RPGs for 3 year olds

[Sava]

Sounds like a great idea for "Postal 4".

Fun concept. Poor execution.
The Postal series

[Elok]

I believe an RPG for three-year-olds might be possible in the future--all the recoil shoots out the back end, right? The trick is to get the weight of the materials down to kiddy strength, then.

[Uncle Sparky]

Kids that age like to pretend they're animals (cats, puppies, monkeys). They like to pretend they are in school. They like to pretend they are cooking food and doing housework.

Chose something you enjoy doing anyway, and make it into a game with them.

[H Tower]

Anybody else ever done something like that - ran a story-telling game with a 3 year old? I'm working on a system for mine and would love some advice if anyone has some...

I posted a more detailed question on http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questio...three-year-old for reference, feel free to post in either place.

Basically, he plays a monkey ("Curious George" type, except with a possibly different skill identifier, ie, "Strong Stacy") and I play The Man with the (color) Hat, and we go into museums of different sorts and retrieve Pirate Treasure by exploring the museum and solving minor puzzles. Except I suck at creative writing, so we sort of wing it.

Are you looking for quests since as you put it, "suck at creative writing" or game mechanics? I only have a two year old, so our playing isn't much more than chasing each other around the house and yelling "boo!" or reading books to her.

Rather than a museum with lots of "old stuff that they can't touch" that 3 year olds might not understand, you might want to try the zoo, or even a neighbourhood park setting.

Quests could be climbing a tree to retrieve a soccer ball at the park. Find the monkeys at the zoo. Digging for dinosaurs. Going fishing. These aren't monumentous story hooks, but they are easy enough stories to understand for a young child, and will eventually lead up to more advanced stories, like battling the wax pirates at the museum, or encountering a living mummy.

Fishing Story:
"Lets go fishing George! We'll go in the back yard and dig for worms. Do you want to dig for worms in the compost pile, or in mom's flower garden?"
Compost Pile is successful for worms, and doesn't make mom angry.
Flower garden is also successful for finding worms, but mom gets upset and needs a hug to make her feel better before you go fishing.

"Grab your tackle box and fishing pole, and lets go George!"
Do you walk the quarter mile to the lake want to drive? Walking could have George encountering other children.

Do you fish from the pier, the shore, or rent a boat? Each location will lead to different experiences. The shore will let george see a turtle, the pier has other fishermen, and the boat lets you choose to be by the pier, the shore, or out in the middle of the lake where the really big fish are.

....

Other elements you can add in are Curious George seeing his reflection in the water, leaning closer and falling in, or seeing a cat stuck out on a raft in the middle of the lake.

For other story ideas, go to the library and find a curious george book you haven't read to your 3 year old yet, taking the storyline, and making it into the adventure for your child. No story writing needed, just keep him on the plot rails, letting him think that he is actually leading the adventure.

I liked the simple pass/fail mechanic that someone posted in your link. It lets you introduce some chance to the story, but also lets you keep the story on the plot rails you've setup.

[Hauldren Collider]

South Park: The Stick of Truth

[Dr Strangelove]

Fun concept. Poor execution.
The Postal series

Postal 2 was good, Postal 3 was a*s.