Hi there!

I'm a homeschooling mom, and I'm co-teaching a semester on the Middle Ages with four kids ages 9-11. The other mom is doing medieval physics (building a trebuchet, f=ma with a battering ram, etc) and I'm teaching literature, reading Morte D'Arthur and working on some Tennyson and other Arthurian tidbits.

I thought playing a role playing game would be a great way to immerse the kids in this topic, and when I found Pendragon, I felt like I hit the jackpot! I have read the first edition books, and I have some experience with D&D so I get the basic idea, although my experience with DM-ing was mostly playing fast and loose with the math! We have rolled our characters and I'm trying to work out some introductory stuff to do, while they're still little squires, to get them used to the gameplay and how it all works. This forum and the RPG archive have been very helpful! So thankful for all the resources people have made available, including the author himself.

Here is my question: Has anyone tried doing Pendragon (or any RPG I guess) with a younger set of people, and were there modifications and other "dos and don'ts" that I should keep in mind as we try this. For example, one thing I'm considering is doing fewer rolls to determine behaviors, and letting the kids have a bit more freedom to choose what their characters would do, while still doing rolls to see what effect they will have on external stuff, or how the external stuff responds. I can see the kids being worried about having to do something they don't want their character to do, because they hit a bad number, etc. For adults, that's part of the game, but would that be frustrating for children, over time?

Any advice you all have would be helpful. I appreciate your time!

Love,
LYDIA

My advice is to get the kids to understand what the various numbers mean and what the expectations are. For example, fully explain to them the character is not them. They are play acting. Well, the situation says, you need to be truthful. That is what is expected of all good knights. Then explain what their trait number means. Any number between 5 and 15 means you can choose, but if you want your character to be more famous, then certain traits need to be 16 or above. What they means, is they have decided their character does ________. Then explain there are exceptions (which means you can do want you want), BUT in everyone elses eyes, they did _______ which is against society/their own culture/their liege's orders & expectations...

When I was using rpgs teaching kids at the YMCA, we clearly explained their consequences of proposed actions and then let them decide. Even when a bad situation occured, and parents got concerned when they overheard what the kid let happen, we brought them in, showed them everything, and they understood. We always coached things to let them relate to the real world.

I found kids to play differently than adults, but also there is an intensity to it that we adults sometimes lack.
My thoughts.

Bob

Here is my question: Has anyone tried doing Pendragon (or any RPG I guess) with a younger set of people, and were there modifications and other "dos and don'ts" that I should keep in mind as we try this. For example, one thing I'm considering is doing fewer rolls to determine behaviors, and letting the kids have a bit more freedom to choose what their characters would do, while still doing rolls to see what effect they will have on external stuff, or how the external stuff responds. I can see the kids being worried about having to do something they don't want their character to do, because they hit a bad number, etc. For adults, that's part of the game, but would that be frustrating for children, over time?

I sometimes play RPGs with my daughter (9), but not Pendragon, it's just too difficult for her.

A few remarks:

* Kids tend to get lost in the landscape of probabilities, so reduce the scope of scores. A range from 1-6 will do, so you can use d6 only. Put words on the values: 6 = super, 1 = pathetic. They'll have a clearer view of what they are good at and what not.

* As kids probably won't (be able to) make their choices by anticipating NPC behavior, I wouldn't bother with the personality traits. Let them do what they like, let them try to be heroic, but you should always clearly indicate in every situation what society expects them to do, and why. That's the learning moment. Hammer in the feudal obligations, accentuate the romance with ladies and courtly occupations, and push them to be heroic without being suicidally reckless (which is often very difficult to judge for kids, as they can't judge their probabilities of success).

* Kids have problems finding ideas that seem obvious to adults, because their imagination doesn't always run parallel with the world you're describing, despite your best efforts. They don't understand some of the usual implications, so be as explicit as possible.

Good luck!

Thank you VERY much -- both of you have been extremely helpful. Narrowing it down to less than 5 or greater than 15 really helps me clarify things. Because I don't think any of them rolled a huge or tiny number in any of their traits. So that's a choice they can make, if they want to increase/decrease those numbers through their behaviors.

It's also a good suggestion to simplify some of the rolls to a 1d6 -- the kids are lightning fast with math, but somehow rolling a 1 on a 6 sided die is less awful than rolling a 1 on a 20 sided die. I think so, anyway! :) I just want to make sure they have a lot of fun and that I'm able to fold in all the writing assignments, historical research, art projects, etc. that I want to fold in. Thank you so much for your help!

Love,
LYDIA

Actually,

No, thank you for broadening children's minds with one of many of young boy's fantasies (being a knight, rescue a damsel in distress, and so on. At least I like to think my generation as a whole did this).

Good luck.

Bob

I do have one girl in the group. She's decided to pretend to be a boy to escape her miserable homelife of 5 sisters by becoming a squire. She rolled a 15 for size so that was lucky! I think she'll be alright. The interesting thing will be seeing if the boys can separate their knowledge that she's a girl from their characters' ignorance of the matter.

This Tuesday we're going to finish character generation and then their first year will be travelling and meeting up with each other, maybe they can fight some wolves or something along the way to get a little bit of combat. :) We'll see!

Hello All,

With my own boys, I didn't leave anything out. I think it is a good way to introduce them to the adult world in a control way. I would keep it light and G rated, so instead of the gore of combat, I would simply tell them that the person was hurt badly or dead, that kind of thing. I didn't go into deep roleplay with interactions with the opposite sex, but I would say things like, "She thinks your really nice. She might like to sit with you and talk...maybe even a little kiss." They could then say what the felt like, "Maybe we should be bf/gf." or "Yuck, girls." They are now 17, 13 and 12. Anyway, do as you like, but I hope it helps.

Bjorn Heden

Hi. It's a nice experience to play roleplaying games with kids, but as told above KAP rules might be difficult to them. There is a nice game specially designed for children called Faery's Tale Deluxe (http://firefly-games.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=48), it's a about faeries, gnomes and elves but maybe you can adapt it to knights. Some people consider Mouse Guard (http://www.mouseguard.net/) suitable for children too, and, again, you could hack it or leave it as it is, because it's medieval in some way. By the way, this entry (http://www.gnomestew.com/gnome-rodeo/want-to-play-a-light-rpg-with-your-kids) in Gnome Stew blog could be interesting for you. Please share us your experience once you have played. Good Luck!

Late to the thread, but I thought I would suggest Greg's other fabulous game of Arthurian knighthood, Prince Valiant. It is ideally suited for novice players and gamemasters. While out of print for many years, copies can be found on eBay, Amazon, and through several online purveyors of used games. Steffan O'Sullivan, creator of FUDGE, wrote an excellent review (http://www.panix.com/~sos/rpg/princval.html) of the game, and there is another good review (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9189.phtml) by Sergio Mascarenhas over on RPGNet.