Quote from: S'mon;747342But I do think "you have 3 hp and die at 0" is not a great idea for an introductory RPG.

I don't think Tomb of Horrors is very good as an introductory scenario either, but I once saw it run as such... some folks came back next session, some didn't.

Quote from: Maese Mateo;747212Without wanting to derail this thread, I'm curious: did you play the character funnel or just started with Lv1 characters?

She's heard me whine about modern RPG's for a while, and recently said she wanted me to show her how it used to be done back in the day.  I let her pick out a couple sets of polyhedrals and a set of Zocchi dice, tracked her down an early 80's Crown Royal bag on Ebay, and then ran the Portal to the Stars funnel, followed by the People of the Pit for her characters that survived.

I was nervous that she might get turned off by a funnel as her first game, but she really got into the premise of sending a bunch of peons into a dungeon to separate the wheat from the chaff.  Her characters that survived are more special to her now.  She carries the Crown Royal bag as a badge of honor and calls my buddies that scoff at DCC's lack of feats "crybaby pussies", it's fantastic.  She's been playing for a week and she's already a grognard!

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with advice here.

I picked up a BECMI (without the 'I' or the boxes) pretty cheaply on ebay, and tho that's far more D&D than I need right now...well it was a better price than Basic on its own still in box. All this should also push enough of my nostalgia buttons to see through giving my son - and I suspect one or two of his siblings - a go. If he likes it I will eventually follow the other advice here and pick up Pathfinder or, by that time, D&D 5e so he can run with a live supported product line and dad can settle back into his RuneQuest armchair, occasionally peering over the top of his newspaper to see what the kids are up to.

Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;748002Thanks to everyone who pitched in with advice here.

I picked up a BECMI (without the 'I' or the boxes) pretty cheaply on ebay, and tho that's far more D&D than I need right now...well it was a better price than Basic on its own still in box.

Mentzer worked very well for me when I ran it with my son, but I went for more of an 'Emore cover art' feel, to avoid any feeling of bait & switch. So it was more heroic clean high fantasy, he got to start at 4th level M-U, riding a dragon, saved the kingdom (Grand Duchy of Karameikos), married a princess, etc.

Having now run DCC for a party that included a 9-year old, I can safely say that at that age at least, there are kids who have no problem whatsoever with complexity, and on the contrary, both 'get' and enjoy the complexity more than many of the adults.

Quote from: RPGPundit;748667Having now run DCC for a party that included a 9-year old, I can safely say that at that age at least, there are kids who have no problem whatsoever with complexity, and on the contrary, both 'get' and enjoy the complexity more than many of the adults.

Not long ago, I was looking through some old games and came across my boxed set of Top Secret. The rules were almost incomprehensible to me, yet I found a bunch a character sheets my 12 year old self had made, along with maps and campaign notes. So, apparently, I fully grasped the game back then without issue which makes me ponder if adults simply get mentally lazy as they age.

Quote from: Brad;748945So, apparently, I fully grasped the game back then without issue which makes me ponder if adults simply get mentally lazy as they age.

I know some kids who cannot be bothered with even the most simple boardgame rules... and others that eat that stuff up, memorizing stuff for no real purpose. Same goes for older folks I know.
I myself have moved in and out of being interested in crunchy wargames several times... when I'm not in the mood I lose the will to focus my attention on that stuff and it just looks like gibberish.

Quote from: Brad;748945Not long ago, I was looking through some old games and came across my boxed set of Top Secret. The rules were almost incomprehensible to me, yet I found a bunch a character sheets my 12 year old self had made, along with maps and campaign notes. So, apparently, I fully grasped the game back then without issue which makes me ponder if adults simply get mentally lazy as they age.

I think that what's more likely is that kids are more prone to being attracted to mechanics for their own sake.

Quote from: RabidWookie;747553She carries the Crown Royal bag as a badge of honor and calls my buddies that scoff at DCC's lack of feats "crybaby pussies", it's fantastic.  She's been playing for a week and she's already a grognard!

Post Of The Month.

Quote from: RPGPundit;748985I think that what's more likely is that kids are more prone to being attracted to mechanics for their own sake.

That could be it. Also, I remember how long it took to save up to buy a new game, so I was hellbent on figuring stuff out. I learned how to play Starfleet Battles over a weekend after dropping $60 on it. Considering my after-school job paid about $25/week, this was a considerable sum of money.

I started playing around 11 or 12, and I remember that at the time I certainly thought that the MORE rules something had, and the more complex those rules, the better a game it must be!

It took me about two or three years, and run ins with some games where I realized that the rules actively got in the way of what I wanted and were not as fun as D&D or Palladium (GURPS, Rolemaster, etc), and a couple of truly awful rules-heavy games (Cyborg Commando!) before I learned some valuable lessons about the limits of my initial theory.