A ray of hope?

[Adm.Lee]

I was running a spring-break game of D&D for my 13-year-old son and his pals yesterday. After the game broke up, they wandered off to my son's room, and started playing with his extensive collection of Nerf guns. Two or three of them started comparing those to their favorite guns in the Modern Warfare computer games.

"Ah," thinks I, "an opportunity to bait the hook." I saunter into the room with my copy of the T2k small-arms guide (v2, it's got bigger pictures), and try not to giggle at their enthusiasm.

I wish I could say I'll be running a new T2k game soon, but I can't. Yet. I will raise the issue again next month, when I'll ask them what they'd like me to run for the summer. The last two summers, I've run a weekly game for them: D&D one year, Star Frontiers/Savage Worlds last year. Maybe this year, I can drop them into Kalisz and indulge the old man's nostalgia.

I had despaired of them having any interest in a Cold War alternate history, since the Cold War itself means nothing to 7th graders. (I'm not sure it meant much to me, in 7th grade, either. I was much more into WW2.) But apparently, if you dangle the option of throwing down with M60s and sniper rifles, you can get a nibble....

[Sanjuro]

I think they call that "grooming."

[M-Type]

Sounds like it could be a good opportunity. I myself 'discovered' T2k while browsing the DriveThruRPG site, and seeing the 1ed rulebook. I Googled the game itself, and I'm a big fan of history (WWI, WWII, Cold War/Space Race) and before you know it I was hooked!

[Targan]

Oh wow, what a great thread! I wish I'd had a dad who'd run RPG campaigns for my friends and I when I was 13. My daughter turns 13 next month and all she's interested in is really weird tweeny Manga.

[Adm.Lee]

To be honest, I think my son would rather play D&D, but he's open to a lot of things right now. My wife is an RP'er, too, and he takes after her a lot. I am being verrrrry careful not to overload him with the wargames I was playing as a teen.

Memoir '44 for now, Squad Leader in another year.
Star Frontiers last year, Star Fleet Battles... in a while.