Supposedly mainstream games you can't believe anyone actually played?

[Imperator]

LIES!

DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION MY FUN!

That's great! I genuinely mean that. I love the Prince Valiant game.

4 years old?! Did it go well? My eldest just turned 5 and I've been aching to get him started on his first RPG.

They need a lot of handholding, that's for sure. I had to be reminding them of possible options, and specially of the consequences of their actions. For example, my daughter wanted to call King Arthur, and I had to remind her that they were several days away from Camelot, so the invaders would escape.

And of course, the game must be short and simple. We play 60-90 minutes tops, like a movie's length, and the plot is a simple problem like "a friendly night disappeared in the woods, oh, the Saxons captured him, crap, they have a dragon!" So Julián, my daughter's friend thought that releasing the dragon would wreck havoc on the Saxons plans.

It's more work for the GM, but it's incredible fun.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I ran Star Wars Saga Edition for my son when he was 6, and I largely presented adventures as "Choice A" or "Choice B" type situations. I handled all the rules and let him focus on rolling dice. The only problem was I had a HARD time getting MY head into age appropriate plots and content.

Now he's 13 and showing interest again.

 

[Baulderstone]

I ran Star Wars Saga Edition for my son when he was 6, and I largely presented adventures as "Choice A" or "Choice B" type situations. I handled all the rules and let him focus on rolling dice. The only problem was I had a HARD time getting MY head into age appropriate plots and content.

Now he's 13 and showing interest again.

I get the age-appropriate thing. Having been running B/X for kids for close to year now, my head is overflowing with all the ideas I had to leave on the cutting room floor. Fortunately, I am getting an B/X game for adults together now, so I have a place to put them.

On a related topic, I always soft-pedal the violence as much as possible when playing with my sister's kids, putting it in the vaguest terms possible. Of course, you can never know what kids will do. One time we were playing, and my sister wandered into watch for a minute. For some reason, the seven-year-old thought that was the ideal time get flowery with his attack description. "Eight damage! I hit the pirate in the head so hard I knock his eyeball out, and then I stomp on his eyeball!"

My sister used to play though, so while she sternly raised an eyebrow, she let it go. She left the room quickly, probably to laugh about it.