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Help me run a campaign for a bunch of 12 year olds.
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<blockquote data-quote="Ted Sandyman" data-source="post: 6353561" data-attributes="member: 6777382"><p>First off, <strong>you win D&D </strong>for being willing to do this!</p><p></p><p>I've run after school gaming groups for up to thirty 6th through 8th graders for the last eight years and it is really, really rewarding. In fact, you know that momentary retro-thrill you get when open a brand new boxed set and just for a few minutes you are 10 years old again? Well that has <em><strong>nothing </strong></em>on gathering a bunch of middle schoolers and watching them freak out the first time they encounter a carrion crawler or similar beastie for which they have no category and no prior knowledge!</p><p></p><p>I think you've made a great choice for rules and I agree that B/X / Labyrinth Lord is probably the best starting place. </p><p></p><p>I started my own kids on B1 and B2 as well -- <em>it's just good parenting.</em></p><p></p><p>This spring I got to introduce 24 of my 8th grader students to role-playing during the school day in a study hall class, followed by 30 more middle schoolers in July during a two-week summer camp. You can read all about it at <strong><a href="http://oldeschoolwizardry.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://oldeschoolwizardry.blogspot.com</a></strong></p><p></p><p>Some suggestions:</p><p></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">disallow PC vs PC combat. When it comes up, just say, "Nope, you can't do that" and move on. I'd never do that with adults of course, but the bad blood that it can create within a school group is not worth the headache and out-of-game fallout if someone takes it personally.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Go heavy on visuals and handouts ... go ahead and provide partial maps and screen shots if possible</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have the kids recap the action and their objective at the top of each session</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Plan an in-game source for new & replacement characters. Kids will get pulled away by other activities, miss sessions unexpectedly, or invite friends. I use an NPC "base camp"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don't be shy about PCs getting killed off for poor or reckless choices. I find that this actually increased player interest and engagement in most cases -- the kids were like, "wow, this is playing for keeps!"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Plan to start grooming a protege right away. If you hook the kids, a lunch group of six can quickly turn into three times that many. Callers can only get you so far. Start thinking about simple dungeons that a fledgling DM could run for his or her friends (e.g. Dyson's Delve).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Consider accelerating advancement. In 1981 we only had three channels of TV, so Monopoly, Risk, and a month and a half of D&D to level up all made sense ... these kids? Probably not so much.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Consider some assistance with the mapping. Carefully counting out squares on graph paper may have been our thing, but that probably won't get you too far today. Think about using dungeon tiles -- a kid can sketch as you lay them out and take them up or drawing the maps for them on a whiteboard / smartboard / etc</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Miniatures really help hold interest (but I acknowledge that there is a theater-of-the-mind tradeoff)</li> </ul><p></p><p>Again, I salute you for taking this on!</p><p></p><p>Please post or PM updates -- I'm sure that there will be things I can learn from your efforts to help kids Learn the Dungeon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ted Sandyman, post: 6353561, member: 6777382"] First off, [B]you win D&D [/B]for being willing to do this! I've run after school gaming groups for up to thirty 6th through 8th graders for the last eight years and it is really, really rewarding. In fact, you know that momentary retro-thrill you get when open a brand new boxed set and just for a few minutes you are 10 years old again? Well that has [I][B]nothing [/B][/I]on gathering a bunch of middle schoolers and watching them freak out the first time they encounter a carrion crawler or similar beastie for which they have no category and no prior knowledge! I think you've made a great choice for rules and I agree that B/X / Labyrinth Lord is probably the best starting place. I started my own kids on B1 and B2 as well -- [I]it's just good parenting.[/I] This spring I got to introduce 24 of my 8th grader students to role-playing during the school day in a study hall class, followed by 30 more middle schoolers in July during a two-week summer camp. You can read all about it at [B][URL]http://oldeschoolwizardry.blogspot.com[/URL][/B] Some suggestions: [LIST] [*]disallow PC vs PC combat. When it comes up, just say, "Nope, you can't do that" and move on. I'd never do that with adults of course, but the bad blood that it can create within a school group is not worth the headache and out-of-game fallout if someone takes it personally. [*]Go heavy on visuals and handouts ... go ahead and provide partial maps and screen shots if possible [*]Have the kids recap the action and their objective at the top of each session [*]Plan an in-game source for new & replacement characters. Kids will get pulled away by other activities, miss sessions unexpectedly, or invite friends. I use an NPC "base camp" [*]Don't be shy about PCs getting killed off for poor or reckless choices. I find that this actually increased player interest and engagement in most cases -- the kids were like, "wow, this is playing for keeps!" [*]Plan to start grooming a protege right away. If you hook the kids, a lunch group of six can quickly turn into three times that many. Callers can only get you so far. Start thinking about simple dungeons that a fledgling DM could run for his or her friends (e.g. Dyson's Delve). [*]Consider accelerating advancement. In 1981 we only had three channels of TV, so Monopoly, Risk, and a month and a half of D&D to level up all made sense ... these kids? Probably not so much. [*]Consider some assistance with the mapping. Carefully counting out squares on graph paper may have been our thing, but that probably won't get you too far today. Think about using dungeon tiles -- a kid can sketch as you lay them out and take them up or drawing the maps for them on a whiteboard / smartboard / etc [*]Miniatures really help hold interest (but I acknowledge that there is a theater-of-the-mind tradeoff) [/LIST] Again, I salute you for taking this on! Please post or PM updates -- I'm sure that there will be things I can learn from your efforts to help kids Learn the Dungeon. [/QUOTE]
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