Rifts: Kid Edition

[dragonfett]

I have been toying with the idea of running a Rifts game for my 13 and 11 year old daughters. Does anyone have any suggestions on running a PG-13 game?

[flatline]

England.

--flatline

[say652]

I play pg 13 games. Always. Lol

[Aaryq]

Start simple with the standard "go here, get this" stuff and maybe work into wrong place at wrong time so they're being hunted for a crime they didn't commit.
Use the CS as villains and just kind of steer clear of the genocide.
Keep the magic and psionics but if something doesn't feel comfortable to you, nix it.
You might want to skip over the Tolkeen War or at least leave out some of the stuff that you feel inappropriate. Since I don't know your kids I'm guessing here but just trust your gut.
I'd suggest the New West or the Burbs as a good background for a setting.
Just remember to start out kind of light and fun-oriented. Don't get too wrapped around the axle on the details.

[Bill]

1980's action cartoon style. When they blow something up, people parachute out. When they shoot somebody, the target falls to the ground unconscious rather than dying. Enemies surrender, listen to reason, and a good explanation of what they learned earns them bonus points.

[Killer Cyborg]

I have been toying with the idea of running a Rifts game for my 13 and 11 year old daughters. Does anyone have any suggestions on running a PG-13 game?

Watch the original Red Dawn.
It was the first movie to be released under a PG-13 rating, and it's not a bad standard. Plenty of people die, but the deaths aren't very graphic (especially outside of the initial massacre at the school). Elements such as torture and rape are woven into the story, not flat-out ignored, but they're not dwelt upon or discussed in any significant detail- the effects are shown, but not the incident itself.
For that matter, the plot could be converted into a Rifts version without much difficulty. Have it take place in an outlying area during the Tolkeen war, someplace that gets immediately overwhelmed by the CS, except for some resistance fighters.


Or, depending on your kids, you might drop down to a PG or G rating.

[Riftmaker]

An all SDC game in the lower levels of chi town so no MDC vaporization. Or maybe chaos earth with classes like the kid wizard.

[Aaryq]

OP, what are the kids' top 3 favorite movies? I started gaming at 11 or 12 and we would often rip off lots of ideas from movies and incorporate them into our campaigns.

[Zer0 Kay]

I have been toying with the idea of running a Rifts game for my 13 and 11 year old daughters. Does anyone have any suggestions on running a PG-13 game?

LOL, blind warrior women dress respectfully and not like sex slaves for a Goth tentacle monster with a swimsuit fetish.

Spirit west.
Vampire Kingdom and teach em that vampires don't sparkle.
South America 2
Phaseworld and run it like it should where most of the shady weird stuff isn't seen by the common person. "What? Naruni is a good company. Who are the Splugorth? What? The Promethians would never allow slavery here. No I don't know what's down below, why would I want to go down to the sewer?"

[Zer0 Kay]

basically run it like normal, driven by the players and just keep YOUR encounters clean.
Rifts is only inappropriate if the GM allows it to be.

[taalismn]

Remove the Kitten Launchers.

[dragonfett]

OP, what are the kids' top 3 favorite movies? I started gaming at 11 or 12 and we would often rip off lots of ideas from movies and incorporate them into our campaigns.

My 13 year old daughter likes Castle, Pretty Little Liars, NCIS, Eragon, Hunger Games, Twilight, the Mortal Instruments (I think). But she has always been a little more advanced for her age anyways. My 11 year old is still more into kid type stuff. She likes the movie Frozen, Disney movies. I know that they both like the Percy Jackson series, Pirates of the Caribbean.

[Noon]

What are you worried about happening? From my experience generally its the players PC's who go toward bad things - players tend to determine content more than I do as GM. Your players will decide more the content they can deal with.

Though you might want to figure some sort of combat sport that's not to the death, as a way of having combat (if they want to combat) without the moral problematism. Just have various fighting arenas, special magics to prevent death (and opponents down to X MDC have to fall prone and stay there) and give XP for it.

[Killer Cyborg]

OP, what are the kids' top 3 favorite movies? I started gaming at 11 or 12 and we would often rip off lots of ideas from movies and incorporate them into our campaigns.

My 13 year old daughter likes Castle, Pretty Little Liars, NCIS, Eragon, Hunger Games, Twilight, the Mortal Instruments (I think). But she has always been a little more advanced for her age anyways. My 11 year old is still more into kid type stuff. She likes the movie Frozen, Disney movies. I know that they both like the Percy Jackson series, Pirates of the Caribbean.

With the 11 year-old, it sounds like you should crank it down to PG instead of PG-13.

[Killer Cyborg]

What are you worried about happening? From my experience generally its the players PC's who go toward bad things - players tend to determine content more than I do as GM. Your players will decide more the content they can deal with.

Seconded.

Though you might want to figure some sort of combat sport that's not to the death, as a way of having combat (if they want to combat) without the moral problematism. Just have various fighting arenas, special magics to prevent death (and opponents down to X MDC have to fall prone and stay there) and give XP for it.

Could go the old-school TMNT Cartoon route, and have them fighting robots instead of living beings.

[Devjannz]

1980's action cartoon style. When they blow something up, people parachute out. When they shoot somebody, the target falls to the ground unconscious rather than dying. Enemies surrender, listen to reason, and a good explanation of what they learned earns them bonus points.

I agree with Bill that this is a great way to handle it. I would add in that the bad guys may occasionally runaway because they are cowards when the odds are against them.

And for when they are fighting monsters you can have the monster just disappear, fade away into a mist or explode in a flash of light when they reduce it to "0" MDC/SDC.

[Morik]

Floppers unite.

[Zer0 Kay]

So.. What I hear is that rather than not playing up the death and violence and other bad stuff the GM should lie to his children and tell them no one dies, good guys always win and the "bad guys" are always cowards. I suppose you people, who celebrate Christmas, tell your children that Santa Clause is real rather than was real and explain why he's a saint. And that somehow the Easter Rabbit and the eggs have something to do with Christ's resurrection instead of a carry over from the Pagan fertility ceremonies A parent GM can be tactful without being deceitful, besides it may allow you the chance to explain death and loss on a completely clinical level instead of doing it during an emotional time like the loss of a pet. Be honest, be kind, handle matters of life and death with reverence.

[Killer Cyborg]

So.. What I hear is that rather than not playing up the death and violence and other bad stuff the GM should lie to his children and tell them no one dies, good guys always win and the "bad guys" are always cowards. I suppose you people, who celebrate Christmas, tell your children that Santa Clause is real rather than was real and explain why he's a saint. And that somehow the Easter Rabbit and the eggs have something to do with Christ's resurrection instead of a carry over from the Pagan fertility ceremonies A parent GM can be tactful without being deceitful, besides it may allow you the chance to explain death and loss on a completely clinical level instead of doing it during an emotional time like the loss of a pet. Be honest, be kind, handle matters of life and death with reverence.

Yeah... I've kind of been wondering what other people's childhoods were like.
Personally, I was slaughtering masses of orcs and other critters in D&D when I was 8 or something.
And even as a kid, I thought it was unbelievably stupid that people in GI-JOE parachuted out AFTER their plane exploded.
Fake sword fights with sticks: "I cut your leg off! Now you have to hop!"
Cops & Robbers: "I just shot you five times. You're dead!"
Violence and death was hardly uncommon in kids games when I was a kid.

Granted, I was a boy... but it seems sexist to not grant girls the same kinds of fun.

[Tinker Dragoon]

I suppose you people, who celebrate Christmas, tell your children that Santa Clause is real rather than was real and explain why he's a saint.

Santa Claus is real. Don't be ign'ant.

I don't think it's necessary to dumb down the game for children. It's all in how situations are presented.

Example:

"The stun blast from the guard's weapon knocks you out. When you wake up, you find yourself in a small prison cell, and all of your weapons, armor, and other equipment have been confiscated. Beyond the cell bars you see a darkened hall."

Versus:

"As the guard's stun blast hits you, your head begins to swim and suddenly the world goes dark. You awaken to find yourself in a 10 ft. by 10 ft. prison cell. As you try to get your bearings, you realize that you have no equipment, no clothes, and a sore ass. Beyond the bars of your cell you can make out a dimly lit hallway from which the sickly-sweet stench of rotting flesh seems to emanate."

However, one shouldn't fall into the trap of presenting characters' actions as being without consequence. If you shoot someone, that person can be hurt or killed. That's how life works, and when you take that away, you diminish the importance of personal responsibility and self-restraint, lessons that -- when learned the hard way -- can have their own dire and long-lasting consequences.

[Tor]

England.

That island where the king is getting it on with an alien-possessed corpse?

[say652]

Just no sexual stuff. Violence is fine.

[dragonfett]

Just no sexual stuff. Violence is fine.

That much I have figured out. I have already run them through a couple of D&D sessions a few years ago, and the biggest problem then was that my youngest easily got bored when she was not doing anything (this still remained true as recently as a year and a half ago when I had last tried running D&D with them).

My biggest problem is with the scale of the violence. In D&D, you can shoot the enemy with a bow and arrow in the head or stab them in the back, and me and my wife are fine with that. However when the weapons have the ability to turn your entire head into a pile of ash, that's where I start wondering how to balance the scale of the damage in my description to them.

[say652]

I use heroes unlimited. You knock the badguys out, the police capture them, they escape. Rinse and repeat.
Stress the point only badguys kill.
Have the teams handy npc. Brickster kill a badguy, then have the team hunt him down.

Its easier to not kill in Heroes Unlimited but Rifts is a violent place. Its hard to not kill in a world thats kill or be killed.

[Killer Cyborg]

My biggest problem is with the scale of the violence. In D&D, you can shoot the enemy with a bow and arrow in the head or stab them in the back, and me and my wife are fine with that. However when the weapons have the ability to turn your entire head into a pile of ash, that's where I start wondering how to balance the scale of the damage in my description to them.

Well, you could have them fight robots and/or other non-humans.
Or, as somebody mentioned, you could have an SDC target hit by MD weapons just disintegrate entirely, like happened on Star Trek with phasers from time to time, or with other old-school sci-fi death rays.

Of just say, "Okay, they're dead." and move on.
No need to get graphic about it.
If they shoot somebody in the face with an arrow, you probably don't spend a lot of time discussing the screaming, thrashing, and twitching as the person dies.
Same thing with MD. No real need to get graphic with it- dead is dead.

[say652]

The youngest player i've ran for was 17 and a tattoo maxi-woman. She got the hang of the game quick and mad props for brutality. Ewwwwwww

[say652]

I'm going to activate my supernatural strength, so I can hold him still while my wolf eats him. "START WITH HIS TOES DOGGY!"

[Blastaar]

Remove the Kitten Launchers.

But but that was my whole story line..
the massive Kitten launchers of DOOOM!!!!!!

[Zer0 Kay]

So.. What I hear is that rather than not playing up the death and violence and other bad stuff the GM should lie to his children and tell them no one dies, good guys always win and the "bad guys" are always cowards. I suppose you people, who celebrate Christmas, tell your children that Santa Clause is real rather than was real and explain why he's a saint. And that somehow the Easter Rabbit and the eggs have something to do with Christ's resurrection instead of a carry over from the Pagan fertility ceremonies A parent GM can be tactful without being deceitful, besides it may allow you the chance to explain death and loss on a completely clinical level instead of doing it during an emotional time like the loss of a pet. Be honest, be kind, handle matters of life and death with reverence.

Yeah... I've kind of been wondering what other people's childhoods were like.
Personally, I was slaughtering masses of orcs and other critters in D&D when I was 8 or something.
And even as a kid, I thought it was unbelievably stupid that people in GI-JOE parachuted out AFTER their plane exploded.
Fake sword fights with sticks: "I cut your leg off! Now you have to hop!"
Cops & Robbers: "I just shot you five times. You're dead!"
Violence and death was hardly uncommon in kids games when I was a kid.

Granted, I was a boy... but it seems sexist to not grant girls the same kinds of fun.

Same here, I got pissed off the bad guys never died, never even thought about the other way around, so it's kind of funny that when I read my first Japanese novel, which happened to be Gundam, I was faced with a major issue... The good guy DIED! I think that the US has always tried to show the good guy, especially in an underdog situation, not only wins but lives and it probably a carry over from our euro heritage compared to the Japanese culture where giving ones life is a great honor. So while we teach good wins even from a position of weakness, they teach be willing to give everything for your cause and your side is more likely to win.

I think less girls played the fun games because parents were traditional. Now, because boys and girls can't climb trees because the forest behind your house is a protected wilderness area. No forts, no climbing, keep walking off the trails to a minimum... Then again that's probably just my area because I live in the cascades in king county, WA and all the city dwellers think that humans shouldn't be in the wilderness because look what they did with the city and if they can't visit and have fun in the wilderness then neither can anyone else.

I half wonder if all the student violence is more noticed because of the media or is more prevailent because young people are no longer permitted to act it out in a nonlethal manner. We can keep toy guns away from children, but those so inclined and blessed with an imagination will pick up a stick and call it a gun.

[Zer0 Kay]

Remove the Kitten Launchers.

naw, just remove the cute factor and upgrade them to cat-a-pults. Apparently to pult means to launch in a slow ballistic trajectory.

[Tor]

Trying to figure out how the Splugorth empire (almost Rifts' mascot considering the original cover) figure into a family-friendly Rifts sure is a challenge.

Anything similar to those life force batteries from wormwood that could survive off-planet?

[Zer0 Kay]

Trying to figure out how the Splugorth empire (almost Rifts' mascot considering the original cover) figure into a family-friendly Rifts sure is a challenge.

Anything similar to those life force batteries from wormwood that could survive off-planet?

Which part isn't family friendly?
Slavery allows for a good moral conversation
Evil... well it wouldn't be a family friendly game if it was good vs. good
Scantily clad women, don't describe them that way allow the children to imagine what they think a blind warrior women would look like.

[Tor]

"she's wearing a one-piece swimsuit" isn't THAT explicit

[say652]

My strategy.
1) fight monsters not people.
2) a heroic ending to the stories.
3) gm nerfing, keep a munchkinized gmpc on deck to save the day. Even better if its like a mechanic or homeless guy that follows the heroes. They get in a pinch all the sudden ole Stinky the Bum opens up shop Riddick style.
4) limit alugnments to good only.

[dragonfett]

Good or Unprincipled (it's really a Good alignment wearing Selfish clothes).

[Zer0 Kay]

I suppose you people, who celebrate Christmas, tell your children that Santa Clause is real rather than was real and explain why he's a saint.

Santa Claus is real. Don't be ign'ant.

I don't think it's necessary to dumb down the game for children. It's all in how situations are presented.

Example:

"The stun blast from the guard's weapon knocks you out. When you wake up, you find yourself in a small prison cell, and all of your weapons, armor, and other equipment have been confiscated. Beyond the cell bars you see a darkened hall."

Versus:

"As the guard's stun blast hits you, your head begins to swim and suddenly the world goes dark. You awaken to find yourself in a 10 ft. by 10 ft. prison cell. As you try to get your bearings, you realize that you have no equipment, no clothes, and a sore ass. Beyond the bars of your cell you can make out a dimly lit hallway from which the sickly-sweet stench of rotting flesh seems to emanate."

However, one shouldn't fall into the trap of presenting characters' actions as being without consequence. If you shoot someone, that person can be hurt or killed. That's how life works, and when you take that away, you diminish the importance of personal responsibility and self-restraint, lessons that -- when learned the hard way -- can have their own dire and long-lasting consequences.

Nice example TD

[Zer0 Kay]

"she's wearing a one-piece swimsuit" isn't THAT explicit

Depends on the person and if it is, is it necessary?

[Killer Cyborg]

"she's wearing a one-piece swimsuit" isn't THAT explicit

Depends on the person and if it is, is it necessary?

PG and PG-13 can have brief nudity.

[Zer0 Kay]

"she's wearing a one-piece swimsuit" isn't THAT explicit

Depends on the person and if it is, is it necessary?

PG and PG-13 can have brief nudity.

didn't say it couldn't, just said the explicitness of a one piece swimsuit depends on the person. I however didn't comment on how the explicitness of said one piece swimsuit also depends on how its described. As written they're like swimsuits, as pictured they're more like near sheer one piece catsuits that may be a size too small and something adopted from a hentai along with there slobery tentacles boyfriends.

Brief partial nudity is different than sexual themes which I don't thing PG can have, and again depends on the GM.

[McFacemelt]

The easiest part of running a game for your kids is keeping it the at the level in which you the GM and parent are comfortable with, ultimately that's what all GMs are doing in the first place.

The hardest part will be when one of your kids makes a decision that is beyond the level in which you are comfortable with, both as GM and as a parent.

What you choose to do when the latter happens is always up to you, but remember it can be a lesson in game and a lesson in life at the same time.

[Zer0 Kay]

The easiest part of running a game for your kids is keeping it the at the level in which you the GM and parent are comfortable with, ultimately that's what all GMs are doing in the first place.

The hardest part will be when one of your kids makes a decision that is beyond the level in which you are comfortable with, both as GM and as a parent.

What you choose to do when the latter happens is always up to you, but remember it can be a lesson in game and a lesson in life at the same time.

To quote a bad Raiden in a bad movie "Exactly."

[dragonfett]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of any cartoons that have been made for public television (i.e. not on cable channels) in the past decade that have violence. I am not talking cartoon violence (Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote) either but something closer to GI Joe "violence"?

[Zer0 Kay]

Um... There was GI Joe: Renegade where Major Blood was found dead with a dagger in his chest and the violence only escalated from there, but it was a made for video movie that MAY have shown on syndicated channels. Closest I can think of is all the anime like digimon, pokewhosits and yugioh but that could be dismissed as cartoonish. Most of the syndicated channels really don't have much in the way of new cartoons anymore even on Saturdays. I think they decided to leave that to the HUB, cartoon network and other cable channels who specialize in cartoons. If were talking those... Avatar the last airbender, Kora, the new Thunder Cats, Max Steel, Ben Ten series, Star Wars Clone Wars.

[dragonfett]

Aren't those on cable channels? Either way, we have gone a long ways from where shows like that were on normal channels to being relegated to being on cable. Of course TV broadcast going to all digital and thus making cable television look like a better way to get just a few channels much more appealing.

Of those that you mentioned, I am only familiar with Avatar, the new Thunder Cats (I had actually watched the first few episodes but had to stop due to my work schedule), the Ben Ten series, and Star Wars Clone Wars.

[Zer0 Kay]

Aren't those on cable channels? Either way, we have gone a long ways from where shows like that were on normal channels to being relegated to being on cable. Of course TV broadcast going to all digital and thus making cable television look like a better way to get just a few channels much more appealing.

Of those that you mentioned, I am only familiar with Avatar, the new Thunder Cats (I had actually watched the first few episodes but had to stop due to my work schedule), the Ben Ten series, and Star Wars Clone Wars.

Yes, like I said the syndicated channels barely have any cartoons anymore. The cartoons have now been deemed the zone of specialized... Didn't you read all of my post or did you just skip to the list of cartoons?

[dragonfett]

Aren't those on cable channels? Either way, we have gone a long ways from where shows like that were on normal channels to being relegated to being on cable. Of course TV broadcast going to all digital and thus making cable television look like a better way to get just a few channels much more appealing.

Of those that you mentioned, I am only familiar with Avatar, the new Thunder Cats (I had actually watched the first few episodes but had to stop due to my work schedule), the Ben Ten series, and Star Wars Clone Wars.

Yes, like I said the syndicated channels barely have any cartoons anymore. The cartoons have now been deemed the zone of specialized... Didn't you read all of my post or did you just skip to the list of cartoons?

Actually, I did, but due to sleep deprivation, it didn't fully click all of the way...

[Zer0 Kay]

Aren't those on cable channels? Either way, we have gone a long ways from where shows like that were on normal channels to being relegated to being on cable. Of course TV broadcast going to all digital and thus making cable television look like a better way to get just a few channels much more appealing.

Of those that you mentioned, I am only familiar with Avatar, the new Thunder Cats (I had actually watched the first few episodes but had to stop due to my work schedule), the Ben Ten series, and Star Wars Clone Wars.

Yes, like I said the syndicated channels barely have any cartoons anymore. The cartoons have now been deemed the zone of specialized... Didn't you read all of my post or did you just skip to the list of cartoons?

Actually, I did, but due to sleep deprivation, it didn't fully click all of the way...

Lol