I have played Pathfinder before with mostly official some house rules. I think my son would enjoy pathfinder, but I have a question on this.
I played the core game, and used the online resource of PRD to check rules. I also have Hero Lab with the core rules and a few extras (I forget what).
(1)So, I wanted to get my son the beginner box for his birthday. He enjoys RPGs, and I think this would be a hit. But, as I am new to GM, and I don't want to ruin my son's experience, what are thoughts on how to do this?
(2)Thoughts on my having a few npc's to fill out his party. I figure one character is more than enough for him to handle, but will have to see. He is 9.
(3)how much play is there in the BB?
(4)Any other thoughts, suggestions, or just hew, I didn't know this, but learned the hard way?
Edit:
I just looked, I used d20PFSRD.com for the rules.
(1)
Interestingly enough, I was in this same place two years ago (my son was 9, he's still very into it today). I decided not only to try him with it but also my younger girls (!!!). Needless to say there was a lot of potential for chaos and things falling apart.
The biggest thing that helped was sharing in the ownership of the characters with each kid who was playing one. I started by helping them create characters ahead of time. Mostly this was work on myself, but it gave them the chance to know and choose some options. It gave a bit of feeling of ownership that would carry into the game.
Then during the game my wife (who was also learning) helped me keep the kids constantly informed of their options. The older ones started to pick it up slowly and remember what options they had more often.
I think it can definitely be done well. It was a good amount of extra work as a GM, but it was worth it to ease them into the experience and ensure fun. My son slowly started taking it over more and more over time (as I ran additional encounters/mini-adventures after Black Fangs Dungeon/BB). Be prepared to fill in options and make suggestions often so it never becomes "homework" to figure out what to do next. It gets easier with time.
(2) GMPCs (NPCs) are definitely a good idea to give him the feel for interacting with an ally. Additionally, if you can swing it, see if any of his friends are interested in also trying so he can explore the adventure with at least one other player who isn't running the show.
(3) I don't remember exact hours, but I recall thinking it ran long as I let them go at their own pace.
I hope this helps!
(1)Well I'm glad to hear that it worked for you. the 9 year old only has a 2 year old brother, so that will be a challange. I'm unsure how much the little one can do, but I'm sure he will want to be a part of it.
I do hope my wife will join too.
As for ownership, yeah I want to create it with him. I am going to use hero lab to help with rules.
I like the knowing your options. I think I want to help make cheat sheets for them once the character is made. I plan on being a nice GM at first. How hard I am will depend on how fast my son picks up what to do.
I also reward thinking outside the box. I like fun games.
(2) I hope to get his friends interested. As this will be given at his birthday party, I will see what happens. I'm not sure I want all the local kids, as I saw a post elsewhere were a 10 year old boy was just being a bully. Guess we all learn somehow?
(3) longer is better.
thanks for the advice. Now to go read about being better GM. I only tried once, and it was working ok.
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So, my first instinct is forget about the rules. You're his father. He's your son. Your 2 year old and your wife will be joining in. Basically, this is storytime, where everyone gets to be a character in your fantasy world. It it sounds awesome.
Now, that's not Pathfinder, and you want Pathfinder, or at least you're asking for it, so what kind of gamer skills does your boy have? Can he play Chess? If so, does he just know how the pieces move, or does he have a nuanced understanding of the King's Gambit? Does he play Candyland? Does he play Sorry? Does he play Agricola? Does he play Diplomacy? Gauge his skill level, then decide to what extent this is playing Pathfinder, and to what extent this is storytime with the whole family. Wherever your family is, it's good, but best to know where your family is.
Also, what kind of stuff is your boy--are your boys--into? Do they like sports? Do they like dragons and wizards? Do they like robots? Do they like Ancient Greek Myths? the myths of some other culture? Do they like solving logic puzzles? Do they like trivia questions? Do they playing with action figures? Do they like playing with armies of toy soldiers? Do they like remote control cars? Do they build their own toys?
Consider giving your family challenges that involve more than just sitting about the table, talking, and rolling dice. Make them climb a ladder, swing from a rope, score at least a _______ on Wack-a-Mole. Shoot 3 bullseyes in 10 shots with a nerf bow and arrow at a range of _______. Instead of rolling dice to see if their character can starfish their way along a treacherous mountain path, create a maze of building blocks they have to drive a remote control car through. Every block they knock down is a minus on their die roll. Or maybe if they have a Dexterity of 16, and 3 ranks in Climb, and Climb is a Class Skill, that means they are allowed to knock down 14 blocks instead of 5.
Think about RPG elemets you can carry out while you are all in the car together, doing chores, or studying for a math test. What are they reading in their reading classes in school? Can Dorothy Gale, John Henry, or Christopher Colombus be characters in your adventure? Maybe the Red-Coated Hobgoblins chase your heroes into the jungle mountainside only to be captured by Granny Nanny's Maroon Goblins, and your boys have to figure out how to talk Nanny out of throwing them into her cauldron that boils without a fire, and be prepared for what happens when they get Nanny to lead an army against the Red Coats and they make the fateful decisions to fire their cannons at her....
Scott -
All I can say, is you have given me a lot of ideas. I do want to make it more light, and less rule heavy. On that, I'm prepaired to be making house rules as we go.
I will check with wife on Larping checks, but I bet the kids would love that. I really do want story time for the family, but I also want me and my son to play PF together.
Thanks again for the pointers.
My nieces don't play RPGs (yet...) but I got one of them Settlers of Catan, and one of them really likes the sheep, so the second time we played, she picked up Sheep Port, and built 3 settlements, and eventually cities, around one of her wool producing territories, and just ran the game. Just because she likes sheep and thinks they're adorable.
The girls like playing games, but they often play games where there are no consequences or player decisions, like War or Candyland; once the cards are shuffled, the results of the game are pre-ordained. They can't make any tactical decisions at all. I'm trying to give them games with some game play. That, and lots of LEGOs. :-)
But now my sister is on a Shanghai kick. It's like Gin Rummy, but it's played with 2 or 3 decks of cards, you can't start playing until you have two sets of 3, then one set of 4, then two sets of 4, then one set of 5, then two sets of 5, then one set of 6. Also, you can only pick up from the source deck; you get 5 or 6 tokens, which let you pick up 1 card from the discard deck, but you also have to take 2 cards from the source deck. So essentially, you just pick a card, hope you can use it, and discard a card. There is literally no player interaction. It's just drawing a card and hoping you get lucky. My nephew played about a year without ever getting to actually put any cards down. Ugh...
Sorry for the rant.
Definitely tailor the stories and adventures towards your son's interests: robots, spies, army guys, pirates, spies that turn into robots, army guys that turn into robots, pirates that turn into robots, dinosaurs, dragons, knights, wizards, Wookiees, baseball, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc.
SmiloDan wrote: My nieces don't play RPGs (yet...) but I got one of them Settlers of Catan, and one of them really likes the sheep, so the second time we played, she picked up Sheep Port, and built 3 settlements, and eventually cities, around one of her wool producing territories, and just ran the game. Just because she likes sheep and thinks they're adorable.
The girls like playing games, but they often play games where there are no consequences or player decisions, like War or Candyland; once the cards are shuffled, the results of the game are pre-ordained. They can't make any tactical decisions at all. I'm trying to give them games with some game play. That, and lots of LEGOs. :-)
But now my sister is on a Shanghai kick. It's like Gin Rummy, but it's played with 2 or 3 decks of cards, you can't start playing until you have two sets of 3, then one set of 4, then two sets of 4, then one set of 5, then two sets of 5, then one set of 6. Also, you can only pick up from the source deck; you get 5 or 6 tokens, which let you pick up 1 card from the discard deck, but you also have to take 2 cards from the source deck. So essentially, you just pick a card, hope you can use it, and discard a card. There is literally no player interaction. It's just drawing a card and hoping you get lucky. My nephew played about a year without ever getting to actually put any cards down. Ugh...
Sorry for the rant.
Maybe try them on Operation next. I use Operation to teach kids how to talk smack. Like when you need to intervene as a Specialist, fold your hands across your belly, nod smugly and say, "That's a tricky procedure, maybe you should let a Specialist handle it." Or if he's trying to shake the board to move the pieces around you exclaim, "Doctor please! You are agitating the patient!"
Meanwhile, try to meditate on the wisdom of Chutes and Ladders as a representation of the interlocking Dharmic and Karmic wheels.
SmiloDan wrote: Definitely tailor the stories and adventures towards your son's interests: robots, spies, army guys, pirates, spies that turn into robots, army guys that turn into robots, pirates that turn into robots, dinosaurs, dragons, knights, wizards, Wookiees, baseball, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc. You were just reminding me of Smash Up. Have you ever played Smash Up?
My daughter is 10, and has been playing RPGs for about three years now. I started her and her older sister (who is *not* into RPGs) with Mutants & Masterminds, and there was a lot of "Tell me what you want to do, and I'll tell you what to roll and where to find the thing to add to it."
From there, I took the two of them and ran a Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG with them playing the teens while a few of my friends ran adult "mentor" characters (they were a Slayer and a teen psychic, the adults ran the Watcher and an Initiative Agent.)
Like I said, my older daughter didn't stay interested, but my younger has now come to GenCon with me twice, being an NPC/PC in games I ran, and we played a Pathfinder game this year. We've got a once-a-month Pathfinder campaign (just moving into Book 2 of Rise of the Runelords), and she now wants to start running Pathfinder for her friends. (I was a 10-year-old in 5th grade when I started playing the D&D Red Box Set.)
The Pathfinder Beginner's Box is easily as good a place to start as the old Red Box set. The initial dungeon is a good one, with lots of interesting options that are a challenge but aren't *too* deadly.
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