I got the game from my sister, the book not the PDF or a print off, on Christmas. So far I love it, it's awesome, and everything I hoped it be; the only problem is I don't know if the normal folks I play with will be up for it, and even if they are I'm not 100 percent sure they are at the level of maturity (One of them I'm about 80 percent sure could handle it, the others not so much) needed to play a game like this; I think it's great that you're playing children, but the problem is you have to be a mature adult to play it right (you can't be a child yourself if you catch my meaning) and my group is really immature. I guess my question is a two parter; first, what's the best way you've found to get people into the game, and second, is there a way to get a group to grow up a little or will i have to put off playing till they grow a little themself?

I can't really comment on maturity. My group just tells immature people to grow up or they're not welcome. On the point of getting people to play, my group was hesitant to try Grimm. I just asked them for one night and they loved it. I think what happened is they expected it to be childish and silly, but they found it could be whimsical without turning silly. I think the key was the mix of child-like fanciful concepts and dark undertones.

Judging by your list of top 5 games, I'm guessing you play a lot of Warhammer FRP, so let me ask you - are you guys immature in that game? If anything you should have to be more mature in order to play those games of a serious tone rather than one where you play as children in a whimsical, yet dark and twisted world. As Newcuckoo said, I think players are quick to find the game isn't silly and childish as they might think. Just tell them the backstory of the Ugly Duckling as the book has it: When he found out he was actually a swan...he was still hideous, so he ran away. After being taken up by the Rotten King and influenced into committing malefic acts like killing and eating his duck family raw, his appearance became more twisted and horrific as he ate more and more ducks until he transformed in the humanoid-swan hybrid he is today. Now he works for the Rotten King as his toturer, enforcer and head of security, serving proudly with a wicked fetish for inflicting pain. I don't know much about Warhammer, but from what I do know, I could see that being some zealous fanatic working under the influence of Slaanesh or Korn as a very persuasive deciding factor among captors to give up valuable information. One of my players is very immature, and usually drags me into immature comments and jokes as well. For example, when he came across an evil "wishing rock" that he had been warned about, he began talking to it to try and gain some information. In the end, when wolves started to make their presence known with howls in the distance, he wasted his one wish on making it day again to send the wolves back. He was quite disappointed and whipped out his magic marker keepsake and drew lewd and immature things like " I <3 Male Rocks" and " I take it from behind." When he got back to their little outpost, he found out that the wishing rocks are sort of like scouts that capture kids wishes and deliver them to the Rotten King via his pet dragon. We made a lot of jokes about the mess that rock would be in when the dragon stops by again. For me, it was kind of okay because it was a very childish thing to do, albiet a much older sense of immaturity, but it was still childish. It's very easy to set a serious yet whimsical tone when you throw the players into a field of dead/burning/impaled/<gruesome adjective here> fairies/gnomes/giant frogs/<fairy tale creature here> after just being told the witch/goblin/troll/<evil creature here> held their only chance of surviving the grimm lands.

In my first campaign I had a part taken from the book "Fantastic Mr. Fox." The guys got a little silly about ringing chicken necks with Mr. Fox, but they got caught and trailed back to the hole where the foxes lived. The farmer came with a digging machine and the characters snuck out and one ruptured the hydraulic line in the machine causing a high pressure oil mist. The character decided to light the mist causing an explosion that knocked the child back. They took it much more serious when the farmer couldn't get out like they thought. I descibed the smell of the farmers flesh burning and the horrible screams. As the players thought about how they'd feel burning another person alive they really got into character. I was amazed by the transformation.

Thanks for the advice! I hope to get a game going here in a few days, maybe a week or so. I brought it up to one of the guys and he seemed cool at first but when I said they'd have to play kids his exact words were, "Oh, well, never mind." He almost didn't give me a chance to explain anything else to him, like how only a kid could use its imaginiation to change the very fabric of the world...but I think I almost got him on board; we'll see.

TCBC Freak said:

I can sympathise completely here, I've been trying to get a Grimm campaign going with our group since the summer. Every time I explain the concept to someone they are really interested....until i mention that they are playing an 8 year old child. I did manage to one session played out under the cover of a 'rules test' for another rp project i'm working on, but it never went any further (one player did at least give me a reason, saying that he didn't think there was enough to keep his interest in the character).

I'm still trying and if I have any success I will share the successful method.

Surak

Yea to me I find the concept interesting for sure. I'm trying to figure out the replayability of roleplaying a kid. Do you grow up as the sessions go on.