What RPG would you recommend for kids around the age of 10?
I'm going to run a game for some relatives when I come home for easter. The youngest are going to be 2 10 year old kids. I would run Dungeon World because they basically don't even have to know the rules to play that thanks to the way moves work. But I want something they'll be able to get into and run themselves easily after I'm gone. I'm not sure if they'll be able to keep track of all the moves and their triggers, there's a lot of them if you include special moves and GM moves and especially GM moves can be pretty hard to interpret sometimes.
Fate Accelerated I guess. The book is pretty cheap too.
Tyler Gomez
Kingdom hearts 1.5+2.5
Andrew Stewart
beyond the wall and other adventures.
Daniel Torres
Definitely Mouse Guard. My kids loved it.
They are also enjoying Tales from the Loop.
Grayson Rogers
D&D 5e
remove garbage like alignments, carrying capacity, and other shit that would be too complicate for kids
Zachary Jenkins
Some nice suggestions already like MG, tough it might be a little too much of an investment if the kids don't follow from the start.
Golden Sky Stories.
The Warren.
>also, what do they want to play? As in genres and whatnot. I wouldn't suggest SWs as they're all garbage systems for example, but shit, if they want to be jedis, why the fuck not.
Brody Evans
Beyond the Wall seems like a good pick. I would also suggest FFG's Baron Munchausen when they're a few years older, since it's an absolute blast to play as a kid. Get everyone wine glasses filled with apple cider or something and go nuts.
If kids could play D&D back in the 80s, why can't they now?
Joshua Young
I'm pretty sure he's talking about very young kids
Liam Campbell
Around the age of 10, he says. Depends on how dumb the 10 year olds are.
Jordan Powell
With essentially no prior experience role-gaming, I started running Basic D&D for the kids in my neighborhood when I was maybe 11 or 12. Granted, most of that was me just pulling shit out of my ass, but it still shows that 10 year-olds probably don't need to be babied too much. With that said, RPGs are pretty daunting, and I don't think there are nearly enough good entry-level options for people in general. 5e is hailed for its simplicity, but it's really extraordinarily complicated for a first step into role-gaming (and only simple compared to its immediate predecessors).
Anyway, my recommendation if you don't want to go for something ultra-light (and kind of silly) like Risus, is Barbarians of Lemuria (see pic), especially if you restrict access to magic/mystic careers, which tend to be significantly more complicated than their more mundane counterparts. It's a swords and sorcery system anyway, and wizards being bad guys fits right into that genre.
oh really? that's kinda surprising. I haven't gotten around to actually trying it but it looks pretty simple from reading it.
Nicholas Nelson
Actually, I've noticed it takes an adult to appreciate a childlike/ish game. Kids want something more grownup and serious, as if they're learning something [whereas an adult playing a childlike game is re-learning something]. So straight up dungeon bashes work great for 10yo kids as the concept is quite simple and the action non-stop.
Kayden Moore
Already mentioned the Warren.
Tyler Richardson
Def not 5E D&D. It's all about questioning binary gender and sex. It's super deviant bullshit that just isn't kids friendly.
Brayden Brooks
Maze rats is super easy and fun to run, plus was made by a teacher for his 8th grade class.
William Thompson
Well it is produced by a company that did actively defend the "right" of pedophiles to work as volunteers for children's events.
Jason Lopez
I've only read through the books enough to make a character, but didn't see any of that shit. Is it because I didn't roll bard?
William Evans
Fine, then a homebrew of plague dogs. I must be blind!
Noah Cox
You should both probably kill yourselves
Jackson Garcia
Shadowrun 5e
Alexander Hall
I think minmaxing is a useful skill. Even if you never autism out yourself, coming to understand systems quickly and optimizing your concepts so that you can stay relevant with weaker mechanics in a game is helpful. I think the best players in theory should be able to adapt to different campaigns, systems and DMs quickly.
Brandon Harris
Going to agree with Fate Accelerated, though gave me a good chuckle.
Landon Perez
Not really. It's kinda hard. Just go with FU.
Samuel Williams
I agree, it is, it can be fun and sooner or later anyone playing RPGs will come across it, so learning it is almost unavoidable. I was just arguing that learning good roleplay before that is preferable
Evan Stewart
Tails of Equestria
Juan Fisher
Abstract Dungeon d6 system that's super easy to learn and play, character creation takes less than 5 minutes and it's pretty hard to die
Benjamin Jones
I've had success with a game called Hero Kids. Simple rules and comes with a lot of print-n-play stuff, coloring books and so on. This is also a good one.
Dylan Cooper
Ryuutama or Chuubo's Marvelous Wishing Engine. Get some of that imagination working again, fuck mechanics and meaningless dice rolls.
The problem is that in general systems that allow minmaxing are failures, or at least very mediocre.
I'm not even sure why minmaxing isn't a red flag in game design. I mean, I don't see where it can be useful for enjoying the game, so to speak. But I digress.
Thomas Davis
Anybody tried Epyllion?
Hudson Perry
GURPS lite
Dominic Powell
Yes let's make a game with plenty of content that is tightly balanced, and minmaxing fucks you over in literally every other department to where you become a one-trick pony.
I started my daughter at that age on D&D 5e. It isn't really about the system. Because regardless of what actual system it is about the narrative for them, so you will end up playing it rules light.
Expect either edgy tuff guy stuff from the guys or cute elf with animal friends from the girls.
Christopher Perez
GURPS
Actually though, either FATE Accelerated, Hero kids or ultra lite systems like Roll for Shoes or Risus
Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'll go with fate accelerated or d6 system. Those seem like the easiest for kids to be able to pick up and run themselves after I leave.
How the fuck does this game work? I tried to read the rule book and couldn't understand it. Watched a video of a guy explaining it and still didn't really get it. This feels like the opposite of a simple system. Looks interesting but also complicated.
Ryuutama is the opposite of straightforward. It's like they tried to make JRPG the tabletop game and it ended up just being confusing and overcomplicated and not very fun imho.
Yea I know I could run pretty much anything for them and make it work but that's because i know the systems and can modify them. The point is that I'll only be home for a week and they've been asking me to play for a while now, I want them to be able to pick it up quickly and learn to run it themselves after I'm gone. If I ran a simplified D&D they wouldn't have any reference after I'm gone because PHB would be much more complicated and different. With simpler games they can reference a 60 page document that will have the same rules we used.
Kids in the 80s didn't just buy a 300 page manual and started playing. They either joined kids who already knew the game and learned by playing with them for a good while or they started with improvising extremely simple rules ie we're telling a story, when you want to do something roll 1d6 and on 4+ you succeed and that's it, to which they slowly added more rules as they needed and as their demands and skill increased, they either fleshed out their own system or bought a rulebook for already existing systems. At that point the book wasn't so daunting because they already knew what the book was supposed to do and it wasn't just a collection of nonsensical rules. That's why I'm looking for a system for them that will be just a step above complete improv, so they can have some rules they can build on but won't get in the way. They can extend it and then transition into something more fleshed out as they get used to it.
