I have a 9 yr old son that I am trying to get into roleplaying. I am looking for suggestions on how to accomplish this. I know that I don't want to use all the rules...very basic, but beyond that?
Beginners box comes to mind for this. Its a good idea to let the rules take the backseat . . . actually go ahead and throw them in the trunk for now. As far as role-playing goes try to find a character from a fictional work whose personality that he likes and aim to help him emulate that rather than building a persona from scratch.
This may get moved to the advice column just a heads up.
I had a 9 or 10 year old kid in my group over the summer. That kid was more tactical than most of the other players. He had to learn the rules, and did not whine when he almost died. I was impressed.
Ok so that was off-topic. I would start him off with the beginner's box. The rules(complete rules) can come later.
I just recently got my 9 year old niece into wanting to play pathfinder by waiting till she seen me play Skyrim, and as soon as she started asking about dragons I showed her the bestiary, once she realized it was for a game, well in her words, "I NEED TO PLAY THIS GAME CAN I BE A WIZARD!!!!!!"
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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With my niece, I started just showing them how combat works, but inevitably I ran into my own inner ham doing voices for the goblins (from "Aiiiieeeeee I am slain!" to "Gonna cut you longshanks!)
She really enjoyed it, so I think I can get her to role play pretty easy. I told her about how it's nice to play someone outside of yourself now and again. Also told her about Donna's (overcompensating) druid*.
I was so proud when she picked up on the concept of looting w/o any prompting. "Wait, you said those goblins had swords. Can we use them?"
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Definately go with very, VERY rules lite. Run a game playing characters from his favorite cartoon - Spongebob Squarepants or something, then move one from their.
Or do what I did with my 10 year old nephew...introduced him to RPGs using rules lits systems like the current incarnation of the d6 system from WEG - Cinema 6. Doesn't get much easier than roll a bunch of dice, add'em up to see if you hit the DC.
I would really consider the Beginner's Box. You can also get a free copy of Hero Lab for character creation designed specifically to use with the Beginner's Box.
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For Christmas, I ran my siblings (21,17,15,12) through a quick adventure. They have never played any type of RPG before and when I suggested we play, I got the whole "Man you're such a nerd!" repsonse from all but the 12 year old.
However, I did get them all to play and I was really impressed. For character creation, I just sat each one down and asked them to describe to me their ideal character using a few movies and books.
My little brother said he wanted to be a Spartan.
The 15 and 17 year old sister decided to play twin elves: one rogue, one sword and board. They took teamwok feats and everything. They were a scary combo.
the 21 year old sister has a thing for Aragorn. She made a swith-hitting ranger.
For game play, I explained what each skill and number on the sheet was for so they'd understand that there are rules to this game. Then, I told them "don't worry about what you can and can't do within the rules. You tell me what you want you want to do, and I'll tell you what to roll and how long it'll take.
It worked out really well. They stayed on table, the made plans, they protected each other in battle, and made sub-optimal choices because they were awesome. A few of them came close to death, but they had a great time!
Bottom line: Have the conversation about the rules and hone in on a solid character concept. Then, explain how the character works and what it can do. Last, don't bog them down in rules, just ask, "what do you want to do?" then let that happen, optimal or not. They will figure out what works and what doesn't and will adjust their choices accordingly.
My conclusion? GM for kids. They are not afraid to role-play! Adults could learn a lot from playing with kids.
Man, I learned when I was 9 with full 3.5 rules, all these kids have it easy :P
Seriously though, Try to find a movie or book they like and emulate that. Instead f dropping the core rulebook in their laps, have them describe a character (as GM DSP said) and help them build that. Pile on the rules bit by bit, and try to get a friend involved around the 3rd session if they enjoy it.
Beginner Box, duh.
At the moment I am DM-ing for 4 kids (11, 12, 13, 13 years old). I basically had them make characters by asking what type of characters they wanted to play, and they made surprisingly original choices (only one character was based on a book, the rest were inventions of their own). Then I just started DM-ing and explained rules when situations came up. They are picking up the rules (D&D 3.5) easily and now (after about 10 sessions) are even beginning to get an idea which choices are optimal and which are subobtimal. They are also really roleplaying. What surprises me most are the original uses they have for items and spells. They are really creative. They also remember every little clue I give them. And they are having great fun, which is most important of all.
I try not to steer them too much in any direction. First of all I am curious what they will do, and secondly I want them to have as much fun as I had when starting D&D.
One of the players has even begun writing an in-game diary, which is great fun to read.
I had a bard in 2e that chronicled everything, in his own voice. It was fun writing it. I embelished when I wanted and if a character pissed me off, his role in the story was changed. Maybe he cried for help, or if someone got a crit against the same ubermonster he was also fightinh, then his credit to the battle was diminished. Sometimes I would modify evens a little. If someone was greased, they danced like a Keystone Cop.
If they were good though, they got top billing. No pain came to them in the story. They got heroic and killing blows.
At the end of the campaign I had filled a few composition notebooks. They were a fun read until they were destroyed in a flood.