d20 Children's Crusade

blickish

First Post
Does anyone know of any good rules/guidelines for creating and advancing children as characters? I'd like to run a game where the all the heroes are children (a la Changeling, but without Faerie). I really haven't decided whether the setting will be fantasy or modern or (more likely) a combination of the two. I think I will probably use d20 modern rules (or a variation thereof). And I will (probably) use a lot of unnecessary parenthesis (just noticed how many I use; kind of excessive).
 

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I'm afraid I don't have any advice about the "children" thing (yet). But (and I mean this sincerely), I wouldn't worry about overusing the parenthesis. I've been doing it (excessively) for some time now and nobody seems to mind. Of course, as soon as I've said that, somebody will come along (probably kreynolds) and bust me for it.

:D
 


The DMG has rules for what happens at different ages to the ability stats of characters. I would just use those and use standard leveling.

The reason for standard leveling is simply that they got started younger. For example I began cooking in restaurants when I was 12, by 16 I was third in command of a kitchen.
 


blickish said:
Does anyone know of any good rules/guidelines for creating and advancing children as characters? I'd like to run a game where the all the heroes are children (a la Changeling, but without Faerie). I really haven't decided whether the setting will be fantasy or modern or (more likely) a combination of the two. I think I will probably use d20 modern rules (or a variation thereof). And I will (probably) use a lot of unnecessary parenthesis (just noticed how many I use; kind of excessive).

Well, (speaking in terms of the human race at least) from about fifteen onwards, you don't really need especial rules for children; at about fifteen, for the MOST part, you've matured enough physically and mentally there shouldn't be any real game-mechanical difference from an adult character. RP-wise, in a fantasy setting, there'd still not be MUCH difference regardless.

For kids under 15 ... I suggest you may want to look that subject up in the GURPS main rulebook. While the attributes don't translate 100%, if you apply the IQ penalties to both Intelligence and Wisdom, convert HT penalties to CON penalties, and use the ST and DX penalties as-is ... that should be about right.

The only problem here is, that doesn't encourage anyone to play someone especially young. Sure, as they get older, they'll get those attribute points back; but many won't want to live without in the meantime.

So I suggest an Experience Bonus, perhaps 5% per year under 15, to represent kids' being more adaptable / learning faster ... and to encourage the perception of a balanced tradeoff between XP gains, and Attribute losses.

IMO you should also adjust the setting so that adults are all, like, 10th level and above, perhaps. 8D Unless the kids in question are HIGHLY unusual people for the world they are in ... (which could work, in a Superhero genre game, but is harder to pull off in a pure modern setting).
 



Thanks for the tips!

The characters are (will be) young (8-14). The players are 20-something adults. I'm planning to use the d20 Modern rules from Dungeon (and the official book, when it comes out) so they will have more generic classes (Smart Hero, Fast Hero, etc.) instead of the usual D&D classes.
 

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