Gaming - the Next Generation

[McManus]

Like many of us I have been gaming since my early teens. I now have two sons, age 7 and 9, who have seen me game and are curious about it. I was wondering what is the best way to introduce gaming to the next generation? I don’t wan to force it on them, but I also want to let them share in it if they are interested.

While Champions is my favorite genre and game, I don’t know if it is right for them. Not so much the genre, which is ideal fro kids if done right, but the game system is way too complex. They are old enough to read and understand rules and game background. I almost wish I still had my old white box set of original D&D. It is what got me started.

Anyway I am looking for a good simple system to intro kids to gaming. Any suggestions?

[mvoncannon]

You could use a rules lite system, or even d20. They are rather easy.

For intro to Champions, try the Teen Champions setting, but you make the characters. Ask them questions and find out what they want. Or even imitate characters they already know. The Teen Titans spring to mind. Have a few sessions with only them, or them an their friends. Don't stress the rules. Just keep it easy.

As they age, introduce the rules bit by bit. This way, if they don't like it and decide to drop it, you won't have wasted a lot of time. Kids tend to just drop things.

[The Doctor]

check out what their into at this age(nickelodeon/Danny Phantom/El Tigre) I'm sure you know, they're your kids and aim it at your audience. With my brothers kids we made it acting to the character we made on the paper and now they have a gaming group at their high school. Target your audience with a genre their into and use the lite rules for that genre and they'll love less rule intense make believe or at least I think they would:) .

The Doctor

[Thia Halmades]

It's ah... Faerie's Tale? You should PM Keith Curtis, I think it's Dragonfly Games or something (but my memory is garbage -- all I think about is getting a new job and working on HALO). But I know Keith was a big proponent -- he's also designing his own children's system, IIRC.

[Narratio]

And take them to a convention or two. Let them see how the rest of the world games, even the Cosplay and Historical Recreation types. See other game types, board and figure. Something in what they see will register in thier imaginations. Don't try and bind them to RPG's.

[steamteck]

My nine year old is a math geek and LOVES designing HERO characters. I'm running a supers game for him and he really likes how everything is mapped out for him. He has designed tons of NPCs for me to add also. He really enjoys the precision he can put into characters.Depends I guess on the kid.

[Vondy]

Like many of us I have been gaming since my early teens. I now have two sons, age 7 and 9, who have seen me game and are curious about it. I was wondering what is the best way to introduce gaming to the next generation? I don’t wan to force it on them, but I also want to let them share in it if they are interested.

While Champions is my favorite genre and game, I don’t know if it is right for them. Not so much the genre, which is ideal fro kids if done right, but the game system is way too complex. They are old enough to read and understand rules and game background. I almost wish I still had my old white box set of original D&D. It is what got me started.

Anyway I am looking for a good simple system to intro kids to gaming. Any suggestions?

For Hero:

You could hide most of the mechanics. A character sheet with stat rolls, skill rolls, and stripped down power descriptions is really all that's needed to play. My group of adult hero veterans prefer such sheets at run time. At that point all they need to know is four things: defenses, to hit rolls, damage rolls, and skill/char rolls. The key is that you do the full builds and manage those sheets until they're ready for something more complex. The rest can come with time.

IIRC a lot of 1st Ed. ADnD books are available as downloads now, and there are some web-sites that cover character design. If you remember the rules at all you can pretty much run the game just with rules for character design and a few charts. I was playing ADnD at their age (I started with the blue books at 7 and graduated to 1st Ed. when I was 8 - hero didn't exist then).

If you're comfortable with it, some free narrative heavy systems are rules lite. I'll have to do some research on those.

[tkdguy]

The original D&D is pretty easy to learn. Since it doesn't have stuff like feats or attacks of opportunity, it's more user friendly then d20.

GURPS Lite is also available for download, in both 3rd and 4th editions.

[McManus]

I found a copy of AD&D first and ran them through a very short adventure. They really liked it and got into the role playing very easily. It was a lot of fun and gives them some geek "Cultural Literacy". The random nature of character creation helped avoid their desire to be able to do everything.

Man, I had forgotten how easily a first level M.U. with Sleep can cut through kobolds and goblins.

[Cancer]

I'm running a simplified Hero system campaign for my kids, age 10 & 11 (with their mom and aunt; mom is an experienced game, but this is the aunt's first RPG). The mechanics are more or less concealed from them, much like Von D-Man suggested above. The flavor is sort of a Xiao-Lin Showdown flavor, Saturday Morning cartoon flavor martial artists, in a pre-gunpowder world mostly populated with anthropomorphized animals. (The player characters include a domestic cat, a hound dog, a macaque, and a sugar glider; their present teaching master is an ermine.)

[mattingly]

My 10-year old has been gaming with us off-and-on since he turned 8, I think it was. His first character was Red X, the "criminal" alter ego of Robin from Teen Titans. In our new campaign that started a few weeks ago, he's going to be a Naruto-style martial artist, but he hasn't playued with us yet due to other activities.

He can add up 10d6 faster than some of my math-challenged veteran gamers. :)

[Maccabe]

First off there are some RPG's that are easier to deal with. Among them Marvel Superheroes, Villians & Vigilantes. These require the player to roll up their character, do some math (maybe) then play.
Maybe a NO ENDURANCE game would be easier because power limitations are not used. I also agree with those who have posted here- ask the players !
What do your kids read in the way of comic books ? What do they watch on television ? Ask them what they like (or dislike) about the characters they see then you create them.

[McCoy]

Is Tunnels and Trolls still in print? Absolutely minamalist rules, 4 stats (IIRC) hit and damage resolved in a single roll.

[Vondy]

Is Tunnels and Trolls still in print? Absolutely minamalist rules, 4 stats (IIRC) hit and damage resolved in a single roll.

Yes... http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/tandt.htm

[The Monster]

MY son's first RPG was the d6 Star Wars game - he was already a Star Wars fan, and the rules were easy enough to follow (plus, Jedi were really powerful once they got a little experience).
From there I got an intro box of the SW d20 system (Palace of Theed or something IIRC).
From there he's been joining in our regular group depending on the game, mostly stuff that interests him: Star Wars, Champions, and D&D (he isn't really interested in joining our Buffy group, for example). He started coming to our local con, the first time for about half a day, then full-time for the last few years (started roughly age ten, he's now in his teens).

On another level, I introduced D&D to our dorm floor, after finding a group of people who were into fantasy/SF already (this was back in '77, when D&D was still new and unknown). A few simple adventures and before long the game was notably disrupting study and social schedules...

The key I've found is tapping into existing interests, and making sure the first games aren't very hard - either play-wise or rules-wise. The intro box of SWd20 was mostly blowing away a handful of droids and a couple of simple bad guys, with a few special bits mixed in (like, you have to break the prisoners out of jail). Flavor and action are important: they're going to expect to be able to feel like the tv/movie at least to some extent.

Most systems can be simplified easily enough to just offer a basic game, especially if the GM is willing to do most of the work. The thing I always try to do for new players is to offer them choices their character has, and a feel for how likely their character is to make it work ("well, you can *try* to jump the chasm, but your character isn't very good at jumping") - it helps a lot if you cna offer a reasonable explanation of why things work that way ("well, your character isn't very good at jumping because, see, he's a dwarf, and dwarves have pretty short legs"). As an intro GM, it's my job to know the rules, it's their job to decide what their character is gonna do ("OK, if you still want to try the jump, you can take running start...let's see...that means you have to roll at least 14 on that die...go for it!").

For something like Hero, that also means you have to do the writeup yourself, of course in consultation with the player (if possible). I haven't ever bothered using simplified character sheets; instead, I tell them that most of the stuff on there is not to worry about for now, just point them at the important numbers as they come up (either as they come up during play or as they come up from their questions). If I'm aiming to get them into gaming, my feeling is that they should be aware that there is a lot of potential for learning more about how things work, and that there's a reason and structure behind all the numbers and concepts they're learning to deal with; if I can get them into the practice of figuring out the stuff for themselves, both they and I are a leg up on future games.

[teh bunneh]

I created some simplified character sheets for the Teen Titans Go! game I run at the local cons. They're designed to be fairly kid-friendly. The character builds are simple and straightforward, and the charsheets have most of the crunchy numbers taken out. Feel free to borrow ideas from them if you like 'em. :)

[Thrakazog]

D&D Basic (http://flamesrising.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1196&)

[CourtFool]

If you want something really rules light, I would suggest Truth & Justice (http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/products.asp#tj) based on the PDQ system (http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/freebies.asp#pdq). The PDQ core rules are available as a free download.

[casualplayer]

I was going to steer you towards keyes bill's amazingly clean Teen Titan write-ups, and here he's beaten me to it! Being able to see animated examples of the characters will help your boys visualize what is happening and what is possible.

My boys are 1 and 3 so I have to wait another 5-6 years. Dang it.

[Savinien]

If you want something really rules light, I would suggest Truth & Justice (http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/products.asp#tj) based on the PDQ system (http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/freebies.asp#pdq). The PDQ core rules are available as a free download.

Hey! What are the chances you'd be interested in trying that Pirate game with PDQ?

[Sir Ofeelya]

My son has not shown any interest at this stage (He is 11). My daughter (who is 8) refuses to even enter a gaming store because they are "full of nerds".

[steamteck]

My son ((9) just made his third champions character. He really only needed significant help ( not just optimizing and campaign guidelines ) on the first one. My teenage daughter was miffed yesterday when her friends saw me working on my campaign and wanted to learn all about the system. We designed a couple of Anime style characters. It took about half an hour. I get to be the "cool" parent alot because of my SF,fantasy and comics interests and general weirdness. Its fun.

[CourtFool]

Hey! What are the chances you'd be interested in trying that Pirate game with PDQ?


I would be willing to give it a go.