Getting Younger Players to Play

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desrocfc
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Getting Younger Players to Play

Unread post by desrocfc »

So after a week’s vacation, I went and forgot to talk about this most recent post I forged. This could just as easily belong to the GM forum, so Admins, please pitch it there if applicable.

Based largely on my own experience with my youngest daughter (she's rocking a Super Spy with a Dog Boy NPC side kick), but also from what I've found scouring the interwebs on the subject. The idea of playing Rifts with the (sometimes VERY) younger demographic is a huge leap for some GMs to consider - in most cases with good reason. I thought I'd throw up the discussion on some tips, tricks, and points to review if you ever plan on having younger adults and adolescents join your TTRPG.

Discussed are the benefits of the PB system (vice d20), handling character generation, difference in magic systems, how to premiere the game and handle D-Bees, adjusting themes and violence to suit their age, and parental input. Can be considered a sister-post to the Session Zero discussions from my blog.

Full article at the link: please like and subscribe!

https://www.scholarlyadventures.com/pos ... -in-gaming

Have you ever thought of running a campaign for younger players? If you have, what tips would you suggest?

Cheers.
Francois DesRochers

http://www.scholarlyadventures.com/blog [A Rifts RPG Blog]
Grazzik
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Re: Getting Younger Players to Play

Unread post by Grazzik »

Some great ideas here, thanks for the post. Probably very appropriate advice for games with kids given current trends in parenting. Times have so very much changed.

I look forward to playing with some younger family members in a couple years. But this got me thinking about how I got into Rifts and PB games.

My gateway game was Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was really, really young. Some off-brand books were designed to be very kid friendly, while others were pretty adult themed, like in one book where I seem to recall that you marked off limbs that got injured or severed. Lost another arm, shucks. Years later, my mom said that she didn't really pay much attention to the content, just happy that I was reading so much. That evolved into Fighting Fantasy books. Dungeoneer for AFF was amazing as it was the first game to give ME full control over the game and the story! That sense of agency is incredibly powerful for a young child. And, yes, it was a super simple and fast to play game - perfect for kids. By Grade 8, I had played a couple sessions of D&D which I found boring, but within months transitioned to undiluted RMB - laser guns, fascist thugs, drugs, slavery, human sacrifice, demons, and amazing cover art... what's not to like at that age? The rest is 30+ years of PB fun.

So, by the time I played no-holds-barred Rifts, I already had 5-6 years of generally kid-friendly rpg style play under my belt. There was never any adult supervision and no need to sanitize settings. Admittedly, as we got older and played Rifts, our group of players self-edited games for things we had no life context for yet. But Rift's violence, drugs, xenophobic politics, and supernatural monsters? It was the early 90s and we were 12 or 13, so yeah, we had no problem processing that material from day one. Could a 12 or 13yo process the themes and material today? No doubt, probably better in some ways. However, the problem is, and always was, parenting styles that didn't prepare some players to have enough maturity for tough themes. Parents (even some who I know enjoyed Rifts as kids!) shelter their kids from these themes - that's their choice as parents and I respect that. However, I wouldn't expect those kids to be able to fully appreciate the game without a lot of personal growing up first or extensive work on the part of the GM.
guardiandashi
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Re: Getting Younger Players to Play

Unread post by guardiandashi »

Grazzik wrote:Some great ideas here, thanks for the post. Probably very appropriate advice for games with kids given current trends in parenting. Times have so very much changed.

I look forward to playing with some younger family members in a couple years. But this got me thinking about how I got into Rifts and PB games.

My gateway game was Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was really, really young. Some off-brand books were designed to be very kid friendly, while others were pretty adult themed, like in one book where I seem to recall that you marked off limbs that got injured or severed. Lost another arm, shucks. Years later, my mom said that she didn't really pay much attention to the content, just happy that I was reading so much. That evolved into Fighting Fantasy books. Dungeoneer for AFF was amazing as it was the first game to give ME full control over the game and the story! That sense of agency is incredibly powerful for a young child. And, yes, it was a super simple and fast to play game - perfect for kids. By Grade 8, I had played a couple sessions of D&D which I found boring, but within months transitioned to undiluted RMB - laser guns, fascist thugs, drugs, slavery, human sacrifice, demons, and amazing cover art... what's not to like at that age? The rest is 30+ years of PB fun.

So, by the time I played no-holds-barred Rifts, I already had 5-6 years of generally kid-friendly rpg style play under my belt. There was never any adult supervision and no need to sanitize settings. Admittedly, as we got older and played Rifts, our group of players self-edited games for things we had no life context for yet. But Rift's violence, drugs, xenophobic politics, and supernatural monsters? It was the early 90s and we were 12 or 13, so yeah, we had no problem processing that material from day one. Could a 12 or 13yo process the themes and material today? No doubt, probably better in some ways. However, the problem is, and always was, parenting styles that didn't prepare some players to have enough maturity for tough themes. Parents (even some who I know enjoyed Rifts as kids!) shelter their kids from these themes - that's their choice as parents and I respect that. However, I wouldn't expect those kids to be able to fully appreciate the game without a lot of personal growing up first or extensive work on the part of the GM.


my answer is likely neuanced and based on the fact that perosnally I really have a lot of issues with the D20 system,
yes I did some D&D (2nd edition (thaco sucks) and 3/3.5 is a much better system, I (my group) never really went in for 4/5

with all that said I still have fomd memories and we sometimes use D6 star wars (from west end games)
I do like the palladium core rpg systems but I have come to like the "level less" systems because in some ways I feel they are more realistic and less "arbitrary"

palladium, and rifts is in a lot of ways a "front loaded" and gear based system
in which characters do NOT have to be ballanced in relative power with each other. but it does require the GM to be flexible to give all the players/chars a chance to shine.
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Nekira Sudacne
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Re: Getting Younger Players to Play

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

desrocfc wrote:So after a week’s vacation, I went and forgot to talk about this most recent post I forged. This could just as easily belong to the GM forum, so Admins, please pitch it there if applicable.

Based largely on my own experience with my youngest daughter (she's rocking a Super Spy with a Dog Boy NPC side kick), but also from what I've found scouring the interwebs on the subject. The idea of playing Rifts with the (sometimes VERY) younger demographic is a huge leap for some GMs to consider - in most cases with good reason. I thought I'd throw up the discussion on some tips, tricks, and points to review if you ever plan on having younger adults and adolescents join your TTRPG.

Discussed are the benefits of the PB system (vice d20), handling character generation, difference in magic systems, how to premiere the game and handle D-Bees, adjusting themes and violence to suit their age, and parental input. Can be considered a sister-post to the Session Zero discussions from my blog.

Full article at the link: please like and subscribe!

https://www.scholarlyadventures.com/pos ... -in-gaming

Have you ever thought of running a campaign for younger players? If you have, what tips would you suggest?

Cheers.


Define Younger Players? You talking high schoolers, middle school, elementary school?
Sometimes, you're like a beacon of light in the darkness, giving me some hope for humankind. ~ Killer Cyborg

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desrocfc
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Comment: Promoting great storytelling fiction and in games, for GMs and players alike.
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Re: Getting Younger Players to Play

Unread post by desrocfc »

Nekira Sudacne wrote:<snip>

Define Younger Players? You talking high schoolers, middle school, elementary school?


I did so specifically back in the full article. For the most part, anything 15/16+ is probably fair game, with some minor (pun intended) accommodations, but scales up really easily.

The majority of the article speaks to kids from 11-15 years-old. I use my nearly 12 yo daughter as an example in some cases, my wife in the example of parental consultation - she knew enough to at least question what I was getting us into, LOL.

[EDIT]: Anything younger than grade 6, I'd be very (**very**) cautious....

Cheers.
Francois DesRochers

http://www.scholarlyadventures.com/blog [A Rifts RPG Blog]
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