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I thought I share this with others. I did initiate a discussion with very good feedback 1 1/2 years ago when I went to a convention and asked if I should have my son play there or not. This has been very successful and he has 2 level 4 and 1 level 2 PFS characters by now.
I've now started the next step - spreading it beyond the own family. He is now nearly 11 and he wanted to play with his friends. So 5 weeks ago I offered a game during the autumn break - only to find out that two of the potential players had been away on holiday with the parents. This resulted in a maybe unconventional first adventure - The Godsmouth Heresy.
There were some good reasons to start with that adventure. My son had just got a boon to play a Tengu
There surely were several reasons against it. Two days, 6 hours gaming each with 4 children at the table (8 (my daughter), 10, 10 and 14?). A new player aged 10 being asked to play 2 days solid. Known issues of competition between some of the children. And last minute a local GM who was keen to run the module instead of me as he hadn't done much GMing in a while and he had played it with me as GM - but someone not known for patience with children.
It was a gamble (and my wife said I was insane) but it worked out very, very well. With me as Kyra I was able to stay in the back, assist in healing but also help with rules questions at the table and to keep the children in control. So the GM was able to concentrate on GMing. The main complain on day 1 and 2 was - can't we play on. Oh - and I had a new fan who asked me every time I brought my kids to school - when is the next game.
Two weeks after that I had the two missing children on my table as well - playing Murder on the Silken Caravan. We now had a level 1 Valeros, a level 2 Valeros, a level 1 Barbarian, a level 2 Merisiell and a level 1 Tengu Ninja (he had died once in Godsmouth Heresy - so was one XP short of second level). 5 children (8, 10*4) are hard but rewarding work. They had a great time. With no healing in the group I had 3 characters down in the last fight - one just barely surviving - luckily rolling a 19 (+Con bonus) to stabilize when needed. Anything less would have been Death (or needed GM intervention - thanks Dice Gods).
Another week later - all keen to play again - I did the Prince of Augustana. This time only with four players. We managed to get through it in less than 3 hours thanks to a lot of fighting power and a season zero scenario that works well that way. This was actually pretty good as there isn't really enough time during the week after school to get a full game of 4 hours run after school.
And yesterday was their lucky day. Teachers in the UK on strike. Parents in need to find someone looking after them. So we had a big gaming day during 'school time'. I opted for the Beginner Bash. This might have been a good start earlier - but as I said - I didn't manage to get all children together on the first attempt. Scheduling 4 kids in todays environment with clubs, homework, parent activities isn't easy. So this unexpected break from school seemed ideal. I already did a write up of the event in the Beginner Box section - here .
Also if you know my posts and are interested - I did build everything up in 3D glory again on the DwarvenForge forum .
So what are the next plans?
I might do one or two more scenarios before Christmas. These will be done with the original characters based mainly on the PreGens. I did advertise the Beginner Box to the parents and hope most of the kids will get one under the tree. This should allow them to start building their own characters. I did take care ysterday to have all 4 Bash PreGens to be rotated - every player had to play each once to play something different to a fighter and to appreciate other roles or even to play another role. And yes - the boon is especially useful for this young players who easily take risks that a veteran player wouldn't take.
And then once they did their own characters from scratch I plan to run Crypt of the Everflame as a starter.
I'm not sure everyone here is comfortable to introduce such young players straight into organized play. But I feel that low level and especially season zero PFS scenarios are a quite good starting point for new players. They are self contained and are finished in a fixed amount of time. Having GMed them for my regular players makes my preperations less ardous and I can concentrate on other issues like explaining rules, giving advice. And I hope with the Beginner Box they will be able to do some playing without me and to immerse themselves into the rules as well instead of 'just playing'.
It is still too early to tell if this will be the next generation of RPG gamers you meet at conventions in 10 years time. But I try to give them as good a start as possible.
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My son, 13, has been playong PFS since he was 11 and tabletop RPG even longer. He goes to a klub each day afte school, where the, kids have dozens of activities tochose fom.
I have also run a game for his friends, and while hey get it and are hooked pn RPGs I think in the future I will use the Begine Box for junior introduction.
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I personally started playing in 1980 at age 10, through a D&D event being run through my local library. So I consider that to be the min. age for role-playing games, inasmuch as I think about age minimums. As luck would have it the youngest of my four nephews just turned 10, so guess who is getting the Pathfinder Beginner Box for Christmas? And of course Uncle Brent will be happy to GM...
Bringing new children/tweens into gaming is one of the ways we will keep our hobby strong. We just need to be the best stewards we can for the generations coming up behind. And I think the Pathfinder community as a whole is particularly able in this regard.
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I feel like a fool for not mentioning this on these boards on Paizo last week after posting such to my local pf board and on Facebook. I have been giving away the dnd intro box to the toys for tots charity for years now. This time I did the pf intro. Don't forget that type of opportunity to spread the hobby either. Sometimes I do get concerned about the age level but figure if it means the parent has to spend time with the child reading, that can only be a good thing.
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We had the Beginner Box under the tree as well. In this case it will be shared. Daddy is interested in the pawns and the map :) Originally it was meant for my son and me - but my wife mentioned she might try gming - so lets wait and see who will actually read it.
I also got feedback from the first child in my junior league as it is now known. His mother let me know that he was keen to tell me that he got the beginner box as well. I'm looking forward that they become more independent.
In regard to age: I see several separate issues here:
a) Play with some help - especially with a PreGen or help generating a character. You can start this as early as you can calculate a d20 + modifier result fluently. Actually it can even help your math. This is playing by learning and not by reading the rules.
In this 'mode' you still need a GM or player (or best both) on your table for uncommon, new rules situations. Actually I have seen a lot of adults never reading too much of the rules and just playing and relying on others on the table for rules questions.
b) Play independently. I think this is where the Beginner Box really helps and reduces the level a lot. Currently I help my junior league to generate a new character. If we don't have a lot of time, then we use the Pre-Gens to start with. I hope to have now at least 1 or 2 self-made characters that I might audit and give help - but that are done without me.
c) GMing - you really need to know more of the rules to GM. You need at least to know where in the book to look it up.
Interestingly I would regard PFS scenarios as a good starting point, They have a limited number of encounters, are well written and you can check here online for pitfalls, problems.
I wouldn't do this without controlled environment (me sitting at the table to help out) - but I will report back if that next step is reached.
One of the local stores that runs PFS hosts two to three tables on Friday night. Almost a third of the player are under the age of 15 and we have no trouble (well, the GMs might have difficulty keeping up with the speed of their young minds).
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My son, 13, has been playong PFS since he was 11 and tabletop RPG even longer. He goes to a klub each day afte school, where the, kids have dozens of activities tochose fom.
I have also run a game for his friends, and while hey get it and are hooked pn RPGs I think in the future I will use the Begine Box for junior introduction.
This is the same for me my son has been playing for 2 yrs now has a lvl2, 3 and 7 characters in PFS -he's now 13.
For Thanksgiving we went to florida and I brought the Beginner Box with the BBB scenarios to play with my niece 10, nephew 11, son 13 and brother 36 while my 6 yr old watched. It as good enough that my niece who is a certified genius- has been asking that i run games on skype so she can play. So at least I know I hooked one additional player. Though my nephew doesnt seem to be into it and will play ony if everyone else is playing as well.