The Cypher System Rulebookadapts the Cypher System to an unlimited range of campaigns and genres, giving you the complete rules set and hundreds of character options, creatures, cyphers, and other resources. It’s everything you need to play virtually any game using the Cypher System rules. My own young start in RPGs is part of the reason it delights me every time we hear from players who are running Numenera and The Strange for their own kids. It surprises me too, because while Cypher System games are designed to be rules-light and story-heavy, they weren’t designed specifically with kids in mind Characters have four stat pools, Tough, Fast, Smart, and Awesome, where “awesome” points can be used to help other players and work cooperatively. The simplicity of the stats leaves a ton of room for creativity from the players and allows them to work on the world with the Guide (the DM’s title in No Thank You Evil). A child can see an obstacle in the game such as a mountain that needs to be climbed and try to use Tough to climb it, or they can try to build a hot air balloon or fly a plane or ride their companions; they’re only limited by their imaginations and the Guide. Companions are a special friend that travel with the adventurers, each with special abilities called cyphers. You can use them once, then recharge them allowing them to gain a new ability. The companions are great for moral and emotional support. If you’ve been reading my series on designing games for kids (and if you haven’t, you can find it here), you might already be anticipating what I’m about to say next:

Winner! ENnie Award Gold: Best Family Game. A tabletop game of make-believe, adventure, and storytelling for creative kids and their families!The kind of art that gets kids excited about their characters and the game world, and that encourages them to jump into someone else’s shoes (or princess dress or superhero costume) for a little while. We’re working with our lead artists, Cathy Wilkins and Michael Startzman, to create diverse characters that reflect the real world of gameplaying families. No Thank You, Evil! rulebook: This includes all of the game and character creation rules you need to play and run the game, as well as sections that detail Storia: The Land Next Door and the creatures within it. A special section on running the game helps Guides start off on the right foot. Expect lots of fantastic art and maps, as well as a layout that’s easy for beginning readers. (Note: Players don’t have to read the book—only the Guide needs to do that—but we want to make it easy for players to read if they want to do so). A game that is, more than anything else, tons of fun. One that inspires creativity and connectivity, and creates a sense of wonder. Kids can be anything they want to be, from a Cool robot who Loves Ooey Gooey Things to a Powerful fighter who Experiments with Science. Every character also has a companion, a special friend that knows secrets and travels with them. They may have a floor-thumping dust bunny named Mabel or a fiery dragon who roasts marshmallows on the tip of his tail. No Thank You Evil creates something unique and wonderful in making a D&D style tabletop RPG that is especially for younger kids and how they play. My two daughters, Clara and Olivia, gave me the big, pleading, eyes that only daughters can give and I told them we would play a short game of No Thank You, Evil! This is “the ENnie Award-Winning game of make-believe for creative kids and their families” made by Monte Cook Games. No Thank You, Evil! Is a tabletop game focused on adventure and imagination. In this game each player creates a character based on a selection of descriptions which are designed to get their imagination fired up. The players create simple sentences, the length of which is adjusted to match the age of the player. “I am a [verb] [noun] who [adjective]”. For younger players they are just a [noun] but as they grow and learn, the game grows with them. They gain a descriptor and then a special ability. When I play with my girls, we used just one blank.

Character Sheets: The character sheets are designed to be beautiful and clean, with lots of room for writing, drawing, and erasing. They include everything the player needs for her character on a single side, eliminating the need to turn the sheets over. The elements are positioned so that the tokens are placed closer to the top of the sheet and writing spaces are closer to the bottom to decrease the chance of token-flying mishaps! As they walked through the forest, they came upon a path which led to a small town. Outside the town they saw a big wanted poster. I was able to take the poster from a premade adventure and laid it right in front of them. Their eyes got big, their mouths dropped open a little bit, and, since Clara is learning to read, I made her sound out the word. “W…A…N…T…E…D? What’s it wanted for?” And I told her they should go into town to find out! So they did.

Create fantastic, whimsical adventures for your No Thank You, Evil! game

We’ve even gotten drawings of characters, letters from young players, and papercrafts of scary creatures in our mailboxes and inboxes. Reading the blogs from parents over the past couple of years who’ve taken the time to tweak the games to make them a bit easier and more kid-themed has been inspiring and informative. Older kids are running games with their parents and for their siblings. And non-gaming parents, aunts, uncles, and even grandparents are jumping in. We’ve seen Disney princesses, weird Santas, saddle-wearing cat balloons, and all kinds of other super imaginative ideas arise from families gaming together: I was probably about six years old when I played my first roleplaying game, Bunnies and Burrows. I was obsessed with Watership Down, and all I really cared about was the fact that I could be a bunny and that I could wear the bunny ears from my Halloween costume when we played. I honestly remember very little about the rules, except that you could fight things with a special kind of karate called Bun Fu. (We had pet rabbits at the time, and I thought I knew an awful lot about how rabbits acted, so my Bun Fu was mostly me thumping my feet on the linoleum floor as hard as I could until our babysitter–our GM–couldn’t take it anymore and told me that sometimes bunnies fought very quietly so they didn’t give themselves away to their enemies.) How old were you when you first started tabletop gaming? I was thirteen or fourteen, maybe a little older. RPGs aren’t usually designed for anyone younger than that to play, which is a shame because little kids are so good at playing pretend. They’re creative; children at play come up with some of the wildest scenarios and most interesting creatures. I’ve always heard tabletop RPGs and LARPs described to newcomers as “Remember playing pretend on the playground? That, but with rules,” so why wouldn’t there be a game specifically for the kids on the playground right now? Good news, there is.

No Thank You, Evil! is a tabletop game of creative make-believe, adventure, and storytelling. In No Thank You, Evil!, each player creates a character based on a couple of cool, descriptive, imagination-firing traits. The Guide (a special role often played by a parent or older sibling) presents a dilemma, and the players set off on an adventure of the imagination. Along the way they use their character’s special skills, companions, and equipment to overcome obstacles—perhaps fighting a slime monster, winning over the suspicious Mayor, or beating a rabbit at a race. All that to say I've tried a lot with my son and if you're on the fence about any of the above options NTYE has been what's worked best for him and I. Game play is simple, relying on standard D6s. The Guide will designate a difficulty level to a task and the player must roll above that difficulty. They can use their skills to bring the difficulty down by one or use an awesome point to help another player bring that difficulty down. Building the hot air balloon that I mentioned before may be a difficulty of 5, but a player can use a point from their Smart pool to make it a difficulty of 4 while another player uses an Awesome point to lower the difficulty again to 3. I've been playing Numenera using the Cypher System from Monte Cook Games for 2 or more years. I very-much enjoy the game play system. I have 3 kids - 12, 9, 6. Each at a different level of game playability, so Dungeons & Dragons hasn't really been a good fit. Olivia is a Super Smart Princess who Experiments with Science. Rowan is a Cool Robot who Plays withOoey Gooey Things. Their best friend tells them that a dragon has stolen all his chocolate coins. They’re the only ones who can enter Storia and save the chocolate—how will they do it? It’s all up to them!The box comes with three adventures. I recommend a thorough read through of them before playing. Also, I recommend brushing up on your improv skills because younger players are going to throw all sorts of random ideas at you. My kids responded very favorably to the silliest voices I could muster and props as I was able (e.g., the first adventure includes magic candies as the way to call for an extraction, so everyone got a candy and had to save it until the end). I had to scan and print my own character sheets because my boys have already created multiple different characters. The rulebook includes a huge amount of information on locations and characters that exist in this world so that you can make your own adventures. In fact, my boys came up with their own story and conflict and I took it and added some twists so that they don't know how it ends. I am looking forward to running that adventure for them this weekend. If you have the time and the right mindset, this game can be absolutely amazing for young RPGers. I am a long time gamer and have been looking for an opportunity to get my young sons started. This game is exactly that.