Wednesday, October 19, 2011

RPGs: Not Just for Grown-Ups Anymore

Anyone out here familiar with D&D and GURPS? (Dungeons and Dragons and Generic Universal Role-Playing System) I played some role-playing games back in undergrad: Star Trek, Star Wars, and a spy game I can't remember the name of anymore. I even tried running a superhero campaign in GURPS, but we only did it once. I wouldn't claim to be the greatest gamer, but I had fun with it. So it was nice to see this article on CNN about a guy who's come up with a RPG for kids. It's not a video game; it's a tabletop version. (I wonder what kind of dice it uses.) RPGs not only foster creativity, but they also help kids with their math and reading. Hopefully something like this will also encourage a lifelong love of fantasy and science fiction as well.

4 comments:

David P. King said...

That's awesome! :)

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I used to play RPG's. Now I mostly game online.

Ted Cross said...

I think it's sad that kids have become too swept up in electronic/online entertainment, because they are missing out on how fun it is to interact live with a great group of people. I played D&D and later MERP as a teen, and those were some of the funnest times of my life.

Briane said...

I played D&D until I was about 13, along with a variety of other RPGs. That was in the 1980s, when parents were convinced that D&D was satanic and we'd all end up badly.

I can still recall the names of some of my characters, sadly enough for me. Seriously. I didn't remember that I had an appointment today, but I recall PERFECTLY what the name of my Paladin was in the D&D game I played with my friends. (Tuscan Greyhawk. It was "Tuscan Greyhawk." I can't believe I'm letting this comment get posted. There goes my political career.)

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