So I'm running a game for a friend and her kids.

So I'm running a game for a friend and her kids. I'm using Numenera because that's what I'm running for my regular gaming group and I can recycle stuff (also I only have to remember one ruleset).

Anyway, both grown-ups and kids are playing -- mostly so that the party isn't made up entirely of pre-teen boys who have a war crime for every occasion. Wisely, the mom has taken the "Who Leads Others" focus which means she can have a civil discussion and can sort of corral the rest of the PCs.

This also makes her the person "who knows a guy" so last weekend I said "Oh yeah, Uolis knows who you are, he calls you over and says..."

"Wait," I say, "what's your character's name again?"
"I didn't write one down," she says.
"Well you should really have one, that's sort of a key bit about the PC."
[pause while we think up a name]
"Oh, just call me Mom", she says.
"Huh...like m-a-w-m, Mawm? I can go with that."
"No I was thinking more m-a-u-g-h-m, .Maughm."

And thus it was.

As an aside, Numenera (or any member of the Cypher System it works off of) is a pretty good game system for pre-teens and up. It's a little complicated for younger kids, and it's easy to get lost in the choices when setting up your character, but in actual play it move along briskly and offers a fair amount of choice for players without being too overwhelming.