Howdy! Dr. Bug here. I'm having a difficult time building solo adventures for my son with Asperger's Syndrome. I want to use the RPG settings, Pathfinder and others, to build a virtual world for him to work through social situations and other challenging situations. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. By the way, I was doing role playing as a teenager and I'm picking the books up after @ 30 years. Things have changed.
I am not familiar with various "social skill" training methods for Asperger's. What has been suggested to you by experts/your-own-research?
I'm not sure if Pathfinder is a good system to support the kind of use you want to put it too. What you probably want is rules lite system with minimal focus on combat mechanics, and more supportive of free-form. I'm sorry I can't think of a good example off the top of my head at the moment. Your one advantage with Pathfinder and Paizo are some amazingly well done pre-made adveture/setting products. You could possibly skip the actual game mechanics and just adhock using the campaign setting material for the roleplaying inspiration. Although it does tend to be a little dark and sometimes quite grim.
Just out of curiosity what is your son's age range (elementary, middle, high, don't need specifics)? Also does he have any preference of kind of story/shows/movies he likes? Again I am by no means a phsycoligist, so I'm kind of flailing in the dark.
I'd recommend getting other kids to play with him. RPGs can provide a structure and a reason for social interaction for kids who otherwise don't have either.
As for the changes in the last 30 years — RPGs don't have expiration dates. You might want to try and start him off on some of the old stuff. There is something to be said for the lure of new material, though.
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As father to an autistic boy, I'd welcome any information regarding your findings, especially regarding pitfalls to avoid.
If your son has Asperger's, he's probably more advanced than my boy, but he still surprises us, occasionally.
We're a long way off being able to play any kind of detailed language-based games together, but I keep the possibility open.
If you want to email me, you're welcome to (see profile).
I am not familiar with various "social skill" training methods for Asperger's. What has been suggested to you by experts/your-own-research?
I'm not sure if Pathfinder is a good system to support the kind of use you want to put it too. What you probably want is rules lite system with minimal focus on combat mechanics, and more supportive of free-form. I'm sorry I can't think of a good example off the top of my head at the moment. Your one advantage with Pathfinder and Paizo are some amazingly well done pre-made adveture/setting products. You could possibly skip the actual game mechanics and just adhock using the campaign setting material for the roleplaying inspiration. Although it does tend to be a little dark and sometimes quite grim.
Just out of curiosity what is your son's age range (elementary, middle, high, don't need specifics)? Also does he have any preference of kind of story/shows/movies he likes? Again I am by no means a phsycoligist, so I'm kind of flailing in the dark.
Thanks for your interest. Agree that the rule-light settings might work. Regarding his age, he's a teenager. One huge issue is finding the "right" kind of gaming group. An issue with Asperger's is he is very naive in social situations and can easily be taken advantage of.
As far as the social skills go, I'm just taking a stab at this. My son's interested in role playing games so I decided to try this as a means to an end. And besides, I'm having fun at the same time...much to my wife's chagrin!
As father to an autistic boy, I'd welcome any information regarding your findings, especially regarding pitfalls to avoid.
If your son has Asperger's, he's probably more advanced than my boy, but he still surprises us, occasionally.
We're a long way off being able to play any kind of detailed language-based games together, but I keep the possibility open.
If you want to email me, you're welcome to (see profile).
Just sent you a note. I see this as an experiment in progress and welcome the comments. And yes, our children do surprise us; glad to see your Son provides those surprises.
For my Son, the biggest issue is maintaining his interest in the game beyond 1-2 gaming sessions. We've bounced from game to game, system to system, setting to setting over the last year. In my Son's defense, I've been doing the buying and I've been getting into his obsession with RPGs with him.
Haven't cracked the nut on how to keep him on a adventure and/or a campaign for more than one session. I think the way forward is to get him into a gaming group; however, the groups I've watched at the local gaming stores are too cut-throat for him. As smart as he is, he's not able to function with teen age boys that would have no patience for a "special" child.
The other pitfall is getting him to participate in the game as the PC. He's obsessed with creating settings and worlds and isn't interested in developing his character. He's attempted to GM a session but found it too difficult to keep up with the action.
It's another weekend, and we're playing Eclipse Phase. Stay tuned for details.
Dr. Bug
The other pitfall is getting him to participate in the game as the PC. He's obsessed with creating settings and worlds and isn't interested in developing his character.
Forgive me if this is a dumb question due to my ignorance in the topic...
What about helping him being the Gamemaster, and you the solo player? Would this "charge" too much for him?
He likes building worlds? .... What about a setting that allows him, as a player, to run a kingdom. I think specifically of the Kingmaker adventure path. By kind of taking the back end mechanics out of his hands, and relaying orders/reports/kingdom-status through only NPC interaction it could be a way to give him what he's into, "setting building" but through a control interface of personal interaction.
I cannot think of a video game with exactly that mechanic, which would be interesting. Maybe the next Sims game that let's you play the mayor of Sim City as the actual mayor :P .
You may also wish to referance the Birthright (3.5 fan revised) setting, although it's kingdom ruled are no where near as good as those presented in Kingmaker.
He likes building worlds? .... What about a setting that allows him, as a player, to run a kingdom. I think specifically of the Kingmaker adventure path. By kind of taking the back end mechanics out of his hands, and relaying orders/reports/kingdom-status through only NPC interaction it could be a way to give him what he's into, "setting building" but through a control interface of personal interaction.
I cannot think of a video game with exactly that mechanic, which would be interesting. Maybe the next Sims game that let's you play the mayor of Sim City as the actual mayor :P .
You may also wish to referance the Birthright (3.5 fan revised) setting, although it's kingdom ruled are no where near as good as those presented in Kingmaker.
Interesting you mention Sim City. It's one of his favorite games. And about the idea of letting him rule the kingdom that a fantastic idea and I'll use it. Thanks!
The other pitfall is getting him to participate in the game as the PC. He's obsessed with creating settings and worlds and isn't interested in developing his character.Forgive me if this is a dumb question due to my ignorance in the topic...
What about helping him being the Gamemaster, and you the solo player? Would this "charge" too much for him?
Tried that, he lost interest after the first few dice roles. Had a hard time keeping up with the action, NPCs, etc that make a GM role both fun and difficult. We've tried building a world and then adventuring/exploring in it but that lasted, again, one or two sessions. However, we're going to give Diaspora a try and universe building is one of the basic components of the game. Thanks!
Also be aware that other teenagers might say things to him like you should dump charisma because you cannot roleplay a character properly with a higher score. This happened to me but I did not get pissed off.I have seen that happen. I actually think its sort of true.
Also be aware that other teenagers might say things to him like you should dump charisma because you cannot roleplay a character properly with a higher score. This happened to me but I did not get pissed off.I have seen that happen. I actually think its sort of true.
So, what you're suggesting is to make their real life/reality actions reflect the stats of their PC? Sounds like the scoring system offered by Outbreak! Undead. In it you take a survey and the answers your provide give your PC their stats.
Interesting idea, I wonder how many PCs actually use their stats to reflect their true self and then how many GMs punish a PC when he/she doesn't behave appropriately.