Help! Sons want to play!

[Mithras]

Everything you have said there is golden. Consider the idea snatched and implemented!

I am certainly conscious now of 'letting go', and watching results unfold, I have been too manipulative in the past (with the story in mind), but no more. I'm also staying well away from NPC encounters and making part of the plot dealing with or confounding other NPCs. They can handle a little, but are happiest and most successful with physical challenges.

You might also try the scavenger hunt route some times. The boys or at least one of them gets a ship in cgen, but it needs something in the way of repairs to be fully functional. Maybe it is missing a part for the jump drive, but everything else works. (That way they can get used to operating the ship without having to worry about problems of intersystem traveling.) They start out in a backwater system without a spaceport. There is a mining outfit in the asteriod belt that may have the part they need. The miners do have the part, but they want a favor in return. Carry that on back 4 or 5 steps more so that they have to locate different things or accomplish some tasks in order to earn what they need. That way you can mix action and problem solving and especially teamwork into the needed solution. Just remember to keep it at a level they can handle personally especially if their PCs are capable of more than they are. That way they don't have to have you via a guardian angel NPC do every thing for them. The fun is in doing it yourself, not in being rescued by that NPC every time something goes wrong.

 

[davebill]

Hi Mithras,

I'm running a game for a group of kids ages 9 (my daughter) to 18 - none are experienced RPGers but have played D&D boardgames and lots of multiplayer computer games.

They took to Classic Traveller like ducks to water and quickly got the hang of using skills to aid task rolls, etc. Weren't worried by the lack of ray guns or atomic discombobulators. Does mean you can throw in some 'God Tech' or use handwavium to spice up the story without someone saying "'ere! You cannae change the laws of physics."

Keep the adventure simple, fairly linear, but include a 'tight spot' where the quietest kid at the table can use his/her skill to save the day - they suddenly become really involved when they see they can make a difference!

It's lots of fun to run games for younger folks as they like a good story and will happily listen to you take them along the story arc as long as they get to roll some dice.

And to have your daughter give you a hug and say, "Thankyou for the brilliant game, Daddy", is priceless.

David

 

[Mithras]

And to have your daughter give you a hug and say, "Thankyou for the brilliant game, Daddy", is priceless.

David

Wow!

That's very cool!

I was pleased with scenario 2. THe boys were hired by a deep sea mining faction to write security programs for one of their sea bed drilling stations. THey got into this, came up with security ideas, made the rolls ... then the other faction struck, with bombs. THe rig was evacuated, the boys saving a trapped worker using Mechanics skill. Then they got to the floating platform on the surface to find an enemy sub there and goons with guns! There was a nice gun battle in the dark on the platform, with various tactics used. ONe son began to sulk when he missed, and again when he got hit - I had to explain that this is what happened when guns were used, this is no computer game! I let the scout with Vacc-suit skill spot a deep sea diving hardsuit, and he got the idea, climbed in and moved benath the floating platfom to sabotage the enemy sub. Their suvivors panicked and jumped in it, he then cut control cables and tried to smash a viewport, but the faction leader and a goon got away in the sub.

Great game - the did a good job, plus reacted well to the terrorists. We talked about the exciting bits after the game. I hinted they may get a ship in the next session!

 

[Icosahedron]

Just a suggestion: once they've had a ship it will be very difficult to wean them off it to run another shipless game - I tend to look at ship ownership in much the same way as castle ownership in D&D. It's an ultimate goal for players to work towards very slowly. Crewing a ship, yes; owning it, no. Especially not for kids - OTOH, if Daddy has promised... :toast:

 

[Mithras]

THats a very good point. THey have some high passages to use, and maybe should get a taste for travelling as passengers first. Yes, a ship can be used as a goal. I think that is wise counsel! I will rethink my next adventure.

Just a suggestion: once they've had a ship it will be very difficult to wean them off it to run another shipless game - I tend to look at ship ownership in much the same way as castle ownership in D&D. It's an ultimate goal for players to work towards very slowly. Crewing a ship, yes; owning it, no. Especially not for kids - OTOH, if Daddy has promised... :toast:

 

[davebill]

Though ....

The 'here's your nice new ship, ooh, look, some bad man stole it, and here's a guy who knows a man who met a vargr who has a hiver partner who heard where the bad man lives' situation gives a real motivation for a road-movie/quest type adventure:devil:

But OTOH, as has been noted already, giving the characters a ship can really spoil them for ground-based games for a while, unless ... the ship's an old one and bits keep breaking so they need to find replacement bits or earn the money to get said bits.

Having a patron to whom the ship belongs, is another way of dangling the ship in front of the players, but not quite giving them clear title - Elizabeth Moon's early Serrano (spelling?) stories had the main character crewing a ship for the owner-aboard which is a good way to throw missions at the characters.

David

 

[Agemegos]

THats a very good point. THey have some high passages to use, and maybe should get a taste for travelling as passengers first. Yes, a ship can be used as a goal. I think that is wise counsel! I will rethink my next adventure.

A ship in jumpspace is a fine place to set a whodunnit adventure. Automatically isolated group of suspects.

And one of the good things about running whodunnits for kids is that you can rip off Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile in circumstantial detail, and the kids won't recognise it.

 

[casquilho]

A ship in jumpspace is a fine place to set a whodunnit adventure. Automatically isolated group of suspects.

And one of the good things about running whodunnits for kids is that you can rip off Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile in circumstantial detail, and the kids won't recognise it.

I can name some adults who did not know them either. :smirk:

Serious though, I think the point about ship ownership is a good one. It helps give them a major goal that could be used to link several adventures.

Daniel