Gamers: 11-15 years (parents, terachers, friends read too)

[Harlock]

I'll be 30 in a month, so I'll tackle all I can remember.

1) When did you start?

I was 8 when I started

2) What sorts of adventures/plots/style of play do enjoy?

Mostly episodic in nature with a focus on powering up, but by the age you're looking at I was just discovering the roleplaying aspects of it all. It was a magical time, really.

3) Do your parents have any problem with your playing D&D?

When the poop hit the fan back in the early-mid 80s my gramndmother freaked out and told my mom to make sure I stopped worshipping demons. Fortunately my mom had spent countless hours listening to me and my friends sitting around the kitchen table rolling dice and chasing bad guys so knew all that devil worship stuff was a great steaming pile of feces. Imagine, a parent actually involved in their kids lives... wait, that's another topic for another board.

4) Do you have a sense how many of your peers are interested in RPGs? Do you have a hard time finding people to play with?

There were probably about 10 - 20 "hardcore" gamers in my Jr. High. By hardcore I mean the type that gamed at least once a week and more often during summer vacation. There were probably 20-40 more casual to closet gamer types.

5) Anything else you'd like to ad about your experiences as a young gamer?

I feel D&D taught me a lot, from adding negative and positive numbers (hey, THAC0 at age 8 is pretty darn progressive, IMNSHO), mapping, communication skills (endless debates about rules and cool character concepts, etc) and doubtless helped encourage a love of reading, better vocabulary and excercised my imagination.

If you're an adult (parent, teacher, mentor) who knows a young gamer or potential gamer:

I'm a parent who is working on a couple more kids down the road.

1) How young is too young for D&D?

8 was too early for AD&D, though it was my first game. I quickly went to the pink box Basic set. Looking at the box now I see it is suggested for kids age 10 and up. Meh, I think a kid, with the help of a mentor/experienced gamer could catch on around the ages you asked about fairly quickly. Kids learn more quickly than us older folks.

2) What sort of adventures/plots/style of play do you think are appropriate for young gamers?

I think, given your position, a good moral to the story may be imperative to encourage parents to let their kids play "that" game. I'd focus exposing bad guys and frauds, saving the princess, solving mysteries and the like. I would also try and direct them more into roleplaying and problem solving rather than trying to fight everyone and everything, as parents may get worked up over the level of violence.

3) What do you think is the best way to help a youngster who is interested in gaming get into the hobby?

Hmm, I'd try to organize a "cheat sheet" of SRD material for a quick introduction. Helping them create a character seems fairly important as well, but I would not suggest pre-genned characters unless they were dead set on starting yesterday. An extra copy or two of the PH for them to thumb through until they get their own (in the game area of course) would be cool. Also, prepare for questions from parents now. There are several sites on the net that explain away the devil worship allegations and steam tunnel suicide pact crap people always bring up. I'd print out as many copies as you could to keep for concerned parents and stafemembers of your school. Tracy Hickman is a very Christian guy and actually writes Dragonlance novels and gaming products. His personal site has many essays on it. And, just being available to answer questions is a big boon.

I hope any of this is of some use for you, and I wish you luck. Just so you know, my wife teaches French at a High School here in town and this summer we added two of her graduates to a gaming group. So far they've been really friendly and fun to be around. My wife was uncomfortable having them in our home while they were in school since that can lead to cries of favoritism or worse (living in the bible belt and all), but asked them to join during their last week. It's been rewarding, though I am already tired of being called Mr. Richardson...

 

[pogre]

I started a group at the HS I teach at and instantly ran into religious objections from parents. Frankly, The Book of Vile Darkness caused most of the problems (one of the parents worked at a bookstore). I explained that gaming is like the movies - some movies are rated PG some are rated NC-17. I invited the parents involved to come to the club and make their own judgments. I also told them they were welcome to come anytime unannounced.

One more bizarre concern I am going to burden you with - two of the parents were convinced D&D is a tool of pedophiles. My saving grace was I am married to a christian woman with children of my own. I could have seen the whole thing devolving into some strange accusations. Remember, this is a HS setting I'm talking about - I'm sure these issues could get magnified in a JH setting.

 

[Spike]

1) When did you start?
i was 13, mid 6th grade year ( i am 15 now)

2) What sorts of adventures/plots/style of play do enjoy?
currently i enjoy the idea of swashbuckeling, but at that age i mostly enjoied heavy action with some rp

3) Do your parents have any problem with your playing D&D?
my dad (a heavy book reader) loved the idea, my mom didn't really care.

4) Do you have a sense how many of your peers are interested in RPGs? Do you have a hard time finding people to play with?
i don't have a hard time finding people, but getting them to come weekly is usually hard.

5) Anything else you'd like to ad about your experiences as a young gamer? i'm really glad i got started at an somwhat early age, roleplaying games have really provided alot of new friends and new experiences.


just wondering norne, where are you running this?

 

[ergeheilalt]

Noone,

I have been able to get a lot of gaming books really cheaply from ebay. With the recent ascension of 3.5 to the official rule set, I would not be surprised to see a flood of old 3.0 books. If you snipe the low prices right before an auction ends and make use of the "Watch this Auction" feature, you can avoid bidding wars and get the core books without the hassle of making sure your bid is the number one bid.

There are a few used bookstores that also care some RPG books, however they are few and far between - but definitely worth looking into. Also, if you do become an "official" school club, you might be able to print out parts of the SRD without having to use up your own ink - something worth looking into.

Erge

 

[norne]

Going on the general gaming club idea (but still with the idea of nurturing some RPGers), I'd like suggestions on a good collection of starting games. Say I've got $200 to spend. I'll have my own set of 3.5 books, so I wouldn't necessarily need to buy those (except maybe some extra PHs).

Spike, I'm in central SC, USA.

Jay

 

[Prothall]

Hello there; I've had to skim the entries because there are quite a lot, but I do believe most of them have been from those outside the "young gamer" area, and I'm within it, so here goes:

1) February 22, 2001, Age 12; this is the date I first played an actual game, which was at my local hobby shop with perhaps 2 other players out of 6/8 being below 20. Before I had made a rhyme and reasonless 2nd edition Basic dungeon using the boxed set (early on I thought D&D was a board game) and tried to run it, only to fail miserably.

2) Well, I enjoy mixed styles. "Grog Smash!" is not ideal, and while I enjoy the roleplaying aspects very much(that is why I am a Bovimancer, after all), without a little bit of combat-oriented chaos every other session (at least) it will begin to drag. As to adventures I run, the players have a nasty habit of finding the fastest way through the first level of the whatever, causing them to miss plot points sometimes. However, while one player is a wargamer and consumate muchkin/decent roleplayer (I honestly don't know how; he did voluntarily drop a Paladin with leadership, though. But then he founded a city...), I have managed to sort of gently force roleplaying through the "ancient and powerful empire" ploy.

3) At first my father was indifferent, but then he encouraged it; though he never has, and, I believe, never will, play any RPG. At first my mother was apprehensive due to the reputation from the 80's, and still thinks it odd, but hasn't worried in a long time. I think this is an appropriate place to mention that most people where I live (SE SC, USA) don't know anything about it, except perhaps something of its reputation from the 80's. I've only encountered one example of this, though, and the kid now owns NWN and it's essentially a non-issue.

4) Well, I've essentially created a group of players of my age from people who, for the most part, knew nothing of D&D. Outside my players, I recently met a person a few years older than me at my FLGS and helped him find the proper books... Never heard from him before or since, though. I also have some out of state friends who play 2nd edition. It can be hard to find a group to play with, as my parents aren't too willing to allow me to go to the house of someone they don't know, but I played at the FLGS and the DM's house (when the campaign moved there) for about a year and one half.

5) Well, I've really enjoyed it. I've tried some other systems, or at least read them, though we did play Risus at school. I am the only person among my players who checks websites or the like regularly; I read ENWorld daily, if possible. I've also had a great time playing online, which works very nicely, with alsih2o (oddly enough, I've managed to become the campaign's "senior" player; the other originals all dropped out). I was thinking of starting an online Pokethulhu campaign with my out of state friends once school starts back (Quite odd story; I read "The Call of Cthulhu", unlike anything I'd normally think of reading, due to the numerous reccomendations, and loved it; one of my out of state friends has read Lovecraft for a while. Pokethulhu is hilarious.), and a few other players could be nice... Otherwise, I do have an article at RolePlayer's Online E-Schedule (RPOES) which explains how I started gaming. It's in the Thursday Open Forum section.

Also, Norne, I'd be interested in hearing more about this, as I do live nearish; I also have an aunt in Columbia. I go to school at Porter-Gaud, if that means anything to you... Perhaps you know someone there?