None of them have played DnD 4th ed. The mom and the girl have never played any role-playing before (though the mom is really gung-ho).
So I've got some things I'm trying to figure out to best introduce them to RPGs and Gamma World.
1) Pre-make characters? It will keep things less complicated, for sure. But there's a good time to be had making up characters...
2) What to run? I was thinking the adventure in the main game.
3) Elimanate some rules? Attack of opprotunity, charging, maybe (I know it's not in the rule book).
4) Length of game? I figure keep it short. 2 hours seems about right. Leave them hungry for more.
Any thoughts?
1) Make three or four more Pre-make characters then you need. Gamma world is a place where people dies, and it's fun.
2) Sure. But read some of the info on it that others have posted here.
3) Naw. As long as YOU know the rules that will be alright.
4) .... Don't know... I'd say play and see what happens. If things just have to stop, then stop WHENEVER. Don't bother watching a clock.
Afterall the 8 year might want to quit after 10 minutes.
Some one said that the Main games adventure could be split in to. After you finish with the Badders.
1) Pre-make characters?
Definitely.
2) What to run? I was thinking the adventure in the main game.
Yup. Of course, you're not going to go through the whole thing. Prepare two encounters. After you run the first encounter, ask the players if they want to keep going.
3) Elimanate some rules? Attack of opprotunity, charging, maybe (I know it's not in the rule book).
Sure (it's not that you're 'eliminating' OA's... you're just not bringing it up until later games). If you really want to simplify, just use average damage; i.e. you already know how much damage the PC's do... the players just roll d20's. You might also determine ahead of time what Alpha mutations they will get, and write in their bonuses for them (lots of math can be cumbersome to newer players).
4) Length of game? I figure keep it short. 2 hours seems about right.
Yup. And don't bother explaining the rules before playing... just start playing and explain as things come up.
I did do all the math for her up front at first but now she is good enough at reading and math to get it with a little help on her own.
Try to do differnet voices, or wear a hat when you roleplay NPC's. That helps the kids...and the adults too.
I've kept the sessions short (30-60 minutes). We rolled up characters a couple nights ago and afterwards I finished the calculations.
Last night we played for an hour with the mission in the book. I introduced the skill checks to see if they could get additional info about the "robots and the fort" and we finished the first map with the Badders.
I kept it fairly simple for them while letting them get used to their origin mutations and attacks and explained other rules as they came (they accidentally flanked one of the badders). For the first battle map (and their first encounter ever), I made it easier and only used the 2 badders, no porkers.
Doing different voices helps. My 7-year old asked "Why are you talking to me like that?" Haha.
GW is a great game for kids by way of the range of content and interpretation. For instance my daughter wanted her main weapon to be forks (light ranged and light melee). I love that. My son stuck his radioactively burning hand (from the crater) into his mini-fridge to cool it off (fudged the rules I know, but I wanted to encourage creative/fun play). During and after we played, it was clear the kids were imagining these characters as cartoons. Talking badgers with guns. Blue skinned dopplegangers. Wild changing powers. Funny robots coming out of a tower. This is why I've always wanted to play GW - the whole ironic, anachronistic, nostalgic mish-mash of past and present items and history. Although my interpretation is a lot darker than theirs, it works on their level too. I will probably add some history-themed characters for "educational fun" too (a giraffe-like Abraham Lincoln NPC or the classic bear dressed as Napoleon from 1st edition).
As far as the death rules, I want my kids to experience the fun of levelling up before the frustration of losing everything, so I'm putting perma-death on hold for them. Kind of like Villains & Vigilantes, death will be more like incapacitation for them and they'll have to be dragged home for a few days and come back. I'll use the actual death rules on the party NPCs (which they'll need as the encounters get harder). Plus there's always the option to make death for any monster or NPC just incapacitation or "getting knocked out" (at least when mom is listening).
www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page8475...
An Artical on Topic
www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page8475...
This part cracked me up:
"we asked the 9 year old if there was anything he would have liked to be different about the session he played. He responded, “Yes, after the last room with the dragon, it would have been great if there had been another room with a bigger monster for us to fight.”"
Good article.
Play for as long as the child is interested. This could lengthen the session if there are fewer distractions, or she may be mentally checking out right away if you're cutting into her Spongbob time.