A Cool Story of New D&D Players

[Wormwood]

I couldn't give Mistwell XP, but I sure as hell give hip props for passing on this very inspiring story.

 

[Rechan]

There's a Youth Program near me, and I've been sorely tempted to swing by and offer to run a D&D game come summer.

I really do need to talk to them.

 

[Asmor]

I will say that the WotC produced D&D Encounters we have been running for 5 weeks has been great at bringing in new players, yes, even very young ones. We have several that come week after week with their parents.

Wanted to add something similar. At Toys N Things in Danvers, MA last week we had two new players. One of them was probably in his mid 20s, which is average for the group there, but the other was quite young, probably somewhere in the 7-10 range (yeah, I suck at estimating ages). His father stayed in the store and watched him play. Tried to get the dad in on the game, but he wasn't interested in playing.

 

[buddhafrog]

I run five different D&D 4e campaigns each week with a total of 16 kids, ranging from 3rd to 9th grade. I'm an English as a 2nd Language teacher living/teaching in Asia. My wife and I teach many small classes of between 2~4 students. I started playing D&D with one class once a week around 4 months ago. It exploded interest in each and every class of mine. I have now expanded into five total classes and campaigns. I've posted about this a few times here.

I am constantly amazed at the enthusiasm these kids have towards D&D. These are not just young players, but players from a completely different social background. In the land of computer games, several players told me how much more fun this has been than playing their computer games.

I suffer from prep fatigue and keeping storylines straight in my head. Yet, I love to see these kids having fun playing this game. While playing, they use English so freely and without pressure -- it's great. And I get paid to DM, which sure beats any other job I've done.

Kids love this game! We just need to invite them to play. I'll be starting a 6th game soon. One day a week I'll pick up my son and a few of his friends after school and run a campaign. My son is hooked and he invited his friends. They just need someone to DM.... and of course, in the future, some of these kids will be DM'ing their own games. I'm going to help facilitate that by having some side treks where I'll work with one of the students in each class to prepare the adventure.

 

[Pig Champion]

The ageism in the wider DND and RPG community is rife and if new players are ever going to feel welcomed then you have to address that.

I've always been the youngest in most groups I've joined and I've left either because the older players were arrogant, condescending or dismissive. They try to control how you play the game because "they know best" with their "experience" and any OOC chatter is dismissed because "you're just a kid".

That's why I took up DM'ing, so people my own age could play with out all the stuff. I still see it going on today and there is a real resentment amoung younger players because of it. At least, where I am from anyway.

 

[Asmor]

The ageism in the wider DND and RPG community is rife and if new players are ever going to feel welcomed then you have to address that.

I've always been the youngest in most groups I've joined and I've left either because the older players were arrogant, condescending or dismissive. They try to control how you play the game because "they know best" with their "experience" and any OOC chatter is dismissed because "you're just a kid"./QUOTE]

I've never encountered anything like that, and have gamed with quite a few people who were much older than I. It sounds to me like you just have a bunch of rotten grognards in your area.

 

[Henry]

They try to control how you play the game because "they know best" with their "experience" and any OOC chatter is dismissed because "you're just a kid".

First of all, congratulations on rolling the initiative (pun intended) and running your own games! It's not about experience, it's about the willingness to get out there and just start running.

This brings me to your point about players who try to control the actions of more inexperienced players -- many times we "old hands" at the table forget that we didn't start being super-players ourselves. I've in fact often learned that some of the best players at a table are the new players -- because they come to the game without a lot of the jaded attitudes, they don't know what you "can't do" -- and therefore are some of the most innovative and excited players at the table.

The old player who can't catch the excitement bug of a new player at the table needs to rethink their attitude a bit -- it's not the newbie who has the learning to do, sometimes it's the other way around.

 

[Jdvn1]

First of all, awesome thread, Mistwell. That's a great story, and I hope it inspires others.

The ageism in the wider DND and RPG community is rife and if new players are ever going to feel welcomed then you have to address that.

I've always been the youngest in most groups I've joined and I've left either because the older players were arrogant, condescending or dismissive. They try to control how you play the game because "they know best" with their "experience" and any OOC chatter is dismissed because "you're just a kid".

I've experienced this too, but it seems not nearly as extremely as this. I've noticed more often that older players refuse to play with younger players, though after giving me a shot I've won them over. Young doesn't necessarily mean annoying.

This brings me to your point about players who try to control the actions of more inexperienced players -- many times we "old hands" at the table forget that we didn't start being super-players ourselves. I've in fact often learned that some of the best players at a table are the new players -- because they come to the game without a lot of the jaded attitudes, they don't know what you "can't do" -- and therefore are some of the most innovative and excited players at the table.

This is a very important point, I think, and one that probably needs to be made more. Also, a new player's excitement can be contagious if you let it be.

 

[Jdvn1]

Yeah. But RPG companies aren't 'orientated' towards this at present. It's very clear, from a design perspective, that most tabletop RPG companies are simply unaware of key elements of curriculum design, child development, shared learning and active learning.

There's also a serious image problem and few of the limited number of academics working in such areas will touch tabletop RPGs.

Mention your ideas, and maybe WotC (or, maybe more likely, a 3rd party) will pick up the idea.

 

[mudbunny]

Yeah. But RPG companies aren't 'orientated' towards this at present. It's very clear, from a design perspective, that most tabletop RPG companies are simply unaware of key elements of curriculum design, child development, shared learning and active learning.

There's also a serious image problem and few of the limited number of academics working in such areas will touch tabletop RPGs.

I have poked Trevor to come take a look at this thread and suggested to him that they might get in contact with local teachers/university professors for stuff like this.