A Campaign Setting for Young Beginning Players

[Napftor]

Some time ago, when an opportunity arose to pen a children's cartoon series, I sketched out a storyline wherein a generic fantasy world suddenly lost all adults over 18. Great castles resting on clouds appeared a week beforehand, maneuvering into position to throw a glowing magical netting across the globe (or at least the known world). After the magic swept the adults from the world, all but a handful of the castles vanished with them. It's left to the children to struggle on, the eldest attempting to take over whatever trade their parents' practiced. In my story, a group of unlikely companions bands together to see if indeed all adults have vanished.

This group leaves their kingdom's boundaries and, naturally, finds adventure, life lessons, etc. while investigating the world-spanning mystery. The setting's population is of two primary groups--humans and a lizard-like race called the towaan (a peaceful nature-loving race treated as second-class citizens by humans). There are other races as well but they rarely appear outside of their own small territories.

But to make a long story short, there was no cartoon out of the deal and I've been wondering off and on ever since if I could turn the premise into a viable fantasy setting aimed at young beginning players. Is this something the industry could use to aid in bringing potential roleplayers away from other distractions and into the rpg fold (assuming proper advertising was in place)?

My thought was to turn my storyline for the young group into a series of adventures (much like Dragonlance was originally except without the need to coincide with published novels). The adventures could easily be geared toward neophyte roleplayers and at the same time introduce the setting bit by bit. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[jdrakeh]

Well, you've sold me! Personally, I've always been bothered by the failure of most current-day 'big players' in the RPG industry to publish products marketed specifically at a younger age group. Sure, I understand that grade school or junior high kids don't compose the 20-30 primary marketing demographic right now - but in the future, they will. Catering to them now might not be such a bad idea.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

First, a caveat- don't take the statements in this post as a deterrent:

#1 Make sure that you still have the rights to do such a thing with your IP. You haven't signed any development deals or anything like that, have you?

#2 There are a LOT of published books out there waiting to be turned into settings, Harry Potter & Narnia leading the pack, probably followed closely by books/series like Oz, The Phantom Tollbooth, and A Wrinkle in Time.

And that doesn't take into account other IP out there, like the Disney catalog, Grimm's Fairy Tales, etc.

The trick, though, is that 90% of those properties are owned by people who have, thus far, shown 0% interest in the RPG hobby, and 90% of the publishers in the RPG hobby can't afford to shell out money for a license to make an RPG from one of those properties.

While there are teen-oriented supplements out there, no one to my knowledge has ever done a kid/teen centric RPG.

#3 If you take a stab at this, make sure you include some of your short fiction in the setting (to give players a feel for it) and a set of starter adventures that have goals that are typical of young fantasy novels: self-discovery, self-improvement, rescuing a friend, etc.

#4 I don't know what system you'd be using, but above all, I'd suggest the KISS method: Keep It Simple, Stupid! Don't aim for hyper-realism- find a simple RPG system to base it in, and if you have a hit on your hands, you can always 1) publish conversion books/rules (see D20, RIFTS or HERO) or, 2) license your setting to another publisher (See GURPS). One of the simplest systems ever devised was Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip...only 4 stats, STR, INT, DEX and HP.

#5 Assuming you're not going strictly the e-publishing route, my guess is (regardless of quality or content) that you'd be better off launching such a product in Europe or Canada, where the RPG hobby hasn't been a lightning rod for religious fundamentalists.

 

[arscott]

How does one arise the opportunity to pen a children's show, anyways? That sounds like it would have been a fun opportunity.

A few things I'd look at:

Why nobody over 18? When I was a kid, I remember liking books and cartoons about adults as much or more than I liked books and cartoons about kids. I'd advoid imposing that sort of limit unless you had a good reason.

I think the towaan could use some work too. rather than having society as a whole treat the towanns badly, it might be better to have just one or two people that do. That way, you're framing it as a challenge that can be overcome, rather than a depressing intrusion of human nature on a fantasy society.

Also, If you want a kid friendly, rules light system, let me know. I've been kicking a few Ideas around in my head on just that subject.

 

[Napftor]

First, a caveat- don't take the statements in this post as a deterrent:...

I won't. Your points are good ones and I already considering much of that info before posting here. This really isn't much beyond the "wouldn't it be nice if..." stage. I'm just gauging the interest of the concept.

How does one arise the opportunity to pen a children's show, anyways? That sounds like it would have been a fun opportunity.

Oh, I agree it did sound like fun. It was an opportunity from an acquaintance who was getting his first novel published. According to him, the publisher was looking to branch out into all sorts of mediums. To be honest, I was 99% sure nothing would come of it, but I knew it would be fun to develop the concept anyway. Who knew I would have grown so attached to it?

The nobody over 18 thing is part of the overarcing plot. There's a good reason only adults were taken by the castles' magic. In fact, once a character turns 18, it's only a matter of time before he too vanishes. What I didn't mention about the towaan is that their people dominated the lands before humankind's rapid reproduction overshadowed the brown-skinned lizards' population. The towaan enjoyed their nice stable existence but humans evolve quickly and change is part of their nature--war was inevitable. After the towaan sued for peace, many humans believed it was only a matter of time before they struck back (a concern woven into stories which the next generation naturally picked up). By the time of this setting, the hatred of the towaan is something only grandparents had a true zest for.

 

[JoeBlank]

I certainly like the idea of a setting and/or adventure series aimed at younger gamers. I run games off and on for my 7, 5 and even 3-year-old sons and would certainly be willing to pay for a well-done product.

The idea of every over 18 being gone is interesting, and I understand that you are coming from the position of already having developed the idea and now looking to put it to use. It probably would not be my first choice for introductory-type adventures. I would prefer more generic adventures, using classic D&D conventions, including races and classes. Of course, I can get some of that by doing my own conversions of existing adventures, but nothing out there now is aimed even at teens, much less younger kids.

 

[Klaus]

Quick note:

One of Ravenloft's domains, Odiare (iirc), is a town where, as it got pulled into RL, all adults disappeared. No one over (once again, iirc) 18 remained. So the children had to band together, for the toys of the town were now under the control of the evil puppet (think Pinocchio). The only adult remaining was the puppet's maker (i.e. Geppeto). Now, the eldest of the children, themselves 18, are expecting a child of their own. It is unknown if they'll disappear once they become parents.

On a comics-level, several years ago DC Comics had an event titled Sins of Youth, with a similar plot. This same plot was adapted in a recent Justice League Unlimited episode, where the child Mordred shunted all adults to another dimension, and the heroes had to be de-aged so they could return and face the villain.

 

[Napftor]

...I would prefer more generic adventures, using classic D&D conventions, including races and classes...

Oh, I'd be keeping with the OGL, no doubt. There would still be classes and races (if not all the races we're used to). Keep in mind that the PHB lists a human at adulthood at 15, so not everyone encountered would be 0-level nothings out there.

I keep forgetting to mention as well that none of the towaan disappeared (adults or otherwise). This makes things even more dicey--are the towaan responsible for the adult humans' disappearance? Even if they aren't, is the race planning to retake the power that was once there's? The stories about the war play fresh in characters' minds and add something cool to the setting, IMO.

 

[JoeBlank]

Another point to consider with a kid-friendly campaign is religion. Churches and evil cults play a large part in a lot of D&D adventures. I try to downplay this aspect when I game with my kids, because I feel like the subject can be a little too much for them.

My kids are probably younger than your target, but at this point I don't want them to be too concerned with playing a character that worships a god different from that of the player, or dealing with the implications of polytheism.

I certainly don't want to turn this into a religious discussion, but I wanted to ask whether you have taken this into account, and how so.

 

[Napftor]

...I certainly don't want to turn this into a religious discussion, but I wanted to ask whether you have taken this into account, and how so.

Religion never entered into my original outline of shows. If it would be mentioned, the emphasis would not be great. Something bland like "deity in/as nature" would be best, methinks.