I'm going on holiday with my family to Japan soon. My only concern is that my 14 year old son is going to drive us nuts as we walk about the various sites (as he has done in the past when we've gone OS). Now he's slightly older, but previously its been "when can we go (back) to the arcade/Pokemon centre" or "when can we get back to the accomodation's WiFi?".

Now can we avoid comments about my poor parenting skills, just think them to yourselves and understand that I put my hand up to admit fault.

My idea is to run a series of rpg encounters associated with the sites we are visiting assuming a post-'magic revealed' world that looks amazing like the current one, just with magic/elves/dwarves etc.. The map for any encounter is just what can currently be seen. So if we go to a the mall in Asakusa any encounters/actions will depend upon what can be seen. Someones shaking down a shopkeeper for protection money, what do you do? Grab the rubbish bin and throw it? - can't be done as there's very few rubbish bins in Tokyo, but on a strength check you could use the vending machine over there, or you could grab a bolt of cloth from the shop next door. It will be very much on the fly as I don't want to spend every 5 minutes breaking out a rulebook.

There is the possibility of a giant gorilla appearing at Tokyo Tower, the dwarves will run Tokyo subway etc. Tokyo fish market will be run by sahuagin...

Given that we're mobile, I'll just use a phone app for dice rolls and maybe carry a copy of his character sheet around.

Has anyone ever tried this, and if so do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

if you have enough time to prep, get in touch with a Tokyo RPG group and try to involve them in this idea - that way you can get more insight to the attractions visited and enhance the role-playing as well.

And yes, I certainly wish that I could do this as well!

Quote from: ponta1010;1056423I'm going on holiday with my family to Japan soon. My only concern is that my 14 year old son is going to drive us nuts as we walk about the various sites (as he has done in the past when we've gone OS). Now he's slightly older, but previously its been "when can we go (back) to the arcade/Pokemon centre" or "when can we get back to the accomodation's WiFi?".

Now can we avoid comments about my poor parenting skills, just think them to yourselves and understand that I put my hand up to admit fault.

My idea is to run a series of rpg encounters associated with the sites we are visiting assuming a post-'magic revealed' world that looks amazing like the current one, just with magic/elves/dwarves etc.. The map for any encounter is just what can currently be seen. So if we go to a the mall in Asakusa any encounters/actions will depend upon what can be seen. Someones shaking down a shopkeeper for protection money, what do you do? Grab the rubbish bin and throw it? - can't be done as there's very few rubbish bins in Tokyo, but on a strength check you could use the vending machine over there, or you could grab a bolt of cloth from the shop next door. It will be very much on the fly as I don't want to spend every 5 minutes breaking out a rulebook.

There is the possibility of a giant gorilla appearing at Tokyo Tower, the dwarves will run Tokyo subway etc. Tokyo fish market will be run by sahuagin...

Given that we're mobile, I'll just use a phone app for dice rolls and maybe carry a copy of his character sheet around.

Has anyone ever tried this, and if so do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

We used to do a bunch of Theatre of the Mind on long car rides and while camping, ages 10 - 20.

Most of the time we didn't even bother with rulebooks, let alone dice, but there are plenty of simple formalized games that could work. I distinctly remember we ran an Italian Mafia game, an Ultraviolet game, and old school Elizabethan Maelstrom. Absolutely brilliant fun.

The most important thing - and likely your biggest challenge - is initial buy-in.

I really like your idea, but (if I have understood it properly) I worry it might become stale if it is just a series of random events. So maybe you could beef it up by having him be...I dunno Spiderman or something, but in pure Peter Parker mode. How would you explore this place, what would you look out for, where are the threats, how would deal with them? That way you are getting him to buy into the places and people around him, while adding some spice.

Whatever you end up doing, I wish you every success!

I sometimes do RP with my son walking to school, but no character sheets or dice; he usually wants to play out one of his PCs interacting with NPCs. Diplomacy/politics/empire-building stuff.

I like your idea but I wouldn't bother with a character sheet, and maybe not even a dice app. You can either just adjudicate what happens, or ask him to pick a number (or letter) with one (or more) choices indicating success and one (or more) failure, as pre-decided by you each time. That's how I always did it running 'verbal D&D'.

Quote from: ponta1010;1056423Now can we avoid comments about my poor parenting skills

NO. How dare you have a teenager who acts like a teenager!! Wear the Tire of Shame!

I suggest running a RPG session before you go on vacation that's focused on Japan to give your Horrid Monster Child a taste of Japan that might spark his interest when he visits the actual locales on vacation. AKA, you could do any modern or near future RPG set in Tokyo using famous places as sets for encounters.

As for ruleset for on-the-go gaming? I would go as freeform as possible. A dice app would be good, but I'm thinking of PCs on 3x5 card at most.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1056461NO. How dare you have a teenager who acts like a teenager!! Wear the Tire of Shame!

OK. You win.

Both my wife and I had a good belly laugh at this (it was the end of a long day).

Just a question though, do I have to wear this whilst going to and in Tokyo? Neither airplane seats nor Tokyo Subway seats are exactly wide and I'm not sure I'd fit.

Quote from: Motorskills;1056427I really like your idea, but (if I have understood it properly) I worry it might become stale if it is just a series of random events. So maybe you could beef it up by having him be...

Thanks for the idea. Probably will pinch the Jackie Chan cartoon idea of collecting dispersed magical zodiac pieces that grant users free simple magical spell usage eg Rabbit - Haste etc.

Quote from: ponta1010;1056582Just a question though, do I have to wear this whilst going to and in Tokyo?

Yes, because the Tire of Shame will quickly become the hot new fashion accessory and title of the next Babymetal album.

You're our cultural ambassador.

I'd have found that lame at 14, like I was being pandered to. But maybe your kid is very different from what I would have been like at that age.

In some ways, 14-16 is like the WORST ages to travel with kids, because they often want little to do with what you're wanting to see, and will make a point of that in ways more irritating than even younger children might, but in most situations they're still too young to be left to do tourist stuff they're actually interested in by themselves. Hell, some kids at that age might not be interested in damn near anything while traveling.

I was very fortunate to have lots of autonomy as a teen (a trade with my parents for high grades and some behavior) and I always wandered on my own when we traveled which always gave me extra incentive to research wherever we were going to the extent that I basically set the itinerary and acted as tour guide. Before the internet, those Fodor's Guides were my go-to research books for RPGs too.

Travel guides can be quite good for research.