Blue Moon Aurora

2010 will mark the beginning of a new era – roleplaying campaigns with the kids!  

I did run A Faery’s Tale adventure with Michelle and the kids over a year ago that went fine enough; however, it was simply too much work – mainly in herding the kids.  They loved it and have been clamoring for another session but Michelle and I have been dreading the prospect.  Fortunately, things have improved.  The kids are more together than ever and with our weekends mostly cleared things are more relaxed.  We have been doing a family game or movie every weekend and can shift this to a roleplaying campaign.  Anton will soon be 11 and Alina turns 9 this year and these are good ages to start the hobby.  

So this week will have a series of blogs as I prepare for our first family campaign that begins this Sunday.  Today's blog deals with picking an RPG and deciding upon a scope for the campaign.

There were really only five RPGs I seriously considered: A Faery’s Tale, D6 Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Mouse Guard, and Robotech RPG.  

A Faery’s Tale has the players assume the role of fairies set in a world like the one where all fairy tales are set.  This is a very kid-friendly RPG.  I approached my consideration of what RPG to use on the assumption that A Faery's Tale was the default and standard.  

D6 Star Wars is one of my favorite RPGs to ease new players into roleplaying.  Michelle and I are experts with this RPG and the kids are fans of the Star Wars universe.  However, Michelle is worried about the violence levels in a typical Star Wars adventure and that Anton might just try to join the Dark Side right off the bat regardless of the story.  I don't know about those concerns, but the kids would definitely approach a Star Wars RPG with expectations and expectations are always dangerous.

When it comes to violence Dungeons & Dragons is king so Michelle would definitely nix this option, but there is something magical about D&D and its goofy genocidal violence.  D&D is all about good versus evil, killing things and taking their stuff, and gaining wealth and power.  There is no more American game than D&D.  However, I didn't mention I was considering D&D to Michelle as I knew she would nix it so we're going to put this to the side and revisit it after our first campaign ends. 

Mouse Guard won last year’s Origins Awards for Best RPG and I bought it and found it refreshing.  You basically play mice that have a medieval-style society beset by other savage animals.  There are no humans in the world just animals and the mice have to face off against weasels, snakes, and also fight treachery within their own kind.  It is based on a graphic novel series and is similar to the whole genre of intelligent speaking animal fiction.  The system is good, but it’s not one I have used before so I would need to reread the rules in detail.  That more than anything has compelled me to table this RPG till further down the road.  This will probably be our next campaign if the first one goes well.  

Robotech is an RPG I don’t have, but I know the rules as it uses a system from other RPGs I own.  It is based on the anime series Robotech, which the kids have seen and love.  It is about pilots of giant transformable robots who fight off alien invasions.  Violence aplenty, but the kids know the series, plus I could use a military hierarchy of the Robotech Defense Force.  Michelle would command their unit and would have Anton and Alina as her soldiers.  The big problem is the system – which is complicated and would probably confuse the kids.  I’m probably buying the RPG next month but it may be awhile till the kids can handle this RPG.  

Fairies!  Why did it have to be fairies!

So at the end of the day - I end where I began with A Faery's Tale.  That brings up the question of scope.  Well I think four-adventures is a good plan and with A Faery's Tale the style is to incorporate a fairy tale into the adventure with twists.  I did Little Red Riding Hood for our first adventure but this time I am going to move a little way out of fairy tales and use King Arthur.  So a four adventure campaign that weaves fairies into a King Arthur story that makes the fairies the heroes.  That's the idea and tomorrow I'll discuss how I develop this idea further and move closer to Sunday's first adventure.