L
lowkey13
Guest
*Deleted by user*
I don't have kids myself, but I have some very recent experience with this...
One of the players in my regular game wanted his 13-year-old daughter to learn about D&D. But, having your father run the game is pretty lame, and can lead to some weird dynamics, so he asked me to do it - I ran a game for the dad, the kid, a friend of hers, and my wife (who is a kid of unofficial godmother to the kid). I used Lost Mine of Phandelver.
Long story short, the kid really liked the game, and started running her own game. And, it sounds like on of the friends from her game is going to start another game. So, I seem to have set off a chain reaction.
And yes, scheduling seems to be an issue. They want to play, but they have a lot of after-school and weekend extra-curricular activities. The kid mentioned to me on Saturday that she hasn't had a weekend without a scheduled activity in it in a month and a half. Combined with homework, and a good dose of family time, and there's not a lot left.
I also get the impression that the local schools draw from a larger area than my school did. I think I didn't have to go as far to get to my friends back in the day.
One of the players in my regular game wanted his 13-year-old daughter to learn about D&D. But, having your father run the game is pretty lame, and can lead to some weird dynamics, so he asked me to do it - I ran a game for the dad, the kid, a friend of hers, and my wife (who is a kid of unofficial godmother to the kid). I used Lost Mine of Phandelver.
Long story short, the kid really liked the game, and started running her own game. And, it sounds like on of the friends from her game is going to start another game. So, I seem to have set off a chain reaction.
And yes, scheduling seems to be an issue. They want to play, but they have a lot of after-school and weekend extra-curricular activities. The kid mentioned to me on Saturday that she hasn't had a weekend without a scheduled activity in it in a month and a half. Combined with homework, and a good dose of family time, and there's not a lot left.
I also get the impression that the local schools draw from a larger area than my school did. I think I didn't have to go as far to get to my friends back in the day.
pming
Legend
Hiya!
I'm gonna go with: "Sad, but true".
If I told you about my childhood freedom, well, lets just say I wouldn't be surprised to hear about my parents being brought up on "willful endangerment of a child" charges or something! There were always those friends who had over-protective parents, to be sure, but the vast majority of my friends growing up from age 10 to 18 were pretty free.
Also, I'm not so sure its kids "not having enough free time" or having to "work D&D into their schedule" so much as they have always had their decisions made for them. Yes, kids get a LOT of their decisions made for them by their parents, it's called "raising a child", but I vehemently opposed two of my friends parents quite often. We'd get over their to 'pick them up' (ride with him on our BMX's) and be told "Sorry guys, I can't go". When asked the reason? "My parents just want me to stay home". No reason. Nothing. They just arbitrarily decided "Naaa...you can't go anywhere today because, uh, we said so". Even through they KNEW he was going to go play D&D and they KNEW we were riding over there (or walking).
Anyway, yeah, I think kids have been brought up by FAR to many "Helicopter Parents" (I think that's the term). They never developed the skills to, well, tbh, think for themselves and enjoy the rewards, or suffer the consequences, of their actions. So you get 20 year olds who have to check their facebook, twitter, or talk to "everyone they know" about weather or not they should go play D&D for 5 hours after work. Worse still, if two or three of their friends say "Oh, well we were thinking of going out for coffee or something later, after supper, maybe"...that 20 year old will actually be conflicted about deciding to play. Because, well, two of his/her friends MIGHT go do 'something' at 'sometime' after supper. This sort of "decision paralysis" due to the psychological need to 'check with everyone else first' could very well be why a lot of folks play AP's; it takes the decisions out of their hands...because if the DM is asking all the players "Oooh...this next room has a pair of displacer beasts in it and some acid pit traps. Should I let you guys go into that room?", kinda defeats the purpose.
If my daughter wasn't autistic, she'd be out probably doing what I was doing when I was 9. ... ... ... Er... ... Wait. I don't think I thought that through enough.... hmmm....
^_^
Paul L. Ming
I'm gonna go with: "Sad, but true".
If I told you about my childhood freedom, well, lets just say I wouldn't be surprised to hear about my parents being brought up on "willful endangerment of a child" charges or something!
There were always those friends who had over-protective parents, to be sure, but the vast majority of my friends growing up from age 10 to 18 were pretty free.Also, I'm not so sure its kids "not having enough free time" or having to "work D&D into their schedule" so much as they have always had their decisions made for them. Yes, kids get a LOT of their decisions made for them by their parents, it's called "raising a child", but I vehemently opposed two of my friends parents quite often. We'd get over their to 'pick them up' (ride with him on our BMX's) and be told "Sorry guys, I can't go". When asked the reason? "My parents just want me to stay home". No reason. Nothing. They just arbitrarily decided "Naaa...you can't go anywhere today because, uh, we said so". Even through they KNEW he was going to go play D&D and they KNEW we were riding over there (or walking).
Anyway, yeah, I think kids have been brought up by FAR to many "Helicopter Parents" (I think that's the term). They never developed the skills to, well, tbh, think for themselves and enjoy the rewards, or suffer the consequences, of their actions. So you get 20 year olds who have to check their facebook, twitter, or talk to "everyone they know" about weather or not they should go play D&D for 5 hours after work. Worse still, if two or three of their friends say "Oh, well we were thinking of going out for coffee or something later, after supper, maybe"...that 20 year old will actually be conflicted about deciding to play. Because, well, two of his/her friends MIGHT go do 'something' at 'sometime' after supper. This sort of "decision paralysis" due to the psychological need to 'check with everyone else first' could very well be why a lot of folks play AP's; it takes the decisions out of their hands...because if the DM is asking all the players "Oooh...this next room has a pair of displacer beasts in it and some acid pit traps. Should I let you guys go into that room?", kinda defeats the purpose.
If my daughter wasn't autistic, she'd be out probably doing what I was doing when I was 9. ... ... ... Er... ... Wait. I don't think I thought that through enough.... hmmm....
^_^
Paul L. Ming
My pet theory as to why kids are so anxious these days is that they've missed that phase of life where they can make their own decisions and get themselves into (and out of) trouble.
Sad that they're now as tied to schedules as us grown-ups. Summers seemed endless when I was a kid (that summer of 76 is legendary for UK kids at least
)Agree that the APs are very helpful to this generation and given that they're mostly quite readable a good excuse for settling down for some extensive reading
I just hope we can learn to let our kids run free again. Nobody is going to steal them away*
*OK so it happens once in a blue moon, but there's probably more chance of being struck by lightning!
pogre
Legend
I sponsor a D&D club at the high school I teach at and we mostly run Adventure League stuff. There is one table that is in a homebrew campaign, but kids like being able to drop in and miss occasionally. The tiered play and short modules work perfectly. We just ignore the season 8 rules.
Laurefindel
Legend
Adventure paths are great. They provide a framework, an ambiance, a theme, examples of villains, examples of encounters, and provide enough guidance for a new DM to experiment the game without suffering a critical mechanical failure.
I don’t think that kids have less free time nowadays, but they are a lot more solicited (intellectually speaking) than I was at their age. I had 6 TV channels to choose from (two of which were in a foreign language called ´English’), and maybe a dozen computer games that would take an eternity to load, that's when they didn’t crash. Social media were still called « telephone » and very little publicity was targeted directly at me. I barely new what was happening in the next town, not to mention the next province or the next country. In short, our free time was free enough to be inventive, adventurous, and sometimes even bored. Don’t get me wrong, as nostalgic of that time as I can be, those three elements put together didn’t always come up to something good...
All that to say that I trust the guys and gals at WotC who write these adventures more than I trust bored, inventive kids with a taste for adventure. And if they are (which I hope!), then a guide to d&d adventuring is the perfect thing for them.
Adventure books/path/organized play are more than just training wheels. They're more like a cookbook. Sometimes I see something that looks yummy and try the recipe. Sometimes I glance quickly at the ingredients and improvise with what I have to achieve something similar. Personally, I'm more of a follow-my-intuition kind of guy, both around the dining table and the game table, but I can appreciate a good adventure book when I see one, even if it's not as complete or intricate as I would like it, and would gladly recommend it to my son and his friends.
‘findel
I don’t think that kids have less free time nowadays, but they are a lot more solicited (intellectually speaking) than I was at their age. I had 6 TV channels to choose from (two of which were in a foreign language called ´English’), and maybe a dozen computer games that would take an eternity to load, that's when they didn’t crash. Social media were still called « telephone » and very little publicity was targeted directly at me. I barely new what was happening in the next town, not to mention the next province or the next country. In short, our free time was free enough to be inventive, adventurous, and sometimes even bored. Don’t get me wrong, as nostalgic of that time as I can be, those three elements put together didn’t always come up to something good...
All that to say that I trust the guys and gals at WotC who write these adventures more than I trust bored, inventive kids with a taste for adventure. And if they are (which I hope!), then a guide to d&d adventuring is the perfect thing for them.
Adventure books/path/organized play are more than just training wheels. They're more like a cookbook. Sometimes I see something that looks yummy and try the recipe. Sometimes I glance quickly at the ingredients and improvise with what I have to achieve something similar. Personally, I'm more of a follow-my-intuition kind of guy, both around the dining table and the game table, but I can appreciate a good adventure book when I see one, even if it's not as complete or intricate as I would like it, and would gladly recommend it to my son and his friends.
‘findel
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CydKnight
Explorer
I began playing in junior high school (7th grade) back in the AD&D days. It was often hard to find others to get a campaign going back then but I recall playing during lunch and homeroom. I also remember having a couple of sleepovers centered around playing. There was only one other in my neighborhood that played. We didn't play at a local hobby store back then and I don't even recall that we had one.
As I got into high school and started driving at 16, it was a little easier to get to a game. The group I mainly played with in high schools went to two different high schools and I think one other was in college.
Now is a bit different. For awhile my 12 year old and I played with a Dad and kids from another family. The kids all go to the same school and know each other. Kids do seem to have a lot of activities these days and I can see where this makes it difficult for them to play consistently. Free time to play may often be family time so maybe if you approach an entire family to play this may help?
As I got into high school and started driving at 16, it was a little easier to get to a game. The group I mainly played with in high schools went to two different high schools and I think one other was in college.
Now is a bit different. For awhile my 12 year old and I played with a Dad and kids from another family. The kids all go to the same school and know each other. Kids do seem to have a lot of activities these days and I can see where this makes it difficult for them to play consistently. Free time to play may often be family time so maybe if you approach an entire family to play this may help?
I run a game for my sons (17, 12, and 9) and three of the middle son’s friends. I don’t know if the adventure path thing would work for them. Them (like me at that age and still to a certain extent) mostly just want to kill monsters and take their stuff, instead of being in big epic campaigns. I find smaller modular adventures work best for them, especially when there is a break in the regular schedule. I run mostly 1e/BX adventures converted to 5e for them.
When and if they start running their own games, the smaller AL adventures would probably work better.
When and if they start running their own games, the smaller AL adventures would probably work better.
Bupp
Adventurer
Four years ago I taught my kids to play (at the time my daughter was 14 and my twin boys 9). We don't play together anymore, though.
My daughter (who lives with her mother) runs games for her friends, most recently her hacked up version of a Red and Pleasant Land (which I got her for her birthday the year it came out.
My boys meet with a group of friends after school once a week at a local pizza place and play for several hours. This last week they had 11 people total playing! The one DM ran them thru Dragonheist, and a couple AL adventures he had downloaded. He's getting ready to do Dungeon of the Mad Mage. The other DM runs some homebrew stuff. From the stories they tell me, it sounds like how a bunch of 13-15 year old boys play D&D, which I don't have the patience for.
Me, I recently started a group of brand new adult players, and been playing LMoP. Work and vacation schedules have had us on a hiatus, but we'll be picking back up in a few weeks. I've set it in my own homebrew world, and will be operating it as a player-driven sandbox, with me sprinking lots of clues and hooks around.
To answer the OP's point. I do think that the AP's help as a teaching tool. Personally, I've always run published adventures, though they seldom end up running or playing as written. I've always lacked the creativity to come up with an adventure idea on my own, but I can plagiarize and personalize like no other.
My daughter (who lives with her mother) runs games for her friends, most recently her hacked up version of a Red and Pleasant Land (which I got her for her birthday the year it came out.
My boys meet with a group of friends after school once a week at a local pizza place and play for several hours. This last week they had 11 people total playing! The one DM ran them thru Dragonheist, and a couple AL adventures he had downloaded. He's getting ready to do Dungeon of the Mad Mage. The other DM runs some homebrew stuff. From the stories they tell me, it sounds like how a bunch of 13-15 year old boys play D&D, which I don't have the patience for.
Me, I recently started a group of brand new adult players, and been playing LMoP. Work and vacation schedules have had us on a hiatus, but we'll be picking back up in a few weeks. I've set it in my own homebrew world, and will be operating it as a player-driven sandbox, with me sprinking lots of clues and hooks around.
To answer the OP's point. I do think that the AP's help as a teaching tool. Personally, I've always run published adventures, though they seldom end up running or playing as written. I've always lacked the creativity to come up with an adventure idea on my own, but I can plagiarize and personalize like no other.
Thinking back to 1979-1981 when I started playing, more often than not we were using TSR modules with the included pre-generated characters, not extended homebrew campaigns. I had a regular group meet at my house for about a year that moved from B1 into my own campaign, but that was an exception. Typically you would hear that someone was going to run a module at their house on a given day and then you played with whoever showed up. If the level was appropriate, we could bring a PC that we had played in one module along with us to play in a different DM's game. S1, S3, G series, A series, C1 - we would play as much of it as we could before it was time to go home. If we didn't finish that day we almost never got the same group together again. It was still fun. Most of us would have been playing Risk or Stratego a few years earlier, played some Avalon Hill war games, so this "one and done" style fit into how we were already gaming. One of the aspects of modern D&D play that was definitely not part of my early experience is the idea that the game needs the same group of players to show up week after week, progressing through levels in lockstep with each other.
For a group of kids, I would find some short adventures online that can be finished in one or two sessions and then rotate other kids into the DM chair as often as they are willing. I can't imagine getting a group of my daughter's friends together the number of times it would take to finish a 5e adventure path, even LMoP. Maybe it could work if I was facilitating a school club where you could count on kids being available more often than not.
For a group of kids, I would find some short adventures online that can be finished in one or two sessions and then rotate other kids into the DM chair as often as they are willing. I can't imagine getting a group of my daughter's friends together the number of times it would take to finish a 5e adventure path, even LMoP. Maybe it could work if I was facilitating a school club where you could count on kids being available more often than not.
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