Middle School Game Club

[jgbrowning]

We focus on three stages of the design process: conceptualization, development, and production. Working in small groups, the students choose a format (strategy game, CCG, path game, and so on) and a theme. They do a lot of sketching and playtesting, develop a game mechanic and an objective, then produce a mockup of the game, complete with packaging and instructions. On the last day, each game is playtested by another group, and critiqued, while we consume lots of popcorn, Pepsi, and Doritos.

Where were you when I was in middle school?



joe b.

 

[S'mon]

Some ground rules for DMing for children:
--Don't mention drugs or alcohol in your game world. When PCs enter a tavern in my campaign, they are served a frosty mug of rootbeer or a goblet of lemonade.

Never heard that one before!

No evil PCs I can understand and I agree with - no religious themes is probably also a good idea, no sex either - but *no alcohol*?! OMG.

Only in America (surely?).

 

[pogre]

I teach and DM. I have run D&D a couple of times at the high school. The Main problem is numbers. Once I played a game I could not have a meeting with less than 15 or more kids showing up. Obviously, I cannot play favorites, thus I abandoned roleplaying and stuck to other stuff. Last year I had a parent object to the game on religious grounds, not surprisingly they brought up the BoVD... Anyway, no more D&D at school for me in the near future.

 

[DaveStebbins]

dougmander already mentioned it, but I thought I would single out Once Upon a Time by Atlas Games. It is easy to learn and quick to play and lots of fun. It can be played on long bus rides. I'm using it to gauge my daughter's interest in learning RPGs later (in addition to it being a blast to play that always leaves us laughing).

http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG1001.html

-Dave

 

[norne]

Any suggestions for "transitional" games: board/card games that might introduce the concepts and some of the mechanics of RPGs? Dwarven Dig looks like a good shot. Some of the Steve Jackson Munchkin family of card games do too, though the one's I've played all have at least a handful of cards to risque for middle school kids. Other thoughts?

 

[pogre]

Any suggestions for "transitional" games: board/card games that might introduce the concepts and some of the mechanics of RPGs? Dwarven Dig looks like a good shot. Some of the Steve Jackson Munchkin family of card games do too, though the one's I've played all have at least a handful of cards to risque for middle school kids. Other thoughts?

Heroquest.

 

[DM with a vengence]

I am a High School Student running a RPG Club of mostly middle-schoolers with the help of a teacher.

One solution to the massive numbers of kids problem is to get a couple of other DMs to run other games, of course this only works if you have veterans, or people with prior experience, but it's how I run my club.

I play in what may be the toughest conditions on the planet, 40 minutes (more liek 30) at lunch in a classroom with 20 other kids, so my experience may seem much like survival training on how to survive for 3 weeks in the amazon rainforest while being tracked by ninjas, but may help.

-Keep turns fast and short.
-Keep combat simple, you may wish to look into houseruling a system like that d20-lite in Knights of the Old Republic.
-More narrative play is better. Talking and plotting seems more significant that clearing the orcs out of two rooms.
-Run games based on history, I run the club, which is mostly pure fantasy, but our sponsor uses games set in historical basis to teach the students about Greek mythology, Roman Alexandria, the spread of Christianity through Britain, and the economy of Bronze Age Greece.

Have fun.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Any suggestions for "transitional" games: board/card games that might introduce the concepts and some of the mechanics of RPGs? Dwarven Dig looks like a good shot. Some of the Steve Jackson Munchkin family of card games do too, though the one's I've played all have at least a handful of cards to risque for middle school kids. Other thoughts?

The severally mentioned Once Upon a Time is great for this - at least for the cooperative story telling aspect of RPGs.

I'd also highly recommend Chrononauts, a cardgame in which each history has gone wrong at a series of points, and the players have to travel through time setting things right. Of course, "right" is from their own perspective, as each player has a secret mission, which might be anything from preventing the start of WWII to ensuring the destruction of the world.

Troll Lord Games is coming out with a d20 Lite system sometime soon which may be worth a look.

There's also the D&D Adventure Game (the $10 boxed set), or if you can find it somewhere cheap, the D&D Basic (Either in boxed sets or the Rules Cyclopedia)

Any game in which players can be encouraged to take on a persona works, though. Diplomacy, for example, can be a just a straight strategy game in which none of the players communicate except through movements of their forces. On the other hand, players can also make up and assume the character of their country's foreign minister when meeting with other countries, complete with mannerisms and outrageous accents. Diplomacy can get a little tense though, so it depends on your particular group as to whether this would be appropriate or not.

Other games I've played that encourage this sort of identification with your game chracter (beyond that which you get playing the thimble in Monopoly) are: Illuminati (older middle schoolers might get some of the jokes, but the puns are funny for all of them); Family Business (Thematic elements might nix this one for you - each player is the leader of a mob during the depression - fun, but brutal), Clue (Perhaps last year's D&D Clue?), Acquire (Be a corporate baron!), and pretty much any game that involves a trading phase, like Settlers.