RPGs for young children

[quozl]

I've been thinking about running an RPG for my wife and soon to be 5-year old daughter but haven't yet found anything appropriate.  What RPGs have people here found are good with young children?  I've had John Wick's Cat and Dragon recommended to me.  Has anyone had any experience with these?

[ScottM]

Shadows is explicitly made for youngsters, and has been written up positively in Actual Play for some kids.  One group was playing Jedi in the system: Knights of the New Republic (Zac's Shadows) .

Good luck!

--Scott

[Jason13]

I have had no personal experience of this myself but a good friend of mine and a long time gaming buddy has started to bring his 8 year old into the hobby.  He is using Heroclix figures (which his son already has and loves) and roleplays dialogue between the characters as they fight and now go on missions.  I suppose this approach could be ported into whatever craze kids are currently hooked on and then wean them onto the good stuff.  Hope that helps.

Regards

Jason

[GreatWolf]

I used the Pool to roleplay with my children for a while.  I'm not sure that they understood the resource management aspects at the time.  Of course, that was probably a year or more ago, so they might do better now.

I'll be curious to see what Vincent has to say about this.  I know that he roleplays with his children.

[komradebob]

I used the Pool to roleplay with my children for a while.  I'm not sure that they understood the resource management aspects at the time.  Of course, that was probably a year or more ago, so they might do better now.

I'll be curious to see what Vincent has to say about this.  I know that he roleplays with his children.

Vinvent has designed The Nighttime Animals Save the World, another excellent kids, rpg that hasn't been mentioned yet.

Chris Engle's stuff is also readily usable with small kids.

Emily Care has some very cool tips on her site for playing games with the younger set also.

[quozl]

Thank you!  I have printed off a copy of Nighttime Animals Save the World and Shadows. 

Do you have links to Chris Engle and Emily Care's materials?

[komradebob]

Here's Chris' site.

The relevant page onEmily's site is here.

Here's a discussion about the game I was working on.

This is a recent discussion here on the Forge about playing more LARPish games with young kids in a classroom environement.

Finally, here's an off-site thread (rpgnet) about writing a My Little Pony game, riffing off a Wizards of the Coast April Fool's joke.

Hope those help!

[quozl]

Those are awesome!  Thank you.  I really like what I've read about the game you're working on and The Big Night.

[komradebob]

Those are awesome!  Thank you.  I really like what I've read about the game you're working on and The Big Night.

What's great is that a lot of folks ( like myself) who started gaming in the early 80s are now having kids reaching "gamer-training" age. Every now and again, when a worrywart bemoans the lack of younger gamers, I have to laugh- wait 'til the next wave hits!

[Bryan Hansel]

I played the start-up edition of Inspectres with my 9 year old niece and she loved it.  She got the game right away and went with it.  I thought that with the simple rules, it was a perfect game for her age.

[Meguey]

The Big Night is gold for those who can handle the Christmas Eve-ness of it.

Making a Tree (unreleased, D. Vincent Baker) plays -great- with 5-9 y.os. I hope it comes out soonish *poke*