Help Please!

TrainedMunkee

Adventurer
My wife is a local teen librarian. She asked me to run a 4e game for her summer program. I have two problems:

1. I have never run a library game before

2. The start date is 6/10/08


I've been running games for close to thirty years, but have never run a game before where the majority of the players are new.

She has put Keep on the Shadowfell on her order list, which will give me a decent head start.

Passing on the hobby is very important to me, so advice would be much appreciated.

Peace
Space
 

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Spacekase said:
My wife is a local teen librarian. She asked me to run a 4e game for her summer program. I have two problems:

1. I have never run a library game before

2. The start date is 6/10/08


I've been running games for close to thirty years, but have never run a game before where the majority of the players are new.

She has put Keep on the Shadowfell on her order list, which will give me a decent head start.

Passing on the hobby is very important to me, so advice would be much appreciated.

Peace
Space

Space, the D&D Worldwide Gameday is scheduled for the 7th of June. Your point of contact at the library can request the marketing kit for that event. It has sufficient stuff to support up to 30 players. It has an adventure, maps, miniatures and dice. This kit can also be used for the summer program if you choose.

Take a look at the WotC site for more information about the D&D Worldwide Gameday and how to have the Library sponsor the event.
 

D'karr said:
Space, the D&D Worldwide Gameday is scheduled for the 7th of June. Your point of contact at the library can request the marketing kit for that event. It has sufficient stuff to support up to 30 players. It has an adventure, maps, miniatures and dice. This kit can also be used for the summer program if you choose.

Take a look at the WotC site for more information about the D&D Worldwide Gameday and how to have the Library sponsor the event.

I have looked on the site and can't find anything, but the gameday info. My wife is convinced that it is for retailers only and that you have to run it on the 7th.

Can libraries participate in this program?

Thanks for the reply.

Space
 

I have been involved with a lot of similar programs. Indeed, the majority of my early gaming was in programs like this.

You'll probably have people of a lot of different ability with RPGs involved. You want to encourage these kids, subtly, to assist the other kids. (Perhaps encouraging them to play warlords so they can put their tactical ability to use.) You also want to foster a team environment, either through some kind of common cause or threat.

You want to watch out for cliques of experienced players who take advantage of other players in order to build up their own characters. If this becomes a problem, you might want to privately communicate to these players that, because of their ability, they will be held to a higher standard at the table than other players. (You might want to soften the blow by saying that you want to make things more challenging for them.)

Don't try to break up cliques in the group, as long as it doesn't hurt the overall dynamic of the group. I suspect that 4E PC interactions will help interactions all over the table.

Since you won't necessarily get the same players week after week, try to make things as episodic as possible. Try to indicate that there are other things going on in the lives of the PCs, so that they are off doing something when the player isn't around.

Don't mind a little silliness, since most of the kids will enjoy that.

Each table develops its own, as GA Fine calls it, idioculture. That is, there will be a shared language, mythology, and history that develops around the table pretty quickly. Try to build on that.

Get lots of pencils, paper, and dice for the kids to use. I recommend printed/photocopied character sheets, since it serves as a focus. I also recommend that you get a map of the campaign area and put it up on the wall. You want visual cues around you for the kids to focus on that keep them thinking about the game. Pictures of monsters and NPCs wouldn't hurt either.

If you have some kind of ongoing mystery or plot thread, be ready to alter it based on what the players think is happening. They may misremember plot elements and then make assumptions based on that, so be ready to go with it. (Just make sure that there's no big dispute going on about what might have happened. Try to stick to the truth when there is a mistake and a disagreement, but not in a way that makes anyone lose face.)

Also, be lethal. Seriously, these kids have got to learn that the characters can die. Be upfront that these characters are risking death and try to kill at least two in the first session (if you can, try to avoid killing the PCs of players who you think will be inordinately upset). You have to show the players a good example of PC death so that you won't risk real emotional outbursts later. I've found that in games like this, there are a lot of PC deaths, so get them used to it early. After the first session, just play normally and PCs will probably die with a nice regularity.
 

Spacekase said:
I have looked on the site and can't find anything, but the gameday info. My wife is convinced that it is for retailers only and that you have to run it on the 7th.

Can libraries participate in this program?

Thanks for the reply.

Space

This question was asked directly of Ian Richards, head honcho of the RPGA and he said that libraries could participate. The important thing was that the event happened in a public location, not a player's home for example.
 


Miniatures and a battlemap could be a big help here (dunno if you use them or not). It would give them something to visualize and may even help them learn tactical play. We play with a lot of teens and had to switch over to that to keep them focused. Additionally, power cards are nice too since they give them something physical to hold, representing their powers, as well as making them stand out from the sheet.

But cards might not be good if you are going to have a hugely random cycle of kids; it's something extra to explain.
 

Kwalish Kid said:
Also, be lethal. Seriously, these kids have got to learn that the characters can die. Be upfront that these characters are risking death and try to kill at least two in the first session (if you can, try to avoid killing the PCs of players who you think will be inordinately upset). You have to show the players a good example of PC death so that you won't risk real emotional outbursts later. I've found that in games like this, there are a lot of PC deaths, so get them used to it early. After the first session, just play normally and PCs will probably die with a nice regularity.
I second this. I made the mistake of not doing this in training my second oldest son. He still has his first character and gets very emotional when she is mortally threatened in the game. I would suggest though, that you make the first deaths near the end of the session so that you don't have anybody sit around for along time just watching. This gives them time to make new characters before next game. Also, make sure you stress that they didn't 'Lose' the game. Have their characters buried with honor as heroes by the rest of the party or the town/victims they helped save. Make it a worthy death that helped accomplish something heroic. Good luck, and have fun.
 

Lots of outstanding replies here. I appreciate all the advice. These will be very helpful. I have lined up a second DM in case more teens show up than I can run myself. They don't believe in doing sign ups ahead of time at my wife's library. I am going to point him here and then we can brainstorm for the next few weeks.

Space
 
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I don't know what all is going to be in those packets, but I'd recommend having plenty of copies of that rules packet from the D&D Experience. It was six or so pages and gave people an idea of what to go for. Make sure that they have the chance to really look at their characters and abilities and stress that they should use things creatively. I'm an English teacher. You'd be surprised how often my students say, "I don't know. I just don't get it." "Well, what do you think? Come up with something. If you can explain why, then it's correct." I'm part of a newer generation of teachers. Unfortunately, so many of these kids have had their ability think outside of the box squashed by the older generations. If you get kids who show up, though, that at least means that you'll have some interesting players to begin with. Free-thinkers and such.
 

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