Hi there,

I just ordered the beginners set and am hoping to play this with my Daughter who is 12 as a minimum and maybe my 9 year old. I appreciate the 9 year old might be too young, but both happily play games like munchkin and other dice rolling games and have a good sense of imagination with this sort of thing.

I was wondering if anyone else has experience of playing with family members or shall I stick with my mates?

I am new to RPGs but not to tabletop games/board games so this will be my first outing as a DM/GM.

It's basically organized make believe and story telling. It also can be played as light and tongue n cheek as you like or as dark. I've never run it for kids I know others have with great success. I know a good friend started playing D&D with his girls, similar ages as your kiddos and they loved it.

I think I played D&D for the first time when I was 12, so your daughter ought to be okay. The 9-year-old... I'd say it depends on individual maturity, but so long as he (she?) understands it's all make-believe and knows not to get upset if he doesn't roll well I'd say go for it. There's plenty of fun to be had playing these games with family.

I think you'll largely be fine. The beginners box adventure is really.... hand-holdy, so that may actually work a little in your advantage. The space encounter at the end is a bit boring though, just FYI.

I've actually heard that younger players and those without RPG experience take to this system pretty well, really grasping the Advantage/Threat/Triumph/Despair system better then experienced players that are used to a simple success/failure mechanic..

If you make it fun even when they fail, they should both love it. Kids love being involved in storytelling, so giving them permission to go crazy with the Advantage and Triumph they roll is a good way to engender that aspect of the game.

I know of a couple parents who started role-playing with their kids at that age...mine were 11 and 14 when I started. I also saw a recent post about someone at a public event and he had several tables of 6 year olds who got completely hooked. So I'd say go for it.

TPK them hard and often.

The best advice I've ever heard on Triumphs and Despairs was "what's the best thing that could happen in this situation? The worst?" More than a lot of systems, EotE is pretty flexible. Ask your kids what that Triumph means! "Ohh, a Triumph! That means you did something super-awesome! What was it?"

For the most part it's up the GM to decide when a roll needs to be made, what skill is tested, and what the difficulty is. So it's basically a game of imagination, and when they decide to do something that isn't automatic, walk them through the check and let them roll the dice.

OK this sounds very promising, thanks all

A friend of mine roleplays with his 6 year old, so the 9 year old should be ok. All you need is an imagination, so the only real age limit so far as I've observed is can they be trusted not to eat the dice and can they communicate.

Kids love let's pretend, and that's all roleplaying is, really.

From what I've seen of friends playing with their kids, and my experience teaching, the biggest challenges for you is to avoid getting frustrated with them if they have a difficult time understanding something and not shutting them down if they do something you don't expect. But those are standard GM challenges, aren't they? It just winds up a bit more exaggerated with children.

I would suggest sitting down with them and watching the movies before you start to make characters and play. Take a weekend and have a movie marathon then play. They'll love the time with you, and the movies will be fresh in everyone's mind so you can use them as examples easily.

Be prepared to think out of the box. I have ran games for kids and trust me they will throw you for loops. Maybe not so much in the Beginer Box Game, but in more sand box style campaigns.

With that said, be sure to say things like... "Yes, but..." "Sure you can do that, but..." "What do you think would look cool in a movie?"

Things that keep them thinking. Also, don't be in a rush and be willing to sit the game aside for a bit. Getting little ones to go about 2 hours tops should be your goal. More than that, they may start to get bored and resent the game.

Edit...

Also, it might be beneficial to have them make their own characters. Ownership of a character can go a long way with the little tykes.

OK, I skimmed this whole bit but have to ask: Have they watched all of the films? If nit, have them watch them in order!

As to the "new to GMing" but, welcome aboard and have a great time! The hobby (and this game in particular) is awesome!

OK, I skimmed this whole bit but have to ask: Have they watched all of the films? If nit, have them watch them in order!

Fie! Machete Order, I say!

IV

V

II

III

VI

(And also, good on ya for GMing for your kids!)

My advise is short sessions, hour and a half, with a break halfway through and see how it goes. Also I'd probably only watch the original three films if they haven't see the others yet (which I imagine is unlikely ). Even so watch Ep IV A New Hope again with them as it's the closest to what EotE is like and you want it fresh in their minds, and distracted away from the full on Jedi stuff you see in the prequels because there aren't the rules for that kind of stuff yet.

I've played with my two nephews, who are 13 and 10, and they both had a great time!

I've played both the EOTE Beginner Box and the AOR Beginner Box with them, and they really enjoyed it both times.

It is definitely the case that the younger one has a shorter attention span, so it can help to break up the sessions or play shorter sessions so they don't get bored. We played the EOTE game in one session of about 2 hours. The AOR game we broke up into 2 sessions of around an hour each over two successive days.

Then they said they liked it so much they wanted to play again, so I improvised a short adventure for them as a sequel!

In our first game the younger nephew played the charming Smuggler, while the older nephew played the melee-fighter Wookiee. This ended up meaning that while the younger nephew got to use his charm to shine in a number of situations, he ended up feeling a bit left out in the combat scenes.

In AOR we gave the younger nephew the soldier character with the blaster rifle and grenades, and the older nephew played the spy. This worked out great. They had plenty of opportunities to sneak around, plenty of combat, and they both had a great time.

This great advce, thanks everyone.

The box arrives tomorrow, think I'll dig the movies out and spend the weekend immersing myself in the universe

Good times.

TPK them hard and often.

uhhh... no...?

the 9 year old might be overwhelmed a bit at first. like some people have said, shorter sessions are probably a good idea. 12 is the perfect age to start roleplaying. i started at 12, so...

i regularly play with groups that age and the system works very well for kids. the dice are fun and easy to get used to, the rules are "light" enough to get into quickly, but with still enough "crunch" if the kids enjoy that kind of thing.

a very good choice for a beginner rpg, i am sure all of you will have a lot of fun!

ps: also, the more the merrier! maybe have one or two friends over to play, 3-5 is the perfect size for a rpg-group.

pps: watch (at least) episode iv! DO IT! NOW! thank us later.

i also recommend The Clone Wars animated show. Admittedly the first movie isn't great, and the animation style might take some getting used to, but nothing beats it for visualizing how people live in the SW universe. Your kids are of an age to watch it, and episodes like Lightsaber Lost are perfect for getting a really good look at normal life.

To be honest, I'm a little jealous of the OP. I'm really looking forward to run games for my kids some day.

Granted, I'm several years away from even having kids to begin with, but it's something I hope to share with them.

Fie! Machete Order, I say!

You are correct, sir.

Fie! Machete Order, I say!

You are correct, sir.

Meh, I prefer 1 to 2, though I'm a sucker for the pod race...not necessarily the Anakin scenes, but the stadium, the squid seller, the Tusken raiders on the track, Aurra Sing...and the sound engineering is phenomenal.

Plus, the Maul-Obiwan-Quigon fight is the most epic lightsaber battle in the series.

So I would go 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6...(and I'd have to take a nausea pill to watch 6 again...damned Ewoks)

i also recommend The Clone Wars animated show. Admittedly the first movie isn't great, and the animation style might take some getting used to, but nothing beats it for visualizing how people live in the SW universe. Your kids are of an age to watch it, and episodes like Lightsaber Lost are perfect for getting a really good look at normal life.

To be honest, I'm a little jealous of the OP. I'm really looking forward to run games for my kids some day.

The only reason I suggested skipping the prequels and probably the Clone Wars as well is the Jedi thing. Kids get really in the the Lightsaber/Jedi thing and until Force & Destiny comes out there really isn't a way to play a PC like that without house rules. But if you stick to Ep. IV & even V the emphasis isn't on one but all the character types and the Force isn't so "magic'y" which is closer to the game. Managing expectations and all...

My nephews have seen all six movies and had no trouble playing the pregens in the EOTE and AOR Beginner Boxes. I'd say don't worry about it.

Fie! Machete Order, I say!

You are correct, sir.

Meh, I prefer 1 to 2, though I'm a sucker for the pod race...not necessarily the Anakin scenes, but the stadium, the squid seller, the Tusken raiders on the track, Aurra Sing...and the sound engineering is phenomenal.

Plus, the Maul-Obiwan-Quigon fight is the most epic lightsaber battle in the series.

So I would go 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6...(and I'd have to take a nausea pill to watch 6 again...damned Ewoks)

Yeah, don't get me wrong, TPM was an okay film (Jake Lloyd notwithstanding), but I really agree with the Machete Juggling guy on most points. It does nothing for the plot of the other two movies, has a very confusing and clumsy sub-plot-twist itself, and is generally hard for kids to understand. However, I did enjoy the podrace.

It's a fun movie to show kids, but IMO it just doesn't do anything for the overarching story of "Skywalker," and I like most of the reasons that it was kept out of the "Machete Order."