Ive owned and read and re-read the 2nd edition of WFRP for a few years now but unfortunatly not had a serious game due to lack of players. Seeing as ive been aware of the game and understood it since i was 14 i can give a younger opinion to the question. I have a fairly detailed knowledge of the Old World as ive been playing Warhammer since i was 7 and i know other people around my age group who share my understanding.

That said the vast majority of mid teens would not have the patience or imagination to understand or appreciate the more complex and detailed sections of WFRP. I think it is not the age so much as the willingness and maturity of the person in question. I know adults who are less mature than me but then i know teenagers who are more so. I believe that under the age of around 12 or 13 you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would easily understand the Warhammer concept in the detail that is required for a mature game of WFRP, though i am only going on speculation.

I just turned 28 a week ago and I've been playing Warhammer since 2nd edition. Our main experience with it has been the Thousand Thrones campaign.

In my opinion, WFRP should be fine for kids from age 12 or 13 upward, including the demonic possession stuff. I don't think we should underestimate the younglings. As some posts here have pointed out, they tend to be very good at immersion because their imaginations and behaviour have not yet been shackled by adulthood. At the same time, the imagination of a kid who hasn't witnessed/experienced/really thought about dark and horrible things in his life cannot grasp the true extent of this horror, so they are more resilient to fantasy suggestions of it (I think). So in my opinion, they can handle some of the darker aspects quite well, provided it doesn't go into too much horrific detail. But still... I remember when I was 14, I used to write really gruesome horror stories as a hobby, where people got butchered in awful ways. It used to shock the adults around me but to me it was just a way of dealing with things like my parents' divorce etc. It was all very juvenile and the irony is that today I can't stand gory horror and torture stuff. I think it's growing up that has made me much, much more sensitive to these things. These days I'm quite a softie

I think this thread shows that there's both a very wide span between kids, of what they can understand and roleplay, and a wide span on how people chose to include kids.

One thing is kids playing the game and seeming to understand, another thing is them actually understanding what's going on. I know we should not underestimate kids, and if they turn on MTV they're gonna see far "worse" things than what most groups talk about in game. But kids are very different, which is why I would not include any kids below 16-18 who I didn't know before hand, because they might not perceive roleplay like I do and might also not understand/tolerate some elements.

It's like asking people why their kid isn't playing the piano, seeing as their kid has been doing it since the age of 3 and at the age of 5 he's allready composing stuff... kids are different!

You can have 10 year olds who understand all the complex parts of roleplay, and roleplay better than most 30 year olds, and you can have a 16 year old who breaks down in the middle of a scene due to heaps of crap building up inside his/her fragile mind. Kids are different.

Also remember that hormones does crazy stuff to teenagers, and they're not only growing physically but also mentally.

I have no problem with people including their 10 year old kids in roleplay, I think it's wonderfull! It's time spend with their parents, which is a HUGE boon for kids. My opinion was aimed at kids you do not know.

Short and simple:

12+

If your kids get the rules etc. with an age of just 10 or lower, then wow, really...