Could it be accessible to a non-english speaking 12 year old?
Hi, I'm Italian and I've been recently teaching my two 12 year olds cousins to how play pen and paper RPGs. Right now I'm using an homebrew, extremely rules-light system, and they are having a blast, so I tought that maybe it's time to upgrade to a proper system like the one in the BB. They aren't having any problem handling my simple system so I don't think the will have problems handling this basic Pathfinder, adn I know for sure that they would love the maps, artwork and miniatures.
The problem is neither of the speak or read english very good. They learn it at school, but not very well. Is the Beginner Box english to complicated for them? Could it help them learn a new language in addition to the game system with my supervision? I will be their GM and read the rules for them, but I'd like them to eventually start doing things on their own.
I could hope for the Italian version to be released, but I doubt that's going to happen (the Italian publisher for Pathfinder has no plans for the BB at the moments, and they have been notoriously slow and unprofessional in handling Pathfinder manuals and products so far). Therefore I'd rather not wait for something that could never be released.
What do you say? Is the BB english simple enough for somebody that is just starting to learn the language?
I don't own the pathfinder beginner box, but I got hold of a similar product when I was even younger.
I was so fascinated by it, that I looked up all the words I didn't know in the dictionary (which was a really slow process back than).
Also it started me reading every fantasy book I could get my hands on, and I soon moved on to other genres as well.
Gaming is a great way to get in contact with a language in my opinion. Learning to read and speak a language and enjoying yourself in the process sounds like a good idea to me.
reigam has a point: D&D did contribute significantly to my English. However, I spoke English (maybe not quite fluently) before I ever got tired of crappy German translations of computer games, novels and rulebooks, and got the original material.
As for the Beginner Box:
After reading a few passages, I'd say the language is not overly complicated and avoids the more difficult words. However, the Beginner Box is not a comic book with just a few captions here and there. The books in the box are actually books, with actual text. And while it might not require an expert of native speaker, I'm not sure someone who has been learning English at school for only a couple of years now will have any fun with it.
To post a short excerpt from the margins of the cleric pre-gen sheet:
Your Character Sheet
This character sheet gives you all the information you need to make
dice rolls for your cleric character. It also gives you places to keep
track of your equipment and treasure.
You can find the pre-gen sheets HERE (link). If you follow the link, you'll also find some free material to supplement the box, like the Player Pack. download all the free stuff. See for yourself if you think the stuff too difficult for your kids, or show them some of the stuff and find out if it will overwhelm them.
What do you say? Is the BB english simple enough for somebody that is just starting to learn the language?
I surely wouldn't mark it as difficult, but I am unable to estimate if it could be deemed simple; I can't get rid of the thought that the boy would be learning both a new language and a game system at the same time, which could be not so simple. I would just say that if the boy is interested enough in the game, gifting him with a good english-italian dictionary and leaving him a copy of the character sheets (print the free-downloads for him) to look at between one game-session and the other could do wonders. And if you're there for him, during game-sessions or not, even better.
Also, if he studies english at school, he could ask some questions to his teacher (provided that he/she is not a jerk). Or, even better, propose to take the Beginner Box material as matter of study. In a best-case scenario, such thing could interest other schoolmates too, and the english teacher would end up with plenty of kids eager and motivated to learn in a somewhat fun way, which would in turn make him/her more motivated to teach.
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Could it be accessible to a non-english speaking 12 year old?
I think with you there explaining the basic rules it should be very accessible.
Basic abilities and damage and defense and the like are all in shorthand anyway so given their experience with the other rpg they might have a leg-up on native english speakers with no rpg experience.
Probably skills and spells would be the most difficult for them to reference, but I bet they will be able to figure out a spells effects even if they don't know exactly what it does, for example.
And they'll soon know english words that most native speakers don't know (orisons and cantrips).
Good luck!
Thanks for your replies. I have printed the PCs pregens and I'll hand them over to them as a test. If they can understand even parts of it, I think I have the idea for their next Christmas Gift.
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Just make sure that your once fun RPG sessions don't turn into what they feel as extra homework.
I don't know about his kids, but when I started reading novels in English, I had to look up words all the time. Had a huge dictionary (it was before tablet PCs or even common laptops and dict.leo.org) to look stuff up.
I didn't see it as homework. I saw it as something that lets me enjoy what I enjoy more: Understanding what the books say.
And when I got better and had to look up less and less words, reading became even more fun. And my English got better.