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Gaming with your children
Topic Started: 28 Mar 2010, 10:43 (572 Views)
Ankhanu
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Dark Lord
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The idea of introducing my daughter to roleplaying is one I've had for a while, but I haven't tried yet. Neraeos sent me a link to this story last night of one man's experience introducing his 5 1/2 year old daughter to roleplaying. It's really quite good and sounds like an awesome experience... wonder if my 7 1/2 year old has the attention span to get through a game :P

She's seen the evidence of our gaming sessions (initiative board with stuff left on it, bookshelves of books, etc) and asked about it, seeming to like the idea. She often pulls the D&D 3.5 Monster Manual or Dragonomicon off the shelf to see the monsters and likes to play with dice... she's fairly curious and imaginative, so she's well equipped with the RP basics ;)

I suppose the big thing is choosing a system that is simple enough that it allows a child to grasp the concepts... or paring down a more complex system into something simple. Aside from the system, a child friendly plot is another stumbling block. I know from her reactions to TV shows and the like that she's not into violence, really, so a combat-centric game wouldn't be sensible... and most social games tend to get somewhat complex.
Perhaps the best thing to do to create a kid friendly game is to research adventure cartoons... really watch how they're formatted, not just how enjoyable they are. Most of these shows follow set patterns and aren't too complex.

Perhaps it's time to get the girl into a character :)
In Real Life ™, people who aim to maximize their potential for lethality are called "dangerous psychotics" and are typically avoided by everyone who isn't forced to endure their company until someone has the opportunity to put them away or else put them down. No one likes that guy. Don't play that guy.

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Kelyndra
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That story definitely put a smile on my face. We should definitely make the effort to get Elania into RP'ing. :)
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Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion I gain strength, through strength I gain power, through power I gain victory, through victory my chains are broken. The Force shall set me free.
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Vong
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I have recently picked up Feng Shui (on my FTP site, found a PDF). While it brings back memories of High School, it is REALLY easy to pick up. people who were pretty new to gaming were picking it up with about 3 minutes of instruction, and picked it up really quickly.

Now it is an "Action Movie Roleplaying" so will have more violence... but i think you should be able to modify it... worth looking into though :)
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Ankhanu
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Dark Lord
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Interesting. I'll look into it.
OF course, if you'd like to make a more extensive review or comment on the system, you could make a thread on it or discussion :) I'd never heard of the system.
In Real Life ™, people who aim to maximize their potential for lethality are called "dangerous psychotics" and are typically avoided by everyone who isn't forced to endure their company until someone has the opportunity to put them away or else put them down. No one likes that guy. Don't play that guy.

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esoomian
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My wife and I were totally inspired by this thread. William is only three (four in June) so I wasn't expecting too much from the whole experience but it turned out to be quite enjoyable.

I knocked up a quick and dirty game system based on D6 because it's simple and he can count the dots on the dice without having to read the numbers. We also have some oversized wooden dice that William can't possibly loose.

It played a little more like a shared story than full blown RPG but it's definately something were going to do more often. William got a little confused occasionally thought he was the dice however he enjoyed rolling the dice and grasped the concept of dice rolls determining success.

My wife made this writeup:
Gaming with William

Squire William was fishing outside his large lakeside home, keeping an eye on his horse, Jerry, who was currently at the bottom of the lake in it’s own submarine, when all of a sudden he hears thundering hooves and squealing coming from the forest. A large and rather dirty swine with a harness burst out of the sweet smelling pine. William decides to throw his hammer at the pig but unfortunately misses. A wee green blur of goblin sprints out of the forest after the pig yelling “come back sausage, bad piggy”

William takes chase to help the poor goblin and manages to pounce on the swine and pin it down. William and the Goblin swap pleasantries as they secure the pig near Williams home.

“I’m Flogrot Halfheart and this here naughty piggy is Sausage.”

“I am William, do you want to see my fish I caught?”

The two new friends take their steeds (Jerry needed to come up for air) to the stable for some lovely hay and William shows Flogrot around his estate.

Out of the blue William and Flogrot hear calls for help out in the forest. Cutting Jerry and Saussage’s lunch short the two friends grab their mounts and rush off to see if they can help (Flogrot thinking there may be money in helping)

Our two heroes come to a clearing and see the head of a very pretty young Elf protruding out from some stinky sinky-sand.

“Oh thank goodness” exclaims the pretty Elf “Can you please help me out?”

William finds some rope but the Elf had sunk too low to tie her up successfully.

“Quick, grab my legs William” yells Flogrot

William holds the Goblin over the sinky-sand while Flogrot reaches out and grabs the Elf under the arms and they both pull with all their might. Finally the Elf is freed from the sinky-sand and they all catch their breath at the edge of the forest. While the Elf introduces herself and thanks her two new heroes for saving her life, Flogrot attempts to steal a small item of clothing from Phanta (the elf) Success.

A new rather cool breeze alerts Phanta to her lack of undergarments and she chalks it up to the Sinky-sand which also claimed the health potion she had bought from the village and some herbs that she was picking.

To thank her new heroes Phanta invites William and Flogrot to her tree house for hummingbird cake. After explaining to the Goblin that there are no birds at all in the cake William remembers that he has a lovely fresh fish back at his home and because it was closer, Jerry, Flogrot, Phanta and Sausage raced back to William’s house for some fish. Phanta had a swim in the lake to wash off the stinky Sinky-sand while the fish cooked. They had a very yummy meal and became friends. Later they had another race to Phanta’s tree house for cake. Jerry was the quicker steed this time. Sausage and Jerry were securely tied up and friends went up the rope ladder to Phanta’s tree house for lovely cake. William was about to show off his beautiful hammer when he remembered that he didn’t pick it up. OH no!!! (cliff-hanger!!!)

THEN THERE WAS MUCH CRYING I DON”T WANT TO GO TO BED from Squire William.
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Ankhanu
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Well, we finally went through with gaming with our daughter (she's 10 now).
We considered various "lite" systems, but decided to say screw it and went for the Pathfinder Beginner Box, which is pretty much full rules Pathfinder (with a couple minor tweaks). The simplified systems, I found, were too simplified, and, in the end, I decided she was smart enough to handle real rules, rather than systems that are only kinda defined... so we jumped right in. She's been going through my D&D 3.5 books for a while now, quite interested in the dragons and other beasts, and seems quite taken with the ideas of characters. Between deciding to run her game and actually doing so, she'd come up with several character ideas, and often found herself drawn to different races... like father like daughter ;)


We started the eve with some pizza, and my Saturday night gaming friends joining us, who she complains about never being able to see, since we play after she's gone to bed. Right off the bat, that's two positives for a kid ;)
She and I went through character creation earlier in the day, in which she rolled up a first level Elven Sorcerer with a (blue) draconic bloodline. Everyone else just played the pregenerated characters from the box; my wife playing the cleric, friend 1 playing the rogue and friend 2 playing the fighter. All in all, a well balanced adventuring group!
It took her a little bit to get into the basics of adventuring; searching rooms, looting your enemies, investigating statues, etc., but she picked up on the fact that you have to actively try to find things if you want to find them. Other than a couple instances, she maintained pretty good focus through the session, and seemed to get the rules as they were explained.

All in all, the evening was a smashing success, and we'll likely be delving deeper into the dungeon next week.
In Real Life ™, people who aim to maximize their potential for lethality are called "dangerous psychotics" and are typically avoided by everyone who isn't forced to endure their company until someone has the opportunity to put them away or else put them down. No one likes that guy. Don't play that guy.

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