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View Full Version : Simple and fast system for preteen group?



SilverLeaf167
2017-01-23, 09:29 AM
See the title. What systems would you recommend for a one-shot or two-shot game with a group of four boys, all 11-12 years old?

They're smart kids and have basic gaming experience, as you can probably expect these days, and at least one actually plays Pathfinder and Warhammer. Keeping the game simple is a matter of the time we have available, not them being unable to learn the rules.

General priorities:
Quick character creation. I can use premade characters, assuming they're intuitive for the players to understand.
Quick gameplay. Not too much number-crunching. Dice are okay, preferred even, but should be easy to resolve without comparing a lot of stats.
Just overall, fast enough pace that we can make reasonable progress in a little over an hour per game. This one's obviously kind of nebulous.
Easy to find/access, preferably.
All of this is mostly relevant on the players' part. It's okay if the system takes time for the GM (myself) to learn and plan - it doesn't need to allow total improvisation - as long as the players can hop right in without much preparation. The setting (if any) doesn't need to be particularly "kiddy" by any means, but probably not ridiculously dark either.

Thanks in advance! :smallbiggrin:

Firest Kathon
2017-01-23, 09:39 AM
I've been playing Fudge (http://www.fudgerpg.com/about/about-fudge/fudge-overview.html) as a rules-light with quite some success. As all abilities are on a scale from "terrible" to "great" it is very easy to understand premade characters. Dice rolls simply move the result along this scale (i.e. you have a skill of "mediocre" and get +2 on your dice roll, this would result in "great"). You can get the whole system explained and are ready to play in less than 30 minutes.

I've used "Now Playing!" (http://carnivoregames.com/wp/?page_id=36) (based on Fudge, designed to convert TV shows to RPG) to run a current-day police procedural which was well recieved by the players.

Grod_The_Giant
2017-01-23, 10:11 AM
I'll throw my homebrew system (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361270-STaRS-the-Simple-TAbletop-Roleplaying-System-5-0) into the ring, because "fast" is quite possibly the thing that it does best.

FocusWolf413
2017-01-23, 10:42 AM
RISUS! The rules are easy:

You get 10 points.
Make up any skills you want (within reason), like Latin Lover, Aerospace Engineer, Wile E. Coyote, or Very Good Dog.
Put up to 4 points in any given skill.
Roll for stuff. It it seems high enough in an eyeballed way, cool, you succeeded.

CharonsHelper
2017-01-23, 10:47 AM
It's not quite an RPG, but I'd suggest the Descent board-game. My nephews & niece love that thing - and they have since they were pre-teens. (The youngest just turned 13 - but they've played it for years.)

Berenger
2017-01-23, 10:54 AM
Low Fantasy Gaming (https://lowfantasygaming.com/freepdf/) should work.

Yora
2017-01-23, 11:03 AM
Low Fantasy Gaming (https://lowfantasygaming.com/freepdf/) should work.

Or Basic Fantasy. Among the B/X clones it has the huge advantage of using a simple attack roll mechanic and letting players chose both a race and a class for their characters.

daniel_ream
2017-01-23, 11:03 AM
Any of the B/X clones would be a good choice. It's what most of us started with at that age anyway.

kyoryu
2017-01-23, 12:12 PM
B/X or a clone thereof.

Fate Accelerated ( http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/114902/Fate-Accelerated-Edition?term=fate+acceler&test_epoch=0 )

No Thank You, Evil! ( http://www.nothankyouevil.com/ )

If you can find an appropriately-aged PbtA game that works for your theme, that would work as well. Dungeon World is probably fine.

LibraryOgre
2017-01-23, 12:41 PM
I find that Star Wars D6/Open D6 works pretty well for that. It's relatively straightforward to design characters (divide 18 dice between 6 attributes, and 7 dice between skills you want to be good at), and it's mostly "roll xD6 and give a total; one die is special and can explode or cause problems". Star Wars has the added advantage of being popular culture right now, so they're more familiar with it. I'm going to use it tomorrow with some teens, in fact.

You can also use Savage Worlds, but I find it tends to have more fiddly bits... characters are expected to be designed with Edges and Hindrances, and the progression of dice types might through new people. However, it has easier rolling mechanics and usually runs on "4 is a success, 8 is great success, +4 from there is even better."

daniel_ream
2017-01-23, 12:44 PM
The setting (if any) doesn't need to be particularly "kiddy" by any means, but probably not ridiculously dark either.

I've been thinking some more about this.

Most fantasy RPGs are based on D&D, which is heavily based on pulp sword & sorcery and dark fantasy stories. That means there's rather a lot of violence and amoral murder baked into most setting assumptions.

You're going to have to decide how much murdering to death of things that can talk you want to allow in your game world if you're running for eleven and twelve year olds. That's probably a foregone conclusion given that one of them already plays Pathfinder and Warhammer, but I think it's worth keeping in mind.

SilverLeaf167
2017-01-23, 01:50 PM
Thanks everyone for your quick answers! Luckily I'm not in a huge hurry with this, because I'm curious to research as many of your recommendations as possible. :smalltongue:


I've been thinking some more about this.

Most fantasy RPGs are based on D&D, which is heavily based on pulp sword & sorcery and dark fantasy stories. That means there's rather a lot of violence and amoral murder baked into most setting assumptions.

You're going to have to decide how much murdering to death of things that can talk you want to allow in your game world if you're running for eleven and twelve year olds. That's probably a foregone conclusion given that one of them already plays Pathfinder and Warhammer, but I think it's worth keeping in mind.

Yeah, that's something I've considered as well. For now I've arrived at this vague conclusion: it's unnecessary and hypocritical for me to "protect" them from things they already come up with themselves (if they want to kill a goblin, it's pretty silly of me to say it's not age-appropriate) and they're more than familiar enough with similar media that a goblin trying to kill them is hardly traumatizing, but I won't thrust them into a situation where they need to decide the fate of goblin civilians or anything (especially since I'm trying to keep things simple).

If I know these kids as well as I think I do, and if they're anything like other preteens I've gamed with (...myself and friends ages ago), they'll probably be the ones turning things unnecessarily violent, at which point I'm probably the one reining them in rather than corrupting their little minds. :smallwink:

Whatever I run will probably be a relatively simple action adventure with "inhuman" enemies like demons or other blatant monsters, assuming I go for combat to begin with - my impression is that many rules-light systems fit non-violent adventures just fine.

Koo Rehtorb
2017-01-23, 01:59 PM
Dungeon World.

You pick a class, an array of stats, and a few gear options and you're done.

It's specifically designed for players who don't want to learn the rules. It works perfectly fine if all they do is describe what they're doing and the GM decides when to roll dice over it.

SRD available here (http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/)

Airk
2017-01-23, 02:15 PM
I've been thinking some more about this.

Most fantasy RPGs are based on D&D, which is heavily based on pulp sword & sorcery and dark fantasy stories. That means there's rather a lot of violence and amoral murder baked into most setting assumptions.

You're going to have to decide how much murdering to death of things that can talk you want to allow in your game world if you're running for eleven and twelve year olds. That's probably a foregone conclusion given that one of them already plays Pathfinder and Warhammer, but I think it's worth keeping in mind.

I agree with this statement; While I'm not going to tell you how much "Let's play a game where the answer to everything is 'kill him and take his stuff'" is appropriate, I AM going to tell you that you need to think about how much of that you think is appropriate, and not just pick D&D because D&D.

I love Ryuutama for a softer feeling fantasy game with less murder.
I love Monster of the Week for a fast and clean modern supernatural game.
I love Dungeon World for producing the D&D experience with way less D&D baggage.

SilverLeaf167
2017-01-23, 02:38 PM
I agree with this statement; While I'm not going to tell you how much "Let's play a game where the answer to everything is 'kill him and take his stuff'" is appropriate, I AM going to tell you that you need to think about how much of that you think is appropriate, and not just pick D&D because D&D.

I love Ryuutama for a softer feeling fantasy game with less murder.
I love Monster of the Week for a fast and clean modern supernatural game.
I love Dungeon World for producing the D&D experience with way less D&D baggage.

If I were picking D&D, I wouldn't be here asking for simple and fast alternatives. :smalltongue:
And just to clarify, when I say "alternatives", I don't mean they need to have literally anything in common.

Airk
2017-01-23, 03:15 PM
If I were picking D&D, I wouldn't be here asking for simple and fast alternatives. :smalltongue:

Not saying you are, but like half the people in this thread were suggesting some flavor of it.



And just to clarify, when I say "alternatives", I don't mean they need to have literally anything in common.

Not sure I understand what you meant here. =/

Oh, also, un-vote for RISUS. Sure it's simple and silly but it's also not very good. It has a built in failure spiral which means that fundamentally, there's not much point in actually playing out a contest because whoever has the most dice is going to win. There are better generic game systems.

Geddy2112
2017-01-23, 04:07 PM
My personal favorite for a fast, simple, and hilariously fun pickup RPG is actual cannibal Shia Lebeouf (https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/35fpdj/system_actual_cannibal_shia_labeouf/). Character creation takes about a minute, gameplay lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.

It is very simple and encourages good DM (SM, the Shia Master) storytelling and player creativity.

LibraryOgre
2017-01-23, 04:53 PM
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention ODE, the One Deck Engine, linked in my sig.

daniel_ream
2017-01-23, 05:34 PM
I love Ryuutama for a softer feeling fantasy game with less murder.

Oh, Balzac; I can't believe I forgot Ryuutama, Golden Sky Stories, Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple and Faery's Tale Deluxe.

Knaight
2017-01-23, 06:06 PM
I've been playing Fudge (http://www.fudgerpg.com/about/about-fudge/fudge-overview.html) as a rules-light with quite some success. As all abilities are on a scale from "terrible" to "great" it is very easy to understand premade characters. Dice rolls simply move the result along this scale (i.e. you have a skill of "mediocre" and get +2 on your dice roll, this would result in "great"). You can get the whole system explained and are ready to play in less than 30 minutes.

It's "terrible" to "superb", or -3 to +3 if you like numbers, with optional expansions from -4 to +4 bringing in new terms. It's also the game I GM more than anything else, with a player age range that has gone from 8 to somewhere in the 40s. It's a solid option.

With that said, one to two shot games are the sort of thing where really gonzo settings shine, so I have to recommend Diana: Warrior Princess. It's a rules light game, where the core aspect of the setting is that it is set in modern day - except for it's "modern day" as envisioned by a bunch of TV writers thousands of years in the future who care roughly as much about historical accuracy as is typical of their modern counterparts.

spineyrequiem
2017-01-23, 06:10 PM
Paranoia has the great advantage that knowing the rules is treasonous. Might be too silly for you though.

Quertus
2017-01-23, 07:23 PM
I've had a lot of luck teaching 7-year-olds to play D&D 3.x. Now, that's play, not "dig through 50 source books to build a character".

But, yeah, with 1 hour play sessions? Might be a bit rough. :smallwink:

Shinn
2017-01-23, 07:46 PM
Usually, for a really simple game or an initiation, I use Pirates !*, here's the rulebook (http://zapti.free.fr/pirates/files/pirates-en.pdf). There's only 45 pages of A5 rules, which can be resumed on 2 pages, so I guess it would work.

*Personaly called "Murderhobo : the game"

tensai_oni
2017-01-23, 11:06 PM
General suggestion: something relatively simple would be good, but it also has to be crunchy, with blow by blow combat. When I was that age, this is what I'd play an RPG for, adventuring and fighting. Manipulating the story and environment (like FATE does through the aspect system) would bore me while abstract combat systems or even worse, something where an encounter is resolved by a single dice roll, would feel very unsatisfying.

Also another anti-vote for RISUS. Not only does it hit every note I just described, it's simply not very good as a system to begin with.

Mutazoia
2017-01-24, 02:09 AM
I'm going to second Star Wars D6 (http://d6holocron.com/)/Open D6 (https://ogc.rpglibrary.org/index.php?title=OpenD6). It (they) meet all of your listed criteria, especially the SWD6, with the character templates in the back for quick character generation. You can be up and running in minutes.

SilverLeaf167
2017-01-24, 03:49 AM
Not sure I understand what you meant here. =/
Oh, just echoing your statement that the system I pick doesn't need to be "D&D Lite" or even a dungeon-crawler in general.

Psikerlord
2017-01-24, 07:56 AM
I'll gladly second Low Fantasy Gaming RPG.

Old Bengart's Mill (free PDF) would be a fun quick/intro adventure: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n09a94j4vddvysy/Old%20Bengart%27s%20Mill%20%28Parchment%29.pdf?dl= 0

Anonymouswizard
2017-01-24, 10:18 AM
It's "terrible" to "superb", or -3 to +3 if you like numbers, with optional expansions from -4 to +4 bringing in new terms. It's also the game I GM more than anything else, with a player age range that has gone from 8 to somewhere in the 40s. It's a solid option.

To be fair you can increase the ladder as much as you want as long as you think up more terms.

Now, the more I look at Fudge the more I like it, Aspects are always the most difficult part of Fate character creation and Fudge doesn't have them (in fact, the only thing Fate has that Fudge truly doesn't is Aspects). It really is a fun, freeform little system focused on versatility. I'm considering seeing if I can pick up the 10th anniversary edition.

(In fact, I had a fun idea for Fudge where you don't have skills but rather just give everyone attributes with an extra 'power' attribute that represents their superpower, be it flying, telekinesis, for control, or whatever. So your character might have the attributes Brawn, Speed, Intellect, Charm, and Telepathy.)

Knaight
2017-01-24, 12:33 PM
To be fair you can increase the ladder as much as you want as long as you think up more terms.

Now, the more I look at Fudge the more I like it, Aspects are always the most difficult part of Fate character creation and Fudge doesn't have them (in fact, the only thing Fate has that Fudge truly doesn't is Aspects). It really is a fun, freeform little system focused on versatility. I'm considering seeing if I can pick up the 10th anniversary edition.

Fate and Fudge look superficially similar, but the lack of Aspects and more than that the general lack of the whole Fate Point economy as a central focus makes some pretty dramatic changes. Fudge is a pretty traditional game in a lot of ways, it's just light and surprisingly mechanically elegant, with a lot of optional additions (mostly outside the books, it has a homebrewing culture attached that makes it look like the entire D&D community only cares about the official books) that can remove the light bit pretty thoroughly.

daniel_ream
2017-01-24, 01:06 PM
Fudge is a pretty traditional game in a lot of ways, it's just light and surprisingly mechanically elegant

It's essentially GURPS (atrributes, skills, gifts, flaws, roll vs. a target number to resolve) with a simpler die mechanic and more unified design. Which isn't surprising, since Steffan O' Sullivan worked on both.

Karl Aegis
2017-01-24, 01:23 PM
I recently got a copy of Golden Sky Stories and it looked pretty simple. Choose a henge: Fox(kitsune), raccoon dog (tanuki), rabbit, bird or dog. Get six powers automatically (based on animal) and choose between 1-3 weaknesses and get their corresponding special power(also based on animal). Divide 8 attribute points between Henge, Animal, Child (all min one) and Adult (min zero). Start playing, make some connections with 1-3 NPCs, give some opportunities and try not to scare anyone. No dice have to be rolled at all. Of special note: dogs get the ability to get hit by a car if someone is in danger of getting hit by said car. Oh, and all the sample NPCs are girls.

If you do like murdermancing, throwing dice and drinking tea, Tenro Bansho Zero is one of the simpler games. One of the only games I know of where three girls in a tank is a realizable character.

Knaight
2017-01-24, 01:24 PM
It's essentially GURPS (atrributes, skills, gifts, flaws, roll vs. a target number to resolve) with a simpler die mechanic and more unified design. Which isn't surprising, since Steffan O' Sullivan worked on both.

That and it was basically designed out of the specific perspective of "GURPS is generally good, but there are a few things it does poorly and it's just too rules heavy".

Airk
2017-01-24, 01:59 PM
I recently got a copy of Golden Sky Stories and it looked pretty simple. Choose a henge: Fox(kitsune), raccoon dog (tanuki), rabbit, bird or dog. Get six powers automatically (based on animal) and choose between 1-3 weaknesses and get their corresponding special power(also based on animal). Divide 8 attribute points between Henge, Animal, Child (all min one) and Adult (min zero). Start playing, make some connections with 1-3 NPCs, give some opportunities and try not to scare anyone. No dice have to be rolled at all. Of special note: dogs get the ability to get hit by a car if someone is in danger of getting hit by said car. Oh, and all the sample NPCs are girls.

I love GSS, but I wouldn't want to try it with 4 12 year old boys.



If you do like murdermancing, throwing dice and drinking tea, Tenro Bansho Zero is one of the simpler games. One of the only games I know of where three girls in a tank is a realizable character.

I feel like the Tenra Karma system might be a little bit awkward with the audience in question.

kyoryu
2017-01-24, 02:36 PM
Manipulating the story and environment (like FATE does through the aspect system)

That's not really what Fate does.

Anonymouswizard
2017-01-24, 02:57 PM
Fate and Fudge look superficially similar, but the lack of Aspects and more than that the general lack of the whole Fate Point economy as a central focus makes some pretty dramatic changes. Fudge is a pretty traditional game in a lot of ways, it's just light and surprisingly mechanically elegant, with a lot of optional additions (mostly outside the books, it has a homebrewing culture attached that makes it look like the entire D&D community only cares about the official books) that can remove the light bit pretty thoroughly.

True, it is amazing what one addition essentially makes (I see Stunts as a specific type of Fudge Gift, and see Aspects and the Fate Point economy as so heavily linked as to be hard to seperate). It's an entirely different game, partially because it's focused at an entirely different ummm... focus.

I've also had a look at the Fudge homebrew community, although I'm not going to dive in until I've got the book.

The thing is, I like both traditional games and Fate's highly narrative style, and I love Fudge for the fact it solves exactly the problem I have with GURPS, that being that GURPS is an unwieldy mess that takes a long time to get off the ground, whereas with Fudge it begins stripped back enough that I just have to build up.

I really need to find a place to buy Fudge, while there's still one Fate game I plan to buy Fudge sounds a lot more like what I want to run soon, that being more traditional.

Knaight
2017-01-24, 03:27 PM
I really need to find a place to buy Fudge, while there's still one Fate game I plan to buy Fudge sounds a lot more like what I want to run soon, that being more traditional.
It's a free game, but because the website design has some questionable choices, I'm going to cut through the dross and link this (http://www.fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/core/FUDGE-1995-Edition-(PDF)/). I'll also throw in Nemesis (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/90427/Nemesis?term=nemesis?affiliate_id=48458) - some of the themes are maybe not great for a preteen group, but it's fast, it's relatively simple (in that there is crunch, but a lot of it is pretty optional), and it's really well designed in a lot of ways.

Anonymouswizard
2017-01-24, 03:31 PM
It's a free game, but because the website design has some questionable choices, I'm going to cut through the dross and link this (http://www.fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/core/FUDGE-1995-Edition-(PDF)/). I'll also throw in Nemesis (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/90427/Nemesis?term=nemesis?affiliate_id=48458) - some of the themes are maybe not great for a preteen group, but it's fast, it's relatively simple (in that there is crunch, but a lot of it is pretty optional), and it's really well designed in a lot of ways.

I have the pdf, it's just the entire 'I want to support the developer' bit. (slipping nemesis into my DTRPG library though, because I believe it's ORE and why not).