -9
Thank you all for those suggestion. So much material there.
Yesterday, I ran our first game! I chose Hero Kids and the starting adventure with the rats because it appeared to be the easiest to prepare - and the old one enjoyed the hair-whip idea for the ranger girl. The two (9 and 6) were on fire, and I think they actually did rather well. Up to and including an almost-tpk by the boss rat, and me letting the remaining monsters flee once they had slain the boss. Would almost certainly not have made it out otherwise. What surprised me, though, is that they were fine with it.
The older one - who can be a bit squeamish, especially in movies, scenes where it looks like bad things might happen - was completely okay with getting knocked unconscious by giant rats not once but twice. And the younger one, who has a competitive side, went out of her way to revive her all on her own.
Only problem I have now is that they want to do it again, and soon... But I guess that is a good problem to have. Spaceships and Goblins coming up. Thanks again!
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shep
Eternal Member
Red Alert! Shields up! LENS FLARE!!!
Posts: 1,260
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Post by shep on Nov 7, 2017 23:54:29 GMT -9
On drivethruRPG, there's a plethora of adventure modules for Hero Kids available, all in the range of small budgets...
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