May 16th, 2005

me with gloves

Teaching kids to tabletop RP

So our kids, ages 14, 14 (both girls) and 12 (boy) want to learn how to roleplay. The systems we have at home are D&D (all three editions, though we only have 3.5 on PDF) , GURPS, and BTVS Eden - which of these is a good starter system for kids, or is there something else that you guys recommend?

Any hints for teaching kids to play in general would be appreciated. My husband and I both know how to play all the aforementioned systems, and one of us would be GMing for the kids while the other would be doing the whole player thing (and doubtlessly helping the kids along, though hopefully not too much, because that would likely annoy them).

X-posted a bit
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Trenchoat Katana Gumby Attack!

The following is a post of mine from a thread on the white wolf forums that I felt like sharing, because I felt like sharing it. I enjoyed posting it both there and here, because I'm kinda like that. If you like trenchcoat katana gumbies, well so be it.

"Posted: 16 May 2005 22:28    Post subject: I had to... Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post

darklordthor wrote:
What's wrong with Trenchcoat/Katana Gumby character archetype?

This is what:

Cook Killed In Katana Gumby Attack In Hospital

regrettably, this reflects what tends to happen when trenchcoat katana gumbies exist in a game. Trivial personal conflict happens, out comes the two-thousand-year-old katana and some random person, PC or otherwise, goes down (or better yet, beats the katana gumby down for being stupid enough to pull a katana in an urban environment).

Note that in the article, we know nothing about the attacker other than his age and the fact that he had a katana (trenchcoat is not mentioned, but for sake of argument we will assume it existed. Twisted Evil ). This is identical to the amount of background and character development we get with the typical katana gumby. Who is he? He's a guy with a sword, yo, and he'll kill ya. Where does he come from? from someplace where he was able to get the sword, yo. Why is he here? So he can use the sword, yo.

The alternative is the katana gumby with the ridiculously overblown, melodramatic 'background' that maunders on for fifty pages about the injustices and cruelty of the world and how this character is the only cool guy alive, and that his coolness is infinitely enhanced because for some overwrought reason, he has somehow not only gotten a 1000 year-old katana despite all realistic personal factors, and gotten it out of Japan somehow (export for the real thing..especially the ancient ones... no) so that he can tote it around in his trenchcoat like a common sawed-off shotgun, to be whipped out at a moment's notice and thus demonstrate the character's infinite, trenchcoated coolness.

Wow, talk about run-on sentences."

There. I have inflicted whatever it was that I inflicted upon you. I had to post s a brief rant on character archetypes defined by the weapon they carry and a single article of clothing rather than anything to do with being a person. Disclaimer: I like trenchcoats and I like katanas, but characters with depth are far cooler than either... if a character is super-cool, a trenchcoat's fine. The katana...takes a bit more convincing, naturally..
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