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Old 10-18-2018, 04:25 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Child PCs and NPCs

I was wondering how people dealt with child PCs and NPCs in their games? I generally like using child NPCs, and I tend to give them plot armor (the quickest way for players to kill off their PCs in my games is to attack children, as I have a stack of 500 CP to 4,000 CP templates that I can give my child NPCs). Child NPCs (which is anyone under the age of 15 in my games) tend to also be useful, as any child NPCs that PCs will interact with will inexplicably be a minimum of 50% of their CP value (meaning that child NPCs in my supers campaigns will be a minimum of 250 CP).

When it comes to child PCs, I require them to be competent, meaning that they are universally gifted. Whether it is a low end campaign of 250 CP or a high end campaign of 1,000 CP, the child PCs will be equal to the adult PCs. I do require them to take a few minimum backgrounds though, including Enemy (Parents, Watchers, 12-), Secret (Superhero), and Social Stigma (Minor).

What about you? How do you treat child PCs and NPCs? Do you use them or let them in your games or do you ignore/ban them?
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Old 10-19-2018, 03:36 AM   #2
The Colonel
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

...child NPC with a 4000 point template?

...what sort of kids are these????
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Old 10-19-2018, 03:48 AM   #3
DakkaBoyzRool
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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Originally Posted by The Colonel View Post
...child NPC with a 4000 point template?

...what sort of kids are these????
The immortal bastard ones from Skyrim, obviously.
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Old 10-19-2018, 03:53 AM   #4
Bengt
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

I don't generally use child NPCs a lot, but what there are is actually children, not gods who happen to look like a children. If the players want to kill them they can with normal consequences based on the status of the NPC.

An all-children-are-gods campaign would totally break my suspension of disbelief unless it was a weird genre.

I've never played as or GMd children PCs so haven't thought much about it.
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Old 10-19-2018, 05:39 AM   #5
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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...child NPC with a 4000 point template?

...what sort of kids are these????
Generally, they are divinities masquerading as children in Supers campaigns, whose Serendipity 10 allows them to just coincidentally be the child that a PC targets.
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Old 10-19-2018, 06:41 AM   #6
The Colonel
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

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Generally, they are divinities masquerading as children in Supers campaigns, whose Serendipity 10 allows them to just coincidentally be the child that a PC targets.
... that would explain it. I can imagine a lot of groups where that wouldn't fly, however hard you threw it, but if that suits your table, disgusting things are indisputable (as the Romans put it ;-)).
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Old 10-19-2018, 08:11 AM   #7
ericthered
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

Children PC's tend to young teenagers in my games. I could possibly run a 10 year old, but I find teenagers make much better adventurers. They must be appropriate for the genre, and often the presence of a child PC means we're playing in a different genre than would otherwise be indicated.



I don't count people older than 14 or 15 as children in my games, at least in most settings. I don't know how much my players notice that though. I don't hand out NPC sheets with ages on them, I just mentally flag that the youngest members of war-bands and hunting parties are likely to be 16-18.


NPC children have no special protections in my games. I generally play with responsible PC's, and we haven't needed any rules or protections. They do stay mostly in the background, though in my last campaign I played the "Baby Orcs" card (with orcs that really push the boundary between human and beast).
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Old 10-19-2018, 08:17 AM   #8
Gnome
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

I once ran a Star Wars campaign in which some PCs were Jedi and others were Padawans (there were also some who were neither--a tactical droid and a smuggler who definitely wasn't Han Solo).

The Padawans had fewer points, and they had Social Stigma (Minor), but they had more Destiny Points. More importantly, the story/theme of the campaign put the spotlight on the Padawans, as the missions were all "training missions" for the Padawans (inspired in large part by the Clone Wars TV show). So even though the Padawans were significantly less powerful, they got to take a "starring role" because the Jedi were responsible for making sure that they do.
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Old 10-20-2018, 06:14 AM   #9
Bengt
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Generally, they are divinities masquerading as children in Supers campaigns, whose Serendipity 10 allows them to just coincidentally be the child that a PC targets.
So in essence it's Rocks-Fall-Everybody-Dies wrapped in some rather contrived mechanics. Just telling the PCs that harming children is off-limits would, in my opinion, be a lot less passive aggressive.
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Old 10-20-2018, 07:30 AM   #10
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Child PCs and NPCs

So what do you do when they violate the ban?
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