I've been playing Magic for 10+ years, but I'm only just now starting to pay attention to story lines. I'm finding them way more interesting than I expected. I'm also finding that they seem fairly benign; meaning they would be suitable for kids. That said, I've never actually read a book. I've just read summaries of the greater story arcs.
How suitable are the stories themselves for children (mine are 4)? I'm mostly concerned with the depiction of violence.
You could tell some stories with "father's lens" but if you go back to the old stories ( the Wetherlight's Saga ) you could use them as a base to tell stories to your kid ...
"There was a kingdon long long agoin this planet called dominia , these people had soo much knowledgement both in tech and in magic . And then the healer of the kingdom grow wary and gealous .... "
and soo goes , i would ever tell the names of Urza and Yawgmoth , as they are easy to remember .
Alright. I particularly enjoy the gist of the events that happened around the Eldrazi. Tefari and Urborg is pretty interesting stuff. Everything surrounding the Mending.
I'm not sure exactly where those events sit in different stories, though.
Alright. I particularly enjoy the gist of the events that happened around the Eldrazi. Tefari and Urborg is pretty interesting stuff. Everything surrounding the Mending.
I'm not sure exactly where those events sit in different stories, though.
As a general rule of thumb, if there are Phyrexians, it won't really be kid friendly, but most everything else is.
There might be a little bit of questionable material in some of it, but nothing as bad as the Phyrexians at any given point.
Most of MtG, with the exception of Kamigawa, Onslaught novels and Test of Metal (unless you want your kid talking about bum shanks, calling people its ***** and stuff) should be kid friendly. The only Phyrexian related storyline material I would withhold is The Thran.
Any MTG book with J. Robert King's name on it is probably unsuitable for children. Apocalypse was the first Magic book I picked up (at age 11), and I remember how it freaked me out back then. It was dark and quite grotesque, and the prominence of the Phyrexians added a demonic element to the book that no one under 13 ought to be comfortable with.
It was a good book and I like J.R. King, but still, giving a book like that to a younger kid would be irresponsible.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"I'd rather die speaking the truth than live a lie." --Gix, to Yawgmoth (pre-Phyrexia)
For 4-year olds, I'm considering simply gathering up all of the related wiki stuff and putting together my own summary based on that. Hopefully, I can find concurrent artwork that they would find interesting (that is one of the amazing parts of this game/franchise). It would be a bit of an undertaking, but probably less than sifting through tons of books and figuring out how to retell them appropriately.
I would say the artwork is the least appropriate part of the game for kids. My 2yo loves to help me count out hands, id numbers on cards, etc simple counting/letter recognition games. i have to be careful of the art ok cards shes allowed to play with because i dont want to think the ridiculous outfits they wear are appropriate for anyone.
The storylines themselves are fairly benign. The little violence written about doesnt get that graphic (excepting the aforementioned 'phyrexians involved' caveat.) I dont recall specifics but in the weatherlight saga squee and volrath have some fairly graphic scenes together, but that was an exceptional story arc; so itd be worth editing. (Dont wanna ruin too much, but there is some major people death in that arc)
Id probably just base from the wiki stuff, that way you can edit as you see fit.
I have read some of the books, and the violence is usually not too extreme, but the Cabal Patriarch engages in sexual intercourse with Phage in one book of the Onslaught Cycle, and Toshi Umezawa engages in sexual intercourse with Kiku in one book of the Kamigawa Cycle, so some parents might consider such material unsuitable for children under a certain age.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Those who would trade their freedoms for security will have neither.”-Benjamin Franklin
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
Some of the books are novel sized. Does your child wants to read novel sized books? Can your child handle books that are on average 290-400 pages?
Here is the list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Magic:_The_Gathering_novels
However I would suggest to find a way to read at all and if you are lucky enjoy reading (which you can't force them to do).
For characters that carry weapons such as swords, how do you explain?
The lore on Uncharted realms is mostly PG- PG-13 although informative regarding characters it may lack some content that furthers the story until a few weeks afterwards.
Also some of the books are unsuitable for some mtg players on the basis that they are not canon anymore such as
Try reading Worzel's tale from the alpha set. It is very simple and lacks further context keeping your child safe.
Despite the artwork, black is not the color of evil!!!
"Suitability for Children"-- ah, what an interesting topic.
The romance in MTG rarely is harder core than Lord of the Rings-- a couple of instances notwithstanding.
War is a theme that it's a matter of philosophical debate whether it's appropriate for children or not, and every single Magic story is going to be about War.
To corrupt their innocence at too young an age, or to delay preparing them for the world, which is the greater evil?
Technology, Nature, and Magic are all big themes too, and there's no telling what your kid will make of which is 'right' or 'wrong' or if they're all 'neutral'.
The choices and attitudes of Planeswalkers are not like the choices and attitudes of Barney and Friends. They get into very real deep issues and will be a big part of how
you end up understanding issues like abortion, eugenics, global warming, the works.
Is it more important to be part of a Coalition? To be one of Nine Titans? Or is it more important to follow your own Spark and seek life, liberty, and happiness wherever it takes you?
Is it ok to kill evil? Is it ok to kill for fun and profit? Does anyone have the right to force sacrifice from another instead of or in addition to personal sacrifice?
Is religion too tyrannical or does it protect people from terrible horrors? All these cans of worms and more will be opened if you try to share Magic: the Gathering stories with your kids.
And don't even get started on just the terrifyingness of Eldrazi or the confusing mystery of who or what Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver is.
Should you leave a child unattended with science fiction and fantasy themes? Never. It's all to one degree or another 'Dangerous Knowledge', and your child at any age, 4, 14, or 40 will probably want and need their parent's help with the big tough scary stuff as it can get hardcore. But it's all absolutely as fascinating as it can be mind-torturing. Figuring out how to tell such stories to a 4-year old without making yourself laugh at yourself because of how much you're oversimplifying it would be a challenge. Telling the straight truth with nothing withheld will probably make sharing real world history and current events and explaining lots of things a lot easier.
For a 4 year old, I wouldn't be concerned with moral appropriateness as much as I would be about simplicity, making sure they understand who is who. I would also recommend not looking for the simplest, 'meant for children' stories. Instead I would go straight to the heart of hell, to Phyrexia, to Yawgmoth, to Test of Metal, to Tezzeret, to the streets of Tidehollow. I would read the stories yourself, and figure out what you want to say to your kid about them, and don't put off the most unpleasant ones for last. Instead start with the middling horrific stuff, then go to the worst stuff, then more middling horrific stuff, then end on the lightest note you can find, then wait for the inevitable time when they rediscover the absolute worst and it starts to hit them harder. I would look for card arts to help illustrate your story.
The Comics about Ice Age and Fallen Empires are good, I just picked them up last week at a comic store (you might need to look for them online).
There's no point in showing your kid science fiction and fantasy anything if you're going to try to turn it into Candyland. It's not Candyland, and that's kind of the point. It's way better than Candyland, and after they've had a taste of Magic: the Gathering, they'll want Candyland to be more like Magic.
I also recommend Jazz music. Lots and lots of Jazz music can help you get through it all when the really epic ***** goes down.
I would say the Real World isn't all that Suitable for Children and that's why Magic isn't all that Suitable for Children. You might end up with a very bright Young Adult if you feed it all the right books.
I can't think of anything off the top of my head in Magic Lore anywhere that isn't all hardercore than Pokemon. If Lord of the Rings and Star Wars is intense for you and you don't want it to get too much more intense, maybe stay away. Those are just par for the course and almost required to understand what's going on here.
Try watching Star Wars and Star Trek movies with them, and reading outloud from Lord of the Rings and maybe Narnia, or if not Narnia, maybe the trilogy of "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength". The Man of Steel is a good modern sci-fi movie that has some of the themes in Magic.
Stuff like Maelstrom Nexus, Knowledge Pool, the Blind Eternities....that kind of stuff might make your kid want to listen to the Dark Side of the Moon with the Wizard of Oz.
I don't really know what's "Suitable for Children" though, I just know if you give kids tons of awesome ***** at whatever age they tend to figure out how to like it eventually at some point. When I was little my parents dragged me around to boring old museum-y type places from colonial days and me back then wouldn't have called it Child Friendly but I'm glad they did that now. Even though old colonial museum-y places are still kinda dusty and boring compared to the frakkin Interwebs.
Alternatively, you could ignore absolutely everything I've said and don't help your kid go insane any faster than they already will at their own pace, and like, only show them The Brady Bunch or Leave it To Beaver. That sounds Safe.
I am probably every color-combination it is possible to be, though it's really hard to figure out what it would mean to be 4-colored....it doesn't seem logical to be 4-colored without being 5-colored.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
How suitable are the stories themselves for children (mine are 4)? I'm mostly concerned with the depiction of violence.
"There was a kingdon long long agoin this planet called dominia , these people had soo much knowledgement both in tech and in magic . And then the healer of the kingdom grow wary and gealous .... "
and soo goes , i would ever tell the names of Urza and Yawgmoth , as they are easy to remember .
Good luck bro!
Some have considerably more profane actions in them than others, your best bet is to ask about a book in particular.
Level 1 Judge
I write flavor articles for RoxieCards.
I play and judge at Giga Bites Cafein Marietta, Georgia.
I'm not sure exactly where those events sit in different stories, though.
As a general rule of thumb, if there are Phyrexians, it won't really be kid friendly, but most everything else is.
There might be a little bit of questionable material in some of it, but nothing as bad as the Phyrexians at any given point.
It was a good book and I like J.R. King, but still, giving a book like that to a younger kid would be irresponsible.
For 4-year olds, I'm considering simply gathering up all of the related wiki stuff and putting together my own summary based on that. Hopefully, I can find concurrent artwork that they would find interesting (that is one of the amazing parts of this game/franchise). It would be a bit of an undertaking, but probably less than sifting through tons of books and figuring out how to retell them appropriately.
The storylines themselves are fairly benign. The little violence written about doesnt get that graphic (excepting the aforementioned 'phyrexians involved' caveat.) I dont recall specifics but in the weatherlight saga squee and volrath have some fairly graphic scenes together, but that was an exceptional story arc; so itd be worth editing. (Dont wanna ruin too much, but there is some major people death in that arc)
Id probably just base from the wiki stuff, that way you can edit as you see fit.
Grammar is the difference between knowing your ****, and knowing you're ****.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”-Thomas Jefferson
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of its user.”-Theodore Roosevelt
“Patriotism means to stand by one's country; it does not mean to stand by one's president.”-Theodore Roosevelt
Here is the list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Magic:_The_Gathering_novels
However I would suggest to find a way to read at all and if you are lucky enjoy reading (which you can't force them to do).
For characters that carry weapons such as swords, how do you explain?
The lore on Uncharted realms is mostly PG- PG-13 although informative regarding characters it may lack some content that furthers the story until a few weeks afterwards.
Also some of the books are unsuitable for some mtg players on the basis that they are not canon anymore such as
Try reading Worzel's tale from the alpha set. It is very simple and lacks further context keeping your child safe.
Despite the artwork, black is not the color of evil!!!
This page provide more explanation for that
However keep this card away from your child
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=DAMNATION
some caveats
Tarkir is a realm wrecked with war
insistrad is filled with movie monsters
Phyrexians do horrible stuff
The romance in MTG rarely is harder core than Lord of the Rings-- a couple of instances notwithstanding.
War is a theme that it's a matter of philosophical debate whether it's appropriate for children or not, and every single Magic story is going to be about War.
To corrupt their innocence at too young an age, or to delay preparing them for the world, which is the greater evil?
Technology, Nature, and Magic are all big themes too, and there's no telling what your kid will make of which is 'right' or 'wrong' or if they're all 'neutral'.
The choices and attitudes of Planeswalkers are not like the choices and attitudes of Barney and Friends. They get into very real deep issues and will be a big part of how
you end up understanding issues like abortion, eugenics, global warming, the works.
Is it more important to be part of a Coalition? To be one of Nine Titans? Or is it more important to follow your own Spark and seek life, liberty, and happiness wherever it takes you?
Is it ok to kill evil? Is it ok to kill for fun and profit? Does anyone have the right to force sacrifice from another instead of or in addition to personal sacrifice?
Is religion too tyrannical or does it protect people from terrible horrors? All these cans of worms and more will be opened if you try to share Magic: the Gathering stories with your kids.
And don't even get started on just the terrifyingness of Eldrazi or the confusing mystery of who or what Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver is.
Should you leave a child unattended with science fiction and fantasy themes? Never. It's all to one degree or another 'Dangerous Knowledge', and your child at any age, 4, 14, or 40 will probably want and need their parent's help with the big tough scary stuff as it can get hardcore. But it's all absolutely as fascinating as it can be mind-torturing. Figuring out how to tell such stories to a 4-year old without making yourself laugh at yourself because of how much you're oversimplifying it would be a challenge. Telling the straight truth with nothing withheld will probably make sharing real world history and current events and explaining lots of things a lot easier.
For a 4 year old, I wouldn't be concerned with moral appropriateness as much as I would be about simplicity, making sure they understand who is who. I would also recommend not looking for the simplest, 'meant for children' stories. Instead I would go straight to the heart of hell, to Phyrexia, to Yawgmoth, to Test of Metal, to Tezzeret, to the streets of Tidehollow. I would read the stories yourself, and figure out what you want to say to your kid about them, and don't put off the most unpleasant ones for last. Instead start with the middling horrific stuff, then go to the worst stuff, then more middling horrific stuff, then end on the lightest note you can find, then wait for the inevitable time when they rediscover the absolute worst and it starts to hit them harder. I would look for card arts to help illustrate your story.
The Comics about Ice Age and Fallen Empires are good, I just picked them up last week at a comic store (you might need to look for them online).
There's no point in showing your kid science fiction and fantasy anything if you're going to try to turn it into Candyland. It's not Candyland, and that's kind of the point. It's way better than Candyland, and after they've had a taste of Magic: the Gathering, they'll want Candyland to be more like Magic.
I also recommend Jazz music. Lots and lots of Jazz music can help you get through it all when the really epic ***** goes down.
I would say the Real World isn't all that Suitable for Children and that's why Magic isn't all that Suitable for Children. You might end up with a very bright Young Adult if you feed it all the right books.
I can't think of anything off the top of my head in Magic Lore anywhere that isn't all hardercore than Pokemon. If Lord of the Rings and Star Wars is intense for you and you don't want it to get too much more intense, maybe stay away. Those are just par for the course and almost required to understand what's going on here.
Try watching Star Wars and Star Trek movies with them, and reading outloud from Lord of the Rings and maybe Narnia, or if not Narnia, maybe the trilogy of "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength". The Man of Steel is a good modern sci-fi movie that has some of the themes in Magic.
Stuff like Maelstrom Nexus, Knowledge Pool, the Blind Eternities....that kind of stuff might make your kid want to listen to the Dark Side of the Moon with the Wizard of Oz.
I don't really know what's "Suitable for Children" though, I just know if you give kids tons of awesome ***** at whatever age they tend to figure out how to like it eventually at some point. When I was little my parents dragged me around to boring old museum-y type places from colonial days and me back then wouldn't have called it Child Friendly but I'm glad they did that now. Even though old colonial museum-y places are still kinda dusty and boring compared to the frakkin Interwebs.
Alternatively, you could ignore absolutely everything I've said and don't help your kid go insane any faster than they already will at their own pace, and like, only show them The Brady Bunch or Leave it To Beaver. That sounds Safe.
People need to read this fanfiction, though:
www.hpmor.com
I am probably every color-combination it is possible to be, though it's really hard to figure out what it would mean to be 4-colored....it doesn't seem logical to be 4-colored without being 5-colored.