Err, was the pepper pot the Indifferent Mage or the Chaotic Numbat?
March 31, 2016 10:09 PM Subscribe
Two 11 year olds, one adult, lots of imagination on tap with a fair degree of story telling ability. What's the best primer on trying out a table-top role playing adventure game that has either/or dungeons and dragons with much (any?) up front cost?
First thing, none of us have ever played this; but considering the worlds the kids involved do create when they're mucking around together, I'm thinking this might be right up their alley.
Second thing, I've only got a few days to prepare. And I'm not going to be home for some of it.
Any hints or tips will be graciously accepted.
First thing, none of us have ever played this; but considering the worlds the kids involved do create when they're mucking around together, I'm thinking this might be right up their alley.
Second thing, I've only got a few days to prepare. And I'm not going to be home for some of it.
Any hints or tips will be graciously accepted.
It's not strictly a D&D game, but maybe you'd be interested in Fiasco? It's free to download and it's a really fun collaborative storytelling game that requires no prep and has plenty of dice-rolling. The classic story is a noir-ish one, but they have a lot of different scenarios and packs on the site that might lean more medieval.
posted by sleeping bear at 10:49 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sleeping bear at 10:49 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
without much (any?) up front cost?
Remembering my D&D days, if they do get enthusiastic about tabletop rpgs, I think there's tens to hundreds of hours of play value in a decent set up, so that is worth factoring into a future budget.
Although I would certainly start small and light; "Mice and Mystics" sounds fun.
Melbourne seems to have some board game cafes, so you could playtest stuff there.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:50 PM on March 31, 2016
Remembering my D&D days, if they do get enthusiastic about tabletop rpgs, I think there's tens to hundreds of hours of play value in a decent set up, so that is worth factoring into a future budget.
Although I would certainly start small and light; "Mice and Mystics" sounds fun.
Melbourne seems to have some board game cafes, so you could playtest stuff there.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:50 PM on March 31, 2016
Most roleplaying games require a rulebook and nothing else. You won't need minatures unless you're playing particular games. I've heard lots of good things about Mouse Guard, and enjoyed the few sessions I've played of it.
If you want to play without paying for rules, there are free systems out there which are nice and simple. Check out wushu
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:03 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you want to play without paying for rules, there are free systems out there which are nice and simple. Check out wushu
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:03 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
An acquaintance of mine just posted this review of Dungeon World involving himself and his two boys about that age. What he liked most was how it opened up the game to more creative storytelling instead of just rolling dice to see who wins.
posted by doctoryes at 12:29 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by doctoryes at 12:29 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Dungeon Squad! was designed to be a free, extra-simple, introductory fantasy role-playing game. In addition to "advanced" and alternate rules, it has a couple of adventures and whatnot.
If you actually want the game to provide more detail, Basic Fantasy is a free, well-supported fantasy role-playing game reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons circa 1980. It could be too much to read in the time that you have, but people skip cumbersome rules in RPGs all the time, just using whatever seems fun and helpful.
If you want something even looser and goofier, I wrote a tiny, free RPG called Stick Figure Fantasy that was a blast to run for adults. I don't know if your group would enjoy doing some drawing as part of the game, but the basic idea is you take something like one of the free adventures for Basic Fantasy and sketch silly stick figure scenes to resolve the encounters in it. I spelled out a process for it that might seem kind of rigid, but really I just wanted to step through how it could hypothetically work as a game mechanic--it did work in practice, but I'm sure anyone running it would make it their own.
posted by cpound at 12:29 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you actually want the game to provide more detail, Basic Fantasy is a free, well-supported fantasy role-playing game reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons circa 1980. It could be too much to read in the time that you have, but people skip cumbersome rules in RPGs all the time, just using whatever seems fun and helpful.
If you want something even looser and goofier, I wrote a tiny, free RPG called Stick Figure Fantasy that was a blast to run for adults. I don't know if your group would enjoy doing some drawing as part of the game, but the basic idea is you take something like one of the free adventures for Basic Fantasy and sketch silly stick figure scenes to resolve the encounters in it. I spelled out a process for it that might seem kind of rigid, but really I just wanted to step through how it could hypothetically work as a game mechanic--it did work in practice, but I'm sure anyone running it would make it their own.
posted by cpound at 12:29 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've written a light-weight RPG where all of the rules fit on one page, which also doubles as your character sheet. Everything else required is a d12 a few copies of the sheet and your imagination. It was published in KoDT, but if you want a copy memail me and I'll send it off to you.
posted by koolkat at 1:19 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by koolkat at 1:19 AM on April 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Speaking of upfront cost, the basic rules for the current edition of D&D are available as a free download. It's essentially the same character classes -- fighter, rogue, cleric, wizard -- as the first edition basic set I started with as a boy.
posted by Gelatin at 4:33 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Gelatin at 4:33 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
FATE has collaborative world-building and is open-ended enough that you can run it with any kind of setting you want. The rules (including a quick-start guide) are all available on their SRD. It requires 4 of a specific kind of die, or you can just use bog-standard 6-sided dice.
If you want a more classic D&D experience with dice and stats and full character sheets, without paying for a million actual D&D books, Pathfinder is the most popular options right now. And hey, they've got an online SRD too! It's definitely not the simplest rpg, but once you get used to it, it ends up pretty robust.
posted by specialagentwebb at 6:07 AM on April 1, 2016
If you want a more classic D&D experience with dice and stats and full character sheets, without paying for a million actual D&D books, Pathfinder is the most popular options right now. And hey, they've got an online SRD too! It's definitely not the simplest rpg, but once you get used to it, it ends up pretty robust.
posted by specialagentwebb at 6:07 AM on April 1, 2016
Some of my kids and I recently played Cloud Dungeon, which is a papercraft RPG game that requires no advance set up. We played through the whole game in one evening. The kids are 21, 14, and 12, and we all really enjoyed it.
posted by not that girl at 6:14 AM on April 1, 2016
posted by not that girl at 6:14 AM on April 1, 2016
Dungeonworld is rules and cost light. The book is twenty dollars and you'll need some dice. The character sheets are super easy to fill in and there is a free off of them on their website. It is designed tip be low prep, but I would highly suggest watching watching a few videos of the game in action at least for the dm a few concepts can seem a little esoteric until you've played. Adam Kobell, one of the creators has several great videos of him dming it on YouTube that aren't super long.
Very story focused, very much of the idea that you all create the world together instead of the dm being the enemy.
posted by wwax at 6:16 AM on April 1, 2016
Very story focused, very much of the idea that you all create the world together instead of the dm being the enemy.
posted by wwax at 6:16 AM on April 1, 2016
No prep, very rules light systems (even compared to things given above) which suit fantasy:
Intrepid
You get to create a world and then have adventures in it. Minimal rules but works well for what it's driving at.
Disclaimer: I know the person who made this.
Cheat Your Own Adventure (free)
Create your own choose-your-own-adventure/fighting fantasy book. Light and fun.
Non-standard fantasy, both of these have game master (someone who controls the 'rest of the world'):
Lady Blackbird (free)
Steampunk-ish space pirates. Also giant space squids. Pre-written characters and lots of advice on how to run it. A bit more dice, structure and rules.
Golden Sky Stories
No dragons, about Japenese half human half animal creatures solving problems with friendship and magic. No dice, but some tokens and mechanics. Literally the nicest and most adorable game ever.
posted by Erberus at 6:28 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Intrepid
You get to create a world and then have adventures in it. Minimal rules but works well for what it's driving at.
Disclaimer: I know the person who made this.
Cheat Your Own Adventure (free)
Create your own choose-your-own-adventure/fighting fantasy book. Light and fun.
Non-standard fantasy, both of these have game master (someone who controls the 'rest of the world'):
Lady Blackbird (free)
Steampunk-ish space pirates. Also giant space squids. Pre-written characters and lots of advice on how to run it. A bit more dice, structure and rules.
Golden Sky Stories
No dragons, about Japenese half human half animal creatures solving problems with friendship and magic. No dice, but some tokens and mechanics. Literally the nicest and most adorable game ever.
posted by Erberus at 6:28 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think Mice and Mystics is a good entry point if they enjoy board games. If you don't play a lot of games, read through the rules a bit first. It doesn't need extensive prep but without an experienced player to explain things like initiative I might have been lost. You can play through the pre-written stories, and our family makes up new ones all the time.
Fuzzy Heroes might skew too young for 11 year olds, but is designed to have a very low barrier to entry. It seems to be the local "introduce kids to RPG" drug of choice.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:39 AM on April 1, 2016
Fuzzy Heroes might skew too young for 11 year olds, but is designed to have a very low barrier to entry. It seems to be the local "introduce kids to RPG" drug of choice.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:39 AM on April 1, 2016
Not only are the basic rules available for free, but the $15 Starter Set for D&D--actually only $13 on Amazon right now, but it's usually around there--has more than enough content for quite a lot of play, so you don't have to come up with your own encounters. There's more than enough there to keep you going for quite awhile, and later you can introduce more complicated rules, actually do your own character creation, start creating your own encounters, etc. If you're DMing, you really don't need more than an hour or two of reading through stuff in advance. If you're on a really short time scale, a local gaming shop will definitely have it, if a little more expensive. It was my first DMing experience, and we had a great time.
posted by Sequence at 7:02 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 7:02 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh, and the starter set not only comes with the rules and adventure, but one set of the dice.
posted by Sequence at 7:03 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 7:03 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
I agree with Sequence about the D&D starter set -- I'm running the adventure from the starter set right now for some friends and their daughters, who are younger than your children. They're all using the pregengerated characters (PDF) directly from the starter set. The adventure is actually a short campaign, much more in-depth than the single-dungeon modules I remember from 1e days. It also has side quests and sandboxy elements that one could use outside the main scenario. (I've actually been impressed with the rich content in fifth edition D&D's published adventures so far.)
posted by Gelatin at 7:40 AM on April 1, 2016
posted by Gelatin at 7:40 AM on April 1, 2016
I know you specifically asked for fantasy settings, but I'll throw my suggestion in here anyway - if the kids (and/or yourself) are Star Wars fans, there's an excellent RPG line set in the universe. The benefit of the Star Wars RPG, in my experience (I've been running a game for a couple of years, now) is that it's a huge cultural touchstone that many people already understand the setting for. The story and character archetypes are also well-known.
FFG's Star Wars line has three flavours, which all use the same basic ruleset: Edge of the Empire, which is about smugglers, crime lords, the underworld, and living, as the name suggests, in the shadows between legal and outright criminal activity. Age of Rebellion is firmly set in the Galactic Civil War: the evil Empire vs the good-guy Rebel Alliance. Finally, Force and Destiny explores the Force and the Jedi (The Force is present in the other two lines, but it's quite limited). They're all notionally set in the same time frame (think original movie trilogy) but easily adaptable to match e.g. The Clone Wars or Rebels cartoons, if that's a better reference frame.
Now, to your actual question: As with the D&D 5th Edition system (which I also play, and it's excellent as well), each of the three Star Wars lines has a Beginner Game, designed to ease you into the system (both as a player and as a Game Master, or GM), and includes basic rules, pre-generated characters, maps, counters, a story to run through (which can then be extended with a free pdf download from the Fantasy Flight Games website), and most importantly - a set of the special Dice that the game uses (an iOS/Android App is also available for about $6US, as are free web-based rollers). The beginner games look like they're about $35AUS from a very cursory google search.
From the beginner's game + the free expansion, the next step if you wanted to continue would be a Core Rulebook - this is more expensive, more like $70-90AUS, based on the same google search. There are extensive and helpful forums at FFG's Website if you want to learn more.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 9:07 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
FFG's Star Wars line has three flavours, which all use the same basic ruleset: Edge of the Empire, which is about smugglers, crime lords, the underworld, and living, as the name suggests, in the shadows between legal and outright criminal activity. Age of Rebellion is firmly set in the Galactic Civil War: the evil Empire vs the good-guy Rebel Alliance. Finally, Force and Destiny explores the Force and the Jedi (The Force is present in the other two lines, but it's quite limited). They're all notionally set in the same time frame (think original movie trilogy) but easily adaptable to match e.g. The Clone Wars or Rebels cartoons, if that's a better reference frame.
Now, to your actual question: As with the D&D 5th Edition system (which I also play, and it's excellent as well), each of the three Star Wars lines has a Beginner Game, designed to ease you into the system (both as a player and as a Game Master, or GM), and includes basic rules, pre-generated characters, maps, counters, a story to run through (which can then be extended with a free pdf download from the Fantasy Flight Games website), and most importantly - a set of the special Dice that the game uses (an iOS/Android App is also available for about $6US, as are free web-based rollers). The beginner games look like they're about $35AUS from a very cursory google search.
From the beginner's game + the free expansion, the next step if you wanted to continue would be a Core Rulebook - this is more expensive, more like $70-90AUS, based on the same google search. There are extensive and helpful forums at FFG's Website if you want to learn more.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 9:07 AM on April 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
One Page RPGs are a thing. Here's an album of them.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:23 AM on April 1, 2016
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:23 AM on April 1, 2016
Best answer: The Hero Kids rpg was designed in Melbourne and the ruleset and prewritten adventures are quite cheap to purchase from Drive Thru RPG.
posted by cwhitfcd at 10:05 PM on April 1, 2016
posted by cwhitfcd at 10:05 PM on April 1, 2016
Seconding Fate, mentioned above, orr even simpler cousin Fate Accelerated. $5!
Sadly, the Fate of the Flying Temple book isn't due out for another few months, unless you backed the Kickstarter, but it's a pretty easy stem to wing with minimal prep and easy to teach.
posted by canine epigram at 7:00 PM on April 2, 2016
Sadly, the Fate of the Flying Temple book isn't due out for another few months, unless you backed the Kickstarter, but it's a pretty easy stem to wing with minimal prep and easy to teach.
posted by canine epigram at 7:00 PM on April 2, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks all for your suggestions. Not only do I have something for tomorrow, but lots to move onwards with as well.
So tomorrow, we shall be playing Hero Kids! I'll post with an update.
posted by antipodes at 3:52 AM on April 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
So tomorrow, we shall be playing Hero Kids! I'll post with an update.
posted by antipodes at 3:52 AM on April 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Reporting back in: That went well. As soon as we finished the first adventure, requests were in for the next one. Both the eleven year olds really dug it and although it was kinda simple for them, they appreciated that it was the gateway to bigger and better things. The six year old was having none of this playing the hero business, so was gleefully playing the dungeon master's minion and rolling the dice for me.
We've done two adventures today, and if the ink holds out in the printer (should have checked that first!) we might get a third in.
All up, a good days gaming. Thanks again to you all, I'll be returning to this post to continue adventuring.
posted by antipodes at 10:35 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
We've done two adventures today, and if the ink holds out in the printer (should have checked that first!) we might get a third in.
All up, a good days gaming. Thanks again to you all, I'll be returning to this post to continue adventuring.
posted by antipodes at 10:35 PM on April 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
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So you can watch them play it and get an idea of what it's like.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:21 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]