Lately I've been thinking I'd like to build a default setting for simple gaming. We have a ton of kids in the neighborhood, and summer is fast approaching - the time when my son usually pesters non-stop to fire up another kid's game for the summer. Since the adult game has featured a few weeks of Cthulhu (no kids allowed in that one), the cries for a kid's game have intensified.
Kids approach fantasy gaming with a different set of eyes. They're not burnt out on fantasy tropes - this is the first time they're encountering "high fantasy", unless they've read The Hobbit or seen The Lord of the Rings movies. I don't event think the grade school kids in the neighborhood learn medieval or ancient history these days until junior high or later.
So I've been thinking about sketching a simplistic setting as the go-to place for pick-up games and kid's games. It'd be friendly to the tropes and stereotypes of medieval history and fantasy, and home to a simple megadungeon. When I sang out my Ode to Karameikos a little while ago, I rediscovered how simple and classic is that place, and figured it was time to have my own default home brew setting.
I'm still working on The Black City, but that place is strange (a little too weird and horrible for the neighborhood kids), and The Colonial Hexcrawl is super interesting, but perhaps too rarified a taste (and also filled with horror). My reading list for it is great fun, however.
I've been orating The Once and Future King for my oldest son (10), and was thinking a chivalric setting that mashes TH White with The King of Elfland's Daughter and Three Hearts and Three Lions would make for a classically themed default setting, great for a kid's game.
The idea has generated a couple of quick questions for readers - One, do you have a default home brew you've written that you return to again and again in between other games, and what's it like? Two - what are your thoughts on getting kids involved, go with a classic fantasy approach, or would you pull out the stops and mix ray guns, robots, and orcs in a sci-fantasy mash up or similar fantasy niche?
Two - what are your thoughts on getting kids involved, go with a classic fantasy approach, or would you pull out the stops and mix ray guns, robots, and orcs in a sci-fantasy mash up or similar fantasy niche?
ReplyDeletedo what excites you and the kids will tune into that
I can't argue with what Cole said.
ReplyDeleteBut now I will! Ha ha. I have a distinct memory of playing at around that age and machine guns getting involved in a D&D game. It all got pretty silly and went downhill fast. So I would advise sticking to classic fantasy based on that.
That being said that game in my youth did not have an adult DM.
For t6he past few years I've defaulted to The Phoenix Barony by David Bezio whenever I need a quick pick up setting. It's a great simple setting that fits all my vanilla needs. It's got just enough flavor to seem like a distinct place, while it is generic enough to drop what ever dungeon or module has caught my fancy that week.
ReplyDeleteIn general I start with a modified Karameikos, but then try to structure play so they begin to encounter different people from other places in Mystara (and associated places in my twisted Mystara, Enigmundia, like Ravenloft).
ReplyDeleteI never put in the time for a homebrew setting in Fantasy.
In super-heroic campaigns, it was always set in the local city, for sense of wonder and familiarity.
Considering how much my kids enjoy Adventure Time! I will definitely includes science fantasy elements in any game I run for them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 10-11, I played in a Greyhawk AD&D game and it is what made me fall in love with AD&D and Greyhawk.
ReplyDeleteI think all of the worlds have a chance to be something that the kids love as long as the tone and content appeal to them.
Mystara has the advantage of having a wider number of cultural analogues to play with. You could have a Mystara-spanning campaign that mixes the Arabic Ylarum, Norse Three, and Classical Mediterranean Minothrad/Irendi/Alphatia thing.
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ReplyDeleteOne, do you have a default home brew you've written that you return to again and again in between other games, and what's it like?
ReplyDeleteIn general, I'll develop and stick with a campaign setting for years. They vary; the first two were modern horror occult conspiracy, and the current one is a pretty basic fantasy setting because I'm running D&D for people new to the hobby, and I wanted to keep it pretty simple without leaping full-bore into Weird Fantasy. The basic small, vaguely European city-states dot the wilderness of what was once a thriving kingdom setup that is basic D&D. Although there's still plenty of weirdness about; I'm still rather pleased with the Terrible Old Man
Two - what are your thoughts on getting kids involved, go with a classic fantasy approach, or would you pull out the stops and mix ray guns, robots, and orcs in a sci-fantasy mash up or similar fantasy niche?
I'd probably go with the typical Greyhawk or Blackmoor approach: primarily fantasy, but if you need a change of pace, throw in some science fantasy or horror if it you think the group will like it. When the group seems tired of fantasy, then throw in the ancient robot factory or the crashed spaceship.
For that matter, you probably wouldn't want to run Carcosa for a group of kids (unless you pretty much ignored Sorcerers and went more with the Kirby's Fourth World aspect), but it manages to balance fantasy, science fiction, and horror without getting too silly.
For the most part.
I have a default homebrew setting, Ea, I created in 1986 and have used for many campaigns, most recently in 2010. It hasn't been thrilling me recently though. I sketched a new homebrew world based on Earth geography I've used since 2008, and I also use the Wilderlands frequently.
ReplyDeleteRecently I've been tempted by Grand Duchy of Karameikos, though. I never owned it back in the day, though I ran an epic 40-year Empire of Thyatis campaign.
I barely run long campaigns, nowadays I usually run dungeon adventures - the surface builds itself bottom-up if necessary.
ReplyDeleteTo question number two, I remember me and my brother playing games where Sandokan battled Darth Vader, human-like robots terminated viking leaders and Roman strategists, and bad-ass action heroes travelled the world to blow things up. I think kids can handle mixing genres very well.
When I was a kid, the dungeon from Holmes basic and the AD&D DMG kept me fascinated way longer than they should have. That said, if I were running kids (my own are now older) I would go with a mash up of the setting in Grimm (Fantasy Fight Games) with generic DnD dungeons.
ReplyDeleteI have a default setting that has been modified and revised over probably 15 years. I may go for years without playing in it, though, if I'm off on other things.
ReplyDeleteI would say for the kids game: know your audience (the same as with any game). That said, I would be tempted to do something a bit Adventure Time-like if I was running a kids game.