I'm going to be GM'ing for the Junior Club on the school I work at.

Now, setting aside any issues one might have about the morality of kids playing a "violent" game, I was going to ask you guys what rules you think might be too complicated for a kid that age.

Personally, I'm confident that they'll figure them all out given time, but if I was playing EotE (which I'm not... they should be heroes, not criminals), I think Obligation would be something I might skip out on using.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I don't think the rules will be the difficult part. I think themes and morally ambiguous characters would be the challenge. I'd try to paint the world in much starker relief for a party of that age than I would one in their 20s or older...

Watch a couple of episodes of Star Wars Rebels especially the pilot 2 episodes and look at running it like that.

So you have your Rebels working a mission in return for funds to remain operational, throw in a hijinx or two using their ideas for their character that they openly talk about.

For example ask them who are they doing this mission for?

Is it for a crimelord with vital Intel he/she will only exchange for the merchandise they're picking up?

Did their superior say a shadowy figure named Fulcrum asked them to deliver a shipment to Fort Anaxes right before Hera & Sabine turn up to collect them?

As far as obligation goes nothing says you can't just say it comes up and their actions and discussion make it clear where it might go or change depending on how your game develops!

As long as you all have fun it'll go fine!

What level is the school? Because I run a gaming league for middle schoolers and high schoolers at my library, and neither of those groups have had problems with the rules.

Obligation may be the only hitch. If you're concerned they wont pick it up right away, introduce it slowly. Perhaps their first job lands them a group obligation to someone or something. It's a good way to tie the group together.

Also, take a hint from George Lucas and the beginner box. Don't waste too much time setting up the story or the rules. Start in with the action and explain the rules as you go. Pregens may be the best bet here.

Here's a great article by Keith Kappel with some great anecdotes about running games for kids. He mentions one of the PCs slicing a terminal and throwing a pizza party for Stormtroopers to distract them.

That's probably not something I'd let fly in a serious, ongoing game for adults, but for a game for kids I think it's awesome!

http://www.d20radio.com/main/?p=2180

Is there a reason you couldn't run Age of Rebellion for them? That would feed right into the whole good versus evil with a lot more black and white, and how to cooperate and earn their way to better things through Duty. Probably a lot more straight-forward to run as well. I would avoid both Obligation and Morality until you knew who was more mature and could handle some of the more advanced concepts. Mostly they want to shoot Stormtroopers and have cinematic fight scenes, or at least I did when I was that age... I think... it was a long time ago, but I think I was reading a lot of World War books and getting my feet wet in Sci-Fi.

I was a fanatical reader back then and I'm pretty sure I read Lord of the Rings the first time my 6th grade year (age 10-11). I didn't know there was "The Hobbit" until I was in 8th grade, and I think I was wading through the Silmarillion when I found that. My Sci-Fi was firmly in Heinlein at the time and I was learning that I liked less Science and more Fiction. I was also learning to enjoy the anti-hero Elric during the summers when I could borrow them from my cousin. Just so you have a framework for my comments... it will probably vary very significantly from the more Console-raised players of today.

I don't think the rules will be the difficult part. I think themes and morally ambiguous characters would be the challenge. I'd try to paint the world in much starker relief for a party of that age than I would one in their 20s or older...

Oh, that's not going to pop up. I'm definately painting it up in the black and white style that Rebels and TCW was going for (with very stereotypically evil and shallow badguys), so that's not going to be a problem.

I'm more thinking about specific rules and sections of rules that might be too much trouble to implement for kids that young. (Like Obligation and Duty)

Obligation may be the only hitch. If you're concerned they many pick it up right away, introduce it slowly. Perhaps their first job lands them a group obligation to someone or something. It's a good way to tie the group together.

Also, take a hint from George Lucas and the beginner box. Don't waste too much time setting up the story or the rules. Start in with the action and explain the rules as you go. Pregens may be the best bet here.

Oh I'm using all 3 beginner boxes to "try out" the kids and to let the kids try out the game.

Most of them don't have a clue what an RPG is.

So what it looks like right now, is that I'll be dividing them up into 3 groups, and then playing one group each week using the different beginner boxes.

After that, there's a one week break for the kids, and then we'll be starting a "real" campaign with their own characters.

Is there a reason you couldn't run Age of Rebellion for them? That would feed right into the whole good versus evil with a lot more black and white, and how to cooperate and earn their way to better things through Duty. Probably a lot more straight-forward to run as well. I would avoid both Obligation and Morality until you knew who was more mature and could handle some of the more advanced concepts. Mostly they want to shoot Stormtroopers and have cinematic fight scenes, or at least I did when I was that age... I think... it was a long time ago, but I think I was reading a lot of World War books and getting my feet wet in Sci-Fi.

I was a fanatical reader back then and I'm pretty sure I read Lord of the Rings the first time my 6th grade year (age 10-11). I didn't know there was "The Hobbit" until I was in 8th grade, and I think I was wading through the Silmarillion when I found that. My Sci-Fi was firmly in Heinlein at the time and I was learning that I liked less Science and more Fiction. I was also learning to enjoy the anti-hero Elric during the summers when I could borrow them from my cousin. Just so you have a framework for my comments... it will probably vary very significantly from the more Console-raised players of today.

Oh I'll be playing AoR or FnD (or both).

Going to stay away from the EotE in general, since both me and the Headmaster decided that it wasn't a good idea to have the kids play as criminals (even if they were petty ones).

The 7th graders have shown an interest though (13+), and those might get to do that more seedy part of SW if they decide that they want that.

Rules-wise I'd say that the most complex parts are: movement/maneuvers, finding/buying/selling goods, and space combat. Also the transition from personal to vehicle scale for speed, movement and range add some more complexity. It's not that any of them are particularly challenging, but you should be very familiar with them before explaining them to the kids. Lots of limits of which you need to be aware.

I brought my 10 year old daughter into my regular gaming session with my adult friends and she became the break out star. The imagination on the younger group is amazing to watch in action and she picked up all the rules quicker than some of the adults we play with. With the only exception being to couch some adult topics in the group she plays just like an adult. I wouldn't under estimate the age group. I think you'll be surprised. I know I was (the most immature player at my table is still an adult)

I actually run a game in a different system for my 11,8,and 5 year old children. While the youngest has some issue with the dice, all have proven to handle the roleplaying aspects in both pseudo violence and getting out of conflict using their words.

That being said, I have looked into running star wars for them for a while. I think they could handle it. I also think that the obligation system is a great tool to help the players decide the motivations for their actions. Obligations such as debt may prove useful for some, but I think some of the other obligations would help to point the kids in a direction for their roleplaying. Kids can be random, creative, but random, and even in other systems, I use a form of obligation in their backgrounds to help point their roleplaying along the setting/story.

OddBall,

I agree with many of the comments here.

I think AoR is perfect for the age range. Morally very clear. SW Rebels makes a great platform connection. I keep to the core rules mostly.

I run a game for my 10, 12, & 14 yr olds and they loved character creation as much as anything. Actually they've barely finished a campaign and talk about the next type of character they'd like to create.

I'm also from an education background and I think the creative thinking/problem solving points of RPGs are perfect for kids. I think the moral combat issues can be overcome by stocking the characters with beefy stun weapons or as GM load your combat scenarios with attack droids.

Let me know how it goes.

My first "trial" game will be on tuesday.

I'll be GM'ing the FnD beginners box. I've only got about an hour or so to play, so they probably won't finish, but that doesn't matter. It's just for them to get a taste of the game.

I'll let you guys know how it went.

I'm with others, my 7yo gets most of the rules, and loves destiny points. If anything I suggest increasing the narrative effect of things like triumph and despair. Kids love BIG stories and being creative.

Well the first session went ok.

It was kinda hard to get it started.

One of the kids had forgotten that it was today, so she was being picked up before we could start (and apparantly she knew she had forgotten, and kept running away and hiding from me).

The other kids were a handful (two of them most likely have some sort of AD/HD diagnose), so it took longer than I had hoped.

All in all, they didn't get further than the ruin ambush in the FnD beginner box, but they did get a taste for it and said that they definately wanted to play "for real".

The next group will most likely get farther as they are much calmer.
I've decided to play FnD beginner box again with the next group as it nicely shows off the use of the force.

I've decided to play FnD beginner box again with the next group as it nicely shows off the use of the force.

Yes, and you can't much more of a bad-guy-sounding name than "Malefax."

"His name is Malefax? Oh, so he's the bad guy."

The only thing that would make him more of a dead ringer is if he had a goatee...

I've decided to play FnD beginner box again with the next group as it nicely shows off the use of the force.

Yes, and you can't much more of a bad-guy-sounding name than "Malefax."

"His name is Malefax? Oh, so he's the bad guy."

The only thing that would make him more of a dead ringer is if he had a goatee...

Well they did exclaim "that's the devil!" when they spotted his little marker