I haven’t played in years, but my kids are now at the age where they could likely begin to get into roleplaying (12 and 13). Any suggestions for an introductory experience?
The last game I really played was D20 system. The major advantage was that it only used a single mechanic for all checks. It found a pretty much perfect balance between the various factors that went into making a character, the level system was straightforward, it was scalable for complexity and level, and it had a bajillion different supplements and variants for genres and licensed settings.
D20 system also worked very well with action-focused, map-and-minis type dungeon crawls, which I think is important for a novice player. (Abstracted or storytelling games, like WoD games, require significantly more effort and skill on the player’s part.) D20 has also been used as the basis of a number of older games like KOTOR and Neverwinter Nights, which might be handy for illustration.
I don’t know if this is even really a thing anymore. I quit playing around the time D&D 3.5 came out. Do people still even play D20?
Pathfinder is a d20 game, and I think it’s currently the biggest RPG on the market. 5th edition D&D is also arguably d20.
I hope you won’t mind if I suggest general advice (rather than a specific game.)
- The DM (I assume it’s going to be you) should know the game well (so you can concentrate on the game rather than constantly looking things up.)
- The game should allow the players to make up characters and start playing reasonably quickly.
- The game milieu should interest the DM and players. Which of these do your kids like? :
- superheroes
- Tolkien
- detectives
- astronauts
etc.
- What sort of game would they prefer? :
- dungeon crawl
- problem solving
- roleplaying
etc.
I… guess you haven’t played a lot of RPGs in the past 15 years, have you? This is practically the minimum bar for a functioning game these days. If you don’t have a standardized resolution mechanic for your game, everyone is going to look at you like “…you have to be kidding, right?”
I don’t think this is true at all. “Okay; You are allowed to move X squares, or X+2 squares if you ‘dash’, and then you can do the following things, and if you move too close to an opponent, they get to attack you…” and so on and so forth is, to me, a lot harder to explain and track than “There’s five goblins between you and the shaman who has the innkeeper’s son tied to the altar, what do you do?”
People still play EVERYTHING, but the actual “d20” system is fairly close to death - it experience a HUGE backlash due in no small part to people trying to adapt it to tons of things that it didn’t really work that well for, and then there was a big licensing mess and…yeah.
Anyway, now that I’m done ranting, there are a couple of things that need to be taken into account when talking about an RPG for kids:
First and probably foremost, you need to think about what sort of content you are willing to present your kids with. Is a game where “We kill them and take their stuff” is a pretty normal and accepted way of dealing with problems a game that you want to expose your kids to? I’m not making any value judgements here, and I am certainly not going to tell you what’s appropriate or anything, but you may or may not want a game in which lots of deadly combat is the norm. And yes, you can take games that usually feature lots of deadly combat (Lookin’ at you, D&D!) and reduce the amount of deadly combat, but at that point, the question becomes “Why pick that game in the first place?”
Next, you obviously need something that your kids are INTERESTED in. It doesn’t matter how good the game is if the kids have no interest in whatever it’s about. “D&D Fantasy” is sometimes acceptable, but not necessarily. It depends on the kids. You know what media your kids are consuming, so you can probably make a good educated guess about what sort of game adventures they would like.
But while that’s all stuff you need to think about while picking a game, it doesn’t give you a lot of guidance when it comes to actual game systems. At this point, I’m going to throw out a few suggestions.
First suggestion. If you’re not aware of it (and since you “haven’t played in years” you’re probably not), you need to know about DriveThruRPG. It’s kinda like the Steam of digital RPG distribution platforms. There are large, large numbers of games available there in PDF (and Print on Demand) format, and they maintain a ‘library’ for you from which you can download your stuff whenever you want. You may or may not (Probably may, but…) want an actual physical book of whatever game system you select, but you really shouldn’t underestimate the value of being able to drop $10 on a PDF to read and reference. You can always go out and buy the “real book” through conventional channels once you’ve picked a game.
Now, actual game suggestions, trying to hit a whole bunch of diverse genres here. Dunno what kids these days like. None of these are specifically “kids games” though those exist, I haven’t tried any of them, so I can’t recommend them.
Lasers & Feelings - It doesn’t get much cleaner and easier than this. The default vibe is very much Star Trek, but you could totally run any sort of sci-fi in it with very little work - indeed, I bet a small amout of tampering would produce a really good Star Wars game. It’s easy and free.
Lady Blackbird - same designer as Lasers & Feelings but a bit more complicated. Not a very ‘traditional’ game in any sense, but very smart, and it has the advantage of being a game and adventure in one.
InSpectres - it’s… like… Ghostbusters meets The Office. Might require a little bit more daring on your part, because it explicitly says that when a character succeeds at something, the player tells you how and what happens, so you need to be ready for whatever weird stuff your kids come up with. Mechanically very straightforward.
D&D 5th Edition - If you just don’t feel comfortable with something that’s not D&D, the latest edition of D&D is pretty decent. Comes with an adventure too. Certainly cleaner than D20. But honestly, if you’re looking for D&D Fantasy, I endorse…
Dungeon World - it’s D&D viewed through the lens of more modern game design. It has commonly been described as “What I thought D&D was going to be like before I played D&D” or “What I always wanted D&D to be”. There’s also this guy who runs it for kids and did some blogging about it…
Monster of the Week - runs on a similar game “chassis” to Dungeon World, but instead sets up a “modern supernatural” game. Something along the lines of Buffy/Dresden Files/Supernatural kind of thing, though also adapts well to a muddle of Harry Potter/Percy Jackson sort of stuff. Protect people from supernatural monsters. Super good design and does a fabulous job of giving instructions on how to actually GM the game.
Ryuutama - A sort of “beginners fantasy RPG”, Ryuutama has a handful of unique features. It is more about traveling than fighting, it gives the GM a character, and it encourages collaborative worldbuilding. Good for a different sort of fantasy feel.
The One Ring - If there’s still love for Middle Earth, this is your game. It’s slightly more complicated than some of the other offerings here, but it does a really impressive job of creating that “Middle Earth” feel. Also your best choice if you really like spending money on additional books. 
Mouse Guard - Mice with swords defending themselves from weasels and all kinds of animals that want to eat them. Based on the graphic novels of the same name. Possibly the most complicated game on this list in some ways, but an incredible fit for small-scale heroism.
There are a couple of other games I WANT to be able to recommend, but which aren’t really out yet in any useful way, so there isn’t much point.
A lot of this decision is based on “What you think you and your kids would enjoy” more than anything else, so…
Marvel SuperHeroes
It’s old, so there are lots of free resources available online. It’s super simple and from what I can tell Marvel seems to be pretty popular with the kids these days.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Super_Heroes_(role-playing_game)
I would echo what glee says. There is no bigger turn-off to new RPG players than watching the DM say “Wait, let me look that up…” while he flips through five different books for the answer. Pick something you know really well, and tailor an adventure to what the kids are likely to enjoy.
Some people suggest letting the kids “play themselves” in fantasy fashion. You can see plenty of examples in literature, like the Narnia books. (Narnia’s kids even come close to following basic D&D classes if you think about it.)
My personal experience has not been with my children, but plenty of others. I grew up on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - the original version - and one of the things I found amazing is how kids take to its critical hits table. It’s not just “OK, hit points are down to zero, you win.” It’s “Your sword cleaves off his head, which lands 2d6 feet away” or “You disembowel your opponent, covering yourself in blood and entrails.” I think the gore is probably an attractive feature on its own, but it also highlights the importance of being very descriptive as a GM. Kids will latch onto detailed descriptions much more readily than to system mechanics.
While this is crucial advice, I think if we’re dealing with someone who hasn’t played an RPG in years, this is basically the null set right now, so he might as well start with a game that suits instead of just saying "Yeah, I kinda remember D&D so I guess I’ll run that.’
I don’t really have an opinion on this. It’s safe to say that most kids probably WILL “play themselves” in some capacity, but when I was getting into this hobby at about the age of the OP’s kids, the last thing I wanted to play was myself.
See, I regard this is a failure by the GM - adding description to the game is CRUCIAL when playing with… well, anyone, honestly. “The orc hits you, take 5hp of damage.” is boring. “The orc whips around, swinging his scimitar! You throw your shield up, half blocking it, but it’s a ferocious blow, and it deflects off the shield and cuts into your ribs! Take 5 hp of damage!” is much better, and the presence of absence of a critical hit table is neither here nor there.
I’m not sure this is available, legally. Though I believe there is a clone called “FASERIP” available for free.
I’m unprepared to speak to whether it’s a good choice or not, having never played either the original or the clone, but it’s a good idea to have SOME sort of superhero game in the mix, and most of them seem to be godawful complicated, which is why I didn’t recommend any. There’s one in my “I’d like to recommend, but it’s not actually OUT YET” list, but that’s not useful.
I still find it a lot easier to do a refresher on something old than to learn something new. Even with basic board games or card games, very few people can read the rules and jump right into play. You need some practice runs to get the hang of it.
The OP knows his kids better than I do. Maybe they would enjoy trying to learn the game system along with him. In general, I think it would be a terrible idea to try out a new game on players that you’re trying to impress.
If you take out the history lesson regarding how I learned it, this is exactly what I said.
This is a false comparison though. Unless he hunts down the D&D or whatever of his youth, he’s going to be playing a different game. And he’s not going to have any practice runs regardless. And a game being “similar” to what you dimly remember can be worse than something new. What’s more, this isn’t an apples to apples comparison. D&D is really complicated compared to about half the games on my list. Remembering D&D vs learning Dungeon World is like remembering Axis and Allies vs learning Checkers.
I think we’re arguing around the point here though. And here’s why: It’s actually NOT relevant how well he knows the rules. What is relevant is how he keeps the game moving and how he acts self assured. It’s about “Do you stop and look up the rule for attacks of opportunity?” vs “Do you just decide that, yes, he gets one?” and that’s easier in a game with fewer rules to trip you up.
This is also possible, yes.
Yes, sorry, it kinda got lost in my reading.
I’d say D&D is probably the classic game to play, assuming you can be a competent DM. Combat, non-combat, loot, etc… it pretty much has it all.
Not as much flexibility as a full RPG, but I have heard good things about Mice & Mystics
It is a co-op (everyone vs the game), no DM.
Brian
A bit of clarification: D20, as in D&D 3.0 and 3.5 and its open-source project, lives on via the game Pathfinder, which is flippin’ huge. I’m not seeing any signs that it’s dying out–are you, Airk? But yeah, other than Pathfinder, D20 rules based on third edition D&D are not very common any more. I don’t think it’s a backlash so much as just that the world has moved on in the past 15 years.
D&D Fifth Edition still uses a 20-sided die to resolve most conflicts; even though it’s not branded “D20,” a lot of folks think of it as working in the D20 tradition. And it’s most definitely not close to death.
I don’t think I’m disagreeing on anything here (except maybe “backlash,” and I won’t die on that hill), but clarifying.
As for which system to teach kids with, my 7-year-old daughter, and her 8yo and 10yo cousins, are happily playing a fifth edition D&D game that I’m running for them.
I don’t really think of Pathfinder as “D20”; I guess legally it is? They don’t BILL themselves as “D20 system”. The term doesn’t appear anywhere on their website. To me, “D20” is specifically, D&D 3.0 and it’s 4 million (Hyperbole) spinoff games in the early 2000s. As soon as you hit 3.5, everything goes pear shaped with D20, because people start losing faith that the system is going to be a stable thing to build games off of. RPG ‘bubble’ starts to destabilize badly.
Yeah, but so what? Lots of stuff is “working in the tradition” of something else. That doesn’t mean anything. If he’d said “D&D” then fine, yeah, it’s D&D. But it’s not the “d20 system” and neither is original AD&D even though that used a d20 for a lot of stuff.
Sure. And maybe “backlash” isn’t the right term, but that bubble definitely burst.
It’s definitely D20-based, published off the Open Gaming License. I don’t actually own any PF books, but I’m pretty sure that if you flipped to the back page, you’d find the license there.
“So what” is clarifying, nothing more :). When I first read your post, I didn’t realize you were talking about D20 as a branded property, thought instead you were talking about gaming systems using the central mechanic of resolving most actions with a 20-sided die; I had to read what you wrote a couple of times before I understood, so I just posted a clarification, in case others were confused.
Pathfinder is one of the four million spinoffs of third edition D&D.
But…what’s what “D20 system” means. Any other definition means you start catching up both games that way predate the d20 system (Basic D&D!) and games that use a d20 but are otherwise different (True20).
I guess I’m glad we’ve clarified?
Technically not. At least, not in the sense I meant. Pathfinder is a spinoff of D&D 3.5, which puts it later in the evolution of games than the stuff I am thinking of (For example: D20 Modern, or Traveller20 or uh, Judge Dredd. :P). I was basically referring to 3.0 and it’s DIRECT spinoffs. If you start counting everything “down the family tree” you get a bunch of extra stuff included that muddles up any attempt at being clear about this stuff.
I guess, but 3.0 and 3.5 were barely different at all. Pathfinder is more different from either than either is from the other. So it makes more sense to refer to Pathfinder as being derived from 3.x than to specify which of the two it’s derived from.
Thanks for all the suggestions! Thematically, Monster of the Week sounds like something they would enjoy, and I’ve also been recommended to pick up Mice & Mystics previously, I’ll have to do that. I may check out Pathfinder, as we have a ton of bits and bobs available for it locally, unlike almost anything else.