Introductions to DMing for kids?

Spinachcat · June 22, 2019, 03:40:12 AM

Quote from: S'mon;1093153he wants it to look like a Marvel movie fight scene compilation.

Me too! RPG combat is too slow too often.

BTW, have you introduced your son to Palladium? The active defense and special moves of PB's house system always felt more dynamic than D&D's more streamlined/abstracted system.

Blusponge · June 22, 2019, 10:26:38 AM

Quote from: S'mon;1093153My own son, also now 12, does some GMing for his friends too, but I think he tends to lack the focus to run a proper adventure, he wants it to look like a Marvel movie fight scene compilation. I think there's an element of desire for world-building/simulation a good GM needs which he doesn't have, at least not yet.

Oh, I don't know about that. At 10 or so years old, after my first taste of the basic set, my first adventure was "the Kobold Caves" and it was pretty much just a string of pointless fights with kobolds. The follow-up was supposed to be "the Goblin [something or other]". Let's not put too much pressure on how kids come to the game and where they take it. I think having the confidence to gather a group of friends and run a game for them is applause worthy in itself. The world building will come eventually. But D&D is always more about the adventure than the world. You don't need to be good at one to be good at the other.

Tom

Steven Mitchell · June 22, 2019, 03:26:50 PM

Quote from: Shasarak;1093115So you learned to kill characters early before the Players have grown attached to them?

Having the weapon of monster slaying in the same room as the monster is classic Gygax design that makes me laugh and laugh every time I see it although much better to have it in the room after the monster you needed it for.

If that's what I wanted, yes. If I wanted something else, then I needed to work towards that. Given that at that age I was very literal minded compared to most people, the revelation that the rules of the game were a tool in the hands of the GM to make the game you wanted, was earth-shaking.

S'mon · June 22, 2019, 06:19:35 PM

Quote from: Blusponge;1093177Oh, I don't know about that. At 10 or so years old, after my first taste of the basic set, my first adventure was "the Kobold Caves" and it was pretty much just a string of pointless fights with kobolds. The follow-up was supposed to be "the Goblin [something or other]". Let's not put too much pressure on how kids come to the game and where they take it. I think having the confidence to gather a group of friends and run a game for them is applause worthy in itself. The world building will come eventually. But D&D is always more about the adventure than the world. You don't need to be good at one to be good at the other.

Tom

Were you a *good* GM at 10?

Re worldbuilding, I think running Fighting Fantasy as my first rpg was very helpful - with almost no rules to think about, most of my effort went into creating interesting adventure settings. The multiple choice format of FF gamebooks also helped me think in terms of choices options and directions rather than linear adventures.

Spinachcat · June 22, 2019, 07:28:24 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1093215Were you a *good* GM at 10?

A lot of 10 year old kids are kickass GMs...for other kids. I am a far "better" GM now, but in junior high I had crazy big tables. Was there world building? Sure! We had different dungeons! Did we understand or use half the rules? Uh...just roll the damn dice. Lunch is 45 minutes.

Seriously, who wants to open a trapped chest and not find a bunch of cool magic items? And poison ghost snakes. And free do-overs in exchange for Oreos.

Blusponge · June 22, 2019, 09:36:55 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1093215Were you a *good* GM at 10?

I was a legend. In my own mind.

RPGPundit · July 02, 2019, 04:53:24 AM

Nobody is a good GM at a young age. But that's where you start to learn by mistakes.

Introductions to DMing for kids?

Spinachcat

Blusponge

Steven Mitchell

S'mon

Spinachcat

Blusponge

RPGPundit