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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Parduz" data-source="post: 4737961" data-attributes="member: 82884">Man! Reading all these suggestion with my poor English knowledge is really an hard task... but i rolled high, so i want to thank you for all your though. I'm learning.I think that i should try to share my experience, as i'm an "unusual" DM (more about this later) and an happy player.I play RPGs only occasionally, and i've one of the best Master i know: he play his own version of Gurps, often in a Sci-fi set. He is a true talent in storytelling and acting NPCs, making noises and explosions and waving hands all the time. We never feel forced to "follow the plot" (we die a lot for this reason, 'cause the plots are always smart and if you do not make the right, logical choices you go in a sea of troubles), and my characters really start to think to suicide.... Another friend like to Master D&D: i truly hate him as a DM. He TRY to tell you what happens, but you get bored very soon.... then the whole adventure become a "Fight-rest-fight-rest-fight-cure-fight-rest"The lesson for me as DM is: be critical about yourself. If you're a good actor, act, otherwise use another talent. As a DM you have to do what you know you have talents for. If you try to be different, you fail.About me as DM: i am the DM for 15 consecutive days in a year, when i go to sea with my family in the summer holidays.My players are my 2 sons (9 and 11 years old, right now) and a cousin 14 years old.We started to play D&D 3 years ago... DMing for a so young audience can be a pleasure and a curse in the same time:The PROs are many:1) They don't try to max the character, they instead took the skills and the feats that sounds COOL. Feats tree have no meanings, for them. My son, the younger, is an elf archer ranger (Legolas of the LOTR trilogy is the model he follow) and he WANTED a fellow horse. So he spend his skills in handle animals and similar things, even if he never fight mounted 'cause he did not want to risk that horse. My daughter is the halfling thief, but she never stole anything. She just want to be agile, cute and hidden. The cousin is the Monk, the "Anime" version of it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Is a party that NEEDS a cleric and a "tank", but they feel happy with theyr PCs, they never build up them thinking at power playing, and i think this is fantastic.2) The never do "metagaming".... just because they can't <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />3) I NEVER use battle grids. Instead i keep the imagination running: they describe what they want to do, and if it is believable i tell to roll something. They want to be the "hollywood/anime style" heroes, and i like to see what these young brains can imagine <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />The CONS?1) You have to take care of what happens: gore is not really a problem (the kid always tell me how much he splat the enemies <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) but he (in RL) fears to be alone in the dark, and so his Hero... so i learned to never let the party split.2) The party is weak: if they don't kill the bads in few rounds, they can really die, so i have to cheat some roll, or to tune down the bads due to the party low power3) a PC dead is a NIGHTMARE: my son dead for a bad roll, and (obviously) he start to be angry and crying at the same time... so i told him a "lesson" about winning or loosing (we also play boardgames, so he already know how to loose.... but he loves his PC too much to be calm <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />), then the friends bring back his dead body to the town, where a cleric resurrect it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Finally, right now i'm DMing the Red HAnd of Doom with my friends, testing the adventure for my kids for this incoming summer.What i've learned from my young players is still valid, just need to be transposed for an adult audience: let them choose the PC they like, tell the story, let the players do what they like to do, with a description of the actions. Give prizes for some very cool or lucky combat: i use "cool points", an house rule found in the WotC forum. In this manner the player will love the character, and will start to fear for the dead while the adventure become harder. I'm not a good actor, but i can imagine and then describe well what the players see... so i go for it.Every player "fears" something: to be not enough smart, or to be not so powerfull in combat... use these fears against the players: they will be more concentrated on what they do and why.I hope that you can understand this long post. Writing so much in english is a hard task for me, i hope you find in this post something useful.</blockquote>

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