While AW is quite adult-themed, I’ve been thinking that the core system might work quite well for children, perhaps a bit streamlined. Has anyone tried running PbtA for children or made some kind of framework for this?
While AW is quite adult-themed, I’ve been thinking that the core system might work quite well for children, perhaps…
While AW is quite adult-themed, I’ve been thinking that the core system might work quite well for children, perhaps…
A while back I remember seeing a blog devoted to a Dungeon World campaign that somebody was running for a group of children, I think in the 7-9 age range. I can’t remember the title for the life of me and Google isn’t helping, but if I find it I’ll link you.
Yes, +Tony Ferron made a hack inspired by Harvest Moon and Undertale. You can see the thread here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/105317681442573084626/posts/A5uznzfd2EL
I used it to create a Pirate Theme one shot for the birthday of my youngest. I created simple playbooks. The captain, the navigator, the swashbuckler, the pistolera, etc.
The playbooks each had 2 moves related to their role. And I used a generic (can’t remember the wording) – “When you do something dangerous roll 2d6 + stat)
For example the captain
When you steer the boat through dangerous waters roll + int
10+ You make it through, choose 3
7-9 Chose one
– The crew is safe
– The boat is not damaged
– You meet dangerous folks on the way
6- The MC will tell
Naturally the navigator move plugged into the previous one, by offering a way to plot a safer course and gave a +1 to the captain roll.
That was the gist, the kids (8-9 years old) never played RPG before except mine, took to the concept and had a blast. Some were afraid and tried to flee, the bard sang songs to inspire courage. All in all I think the base mechanic of the discussion and a simple move set works good. BTW I also play DW with my kids and it works really well.
Found it! Dungeon Elementary. Here’s the post that introduced me to it: http://dungeon-elementary.tumblr.com/post/75956954629/ọya-dont-play
I summon James Mullen to this tread
You could run something like World of Dungeons or (barebones) Simple World.
http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/simple-world/
I’m playing something similar with my ten year old and we play quite a lot in a bunch of different settings. I could share more details if you’re curious. We use a few custom moves here and there, but all you really need is act under fire or defy danger.
The Warren is awesome overall and kid friendly as a bonus. If you can’t find kids to play it with, you will at least have delicious bunny drama for yourself and your adult friends.
http://bullypulpitgames.com/games/the-warren/
Check out Threadbare which is just now on kickstarter!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mortaine/threadbare-rpg-a-stitchpunk-tabletop-role-playing/description
Someone made an Adventure Time hack a while back.
http://daylands.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/kingdoms-of-ooo-by-gremlin-legions.html?m=1
Role-playing with children tends to be quite hard, as they chafe at rules which limit what they want to do; fortunately, AWE is quite a permissive ruleset that encourages players to use the tools they are given, instead of weighing them down with encumbrances (ba-dum, tish)
I’m in the process of writing the Troublemakers hack, which is a game about childhood adventures whilst not necessarily being for children. Something closer to the mark would be Monster Force Terra, which uses one stat to represent everything the Giant Monster characters can do. The basic moves focus on smashing things, grabbing what you want and running into or out of danger, all things which I think children can easily relate to.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/159873/Monster-Force-Terra
I second Monster Force Terra for its simplicity.
And yeah, I made a little something called Land Poetry (not finished) that I used to play with my nieces, a few kids and friends.
It’s not exactly fit for prime time though, so if you take a look at it, just use it as an example of how far you can pull the AW system.
Another thought, if you’re willing to scratch out a bunch of words, you can even use core Apocalypse World with kids.
Change sex into a moment of honesty or a hour’s peace. Like, Gunlugger, when you parlay with someone, you take +1 forward. If you like, they take +1 forward too. Easy.
Maybe drop the Skinner. Or white out and change a move or two.
Make the “Not to be Fucked With” move read ” No Pushover”.
Then even little kids can play mad bikers in the desert.
Monster of the week and Dungeon world could be kid friendly. I ran a Mythos world game for teens.
Threadbare is in kickstarter and it has rules for a kid friendly “Fluffy” campaign.
I’ve also heard that Epilliyon (not sure of spelling) could work well for kids.
I play DW with my two daughters aged 7 and 5 without any major problems. They seem to love it. Of course I tone down the violence, but the combat system is abstract enough for that.
There’s no reason kids can’t play Spirit of ’77 if they know what the 70s were.
Epyllion (http://www.magpiegames.com/epyllion) is totally kid friendly! Marissa Kelly just released a proof to backers, so it should be up for sale on DriveThru by the end of the month.
Wow, what a great flood of replies 😀 Right now I’m mainly thinking of my 5-years old girl who’s got a lots of imagination 🙂 She enjoys fantasy most (I’ve watched a bit of my little pony with her and there’s a huge amount of classic fantasy stuff there!) so I guess that’s the way I’m aiming for. I’m trying to avoid hitpoints but Dungeon World is cool by it’s theme; but I guess I could keep mechanics like damage invisible anyway. I want to pay extra attention to moral and scary stuff. I’ll surely check out Epyllion and Threadbare and other suggestions. Lots of thanks for all your suggestions! 🙂
If its just you and a five year old I’d go with this:
Say what you are: a crystal lady, an adventurer, a princess with a big cat.
When you face trouble, roll your two dice. If what you are helps, add 2 to the result.
On a ten or higher, you do it amazingly.
On a seven to nine, you do okay, but something else happens.
On a six or less, you might do it, but you’re in trouble!
And… thats it. Thats the entire system.
I played a game like the one Tony Ferron described with a 6 year old, except I let her choose one strength(+1) and one weakness(-1). She owned a horse ranch with 15 beautiful horses and dealt with natural threats and helped neighbors in trouble. I usually encourage the young players to come with suggestions for what the drawback is on a 7-9. You could also give hold when they roll well or make preparations.
Antti Lusila I don’t think I’m alone in being really excited to see people pick up role-playing with their kids. Rpgs have shaped my relationship with my stepson. I only wish I had someone who could show me the magic when I was young.
Another thought, call HP “courage”.
You’re all out of courage, you’ve got to run off to rest!
The dragon is all out of courage, it gives in and offers you a ride to the forest if you’ll stop hitting it in the head!
The lich knows no fear, it’ll only lose courage if you find and destroy the box it keeps its heart in
The farmers want to help, but they don’t have enough courage to face an ogre!
By the power of the internet, I summon the delightful James Mendez Hodes! (in case he wants to talk about one of the links above)
Hi everyone! Yeah, Dungeon Elementary should have a lot of practical advice about this kind of thing. If you’re only playing with one player, though, you may not need to use character playbooks: since there are no niches to protect, her one character could conceivably do everything à la the Princess Who Saved Herself. The most important thing for you to figure out would be which AW hack has the kind of basic moves you need to tell a game about moral quandaries and fear.
Excellent ideas again, thanks! I might end up using improvised very simple hack; Well-designed character sheet might be great with cool imagery, and might help to learn reading a bit, but might also be a distraction. And while single stat might work well, it would be nice to have a few numbers on the sheet =o) I’m still quite green with PbtA so I don’t yet have full understanding how some rules/moves work in practice.
I need to browse through Dungeon Elementary, there seems to be a lot of interesting reading!
I want to introduce my girl to gaming soon; My wife might join in, and perhaps my girl will pull friends to the game and help spread the hobby 😀
I played The Warren with my 4 year old and he really liked it. A play report can be found in the Warren community. Obviously, the tone was less dark than set in the design. The adventure was all around keeping the family together and protecting the innocent.