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Hey all. So with the on-going super-happy health fun-times, many of us are trapped inside for the foreseeable future, and a lot of those with young children to amuse. But, similar to a grey, rainy day, the silver lining to this is that it's a great excuse for some nerd-gaming! There's been a bubbling question of good suggestions, and Ettin asked for someone to make a thread so I decided to make one because I'm 1) a profoundly lonely man and 2) I used to run games for kids in the Bronx and Yonkers, so I have some insight. I’m gonna stay away from general game recommendations since there’re threads a plenty for that and instead concentrate on 2 sub-categories : 1) games that work well with kids to keep your little ones entertained, and 2) on-line gaming resources. While Tash-Kalar or Sherlock Holmes : Consulting Detective are a great way for you and a loved one to spend the quarantine, you can just ask the board gaming thread or the chat thread about that ; this is specifically for the above two points, and just shouting that Gloomhaven is great doesn’t really help anyone. Also, while I’ve done some on-line gaming it’s not my forte so that sub-section is gonna start out kind of anemic. Any and all good suggestions will be folded into the OP as they’re given. I ain’t no one special, I’m just the first guy to volunteer so I’m happy to get ideas. This is obviously a work in progress that I’ll probably be changing as I Games for Kids RPGs (Note bene : I’m only listing games that are free for the moment. Obviously if you’re willing to pay money the options increase. If/when there is demand I’ll expand on this this.) Dungeon World : In my experience, kids click with Powered by the Apocalypse games like you wouldn’t believe ; you basically don’t have to explain the rules and they just do it. They have an idea, and you just tell them to roll for it. I’m listing DW cause it’s free and widely available and the basics are something anyone who has been in the same room as D&D can pretty much get in a glance, even though it has some problems. Other PbtA games would also fit the bill, but idk if you want to play Monster Hearts with a 7 year old. Honey Heist : It’s about bears doing crimes and the rules fit on a single piece of paper. Crime. Bears. Do I really have to elaborate? Lasers and Feelings : This is really the underlying skeleton of Honey Heist but with a (very, very slightly) less kid-captivating theme : this is all about having any wacky space-opera shenanigans that you can imagine. And, again, you could basically write all the rules on your arm. (Don’t actually do this.) Most importantly, it’s free! D&D 4e : Yes, I know some grogs are going to come out of the woodwork and talk about how it’s for WoW babbies or whatever but they’re wrong and we’re literally talking about games for kids so that’s silly. The crunch can get a bit tedious at higher levels, but when I was running this for kids I actually thought that was a plus cause it can turn an 8 year old into a literal addition machine ; nothing like a couple of months of doing lots of single-digit addition to hit goblins to make a kid care. Sadly it’s out of print and not available as a .pdf to my knowledge. And to my eternal sadness, absolutely nothing will turn up if you type “d&D 4e [name of book]”. Nothing, rien, nanimonai, nyet, nichs ; don’t even bother trying. Totally not worth your time to do that. Board/Card Games (Sadly none of these are going to be free. I don’t know many print-and-play options here that are any good, and I’m avoiding stuff that can be done with just a standard deck of cards or are old stand-bys like chess. But you should definitely teach your kids shogi cause it’s cool and owns. Everyone go play shogi.) Carcassonne : A total classic and there are probably a bunch of goons who are going to complain that it’s ancient, but kids love it and it teaches some pretty good skills of pattern recognition and basic math. Plus there are 800,067 expansions if it winds up being a hit and you need to really, really hunker down for the long haul. Cockroach Poker : A kind of anti-set collection game with lots of bluffing and some pretty cute art (especially if you spring for the Royal edition). Also kids just love gross gribbly art of centipedes and bats. Hive : A MENSA-backed cute little game of laying down tiles with some super, super deep strategy. And more cute art of bugs. Space Alert : Bit of a weird sell, but if you have the right group of kids it’s a god drat blast. It’s just chaos of real-time shouting as you try to keep your spaceship from dying horrifically. Requires kids that don’t mind losing (a lot), but it’s co-op so that takes some of the sting out of it. Also has a nice kind of pseduo-ish campaign thing for teaching the rules which can be helpful. Smash-Up : I would never recommend this for adults cause the game has some serious flaws, but it’s cheap as hell and it’s literally just a card game about combining two factions into a weird little LCG deck and seeing if robots + pirates can beat ninjas + wizards. Intelligent gaming? No. Will it keep an 8 year old absolutely enthralled? Very yes. Online Gaming This one I’m less good on but I’ll give what I can and wait for suggestions : Roll20 : The classic. It gives you a virtual white-board, a chat client and a die-roller out of the box. Plus you can either pay money/scrounge for what’s free in terms of pre-fab buttons or just spend some time making your own macros. It nominally also has voice/video chat but I have never heard good things about them and myself and everyone I’ve ever even heard of uses Skype/GChat/smoke-signals instead of that. Virtual Tabletop : Similar to Roll20 (I hear) but aimed at board games. It, as the name would suggest, is a virtual tabletop that lets you do whatever you want as long as you’re either willing to either input it yourself or find/pay for a version that’s already done. I’ve never used it but I’ve heard good things. Discord : Don’t laugh. I’ve actually played some good games over it. As long as visuals aren’t important, it can be pretty good. You just need to install a die-roller. Plus it has a phone app that isn’t complete garbo if you want to go asynchronous. This has been the majority of my on-line play, actually. Anyway, this has been 3 pages of a google doc and I should probably do like my actual job and stuff. I’m gonna reserve the second post on the off-chance I somehow need more space cause it’s easier than asking Ettin down the line to do some magic if I go over the post-limit. Feel free to post any suggestions/comments! This is, at best, a draft so rough I’d have to favorably call it “rustic” to be polite. Also don’t die and please wash your hands. (USER WAS AUTOBANNED FOR THIS POST)
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Mar 17, 2020 15:09
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 16:27 |
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Stop trying to hide the truth mods!
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Mar 18, 2020 01:01
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If you're doing synchronous discord play do you recommend video chat, or audio chat plus dropping pictures in the channel?
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Mar 18, 2020 01:38
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Here're some more games I think kids could enjoy, depending on the kids: Fall of Magic - map-based fantasy adventure to try and restore magic to a world where magic is dying that can be as broad a fantasy as you like. Very simple rules. Can range from short to long depending on how much detail you put in to each turn (which can be anything from a short, narrated vignette to a full scene). Digital edition is $15 All Outta Bubblegum - a game of action movie ridiculousness with the added bonus that you chew an increasing amount of gum as the game goes on. Very simple rules (and you could easily adapt the d10 mechanics to d6) and a straightforwardly weird concept. Free Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple - a game about kids - the pilgrims of the flying temple - travelling between worlds to help people (or try, anyway) and learn things along the way. PDF is $10
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Mar 18, 2020 02:08
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Tibalt posted:Stop trying to hide the truth mods! I have literally no idea how I got autobanned for that. Like, none. Total and complete mystery. If anyone can figure it out, please tell me cause I'm curious as hell. DalaranJ posted:If you're doing synchronous discord play do you recommend video chat, or audio chat plus dropping pictures in the channel? In the games I've played, they were always pure text with just like a scheduled meet-up time (plus asynchronous faffing). And we were playing super narrative games, mostly PbtA, so most of the visuals were photo-references or atmospheric with the very rare diagram if positioning was super, super vague and we needed to check we were all on roughly the same page. Like I said, I am so not a good source for much of on-line gaming. I'm just the dude who volunteered to be the OP. UnCO3 posted:Here're some more games I think kids could enjoy, depending on the kids: Awesome! Thank you! I'll be adding any suggestions like this in chunks to the OP whenever I get a minute/a half a dozen are posted, whichever comes first. Fall of Magic sounds in particular dope as hell.
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Mar 18, 2020 04:06
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Xiahou Dun posted:I have literally no idea how I got autobanned for that. Like, none. Total and complete mystery. If anyone can figure it out, please tell me cause I'm curious as hell. It was the thread tag. When you post, on the left side it warns you not to use the "Attention" tag, as that's a mod-only tag. No I don't know why they let regular posters use them; I guess they think it's funny?
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Mar 18, 2020 04:36
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Xiahou Dun posted:I have literally no idea how I got autobanned for that. Like, none. Total and complete mystery. If anyone can figure it out, please tell me cause I'm curious as hell.  e:fb
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Mar 18, 2020 04:38
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I swear I clicked “LINK!”, but my bad.
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Mar 18, 2020 04:43
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Phelddagrif posted:It was the thread tag. When you post, on the left side it warns you not to use the "Attention" tag, as that's a mod-only tag. Pretty much a honeypot yeah. I would have unbanned Xiahou tbh but he had already rebought his account before I saw the thread. 
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Mar 18, 2020 07:05
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Reene posted:Pretty much a honeypot yeah. Enh, whatever. I really thought I didn't press that tag (cause I knew that rule so I dismissed it) but this is the most whatever of whatevers to ever whatever. I'm just happy that the mystery has been solved and we can move on with the actual purpose of this thread. Which is obviously to get some stay at home parents with 2 small children to play all of Gloomhaven/The Tomb of Horrors in a giant marathon session.
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Mar 18, 2020 07:17
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The Tiny D6 system by Gallant Knight Games is a minimalist RPG that is great for introducing kids to roleplaying games. They have a "Hatchling Edition" which is a simplified version of their Tiny Dungeon game, written specifically for children. It's a really neat minimalist system with lots of good framework for homebrewing. Characters can fit on an index card and everything is resolved with 2d6 (3d6 with advantage, 1d6 with disadvantage). "Just enough" rules, lots of room for improvising, not a lot to bog you down. I bring it up in this thread because this week, Gallant Knight Games reduced the price of Tiny Supers, their superhero "skin" of the system, from $20 to "Pay What You Want," specifically for folks who are staying home and looking for something new to play, or want a simple system for teleconferencing. Full disclosure: I work with GKG as a freelancer on their TinyD6 stuff, and I'm using a hack of this system for my own upcoming Tiny Taverns game, so I am definitely biased. But I also know several families who introduced their kids to roleplaying using Tiny Dungeon or Hatchling Edition, and their kids loved it. I highly recommend giving it a look. Spookyelectric fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Mar 18, 2020 |
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Mar 18, 2020 17:09
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Could anyone recommend a good dice bot for Discord? I'm using it for Fellowship, so it really only has to do 2d6+x, 3d6(lowest 2)+x and 3d6(highest 2)+x
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Mar 18, 2020 18:29
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Spookyelectric posted:The Tiny D6 system by Gallant Knight Games is a minimalist RPG that is great for introducing kids to roleplaying games. They have a "Hatchling Edition" which is a simplified version of their Tiny Dungeon game, written specifically for children. It's a really neat minimalist system with lots of good framework for homebrewing. Characters can fit on an index card and everything is resolved with 2d6 (3d6 with advantage, 1d6 with disadvantage). "Just enough" rules, lots of room for improvising, not a lot to bog you down. I don't work for GKG in any fashion and I can back up that Tiny D6 is a GREAT system for kids and families.
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Mar 18, 2020 18:31
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Vulpes Vulpes posted:Could anyone recommend a good dice bot for Discord? I'm using it for Fellowship, so it really only has to do 2d6+x, 3d6(lowest 2)+x and 3d6(highest 2)+x
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Mar 18, 2020 19:00
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i have placed this thread into my forums “bookmarks” and will be sharing the recommendations in it w friends, family, and anyone who passed w/in earshot of my open window
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Mar 18, 2020 19:10
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UnCO3 posted:A bunch of servers I'm in (including my own) use Sidekick, which does everything you want. The commands you'll need are: Perfect, thanks!
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Mar 18, 2020 22:10
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https://twitter.com/TheEldritchTomb/status/1240127969282199552 [Dead Flag Blues intensifies] This bundle contains my moderately successful rules-light game of classic anthology horror, HORRORS FROM THE TOMB, my sadly uncontroversial piss-take adventure against certain Loser OSR Tryhard Finnish People called SAYING "ADDICTING" INSTEAD OF "ADDICTIVE" HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS BOOK, and the early access/beta/whatever edition of my tongue-in-cheek dark fantasy RPG grimDARK: THE GRIMDARKENING. Should provide some amusement while in lockdown for PLAGUEWORLD 2020.
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Mar 19, 2020 01:28
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Games that cost money, but my niece loved when we played them... Golden Sky Stories low impact no combat game about magical animals and beings being nice to each other and clueless humans. Mice and Mystics expensive-ish but awesome RPG/Board Game about a group of castle dwellers that have been turned into mice and must flee the castle to escape an evil sorceress and her turned into rats henchmen.
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Mar 19, 2020 10:01
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Yo goons. I want in on this thread. Wife and I are self-imposing lockdown and live in Wisconsin. But we have friends who are truly locked down in California. We want to play board games via THE INTERNET, a la Ticket to Ride (which I just discovered can be played online). I went so far as to set up a series of webcams to do a self-broadcast game but then I realized the internet is pretty powerful and maybe just doing fully online versions but adding in a Zoom or GChat for a more personal experience or whatever is a better way. So...Ticket to Ride via https://www.daysofwonder.com/online/en/play What else is out there? I'm down with Steam, but I don't want super intense D20 games and poo poo. Just easier stuff that is like 1-2 hours of play time. I'm thinking Forbidden Island would be fun if it was online! Also it would be great if only one person had to buy the game you know? Is that possible? I don't want to make everyone shell out $20 at this very moment (maybe later when like the whole country is under siege). edit: I see Tabletopia on Steam looks kinda neat and each board game is only about $6 which is reasonable on a per-person basis. Anyone tried that? edit: Explored Tabletopia a bit more and it's pretty cool. For $3.50 you can get like 7 days of all the premium content and your friends don't have to pay to join premium/expanded games. Interface is pretty easy and they have a bazillion modern board games. French Canadian fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Mar 21, 2020 |
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Mar 21, 2020 16:53
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French Canadian posted:What else is out there? I'm down with Steam, but I don't want super intense D20 games and poo poo. Just easier stuff that is like 1-2 hours of play time. I'm thinking Forbidden Island would be fun if it was online! Tabletop Simulator is the more expensive 20 bucks per person, but has a confoundingly deep workshop section. It's full featured to the point where I'd say it's the best way to play complicated board games, because when you break for the evening, you can save the table and close the program, all those fussy tokens don't move without having to abandon the dining room table for a week. It came out five years ago, and has been slowly adding features ever since. Nowadays it supports decals onto cards for legacy games, an in platform music player that plays synched for everyone, and VR, because why not. Most games are supported by fans on the workshop, but there are a few really nice professionally designed DLC board games, and even the amateur games often have scripted setup.  There used to be a small group of like ten goons who played random board games fairly regularly, but it broke up due to scheduling conflicts. We're all stuck indoors, I can't go to Redcap, who wants me to teach them Tragedy Looper? Lookin' for three players, Tragedy Looper rules. Or ticket to ride. Necromunda? C'mon where'd everyone go, I know it's not a party, someone teach me Panamax. e: Poking about with Tabletopia some, it seems like a much more polished experience at a cost of what makes tabletop games so distinctive from their digital counterpoints. For example, in Burgle Brothers, the Tabletopia implementation puts a random character out for you, because the rules say you don't pick your character. In Tabletop Simulator, you can pull whatever card you want out of the box. You can doodle on a image and upload your own custom character. You can import an investigator from Aarkham Horror. You can also delete cards, get rules wrong, or move pieces you're not allowed to move, because TTS is a series of 3d elements that you can move freely if you really want to. Also a LOT of TTS Workshop elements, uploaded by amateurs and enthusiasts with no oversight, are made of 36dpi scans from the 90s, or the service they uploaded the images on have since deleted them. TTS is my jam, but it's a land of contrasts and probably Tabletopia would be better for playing with people who don't play many video games. https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/tabletop-simulator Found it for sale, half off. Mystic Mongol fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Mar 24, 2020 |
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Mar 24, 2020 18:04
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We need some game site links in the OP: Boiteajeux.net: largely non-live gaming, with turns between a few hours and a day in length. Some janky-rear end interfaces and mostly in French (possibly unless you pay for premium, I'm not sure) but has some really standout titles including Dungeon Lords/Petz, T'Zolkin, Agricola, Castles of Burgundy. Yucata.de: I could never get it to work but apparently it's good? Boardgamearena.com: excellent, largely live play games, with a very broad selection, generally good interfaces (though some games have some traps to watch out for). Standouts include Russian Railroads, Roll for the Galaxy, Hanabi, Caylus, etc etc etc. They have a couple of hundred games at this point.
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Mar 24, 2020 22:11
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French Canadian posted:Yo goons. I want in on this thread. You are in exactly the same position we are. We have good friends on the other side of the country that we want to do something remotely.. like play a game but have the vid/chat on all the time for talking. Might have to check out tabletop simulator? Does each participant need a computer or can you share?
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Mar 28, 2020 16:46
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Well I guess you could share a computer with either program. But it's like sharing a chair around a table... People keep bringing up tabletop simulator and I think that's because we're all more familiar with video gaming in general. Tabletopia feels like it's much more accessible to average computer users. Tabletopia also only needs one person to pay $ and then they can invite people to the games they start (in the instance of premium content or most games with 3+ players). I also think the system reqs are lower for Tabletopia but I might be wrong.
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Mar 28, 2020 17:11
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My friends and I want to try a game of DnD, but quarantine rules means we can't meet in person. I've seen people play on video chat programs before but they've also used a lot of digital display tools for like rolling dice on screen and tracking characters and stuff. Can anyone point me to some programs or resources for that? E: didn't see whole last page of this discussion
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Mar 28, 2020 19:58
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OP note : I'm waiting to update the OP until after the discussion gets longer than the OP itself cause I'm lazy.
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Mar 28, 2020 20:21
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Can anyone suggest a virtual tabletop that someone has already made a ruleset/API for the Onyx Path Trinity Continuum games? I'm wanting to run a game and stream it for charity, but I've no idea how to code that poo poo and not enough time to learn (Go go essential personnel!)
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Mar 29, 2020 01:21
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