Tinkerbell Is Doomed

I was kind of surprised to see such a lackluster turn out of responses to my last post on Faery's Tale Deluxe. Perhaps I didn't sell it well but I really think its an amazing game and I hope you give it a look either at your FLGS or on PDF. If you have kids I recommended it even more.

I remember seeing James at GROGNARDIA post about what game readers thought would be good to get his son interested in starting to play RPGs and most people responded with some version of old school D&D or other. To me, games need to speak to the interests and experiences of their target audience. One reason D&D never really grabbed me was that at the age of 8, living in Brooklyn, NY in 1977, I had no idea what medieval really was. I didn't see castles on TV or see magazines at the local luncheonette/candystore with pictures of Knights and Wizards.

We had comic books with superheroes. We had TV shows with starships and aliens. We understood these things and so we wanted to emulate them in games. We had D&D until we could figure out how to do that.

The modern child is exposed to far more media than my generation ever was. There's the internet, youtube, streaming video, manga, anime, video and computer games and much more. You get the picture. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said a thousand times before by intellectuals much smarter than I.

You're unlikely to get modern children excited by handing them something that looks like a school text book and saying, "This is what I used to get started many years ago/when I was young/when I just about your age." All this says is, "Old stuff Dad likes or Call of Duty. Hmmm. I think I'll fire up the X-Box."

What I'd like to see is someone pitch their kid a game like Toon, Happy Birthday, Robot or Faery's Tale Deluxe. Start simple and small with room for expansion. Also don't forget to keep it realtively simple and straightforward for the youngsters but don't talk down to them. This is one feature of Faery's Tale Deluxe that really impressed me. It can be read by anyone. It doesn't treat the reader like a novice but not does it go on and on like you've already been gaming for years like some games do. I think it reaches a very workable balance.

Anyway, I was originally going to talk more about this nifty little stroke of genius but I'll wait until the time is right. Currently a lot of blogs seem ablaze with talk of superhero gaming. Its a subject near and dear to my heart so I totally understand and approve.

Oh! That reminds me...

Stay tuned,

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Barking Alien

Ahead of the Game

My favorite comic book store in New York City, Jim Hanley's Universe, is having a really big sale so I popped in just to see what I've been missing thanks to my ultra-tight budget. Found five, count'em 5, issues of FASA's Stardate Magazine. Star Trek RPGaming gold mine baby! Each issue was cover priced $2-$4 dollars each. Snagged the whole thing for $10 thanks to the sale. Happy!

Ran a game that should have been awesome. It was not. I knew going in it wasn't going to be. I was right. Sad.

A friend of mine with connections in Japan is trying to find me a copy of Meikyuu Kingdom. Yay for friends with friends in Japan! Happy!

Saw 'Happy Birthday Robot' at my FLGS the Compleat Strategist (Happy) but couldn't afford it (Sad).

Got a haircut that looks good. Happy!

I count four Happys and two Sads. I am ahead of the game. Wee!

OK. Somebody's tired.

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Barking Alien