Doing my duty: Passing the tradition

[The Reverend]

My Uncle taught me and my cousins to game when I was 7 and I have loved it ever since. So in the great tradition, as I too lack male heirs, I have decided to pass on the tradition of RPG. I have 4 highly intelligent nephews who I think could get really into the whole thing. They all play related games: all have played thru various titles in Links Adventures, youngest plays Pokemon, and the older three are avid video gamers and are playing SkyRim and have played theFable Series so I have a lot of hope for them as the Next Generation.
I really want this to go over well and I am looking for ideas and info
now the quest.
•. Im considering using 4e because the rules are balanced and streamlined, I'm familiar with them and frankly the video game nature of the system and power cards will be familiar to them. Does anyone have any better ideas about what system to use?

•Im also thinking about running a boxed set, red box specifically, any suggestions as I have never dm'd a pregenned game?

•Should I pregen characters and let them choose or let them have more input into the selection?

•Any suggestions about experience with this topic will be appreciated.


I just want this to go well and for them to want to play more, to be hungry for tge sound of the dice rolling.

[Winds]

All the editions have problems when it comes to introductory.

When running 4E, you might want to tone down the encounters and tactics. Speaking from my 4E experience, the inability to deal good damage without using major resources gave us all the nagging feeling we were missing something-and the prebuilt campaign's built in tactics wiped out our toughest characters almost instantly. This is why my group abandoned 4E. If you like, cool and all, but bear in mind that most listed tactics are to much for newbies, and also that the huge amounts of HP most monsters have lead to rather boring fights. If you and yours like 4E, that's great, but that was my group's experience.


Dming prebuilt campaigns is pretty easy. The ones I've known have a very solid plotline ready that I think would lend itself well to players of Fable of Elder Scrolls. I think there are also several built for beginning players, but I don't know that for certain.

[Rockbird]

Mouse Guard! Introduce them with Mouse Guard!

[The Reverend]

Mouse guard? I have heard of it, buuut these kids are pretty hardened by gears of war, skyrim, fable, etc and will expect a certain amount of Epicness. I will check it out, not saying no as I have not looked it over and i have heard only good things about it. Just wish we had a decent game store inside a 30min drive.

[Knaight]

Mouse guard? I have heard of it, buuut these kids are pretty hardened by gears of war, skyrim, fable, etc and will expect a certain amount of Epicness. I will check it out, not saying no as I have not looked it over and i have heard only good things about it. Just wish we had a decent game store inside a 30min drive.
http://fromthegutter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mouse-guard-fall-1152-interior-1.jpg
http://www.factualopinion.com/.a/6a00d83455e40a69e20112791a169828a4-400wi
You were saying?

In any case, I would strongly recommend against D&D. I would also recommend against Mouse Guard. A brief list of free or cheap games that should work, which include fantasy "epicness" or the capacity therein:
Fudge
Chronica Feudalis
Blood Sweat and Steel
FATE
GURPS Lite
Jaws of the Six Serpents
Savage Worlds

[The Reverend]

Nice pics, but from a spiders perspective my toilet is a spasmodic whirlpool of doom. Im looking at different systems and will check them out. I was thinking with 4e just introducing the rules gradually as they got used to them.

[Knaight]

Nice pics, but from a spiders perspective my toilet is a spasmodic whirlpool of doom. Im looking at different systems and will check them out. I was thinking with 4e just introducing the rules gradually as they got used to them.

And if you play as spiders, an encounter with that nasty whirlpool has the capacity to be epic. People falling into the void, grabbing one another before they fall in to far, someone swimming against the whirlpool, so on and so forth, these things are staples of adventure stories. Its all the same really - there is a reason one of the main MouseGuard hacks is about the Dunedain rangers.

That said, all the systems I linked are either geared explicitly towards humans, or work with them as well as everything else.

[The Reverend]

Im still leaning real hard on 4e. My main reasoning is that it will be a familiar mechanical system as a lot of the major RPG video games are based on the six stat setup KOTOR for example.

Now I want a fight scene on the golden toilet of zeus!!


Each of the systems look really interesting, looking over rpg.net reviews.

[Winds]

If you're looking at KOTOR as a starting point, you probably want closer to the d20 Past/Modern/Future games.

[Choco]

It all depends on what type of players you have.... If they are the type that never bother to crack open a book until it is time to level up and the only thought they put into character builds is "oo, this looks cool!", then 4e is perfect. If they like more options AND actually take the time to research and do well thought-out builds and the like, then anything in the wide expanse of the D20 system would be good. You gotta figure out which camp they fall into, so i would say do some trial 1-2 session games in various systems and ask them what they prefer.

I know this from personal experience. We have a guy in our group that always struggles in 3.5 and Modern games because despite having all the time in the world he can't build up the interest and/or motivation to ever look at a rulebook. Once we switched to 4e he has since started actually contributing to the group instead of dragging everyone down and is having a lot more fun because of it. Having all the power cards printed out and right in front of him, and color coded and all the math already done, has made a HUGE difference. Not to mention all the rules and choices in general are simpler in 4e.

[The Reverend]

This will be their first pen and dice RPG ever so I'm not sure how they're going to play.

[Choco]

There are a few ways you can get clues before even doing trial games. Give them access to your 4e books and tell them to make characters for a short game and see what they do. If they dig through every available resource and complain that they don't have enough options to build what they want, they will probably like D20 System games better. If they just take the recommended builds in the book and go with it, then 4e is perfect :smallwink:

[Rorrik]

I had a similar experience as a young lad and share the desire to pass the tradition down. Personally, because they are young and its the first time, I think I'd do what my dad did, give them a precreated party to share. My two brothers and I had 6 characters. At first I controlled the cleric, fighter, and magic-user, by brother a magic-user and fighter, and the youngest just the thief. With time I gave the youngest the fighter. I recommend this method because it gave us an opportunity to experience multiple angles of the game and trade as we learned what we liked. At first I gave my brother the cleric before deciding I wanted him more than the fighter. However, since in this day and age they've played enough to know what the classes mean pretty well, they may have an idea of what they want already.

[Psyren]

1) Get each a laptop and a copy of NWN Diamond or MotB
2) Start them playing through the campaign together
3) Leave the room
4) Come back. Congratulations, they all know 3e.

[Strawberries]

My Uncle taught me and my cousins to game when I was 7 and I have loved it ever since. So in the great tradition, as I too lack male heirs, I have decided to pass on the tradition of RPG.

I just want to know. What's wrong with introducing female heirs? :smallconfused:

[veti]

1) Get each a laptop and a copy of NWN Diamond or MotB
2) Start them playing through the campaign together
3) Leave the room
4) Come back. Congratulations, they all know 3e.

True, dat.

The drawback being that NWN Diamond will look pretty lame to players accustomed to the graphics of Skyrim (or even Fable). And - although this is just my opinion, obviously - NWN2 is an awful game, whose interface alone is guaranteed to put off for life anyone who isn't already in love with D&D.

I think the introduction to tabletop RPGing needs to be through books, because imagination and visualisation is such a large part of the process. If the kids haven't read, at a minimum, a few classics such as The Hobbit, Conan or Elric, how are they going to cope with "The walls are no longer rough hewn stone but instead finely carved and etched with images of fire"?

[The Reverend]

I have no female heirs readily available, at least not for another 5-6 years. Im getting her started on My little Pony and Scooby doo though.

[Strawberries]

I have no female heirs readily available, at least not for another 5-6 years. Im getting her started on My little Pony and Scooby doo though.

Okay, then. :smallbiggrin:
As long as you introduce her to Star Wars, Babylon 5, George Martin and other similar things when the time is right :smallwink:.

[Psyren]

The drawback being that NWN Diamond will look pretty lame to players accustomed to the graphics of Skyrim (or even Fable). And - although this is just my opinion, obviously - NWN2 is an awful game, whose interface alone is guaranteed to put off for life anyone who isn't already in love with D&D.

I specified Mask of the Betrayer for this reason, as it has a much better story to keep people engaged through the clunkiness and glitches. But you're most likely better off with a 3.5 fan patch for the original NWN and ignoring NWN2 entirely :smalltongue:

[The Reverend]

she's 2. a few months ago she saw the desert scene with C3po and R2 and just laughed and laughed and laughed at them.

[ondonaflash]

So, speaking from the experience of one who has introduced multiple newcomers to the d20 systems I would strongly advise against letting them build their own characters, at least at first. Let them name their characters, select a class, select a race, get the fluff stuff out of the way, then actually build the character for them.

Then tell them what they can do as if you're describing abilities in a video game: "Your character can cause the undead harm, forcing them to recoil in horror, you can do this three times before you need to rest." "Whenever your character kills a guy he can immediately turn to hit the guy next to him."

My reasoning here is that while creating your own character does add your own unique touch to the game, they don't really know what they're doing, and it can take them hours just to figure out the process. That can choke your game to death, especially if some of the others are waiting for them to finish.

Its much easier just to do the hard work for them, then break it down afterwards.

[PersonMan]

I think the introduction to tabletop RPGing needs to be through books, because imagination and visualisation is such a large part of the process. If the kids haven't read, at a minimum, a few classics such as The Hobbit, Conan or Elric, how are they going to cope with "The walls are no longer rough hewn stone but instead finely carved and etched with images of fire"?

The same way you cope with anything? Unless that's some sort of triple-reference, it doesn't seem like 'reading popular fantasy books' is really necessary. I've never read any of those, yet I don't have trouble visualizing things.

Of course, I've always found that mental images come easy to me, so I may not be a good 'normal' example.

In general, I'd try to find out what they really like in Fable, Skyrim, etc. as you'll 'pitch' games differently if they go for epic stories('with this, you can have an epic adventure!') or hack-and-slash('this game has 400 pages on how to kill things! And 200 on treasure!').

[Knaight]

The same way you cope with anything? Unless that's some sort of triple-reference, it doesn't seem like 'reading popular fantasy books' is really necessary. I've never read any of those, yet I don't have trouble visualizing things.

Really, having read books and being in possession of language skills is enough. Its not as if the classics somehow prepare people better for role playing games - what makes them classic is that they are good reads in and of themselves.

[bansidhe]

Just do it!,it dosent matter what game it is,they will adapt or you can change it.
I started playing with my 8 yr old daughter and it is the most rewarding experience ive had gaming!

and as a big,[topsecret] plus,her grades at school have shot up in english ,maths etc!

So much so that last time I picked her up from school her form teacher came up too me and asked "What is this game you are playing?"

[J-H]

D&D teaches:
Math (word problems)
Basic statistics and probability
On-the-fly addition/subtraction/etc.
Vocabulary
Map-reading
How to function in a group
Planning ahead and anticipating the actions of others
Basic tactics

[Rorrik]

D&D teaches:
Math (word problems)
Basic statistics and probability
On-the-fly addition/subtraction/etc.
Vocabulary
Map-reading
How to function in a group
Planning ahead and anticipating the actions of others
Basic tactics

Straight up. I've been lobbying D&D as a leadership learning tool in every college class I get a chance to.


I think the introduction to tabletop RPGing needs to be through books, because imagination and visualisation is such a large part of the process.
Definitely a must. Sure, they'll be interested in the genre due to videogame playing, but if they haven't read, then their minds aren't prepared to create the adventure around them as they go. My dad read us the Hobbit aloud to get us in the mood before each session.