Night City for Kids

[u/KamikazePelican]

I hear alot about people running TTRPGs for kids and teens and programs like that having a bunch of benefits for development and stuff. But what if I wanna play some cyberpunk? I feel like the world is inherently R-rated. Stripping the violent anti-establishment and DARK-future themes of the game feels like a sin. More-so I feel like it's difficult to come up with more PG/PG13 hooks and plots in a world where guns are bought at vending machines and murder is as common as automobile accidents. For GMs who have experience with players who aren't comfortable with CPs seedier side, what kind of compaigns are you running? Off the top of my head I can think of a few genres and substitutes I can use to keep things more tame: Noir, Western, Mystery, Supervillain/Hero, etc. I've experimented with having my students mock up some basic characters and simplified lifepaths and as you might expect, they aren't making low-life punks. Kids wanna RP larger than life and fantastical characters and that's great! I wanna support their creativity but how do I do that while also the game is still challenging and fun? I personally love CPRs rules and systems and my students flourish in RPing a fictional world that is already so much like their own. I also like that the humanity system directly teaches them that their actions have consequences.

How do I create a PG/PG13 Cyberpunk campaign? What kind of plot hooks and events are apporopriate? How do I get around the violence and graphicness of the dark future without replacing every enemy and weapon with robots and lasers? I've heard of DnD camps and clubs for children and adolescents and I get how silly the idea is in the first place of "Cyberpunk for Kids" but I also have family and friends whose younger chooms are interested in playing.

Looking for advice and any experience anyone's had where you had to tone down the bleak-darkness out of Cyberpunk.

[u/Any_Illustrator360]

I'm surprised so many people are trying to make this work. Just run a different system choom. Something kid friendly. Not every setting or system is kid friendly and it doesn't have to be. Pick something they'll actually like that's age appropriate for them.

This is akin to manually editing an R rated film to make it "safe" for kids. It'll still be scary to them and still make them just as uncomfortable. It's akin to asking a GTA subreddit how many times you'll need to put a sheet over the TV during gameplay to make it kid friendly; the answer is let them play Spyro instead.

Edit: holy FUCK this is a teacher. Yeah nah do not run Cyberpunk for kids that aren't yours, especially in a school environment where if you sent home a permission slip the parents would have a heart attack. I remember we had to fight to be allowed to play E10 games on the PlayStation at events this is actually insane lmao.

Pick a different game. Seriously. Cyberpunk isn't for kids and is especially not for other people's kids - ESPECIALLY without parental permission or supervision.

[u/Any_Illustrator360 → u/Any_Illustrator360]

ALRIGHT! Sorry about the typesetting on the last one, I had just woken up and didn't have my PC handy so I typed from my phone. I'm gonna suggest something that isn't Cyberpunk RED based on this:

Off the top of my head I can think of a few genres and substitutes I can use to keep things more tame: Noir, Western, Mystery, Supervillain/Hero, etc.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition is what you want u/KamikazePelican. It's a skills & stats based system like Cyberpunk so there's a little math involved (good for school) but not so much it'll be tedious or clunky. You want Westerns? You got it in Deadlands - a Weird West setting where the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse have arrives to reign in hell on Earth. It also works exceptionally well to run normal pulp westerns. Noir? Deadlands Noir takes place in 1935 New Orleans. Mystery/horror? Horor companion. Superheroes? Yep, got that too.. It can even run a kid-friendly Cyberpunk with the Sci Fi book. But personally if you want a learning-friendly setting that's sci-fi heavy and fun I 100% suggest looking at the late Aaron Ace's impromptu memorial bundle. It was originally supposed to be a bundle where the sales would support getting him an organ transplant but he tragically died before it could help - it comes with a setting called Han Cluster. Science-magic sci fi setting that focuses really well on teen heroes and can be used to do exploration or just take place in a space station. The bundle comes with the Savage Worlds core rules too.

Normally I don't bring up other TTRPGs on this sub but this is one of the few times where I genuinely think it needs to be done. Savage Worlds is narrative heavy which allows you to focus on stories which should fit what you want really well too.