My son is new to the hobby - which game to start him on?

[Korgoth]

I'd say either Basic D&D (either Moldvay or Mentzer versions) or Labyrinth Lord.

 

[JesterOC]

If they like Star wars Get the new Saga edition. It can be thought of as a cross between 3e and 4e rules. Also lots of room to role play and kill droids.

If they like D&D I would definatly go 4E. Simple to learn but lots of fun combat stuff. The complexity of 4E is more emergent. The rules are simple but every characters powers if used in the right situations will reward imaginitive thinking. Heck my daughter (5 years old) wanted to knock over a rock column to crush a huge spider she was fighting.. I flipped to page 42, decided it was medium difficulty checked the chart for damage. and presto one crushed spider.

Now if my regular players where only that inventive.

JesterOC

 

[Terwox]

I'd say to go for 4E, as it's comparatively quite easy to learn.

However, if he loves Star Wars, by all means play Star Wars! Saga is apparently similar to 4E, although I don't know how.

 

[delericho]

The question is, what to run for him,

I would recommend running the system you're most passionate about. That way, you'll probably do the best job selling the game to him.

So, in people's opinion, is 4e compatible a good system to start a 10 year old on?

IMO, yes, very much so. It's not my system of choice, but it does strike me as very newbie-friendly.

How about the Star Wars Saga Edition?

Another excellent choice. If he likes Star Wars, he'll grok the setting and conventions immediately, which means you just need to worry about the 'game' part.

Or, should I just break out the OD&D red box and the crayoned dice, and sic them on Bargle?

And another really strong choice. It has the advantage of being simpler than either of the other two, although the rules are rather archaic nowadays. I probably wouldn't go with this one if you expect him to stick with gaming, though. Unless, of course, you have a regular OD&D group that you would integrate him with.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

4E has a lot of good role-playing advice in its PHB, and the rules are easy to pick up. (But make no mistake - picking up the rules is just the start. There's a lot of "emergent complexity" - especially in combat.)

Star Wars Saga Edition has the advantage of having a setting everyone is probably somewhat familiar with. That might it easier for young players to figure out what they want to play. (Possibly recreating known Star Wars characters, or just bad-ass Jedi ).

I think 3E is relatively easy to pick up, but the game rewards "system mastery", which probably means that the players choices at start might not turn out to be working as well as they expected. This can lead to frustration. That doesn't have to be a problem, considering that you will probably way more lenient with changing/modifying characters mid-campaign with beginning players, and probably also tailor the game more to your players.


The other choice I will always suggest is picking a system _you_ feel comfortable with. if you didn't play a lot of 3E or 4E (or never), play the edition you played and enjoyed the most.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yep, just go with whatever you want to run, as long as it's a kind of 'genre' that they're interested in, to begin with. Fantasy or sci-fi are generally solid choices.

I've only had a little bit of experience, playing (or running) RPGs with much younger players, but the above has proven to be good advice so far, for me and for those I've discussed the topic with.

I took to Basic and Expert, quite early on, but I don't think I would've had a problem if it'd been another edition, or another game altogether. For that matter, I happened to soon move on to other editions and other games anyway.

 

[Branduil]

Sage or 4e would be a good choice.

 

[Jack99]

For what it is worth, I suspect my twelve year old might like 4e but my 11 year old son, who is perhaps the most avid gamer of the four, is quite vocal in his disdain for aspects of the new edition.

If your 11 year old son is voicing disdain for 4e (or any such game for that matter), he is most likely mirroring your feelings, all things considered.

@OP: Introduce them to whichever system you have and like to run yourself. By the time they are too cool to play with daddy, there will probably be new editions out for both D&D and Pathfinder.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I am running game for my nephews the youngest is 10 and he is getting on ok with 4e but 3e did confuse him.
I have read but not played the Starwars SAGA system and it sounds pretty simple also.
That said you should run what you are comfertable with, I spent my first couple of years rpg not knowing some of the systems I was playing but doing what I thought my character would do and rolling whatever dice I was told to roll.
That said if you are running 4e have the numbers calculated out in front of the power lists.

 

[chromeraven]

Star Wars Saga is incredibly easy to make characters for, versatile, and a setting that pretty much everyone knows the basics of already.

D&D 4e is incredibly easy to make a character for, pretty versatile, and a setting that anybody can pick up the basics of pretty easily.

Find out if they want sci fi or fantasy, and go from there. (My vote goes with SWSaga)