Good starting ruleset for a 9 yr-old?

[rogueattorney]

I don't want to introduce him to rules that are so old, he can't find any other copies for his friends or other material if he continues to gain interest.

These are NOT hard to find, nor particularly expensive. You should be able to pick up the rule books (not necessarily the box with dice and adventure) for ~$5 a pop. The 1983 version of the Basic rules is available for download from svgames and rpgnow for less than $5. Many of the adventures and supplements for this rule set are similarly cheap and easy to find.

Seriously for about $30 (say, Basic and Expert rules, Keep on the Borderland, Isle of Dread, plus a couple more adventures or a .pdf of one of the GAZ series, etc.) you should have enough to keep them busy for years. There simply isn't a cheaper bang for the buck outlay to get kids started gaming.

By the polls taken on this site, the two Red Basic sets got the vast majority of gamers here into it in the first place. If it's good enough for us, it should be good enough for them.

R.A.

 

[twistedoliver]

What to pick.

I want to say that although most of us who responded said use an old set, I would like to politely disagree to a point.

I like most people in this post I too used (and still have) the red basic set to learn.. That doesn't mean it's the best, only that we are old! Since you have the red set, and probably from your tone others as well (3.0 etc I am guesses) I think either would be fine, but my bet is that a new version would be best.

And as a couple of other posters meantioned, don't underestimate kids capacity to learn (watch them interact with computer games), they will grasp things much more quickly then we realize.

If I was in your shoes, I would run with whatever you play most, because then you can decide a lot more easily on how to adjust it; instead of relearning something that we played 15 years ago. (I hated THACO)

Scott

 

[Mythmere1]

Castles & Crusades is the way to go. It's very similar to 1st edition D&D, and has a very simple and elegant ruleset.

 

[Ourph]

In my opinion, the Moldvay Basic set is the best set to learn from, for ages 9-90.

You shouldn't have any trouble finding copies on ebay. or modules. or the setting books, etc..

If you don't want to go that route, and aren't too keen on d20 for the 9 year old, you might try savage worlds or HARP.

I'll fourth or fifth or ...tenth this sentiment (whatever we're up to now ). Aside from the other advantages mentioned, he's obviously already excited about playing the D&D described in the book you gave him. So give him a taste of B1 or B2 and see how it goes. I hope both of you have a blast!

 

[Turanil]

I suggest playing the new rules lite Castles & Crusades with him and nudging him along if he gets stuck.

Castles & Crusades is the way to go. It's very similar to 1st edition D&D, and has a very simple and elegant ruleset.

Ditto!

 

[Jackal42]

I'll cast my vote for Castles & Crusades. It's about as easy as anything you can get with a powerful game engine and it plays just like the old school editions of D&D.

You can find out more below:

http://www.trolllord.com/index.htm

Whatever you go with, happy gaming!

 

[CarlZog]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I've heard huge support for Tom Moldvay's version of the basic set, but the books I gave the kid were Frank Mentzer's books. I had picked them up somewhere virtually free -- a thrift shop I think -- but have never read them. (I was reared on Holmes and OD&D.)

Despite the support many of you have given for using the old Basic books, we all know how frustrating it is to switch to new rules systems. I didn't want him and his friends to have go through that early on. I also wanted them to be able to go to their FLGS and marvel over all the cool stuff -- though I don't know excited their parents will be by all that.

But I guess I'm stuck since he's already absorbed the Mentzer rules, so I'm think I'll just stick to that for starters; Pick up another copy of the rules and a couple old modules via pdf.

If he likes it and wants to continue, I'll talk to him about C&C, 3e, d20 and the wonderful world beyond.

Let no one say I'm not doing my part for the future of our hobby!

 

[kengar]

FWIW, mechanics-wise, there is little or no difference between Moldvay & Mentzer Basic. The real difference is in the presentation/organization of the materials. Only at higer levels (Expert/Companion range) do any of the numbers change at all.

 

[Jackal42]

As far as basic D&D goes I liked Mentzer a lot more anyway.

 

[drakhe]

Exactly!

Do not underestimate the intelligence of kids. I wasn't much older when I learnt GURPS by myself.

I've had a kid playing in my group, he was 9 when he started playing and we played DnD3.0 full rules. Appart from the occasional question, everything went cool. And since his dad was playing also, there never was a problem. Any questions more often had to do with understanding of english (the kid and his father spoke french and very little english) rather than rules related.

Of the basic sets, if you want to stick to DnD/D20 because of availablility, I would rather go for the first (orange) basic set, rather than the new one. I've found the new set to contain too much confusion and too little adventure. The original DnD3.0 basic set had simpler and clearer rules and contained nine scenarios instead of the one in the new set.

Also have a look at C&C.