4e for younger gamers

[Shadowslayer]

I forgot my number 1 advice:

don't superimpose your definition of fun or what RP should be on them. Let them do the things that are fun, and learn what they like and don't like. My experience and the experience of other parents I talk to about games and art and music is that you need to give them opportunities, and let them find the fun spot for them. In other words, don't get in an edition war/role vs roll playing fight with them. play and have fun.

Heh...actually, that applies to DMing for adults too. If only more people would heed it.

Thanks very much for your responses everyone. What I've got so far is a smill mining camp/village with a store, a weaponer and a mystic shop. I've written up a rumor/simple quest on a notecard for each PC, and have a series of 2-3 short encounters for each one.

I think Im going to start with pre-gens...only because I know my kid, and if we play with the pre-gens right out of the box than at least they're playing. I can hint that they could have new/different and interesting powers if they decided to create their own character...which I'd be happy to help with.

And yeah, we won't be focusing a whole lot on forced RP. That goes against my grain anyway. But the shopkeepers characters will be broad and funny and they will attempt to talk to the PCs to try and make it fun.

Thanks again!

 

[Minigiant]

For some reason this is my favourite part of the whole thread...

It's so cute. They place a domino sideways and say "Here's lies Gilmo. He was a good goblin Who CRIT me!" Then their mini stomp the grave.

Well I tried to get them to stop by sending their enemy's ghosts after them. But they kill the ghost for experience. So now I made the BBEG a ghost eating demon. They REALLY HATE HIM.

Remember kids have a TOTALLY different idea about fun and find stupidity and zaniness to be very hilarious. Never plan too far ahead, because that house might not exist later.

 

[Hussar]

It's so cute. They place a domino sideways and say "Here's lies Gilmo. He was a good goblin Who CRIT me!" Then their mini stomp the grave.

Well I tried to get them to stop by sending their enemy's ghosts after them. But they kill the ghost for experience. So now I made the BBEG a ghost eating demon. They REALLY HATE HIM.

Remember kids have a TOTALLY different idea about fun and find stupidity and zaniness to be very hilarious. Never plan too far ahead, because that house might not exist later.

Aww man, that's just brilliant. Awesome.

How old were you when you started gaming?

I think sometimes us older folks tend not to give kids enough credit for figurin stuff out. My friends and I were around 13 when we started gaming. I like to think we figured things out pretty well. (And AD&D was a mess of people/things able to do stuff just because...)

I also think not completely comprehending the idea that the DM isn't against the players is something that's just part fo the learning process. (Seems like some adults haven't even figured that one out yet!)

This.

I started playing when I was 8 or 9 years old with my older brother and then a huge group consisting of my friends at the time and a couple of parents and their friends. Something like 12 of us at the table. I still remember that all very fondly. Totally hooked.

Y'know, if a certain marketing guy from WOTC reads this thread, I'm sure he's dancing around his computer right now.

 

[Firebeetle]

I would advise against the pregens actually. Let the kids pick their own classes and walk them through chargen. You might not end up with optimal characters or an optimal party, but it will get the kids more involved.

Don't worry too much about plot. All you need to give the kids is the bare minimum and they will make the rest up themselves.

The Insider is great for this. Kids today are very intuitive with programs, and it makes character creation VERY easy to do. My son loves making characters with it.

 

[Shadowslayer]

The Insider is great for this. Kids today are very intuitive with programs, and it makes character creation VERY easy to do. My son loves making characters with it.

I looked at that too. Bear in mind, I've been out of the loop for the last year or so, so I'm just discovering 4e too. But if the kids seem like this is something they'd want to do again, then I'll certainly spring for the subscription.

 

[Gargoyle]

I looked at that too. Bear in mind, I've been out of the loop for the last year or so, so I'm just discovering 4e too. But if the kids seem like this is something they'd want to do again, then I'll certainly spring for the subscription.

I just did, and I'm glad. I was never a fan of the old e-tools, and didn't think I'd care for the new program, given WotC's track record with electronic products in general.

But this thing is great. Try the free demo, like I did, and I think you'll want to subscribe for a month to get the full deal. The demo lets you create characters levels 1-3, so you don't even have to subscribe to get a lot of use out of it. The best part of it is the power cards it automatically creates with all the stats embedded, but I also like the little touches like how it automatically equips the weapons you buy, and how you can add homebrewed feats etc. It's a big timesaver and a polished product.

 

[renau1g]

My 12 month old boys love my minis, they go after them all the time, good thing I have a pair of huge fire elementals that they play with and chew on. Maybe in a few years I'll have two more gamers for my table

 

[avin]

My 1 1/2 old daughter gets my minis and start trowing them away all the time

 

[Festivus]

My 12 month old boys love my minis, they go after them all the time, good thing I have a pair of huge fire elementals that they play with and chew on. Maybe in a few years I'll have two more gamers for my table

I have asked a question to WoTC regarding lead in the minis products before, to which they said that the minis are designed for ages 12 and up. I never got a answer about if they were tested for lead or not.

In other words, since they are made in China, and there have been spates of lead laced painted toys coming from that country, one might want to consider not letting your younglings gnaw on your minis, particularly those minis with painted metallic colored armor.

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

I think 4e is great for younger players because it's easy to teach/learn. Of course, the 16-18 age range probably has an even lower attention span than the 8-12 year olds you guys are talking about, so it's an even bigger godsend to me To clarify, I'm a high school senior who (with the help of one other D&D fan) managed to get his friends hooked.

When I was younger (probably late elementary/early middle school age?), my dad and older cousin taught me, my younger cousin, and my brother and sister (all around the same age) how to play D&D using his old books. In this case, it was D&D Basic. We picked it up pretty quickly and had a lot of fun! If anyone was curious, we ran B9: Caldwell Castle and Beyond out of the In Search of Adventure book.