I need to tape the great potential of the group mind.

I need to tape the great potential of the group mind.

I need to tape the great potential of the group mind. There is a woman that I work with that has an 8 year old son. Her son is a creative type often dressing up like characters he sees in movies. Talking with his mom, I mentioned he might enjoy roleplaying and she agreed. Can anyone suggest a roleplaying game that a young person would find accessible? I’m posting here because I think a narrative game would be more intuitive than a more math heavy system. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Let’s spread the hobby!

34 thoughts on “I need to tape the great potential of the group mind.”

  2. Any system, since you’re gonna do the math. But…Dungeon World, since it’s 2d6+something, FAE, though it’s a little hard to get a hold of. Err… just do one of these two I guess.

  4. Mr. Wolfoyote I have FAE and agree it could be confusing. I actually think that DW straight would be great if I could teach it rather than have her son read it. What I’d like ideally would be a stripped down version of DW. Something an 8 year old wouldn’t be intimidated to read.

  5. Erik Buchanan Why should he read anything? I mean, duh, reading is good, but all you need is a base mechanic and simplification among three categories like “fighting” or “socialising”. Assign more bonuses in related to his character concept and begin.

  7. Perttu Vedenoja​​ I just got it checked that we cannot start the Indiegogo campaign for the english edition before the Finnish 2nd edition is delivered. So I’d say the English edition campaign starts around March.

    We have pretty much everything else except for the new 2nd edition revisions translated, so in that sense things are looking good.

    More about Astraterra here: http://www.astraterra.fi

  8. Mr. Wolfoyote you’ve confused me. Reading a rule book is needed to learn the rules. Even a simple mechanic like you suggested still needs to be related to storytelling. I would assume you would need a paragraph or two to explain the relationship to a player/gamemaster.

  10. Erik Buchanan Sorry for confusion, Eric, but we’re talking about 8 year old. He doesn’t need to read through much stuff. If he will play you could simplify it for a time like “you need to roll these guys but say what are you gonna try to do before, those bumbers that’s what’s gonna happen.” Hm. Maybe it’s a good idea to add some kind of Fate Points for him since it is the solo game.

  11. i’ve heard good things about mouseguard for the young. Thought i saw junior rpg about playing squirrels that supposed to be for kids though i can’t think of the name off the top of my head

  13. Mr. Wolfoyote no problem. Ideally I would like to sit down with the mom and son and teach them the basics but there is a complication. I’m attracted to the mom but she is my coworker. I feel weird seeing her out of work so I need a book accessible to a child and to an adult who has no experience with gaming.

  14. World of Dungeons? I’m planning to try No Thank You, Evil with my very bright nearly-four-year-old soon. There are a whole bunch of games designed for kids out there, but I think if she was 8 I’d just jump straight into Dungeon World, or maybe WoD. DW is easy to teach without the player having to read anything (assuming the GM knows the game), but WoD they could read and understand if given a little context.

  15. Saul Alexander WoD=World of Darkness? I don’t think that would be appropriate for an 8 year old. I do think DW would be good if I could teach it but see my post directly above.

  16. The other option would just be D&D. Probably go with Basic and just introduce some of the rules at a time. Plenty of little brothers and sisters have learned the game at that age.

  17. Erik Buchanan Astraterra, mentioned above, is specifically made to be taught to/picked up by kids with no earlier experience in roleplaying and has had great reviews — but as said, it’s 1) currently out of print (and sold out fast) and 2) only in Finnish.

    A translation is in the works, though, but it’s probably not going to print before summer. (Miska is the designer, maybe asking about english playtesting opportunities is worth a shot?)

  19. Saul Alexander If going with D&D, running B/X / BECMI / retroclone of those would definitely be the best choice.

    Wouldn’t want to teach the kid wrong with 3.PF, and it would probably be overwhelming as well.

  21. Erik Buchanan​ Sorry, that post hadn’t come up yet. Yes, I meant World of Dungeons (I was referring back to the top of my post).

    Doesn’t one of the versions of Basic D&D have a little walkthrough adventure at the start? I’m not so familiar with Basic, but I’ve heard something along those lines.

  23. Hero Kids. It’s designed for children, most of the mechanics are fiction driven, and use pictures on the sheets to help with association. I’ve run it for a group of six year olds and they loved it. It’s on DrivethruRPG if you’re interested.

  29. D&D Basic Set 1977… if it was good enough for me at 8… 🙂

    I would actually suggest asking the boy. Ask him what kinds of games he plays on electronics, and chose a game that is at least similar to one of his favorite games. At 8 he’s probably played a lot of tablet or handheld console or console games and/or watch a wide range of animated media that you can tap into for source material. As for the crunch AWE would work fine for a 2 player game. I would probably suggest a 10+ = success with benefits, 7-9 = success, and 6- is complication / failure / gm-move of varying degrees. Snake Eyes should always be bad. 😀

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