Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

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SmootRK
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by SmootRK »

For really big gatherings I tend to pull out Marvel Superheroes to play. I break everyone into two teams and let them choose various heroes/villains. Adults, being more saavy and devious, usually get the bad guys, while the kids play heroic. I set up a basic scenario and pre-place everyone and let the fun ensue... myself working mainly as the rule arbitrator. Fun Stuff.

And FYI - all the rules and much more still available free via: http://www.classicmarvelforever.com/cms/

Great rules for such one-off style party games.
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Koren_nRhys
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Koren_nRhys »

I've never been a huge comic book guy myself, so I haven't ever run or played a supers game. Everyone seems to love the current crop of movies though (me included) so it would be a blast to pull that out and run an Avengers game. I've just never gotten there since it's yet another game system I'd have to learn to run. Someday maybe!
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Metroknight
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Metroknight »

If you really wanted to go all out then hit up a kids r us or a walmart or anyplace that has nerf swords or such. Get some beanbag balls or nerf balls. With this gear you could do a simple larp with the parents being monsters and the kids being the heroes.

write down armor types and give them protection points. leather 1, chainmail 2, plate armor 3 then pin the paper to their shirts.

the swords or stuff does damage, small ones do 2 or 3, larger swords do 3 or 4, toy bows are findable and do 2 or 3.

The nerf balls are the spells if thrown and the kids call out the spell it goes off.

Let everyone go into the back yard and have fun. The GM marches the kids around while describing what they see and hear while the parents get setup for the encounter. The GM can march the kids to the front yard where a group of orcs (parents) are milling about (surprised) or they are ready (unsurprised) then let the kids whack away.

Make sure they understand certain restrictions like no hitting the face, no baseball bat swinging style, etc... This will do multiple things, gets everyone out and having fun, wears out the kids, and gives the kids an experience they will never forget.
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Longman
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Longman »

This sounds tough to pull off. Great fun if it works, though.

The idea of having some of the parents play NPCs or monsters is good. Kids love beating their parents at stuff.

My other suggestion is that each family group collectively runs two characters, and the kids help the parent make decisions about what to do with their pair. At least for the first play-session or two. Eventually the parents could step back, and let the kids run one character each.

3 parents = 6 characters. Sounds manageable. But if everyone has a character, that's insane!

Best of luck.
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Metroknight
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Metroknight »

Longman wrote:This sounds tough to pull off. Great fun if it works, though.
Actually that is how larping actually started. The first few larps were just like that.

That was before Nero and other larp guilds and such.
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Koren_nRhys
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Koren_nRhys »

Looks like we're ready to run with character creation on Sunday. PCs for the kids only, parents as helpers w/ monsters NPCs, etc. Very much looking forward to it. I appreciate all the great tips you've offered in regards to running the game.

Any ideas for good adventure fodder, still keeping the larger group in mind? I was recommended Secret of Bone Hill on another forum - base town, wilderness area with detailed encounters surrounding. Still skimming through, but it has potential. Other thoughts? In general, I want to avoid longer, multi-session adventures. Best to be able to finish up something in a few hours and get back to the town base - ala West Marches. That will help deal with the issue of not everyone being there every session.

Interesting thought on the LARP. Not my thing at all though, plus that's tougher to do here in the cold, snowy Northeast than down in Alabama. Still, thanks for the input.
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Dimirag
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Dimirag »

If you are good with improvisation then go that way, prepare and adventure idea, like a mission, or a day on the forest that turns into an adventure, or that they are just looking for adventure and find it. Prepare a location, some rooms (but no map, so you can put the rooms as needed to shorten or lengthen the adventure), create some encounters and then use all that into the adventure, then you can manage how many fights (and against how many monsters) they'll encounter, have and "ending" if needed (like a room with the persons to save or object to gather, or a boss monster) so when you are ready to finish the adventure you can put the en in front of the players.
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Metroknight
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Metroknight »

Take a look at Morgansfort or the AA pdf's then just pick a simple adventure from them.

For the kids first run, I would go with the Morgansfort and do the fort ruins on the nearby island. That gives you the fort as a base, the fort ruin has a dungeon, you can run a grassland encounter or swamp encounter a short distance south of the ruins. You could run them in the cave of chaos for a longer dungeon also.

The plus side is that it is already set to run for the system also.
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Koren_nRhys
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Koren_nRhys »

I have the PDFs of Morgansfort and AA1, I just haven't had time to poke through them too much. I intend to do that soon.

I have to admit I'm not so good with the improv end of DMing. I find I do much better with more preparation in advance, and time always being an issue, I tend to lean on pre-written adventures rather than brewing my own more often than not. Sure, I mix and match bits and pieces from all over and they'll be mostly unrecognizable from the originals, but I have to start with something.
Sir Bedivere
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Sir Bedivere »

How did it go?
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