Hi I'm new to RPGnet.

I planning in introducing my friends teenage kids to RPG and I'm looking for some ideas/suggestions/advice.  

About the kids: they are brothers aged 11 & 14. They are home schooled and seem to be very educated compared to me at that age. They play MTG. I introduced them to munchkin last year and they loved it. They are very excited to learn to play "d&d".

Me: I learned to play D&D when it was just a couple if pamphlets. I  bought the AD&D books the year they were published and ran campaigns in high school and college. My friends and I had lots of house rules and freely mixed games systems and supplements together. We considered rule books to be guidelines only and heavily role played. We played AD&D, Call of Cthulu and Cyberpunk mostly.

College was a long time ago. I haven't played an RPG since the 80's. I've played lots of video games and board games since then. It's what me and my friends can fit into our work schedule.

So I see there are these 2 box sets for beginners, the D&D red box and the Pathfinder beginners box. I plan to get one (or both) for the kids and teach them to play over a weekend.

Please let me know what you think of these products and how an old lady can teach these kids to play (IMHO) the greatest game on earth.

TIA

Quote from: Bogota;621007Hi I'm new to RPGnet.


TIA

This is actually The RPGSite, not RPGnet

But welcome anyway

What I would do, and this is just me personally, is to use B/X or one of the free downloads (like Labyrinth Lord) instead of getting one of the boxed sets.  That's the most basic version there to introduce people to the concept of RPGs, and since the rules are lite, instills one of the most important benefits of RPGs, that being, "make it up as you go as long as you have fun and don't let a rule get in the way."  Sounds like they are very intelligent, so after they get the gist down, they can decide what sort of things they want out of an RPG (character options like Pathfinder?  Grid based combat like 4e?) and then move on to an edition that they would enjoy the most.

My $0.02 anyway.

This is the RPGsite, but hey, welcome anyhow!

Quote from: Bogota;621007Hi I'm new to RPGnet.

I planning in introducing my friends teenage kids to RPG and I'm looking for some ideas/suggestions/advice.  

TIA

Hi Tia!

Honestly, I'd recommend picking up good ol' AD&D 1st edition. It's simple to teach, easy to learn and isn't bogged down with a lot of fiddly rules. Pick up the Premium Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. With dice, it should run somewhere in the realm of $120 bucks for something you and your family will enjoy for years to come.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Advanced+Dungeons+and+Dragons+premium&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AAdvanced+Dungeons+and+Dragons+premium


Best,
Daniel

Quote from: Bogota;621007Hi I'm new to RPGnet.

I planning in introducing my friends teenage kids to RPG and I'm looking for some ideas/suggestions/advice.  

About the kids: they are brothers aged 11 & 14. They are home schooled and seem to be very educated compared to me at that age. They play MTG. I introduced them to munchkin last year and they loved it. They are very excited to learn to play "d&d".

Me: I learned to play D&D when it was just a couple if pamphlets. I  bought the AD&D books the year they were published and ran campaigns in high school and college. My friends and I had lots of house rules and freely mixed games systems and supplements together. We considered rule books to be guidelines only and heavily role played. We played AD&D, Call of Cthulu and Cyberpunk mostly.

College was a long time ago. I haven't played an RPG since the 80's. I've played lots of video games and board games since then. It's what me and my friends can fit into our work schedule.

So I see there are these 2 box sets for beginners, the D&D red box and the Pathfinder beginners box. I plan to get one (or both) for the kids and teach them to play over a weekend.

Please let me know what you think of these products and how an old lady can teach these kids to play (IMHO) the greatest game on earth.

TIA

Sacrosanct has a good suggestion with Labyrinth Lord since it is a retro-clone of Basic/Expert D&D and is very easy to learn. If you only want to choose between the two beginner sets that you mentioned, it would be criminal not to recommend the Pathfinder Beginner's Box over the D&D 4E Red Box. The Pathfinder Beginner's Box has got a ton of free online support at the Paizo website and has a easy guide to expand it into the full Pathfinder game system (even though you do not entirely need that since the Pathfinder Beginner's Box allows character advancement up to 5th level). In comparison, the D&D 4E Red Box is considered crippleware because it only allows character advancement up to 2nd level and has no known online support for expansion, even the manufacturer has decided to discontinue the product line due to its unpopularity as indicated by poor sales.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;621009This is actually The RPGSite, not RPGnet

But welcome anyway

My bad. No offense intended.

Quote from: ZWEIHÄNDER;621028Honestly, I'd recommend picking up good ol' AD&D 1st edition. It's simple to teach, easy to learn and isn't bogged down with a lot of fiddly rules.

This is absolutely false. Especially when you compare it to the other Basic game systems that have been suggested in this thread.

Yeah, another vote for Labyrinth Lord. Simple and cheap and well-connected (I've only played it though, not run it).

Welcome! If it were between the two, I think the Pathfinder box is generally regarded as the better buy by most (not all) gamers. It's a more robust game, and has a nice amount of support online if you're looking to expand. Best of all, it really is a full game, complete with all the little fun bells & whistles everyone likes.

However, if you're looking for simplicity, might I suggest the Basic Fantasy RPG? It would be a sort of compromise between older editions of Dungeons & Dragons and some of the newer-edition fantasy. It's designed where it's pretty accessible to kids, as well--best of all, it's free in pdf form, and super-cheap in print form.

I don't mean to overwhelm you with choices, but you could at least look at the free download and see if that works for you. My daughter is 8, and has played through a simplified version of that system. Your kids could always branch out to other items after that.

As someone else said, the WOTC 4e Redbox D&D is not a good product. While there is nothing wrong with a product only giving two levels of play, the issue arrizes with the Redbox that it is completely incompatible with the rest of the product line (4e Essentials). The Essentials books plainly tell you that if you are coming from the Redbox, you have to remake your character from new in order to advance to level 3. Had the Redbox been a smooth traansition into Essentials, then it would have been a viable product.

The Pathfinder Beginners box is a very good introductory product.

I would also recommend Labyrinth Lord, or if you wish to stick with Dungeons and Dragons itself, then the 1981 Basic rulebook is once again available in PDF.

I am also enjoying Barebones Fantasy. It is a simple d% system that seems to work fairly well. Its available in PDF and now in Print as well.

Personally, I'd go with Dragon Warriors. But since that might be difficult to get, Pathfinder Beginner's Box should work pretty well too.

IF you are familiar with the Dragon Age computer games, the RPG system for it is VERY GOOD!. IT is probably one of my favorites. It too comes in box sets. The art might be a bit more violent than you are looking for, but it isnt too terrible if you are familiar with the computer games.

You can check out the Quickstart rules for free

Green Ronin will also be releasing the AGE system as a stand alone product sometime this year or next. I am definitely looking forward to that as well.

Quote from: vytzka;621088Personally, I'd go with Dragon Warriors. But since that might be difficult to get, Pathfinder Beginner's Box should work pretty well too.

Not as hard as you might think. Both Print and PDF

The first game I played with my kids was Dungeonslayers. The rules are relatively simple and easy to use and streamlined.

I handled character creation based on a "what do you want your character to do" then making it for them.

It worked out really well.

Quote from: YourSwordisMine;621104Not as hard as you might think. Both Print and PDF

Oh cool, I didn't know they had PDFs. In that case, it's certainly an option.