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Old 03-07-2020, 04:55 PM   #1
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Solo game for five year old

I'm looking for inspiration on what kind of role-playing game to run for my five-year-old son. I want it to be something that isn't too violent but which still has plenty of action.

A near-perfect game for him is Ghostbusters. He's obsessed with Ghostbusters, it's easy to play, and it's not too violent. But... I really don't want to run Ghostbusters. I want to avoid mission-based games, because he really likes playing in sandbox environments, and Ghostbusters done right really needs more than a solo player. I also think I want to avoid licensed properties, because he'll feel constrained to stick to what happens in those properties instead of coming up with his own stuff.

I also considered Toon, but Toon is geared toward Bugs Bunny-type cartoons, which isn't really what kids watch these days. I feel like he wouldn't enjoy that so much. I'd like to find something where the story matters a little more.

I don't want to take a violent game and just make it not violent. For instance, I don't want to take D&D and just make all the goblins and green slimes want to negotiate all the time.

I'm not asking for recommendations for rule sets. The kid will learn and play anything I offer. I'm looking for recommendations of genre or setting, or maybe whole games if the games have unique elements that would be good. Specific GURPS supplements that meet the criteria would also be useful.

Sorry it's kind of specific; I'm having a lot of trouble finding the perfect game.
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Old 03-07-2020, 05:08 PM   #2
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

There is a FUDGE scenario in which the animal companions of a wizard go off to rescue the wizard when he gets into trouble. It looks kind of charming. I don't specifically assume you would use FUDGE, though it's a simple narrative system; the treatment is straightforward enough to be adapted to pretty much any rules system, I think.
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Old 03-07-2020, 05:32 PM   #3
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

That's not a bad idea, though I'm not looking for "charming" so much as "not predominantly shooty-stabby." You wouldn't happen to know the name of the adventure?
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Old 03-07-2020, 05:40 PM   #4
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

Wait, I think I found it: "Another Fine Mess."
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Old 03-07-2020, 06:21 PM   #5
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
Wait, I think I found it: "Another Fine Mess."
That sounds right. My copy is in one of nearly forty packed boxes of books, but the title is what I would have guessed. And if you do want to use FUDGE mechanics, it's all narrative, basically.
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Old 03-08-2020, 06:24 AM   #6
L.J.Steele
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

Is he a cat person -- if yes, Magical Kitties Save the Day. Completed its Kickstarter and in progress to publishing. You can likely get the kickstarter release rules in pdf.

Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men -- snack and game. Animated Gingerbread cookies (why limit yourselves to people -- I have cookie cutouts for animals, Godzilla, etc.) have one night (Christmas Eve) to accomplish a goal (defined by the player). Beware the Hungry Dog! The cookies have powers based on the candies used to decorate them -- use a power, eat the candy. Take damage, eat a limb. I had worked up an adventure verse the Gingerdead men (gingerbread men with icing skeletons) and their master, the NECCOmancer.

Adapt Scoobie Doo or Ghostbusters (note that Playmobil has sets for both) to Fate Accelerated -- easy mechanics to remember and use -- to the extent one needs them.

Its not an RPG, but Happy Birthday, Robot! can be a lot of fun once the young'un can read reasonably well. Cooperative story-creating/improv. For that matter, Once Upon A Time is good for semi-cooperative story telling.
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Old 03-08-2020, 06:30 AM   #7
L.J.Steele
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

Looking back -- settings -- have you looked at the Rick Riordan lines of books? Percy Jackson (books not the movies one does not speak of), Magnus Chase, etc. -- sort of Harry Potter meets Greek/Roman or Viking myth.

For the slightly younger version -- the Goddess Girls books. Greek mythic figures as kids. You could easily de-age to elementary school.

But the basic concept -- wainscoat urban fantasy -- the PC is a god or demi-god tangling with other mythical people in a familiar setting.

Camp Myth -- Percy Jackson with the serial numbers filed down -- mythical creatures at summer camp.
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Old 03-08-2020, 07:49 AM   #8
dcarson
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

There is a webcomic JL8 which is the Justice League at age 8. http://limbero.org/jl8/1
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Old 03-08-2020, 08:28 AM   #9
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

I don't think I've made my inquiry clear enough. I'm not looking for kiddified games, with gingerbread men and magical cats and so on. I appreciate the suggestions, but it's not what I'm aiming for or what he likes.

I want to find something that, say, a 10 or 12 year old would like to play but is still fun with the stabby and shooty things removed. He would like D&D, but I don't want him slaughtering goblins by the dozen. He would like Star Frontiers, but I don't want him mercilessly shooting Sathar agents or fragging them with grenades. These games are fairly strongly oriented toward violence, so finding ways to play them without it is difficult.

A setting like Worminghall is more what I'm looking for, though that setting would be too complicated for him. And he's definitely not into Harry Potter, so turning it in that direction isn't the right move.

Basically, I want a game that isn't childlike sweetness but doesn't have lethal violence at its core. It should have action and not too much talking, though some is fine. It should be playable one on one and probably shouldn't be mission-based.

I'm also not necessarily looking for a published product. If someone has an outline of an idea that might satisfy this, I could work it into a game myself.
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Old 03-08-2020, 09:56 AM   #10
Celjabba
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
Default Re: Solo game for five year old

I was going to suggest "Tails of Equestria", but it likely isn't what you want.
It work well, however, although I never tried with 5 years old. I think the youngest players were about 8 ?
And I am not sure about solo play with it.
There are a children book serie in French about horses at a stable that I plundered for suitable scenarios, mutatis mutandis. It worked well enough, I think.

I have seen people succesfully play in the Harry Potter setting with childrens, but perhaps not with 5 years old ! And you already excluded that.

Star War is almost guaranteed to be well received. Lots of Lego to enhance the experience, also.

Otherwise, children books about child detectives (starting with Enid Blyton and going forward to present days) are a neverending source of scenarios, complete with mystery, clues, villains and cast of NPC. But again, maybe not for a 5 years old. For 10-12 years old, however, it should be fine.

Last edited by Celjabba; 03-09-2020 at 06:21 AM.
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