Preparing the Next Generation of Gamers


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Jon Brazer Enterprises

So this morning I got a chance to check out yesterday's blog and I saw the Hardcover's final coverart. I was like "Cool!" My daughter wanted to see what I was looking at and she was like "Coool!"

I'm proud of my daughter. Thank you Paizo for helping me make my daughter just as much of a geek as I am.

Scarab Sages

Yeah my kids are really digging Pathfinder. And its nice when you know they're learning the little things.

My secondborn (age 10) sneaked into my office today and was eyeballing the cover for AP 9. Right as we're sitting down to dinner tonight, he was exclaiming, "We're going to have to fight a Raksasha when we start the next campaign. I saw it on the cover."

How many ten year olds can spot a Raksasha at a glance?

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

My three year old informed me with great authority that when he gets older he is going to play Crucible of Chaos, and frequently sits on my lap looking through the Reaper site.

We got up one morning to find my five year old behind the DM screen my husband had left up from the night before, telling her little brother to "roll the dice". Incredibly cute!!

I can't wait till they are older.

The Exchange

sanwah68 wrote:

My three year old informed me with great authority that when he gets older he is going to play Crucible of Chaos, and frequently sits on my lap looking through the Reaper site.

We got up one morning to find my five year old behind the DM screen my husband had left up from the night before, telling her little brother to "roll the dice". Incredibly cute!!

I can't wait till they are older.

Granted that you wish they were younger once they get there.

I might also say that I wish there were adventures based on fairy tales that were kid friendly. No one took up this idea back when I had mentioned it, and I am beginning to believe that RPB'Gosh will only be created by us parents. Adult entertainment is fine and dandy when you have adults around, but we 40 something's seem to end up with 7 year olds and no friends. What is a DM to do? Wait for them to become 15 year olds? I think that is silly. Kid's can role play at 7, 8 and even 9, but not with Nic Logue driving the module. We need children orientated adventures (with their attention spans in mind). I am fully willing to do D&D Care Bears, if that is what makes my DM skills get going.

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

I know what you mean.

As much as I love Pathfinder, it unashamably caters to an older audience. I hope that by the time my kids are ready to play, say another 4 years at 7 & 9 years old, someone will have bought out something more kid friendly. If not, maybe some of the older WOTC or Goodman Games stuff would work, especially the more dungeon crawl ones.

Unless Paizo jump on board with some specifically child orientated modules in the modules series...hint, hint....

Scarab Sages

"Zuxius wrote:
Kid's can role play at 7, 8 and even 9, but not with Nic Logue driving the module. We need children orientated adventures (with their attention spans in mind). I am fully willing to do D&D Care Bears, if that is what makes my DM skills get going.

If you can find a copy of Pokemon Adventures, it is exactly what you are asking for, a RPG experience aimed at young kids.

Personally, I started my boys out on D&D when they were about six and seven and they did fine. Of course I wrote most of the adventures myself. And they were always pleased by the oddest things. My wife still laughs at their excitement at finding the bathroom in an abandoned wizards tower.

My two girls (currently ages 9 and 7) also play with us, the oldest as the groups wizard and though I dial back the gruesomeness upon occassion, we're halfway through RotRL as a family.

Dark Archive

Ive got a 5 year old and a 2 year old. One evening I was flipping through the MM and then decided it was time to read a book to the kids before bed. I asked them what they wanted me to read them and my 5 year old wanted me to read the MM to them. We spent a good little bit with me flippen the pages and telling them what the various critters were. They would ask is that one a bad guy or a good guy daddy? The littlest one would say Bad guy? Bad guy? It was fun, and kind of made me wonder if the fascination will hold out until they get a little older.

Sczarni

sanwah68 wrote:

I know what you mean.

As much as I love Pathfinder, it unashamably caters to an older audience. I hope that by the time my kids are ready to play, say another 4 years at 7 & 9 years old, someone will have bought out something more kid friendly. If not, maybe some of the older WOTC or Goodman Games stuff would work, especially the more dungeon crawl ones.

Unless Paizo jump on board with some specifically child orientated modules in the modules series...hint, hint....

i might plop this idea on nick lougue's sinister adventures board later if i remember


Savage_ScreenMonkey wrote:
Ive got a 5 year old and a 2 year old. One evening I was flipping through the MM and then decided it was time to read a book to the kids before bed. I asked them what they wanted me to read them and my 5 year old wanted me to read the MM to them. We spent a good little bit with me flippen the pages and telling them what the various critters were. They would ask is that one a bad guy or a good guy daddy? The littlest one would say Bad guy? Bad guy? It was fun, and kind of made me wonder if the fascination will hold out until they get a little older.

My son has considered the Monster Manual a treat since he was 2, and now that he's almost five I'm using it to teach him how to read. He especially loves to hear about all the different kinds of dragons. He totally got mad the other day because he saw a picture of a greeen dragon breathing fire. "But mommy, green dragons breathe ACID." I loved it. Nice to know I'm not the only parent who is teaching their child to be a geek. : )

Jon Brazer Enterprises

Zuxius wrote:
but we 40 something's seem to end up with 7 year olds and no friends. What is a DM to do? Wait for them to become 15 year olds? I think that is silly.

I highly recommend Faery's Tale. Firefly Games is imprinted by Green Ronin and its a very simple game. Perfect for girls too. Everyone plays a Faery, one of 4 kinds. And yes, boys won't feel like they're playing a "girl's game." Perfect for the budding role player. That's what I'm planning on teaching my daughter next year (when she's 6).

Liberty's Edge

I’ve been flipping through my CotCT Pathfinders as I get them with my almost two year old. He couldn’t identify the Rakshasas (he nodded sagely when I told him what the one on the cover of Escape from Old Korvosa was, and when he saw the next one it was a “Tiger! Grrr!” He did point out the “Big Snake!” on the same cover).

He likes dragons, NPC portraits and maps (“Naps!”) best.

Paizo Employee CEO

sanwah68 wrote:
Unless Paizo jump on board with some specifically child orientated modules in the modules series...hint, hint....

While maybe not exactly what you are looking for, you might want to check out TC1: Into The Haunted Forest. We designed this module for new DMs and players and it has a much more younger bent to it. If you get it as part of the GameMastery Treasure Chest then it gives you all the various accessories to use in the adventure, such as map packs, flip mats, items cards and such.

-Lisa


As a journalist, I see the worst in people every day. It's threads like this that give me hope for the future of humanity.

Seriously.

EDIT: It also makes me want to have children that I can turn into gamers, the same way my parents turned me into a neurotic workaholic.

The Exchange

DMcCoy1693, I actually did buy Faery's Tale by Firefly. It isn't 3.5, but I do believe it has a good heart at mind. Matter of fact, after reading it I decided that I would write a novel called "Goblin". I like fairy tales, but I want something bold and rewarding for us DM D&Ders such as a child adventure from someone who might have majored in child psychology.
I do think D&D can have some twisted things that children are not ready to ponder. I am not saying that children need to be sheltered, but it isn't like Happy Days anymore in their entertainment world. The latest games and films seem to put some strange dilemnas on their plates.

I want them to grow up, but not too soon.

As for the treasure chest Lisa, I actually bought all these components individually with the exception of the Power Cards (which I also recently acquired). So I am good to go, but I would appreciate it if the staff considered this proposal, because we Dad's really need to bond with our kids. They are so jealous when the adults go downstairs and fence the kids off. D&D is always an "R" rated film, but something for our kids would be even closer to our hearts, which you all at Paizo have scored brilliantly on.

A basic rule of the market, if you got something absolutely no one has, you own the market and are able to command whatever price you wish.

I would pay triple, quadruple for such a product.... I don't care if it is unfair or unfeasable, I want it.

Woooo,
Zux

P.S. Hehe Russel, I don't need to find friends, I just make them....

Jon Brazer Enterprises

Russell Jones wrote:

As a journalist, I see the worst in people every day. It's threads like this that give me hope for the future of humanity.

Seriously.

EDIT: It also makes me want to have children that I can turn into gamers, the same way my parents turned me into a neurotic workaholic.

Glad we can help brighten your day. :D

Zuxius wrote:

DMcCoy1693, I actually did buy Faery's Tale by Firefly. It isn't 3.5, but I do believe it has a good heart at mind. Matter of fact, after reading it I decided that I would write a novel called "Goblin". I like fairy tales, but I want something bold and rewarding for us DM D&Ders such as a child adventure from someone who might have majored in child psychology.

I do think D&D can have some twisted things that children are not ready to ponder. I am not saying that children need to be sheltered, but it isn't like Happy Days anymore in their entertainment world. The latest games and films seem to put some strange dilemnas on their plates.

I want them to grow up, but not too soon.

I agree. I'm more then happy to introduce my daughter to D&D (even it darker aspects) when I feel she's old enough, but at 6, I'd rather start her off with safer things.

Scarab Sages

DMcCoy1693 wrote:
I agree. I'm more then happy to introduce my daughter to D&D (even it darker aspects) when I feel she's old enough, but at 6, I'd rather start her off with safer things.

As a parent I am very selective about the entertainment my kids participate in. Me and my wife prescreen everything for them, especially when it comes to visual media (i.e tv and movies).

Every kid is different when it comes to what affects them, as I'm sure most parents are aware. After some hesitation I let mine watch The Mummy. I was sure that the bugs would be the thing to scare them. The bugs didn't faze any of mine. Nor the zombies nor the mummy. But my youngest was scared by the idea of the magical sandstorm.

When it came to D&D and starting my boys in it, I focused on the quest side of things and the monsters they killed were always of the obviously fantastical type (goblins, skeletons) or animals. We didn't dwell on the dead bodies or the like. They understood it was a game and we have never had any problems with nightmares from it. Funny enough my girls are actually getting into the game faster than my boys did but its because their older brothers are constantly talking to them about it (My youngest is 7, going to be 8 next month. She's been playing for two years.).

I guess my point is that children can be introduced to the concepts of D&D at a pretty early age (I started playing when I was 9-10 myself) so long as you realize which aspects of the game are going to appeal to them (hint - they all love leveling and monsters).

Scarab Sages

I've often come home to find my bag of D&D Minis tipped out, and my kids playing with 'Daddy's Dinosaurs'...

My daughter also thinks some of the avatars here are funny-looking people.

Sovereign Court

My first child will be born in December so I love reading these comments for what the future may hold for my family.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I have the extreme privledge of having been asked by my 11 year old nephew-by-association to teach him to game. All he really knows about gaming is Uncle Gary (that would be me) does it therefor it MUST be cool. :D

I've decided to start him out with HeroQuest so he can get used to the idea of there being a GameMaster and the players working together rather than competing with each other.

From there, I'm going to use the 3E Revised Basic Game and a number of the 2E Adventure Packs such as "Goblin's Lair" and "Haunted Tower". Once he's comfortable with more complicated play, I'll introduce him to "Castle & Crusades".

Teach him to game and help me work on my parenting/teaching skills... sounds like a winner to me. The fact that he'll worship the ground I walk on is an added bonus ;)

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