Youth / kid games?

[Scott Young]

I have a group of kids who want to learn to play, and standard PFS isn't the best venue for it. (We need to run only 1-2 hours at a time, during non-bedtime hours.) On the surface, a campaign-mode module, run a couple of hours at a time at my FLGS, seemed like the best choice to do this within PFS. In addition, I foresee some kids wanting to continue to play together as a group, playing official PFS but not joining the night-time adult groups. It got me thinking about the proper way to handle youth-only* games under PFS.

I checked in with my V-C and she flagged that there have been offline discussions about youth games, and also said that Pathfinder Academy hadn't been released publicly yet. Other than that, there don't seem to be any rules regarding youth-only games.

Can anyone provide an update on the status of Pathfinder Society Academy, or any other rules/discussions about youth games under PFS? I don't want to have to un-teach some rules to kids if there is policy imminent.

Thanks!

* youth-only:

We've had lots of kids come out with their parent(s) to regular PFS, but because of the speed and information overload, many tend to just defer to their parent. Putting a group of youth peers together is likely to be a better situation for them to develop as players (and hopefully, into a GM at some point!)

[Incendiaeternus]

I'll also echo this, we had a few issues with kids showing up to heavy plot type game and had a hard time following a lot of the politics.

Even if we don't get news on Academy, are there suggestions like Frostfur Captives that are more kid friendly?

[RealAlchemy]

For shorter time slots, using a quest series is not a bad choice.

[Linda Zayas-Palmer]

Pathfinder Society Academy is still very much on our radar. We've had something or the other come in the way of a planned release date enough times that I'm hesitant to get too specific, but I'd be quite surprised if we don't have it out to everyone in the first quarter of 2018.

[Hmm]

How will you handle the certification process? As a youth services librarian, I’ve already had the background check, but I don’t have anything from my job that states that I have it. Will there be a separate certification process for PSA?

Hmm

[DragonflyBlue]

Our region does some kids tables. But we are just running regular scenarios. The GMs work to pick not overly dark, plot heavy, or too adult. We also found that kids enjoy playing the goblins. Being able to nuke your sister with magical fire is apparently very appealing. And I have played at a kids table. I think it worked having one non gm experienced player at the table to help them with questions and help the gm cat herd.

[Ivis Flanagan]

Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:

How will you handle the certification process? As a youth services librarian, I’ve already had the background check, but I don’t have anything from my job that states that I have it. Will there be a separate certification process for PSA?

Hmm

Hmm I'm a teacher and I am able to request a copy of it from HR (which I've had to do to show it other places before). Would this be an option for you?

DragonflyBlue wrote:

Our region does some kids tables. But we are just running regular scenarios. The GMs work to pick not overly dark, plot heavy, or too adult. We also found that kids enjoy playing the goblins. Being able to nuke your sister with magical fire is apparently very appealing. And I have played at a kids table. I think it worked having one non gm experienced player at the table to help them with questions and help the gm cat herd.

I've seen similar in my region. I've also ran games of Confirmation and Wounded Wisp with some minor changes (as in your going and looking for a book in a library, not a bottle of wine at an inn) and those seem to work well. The puzzles are simple enough to be solved, but complex enough to make them think, and they get to beat up some bad guys. Best story is when I had a table with 4 barbarians decide to charge the ------ in Confirmation, and then crit it. Very quick fight that made them feel super powerful.

[LackofFocus]

I am currently running standard PFS with my 3 kids (two 12 year olds & a 9 year old). Taking the time to explain the rules as we go on.

I am still waiting on how the certification process is going to go as well as the future of PSA is with pF 2.0 and Starfinder Academy(Hopefully).

[CigarPete]

I'm also running standard PFS for my 4 and 6 year-old and my wife. I run it rules lite for them, meaning I handle most of the rule interactions and they mostly tell me what they want to do, role dice and do some arithmetic. I have been sticking with dungeon crawls to this point, so we've played Master of Fallen Fortress, Crypt of the Everflame and currently working on level 6 of Emerald Spire after completing the previous 5.

I'm running regular PFS as both of my boys were most excited to have animal companions with a wolf for the druid (who also wanted to turn into a wolf) and a t-rex for the barbarian/hunter. Might be a good draw for the PSA.