[Play Report] DMing for Middle/High Schoolers

[Rechan]

UPDATE: So far I've ran two sessions. The first play report is here and here's the second play report.

The local youth center is very receptive to me running a weekly D&D game there - a year or two ago, someone did the same thing over the summer. The program admits middle and high school kids - so roughly 10-18 year olds. (For the curious the program's site is here.)

Thing is, what should I expect? And how do I handle kids (as opposed to adults)? What should I do differently, or ways to help given that I'm dealing with teens?* I know there are some resources out there (A few articles at DNDKids) but not a whole lot. Not only that, but how to make the game the most fun/EXCITING for newbies?

I imagine that at first it might be like running a convention game (but I have no experience doing that either ). Some kids may have experience (having played in the previous person's game), others may not. My general idea at this time is to just come in first with a bunch of pregens, run a session or two to see who likes it, and then help the interested ones make characters.

I'll take any advice I can get, right down to "When plotting that first game, do this, it will appeal to them more".

*One thing I know to do: avoid any Demon/Devil business. This is in a hippy New York college town, so there's less to fear of the D&D is Satan stuff, but even so I don't need a kid running home and telling his parents that he played a WARLOCK INFUSED WITH THE POWERS OF HELL.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Keep it moving, don't get bogged down in rules minutae, make a call and move on.
Other than that do what you normally do. You may ahve some adjusting to suit the personalities at the table they are people just like everyone else.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I'd suggest reading over [MENTION=31216]Bullgrit[/MENTION] 's small excerpt of what happened when he ran a game for a bunch of kids and a couple of their dads. I thought it was a great idea and it looked like he kept it real simple and straight forward. Something that you'd probably want to do as well.

The other things I'd recommend are the new 4E redbox and the PF Beginner Box which one or both might be good for what you want to do.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas.

Happy gaming!

 

[TheAuldGrump]

First off - Good on ya!

Second, I treat my teen players just like I do their parents with scorn and derision an expectation that they don't need to be led by the nose.

In point of fact I had them go through an adventure in two weeks that has taken their parents four - so far. (Yeah, at least one more week for the grownups - the kids are a lot more goal oriented, the adults get dist - ooh, shiny! )

I started them out with a simple mystery, but then I start most games out with a mystery. I also went with atmosphere, and not a lot of combat. The next session introduced more combat.

I do not know which edition of D&D you are going with, otherwise I would suggest starting with the Pathfinder beginner box - which has an adventure that explains the rules as the encounters take place.

The Auld Grump, speaking of games, I have to get going.

 

[nedjer]

Bunch of blog posts on kids/ young adults and TTRPGs here.

 

[RoryN]

I agree with the idea of keeping it simple to begin with, both with rules and with what the kids are doing as an adventure. There may be those that get bored easily, so keeping the flow moving forward will probably be one of the best things you can do. A group of teenagers is likely to try and do something you may not have anticipated, but if you can work things out on-the-fly, you'll be fine. You can always ask "Do you really want to try that?" to try and let them think a little about their actions, but the game is all about having fun, so let them make the decisions they want to make.

One thing I would consider is not having anyone outright die in the game, although having some characters beat up enough to think about what they did wrong might help out future games. After the players get used to the game, introduce more rules and let them adjust to them. But most of all, HAVE FUN!!!!

 

[buddhafrog]

Good for you. I use D&D as a tool in my ESL games in Korea and have played with many dozens of kids over the past couple years. It's fun. When you have new kids playing, you'll get the un-jaded, first-time reactions of AWESOME that will remind you of when you played as a child. FANTASTIC!

Some advice:

• be prepared for kids to order pizza at the inn. Seriously, maybe Coke, too. The older they are, the more they might understand the setting. The younger they are, the more flexible you should be in making sure they follow standard D&D world expectations.
• Play as though they are adults. They watch/play their fair share of murder/horror games - no need to tame it down in that regard. I don't always describe the violence but I'll throw out in juicy detail occasionally so that they remember the type of situation their PC's face. They love it.
• I still have a hard time doing this, but start with actual playing as soon as possible - don't get hung up on explaining all the rules first. They'll learn by doing and will have a lot more fun that way. Most sit down and play their new videogames without going through the directions, unlike many adults.
• Exaggerate, Be expressive. They will likely be more reserved at first b/c they might be new and b/c some teens are rather shy. Hopefully you'll have a couple clowns which will make everyone relax. Either way, YOU keep up the pace and excitement, they'll follow. This is true for all DM'ing, but I find it more important for new youth games.
• Good for all DM'ing, but again especially for youth, let them explain who their character is and what their backstory is. They might be more comfortable seeing the story as a list of goals (much like video games) and take some time to fully grasp their ability to make their character/world their own. That is what makes this game special - so force them into that a little more than you might normally.
• I find myself having students roll insight more than normal, especially new students. I use it as a way to give them clues or suggest best options for them. Sometimes they need a little more guidance and are far less sure of the real range of choices their characters can make. With that in mind, try to find a reason for PC's to benefit from exploring their environment and interacting with it through verbally saying what they're doing. This will put them in control of their characters and help them to see the game beyond what is on the table and in front of their eyes.
• Use minis. Many adults love minis, but holy ranger, kids LOVE minis. Minis alone will make them want to play. I always put my PC minis on the table and have each players choose a few they might be interested in playing (be prepared to answer the question: who's the best? = they're all equal, but have different strengths)

If you're playing Pathfinder, it sounds like the new Beginners Box would be good. If you're playing 4e, I'd suggest trying to Run Madness at Gardmore Abbey and a prequel like Siege. I haven't done this yet, but I'll start using this set up for my next round of games. I think the kids will love the Deck of Many Things. The benefit for playing a prequel like Siege of Gardmore Abbey is they can explore the game a little, using pre-gens that you create, and then worry about their "real" character after they learn a little about the game.

A few things you might consider that are tangible things that help my games:

• I use fake gems and put them in a velvet bag and have kids randomlly pull their treasure. The rarer the color, the more valuable the treasure. I have four different levels of treasure rewards based on encounter levels. I keep each gem low so that usually each kid in the party will draw a few gems each for their total party share. Kids have a lot of fun with this.
• I use the a critcal hit the way I did as a child. Roll again to see what extra damage. 0-9 max damage / 10-14 roll damage x 2 / 15-17 roll damage x 3 plus one condition / 18-19 roll damage x 3 plus one condition plus one immediate attack / 20 beheaded, plus everyone gets a free attack as your enemies watch their ally's head roll away... Kids go crazy in love with that Crit20 extra roll. I have a few extra special d20's that I let kids choose from, and they only get to use these for very special rolls (one of the dice is seen in my avatar pic to the left)
• I used to do this - and kids love it - but it took too much time as I started playing D&D daily with multiple classes. I used to make magic treasure cards using a free downloadable progam that lets you make your own "Magic" cards (I think it was Magic, not sure). I'd find online pics of real items and put them as the image of the card and type of it's properties. It was fun but took too much time.
• I think most character sheets are crap. Even I get confused. I use D&D 4E Shado's Character Sheet (you can find it here on Enworld). I adjusted this further to make more ATK option on the front page.
• I find this very useful for me - I give each student a cheap colored plastic closed folder, a small yellow pad, and plastic sleeve to put their actual character sheet in. I have them write all the HP/etc changes on their yellow pad. I do all this so that they keep their crap clean and organized and not lost - you might find this to be a little more problematic for kids.

Have fun. Good luck. Give us an update and let us know how it goes.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

 

[Rechan]

With that in mind, try to find a reason for PC's to benefit from exploring their environment and interacting with it through verbally saying what they're doing.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "find a reason"? As in, the clues will inform them what to do?

Use minis. Many adults love minis, but holy ranger, kids LOVE minis. Minis alone will make them want to play. I always put my PC minis on the table and have each players choose a few they might be interested in playing (be prepared to answer the question: who's the best? = they're all equal, but have different strengths)

Are tokens ok? I just don't own actual minis. I typically use cheap things like aquarium stones, nuts and bolts, chess pawns, pennies, really anything laying around.

If you're playing Pathfinder, it sounds like the new Beginners Box would be good. If you're playing 4e, I'd suggest trying to Run Madness at Gardmore Abbey and a prequel like Siege. I haven't done this yet, but I'll start using this set up for my next round of games. I think the kids will love the Deck of Many Things. The benefit for playing a prequel like Siege of Gardmore Abbey is they can explore the game a little, using pre-gens that you create, and then worry about their "real" character after they learn a little about the game.

WotC hasn't released Siege sadly. Only people who ran at PAX got it. (Edit: Although I see someone described the adventure sequence in that thread. Nice.)

I'd rather work them up to something like Gardmore rather than start them off at level 6, but I do plan on making pregens for a session or two of just "Explore a dungeon" type stuff. Maybe beginning the adventure where a cow falls out of the sky onto someone's house (caused by a dragon losing its grip on its latest meal) and the PCs tracking it down to a DUNGEON. Either that, or a lone miner who broke through a tunnel into a deep cavern, something emerged and ate his mule, and he needs help (a dwarven wizard was buried in his lab after an earthquake, and what's left of him and his efforts to escape).

(Also I'm playing Gardmore Abby in an online game, so I don't want to spoil myself )

I use fake gems and put them in a velvet bag and have kids randomlly pull their treasure. The rarer the color, the more valuable the treasure. I have four different levels of treasure rewards based on encounter levels. I keep each gem low so that usually each kid in the party will draw a few gems each for their total party share. Kids have a lot of fun with this.

Something that might be of interest to you: Chatty DM over at Critical Hits has a different but similar method. It involves showing the players the map, and asking each player to place a treasure gem somewhere on the map. Each time they come into a room with a gem, the DM rolls on a table (puzzle, trap, monster, free treasure).

Feel free to ask me any questions.

Pregens - do you think I should use the PHB1-2 classes, start first with Essentials pregens, and then when it's time to make their characters, show them the other options? My only concern is that the Essentials are pretty simplistic, I don't know if kids will get bored with them or that teaching them how the Essentials work will confuse them when it's time to show the pre-essentials AEDU classes.

I want to include a Skald bard among the pregens, but I'm afraid that "Yeah he sings/tells stories and that's how he is awesome" will get the reaction of "That's lame" and no one will play it.

One thing I'm concerned with is keeping the kids "in line". Focused on the game, not goofing off. Or not being Disruptive - killing villagers ala GTA, attacking other characters, and such.

Ultimately I think my approach to the game might change depending on the ages and experienc eof hte players.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Could you elaborate on what you mean by "find a reason"? As in, the clues will inform them what to do?

Handouts are your friend. Give the players a map, a printed broadsheet, or a bit of code, and it will keep them happily occupied. My players have started checking my handouts for invisible ink... and sometimes they find it. (Heat sensitive invisible ink is easy - milk, or lemon juice works fine.

White vinegar can be used and will become visible in a solution made by boiling red cabbage.

Are tokens ok? I just don't own actual minis. I typically use cheap things like aquarium stones, nuts and bolts, chess pawns, pennies, really anything laying around.

Maybe standees? Relatively cheap as PDFs, you can get a bunch from One Monk, with a fair number of freebies available.

Free:

Not Free:

<Snippage.>

One thing I'm concerned with is keeping the kids "in line". Focused on the game, not goofing off. Or not being Disruptive - killing villagers ala GTA, attacking other characters, and such.

I have been running games for kids since I was one - I have not had that problem. The kids may be more focused than you expect. Give them a chance to prove it.

The Auld Grump

 

[Rechan]

That's cool [MENTION=6957]TheAuldGrump[/MENTION] - do you buy the stands, or print them out? And, what makes the minis stiff enough to be held up - do you glue them to cardboard?

I was planning on printing out tokens, cutting them out and gluing them to cardboard.