Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

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

Post by Koren_nRhys »

Hi there - thanks for the nudge to post a follow up report.

First off, I did take the advice offered here and limited the party to just the kids - a much more manageable 5 PCs. The dads were there to help keep the kids focused on the game but mostly kept out of it and let them make their own decisions on what to do in-game.

As one would expect from BFRPG, the character creation session went quickly. I did work up a document with a few house rules and additions (Lord knows I can't run anything RAW) but none of those will really come into play until they have a level or two under their belts. I've ended up setting the game in the TSR Thunder Rift setting - a very simple, contained setting they used as an intro for new players & DMs in the Rules Cyclopedia twilight era of Basic. Started them in a small village I added to the setting and set them off.

With the remaining time after character creation, I had a quick RP interaction with the village blacksmith, worried for his new apprentice who had not arrived a couple of days prior as expected. Off the party went, taking the road north towards the larger town the apprentice smith would have used. They met a traveling merchant coming south who reported he hadn't seen the fellow, but there were rumors of goblin raids along the route. Further on they do indeed stumble into a goblin ambush and a quick first combat encounter.

Next session we picked up with he party back-tracking the goblins towards their lair, meeting a pair of goblin scout outriders on wolves (including them capturing and questioning one instead of just killing both) and finally finding the goblins cave hideout (using an awesome Dyson Logos map!). A decent combat followed - no PC losses but they got pushed to the limit and learned some care. Threw in some archers to highlight both ranged and melee combat, as well as a shaman for a bit of spellplay. They dealt very well with the challenge of a darkness spell.

We have since then only had one more session to clean up the end of that encounter, rescuing the apprentice who had been captured, along with a halfling captive - a new player. They then cleared a small outbuilding that the goblins had barricaded shut due to the crab spider inside and delivered the apprentice to the blacksmith before travelling to the larger town to pursue their fortunes as adventurers.

Next I need to detail the setting a bit for them and give them a couple of job offers to choose from. I also realized I've added too much fuss with some of my proposed house rules even before they've seen them and will be simplifying that to some degree.

All in all, a very positive gaming experience for all involved. The kids have been excited to play every time and the dads report they continue to ask when the next session will be. Success!
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Hywaywolf
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Hywaywolf »

What fun. Good job.
Sir Bedivere
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Sir Bedivere »

Sounds great! Thanks for the report.

I might be GMing a group of elementary school students in the near future, or at least helping with the game. If you (or anyone) have any tips, I'd appreciate it.
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Longman
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Longman »

Dyson Logos is cool.

I recently had a bunch of those maps printed out onto A1 architectural drafting paper. 3 dollars each. Turned out to be a decent scale for combat with small lego figures.

Glad you enjoyed your game.
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Koren_nRhys
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Koren_nRhys »

Sir Bedivere wrote:Sounds great! Thanks for the report.

I might be GMing a group of elementary school students in the near future, or at least helping with the game. If you (or anyone) have any tips, I'd appreciate it.
So far, I've found my kids are pretty attentive, but they are closer to middle school age. The last session, the dads decided to feed them some pizza and soda beforehand, so that one was a bit more chaotic, to be honest.

I kept things moving rather quickly so they wouldn't get distracted by needless downtime. I'd point to someone and ask a question, or for input, what they wanted to do, etc. Worked pretty well. For combat, group initiative and went around the table, switching direction each time. Also alternated who got to roll for the party. If someone was quiet or getting talked over, I made a point of asking for their input directly. The one girl we have is the quietest so far, but also the best strategist of the group. I think she'll eventually step up and be the leader.
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Koren_nRhys
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Koren_nRhys »

Longman wrote:Dyson Logos is cool.

I recently had a bunch of those maps printed out onto A1 architectural drafting paper. 3 dollars each. Turned out to be a decent scale for combat with small lego figures.

Glad you enjoyed your game.
I have a couple Chessex mats I pre-drew the encounter areas on, but kept it very loose and didn't focus on miniatures during combat.

I'd like to do a quick write up of the adventure at some point - a little one-page type thing. Got to double-check Dyson's permission on sharing something like that though. Since BFRPG is non-commercial, he may let me post it here and not just on my blog.
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Longman
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Longman »

I have checked the same thing myself because I am planning on using some of his maps online, if my party ever get that far...

The License: You can have a non-exclusive, non-commercial license to use my maps in a manner that does not support your other commercial endeavours. Maps licensed in this way can be used on your blog, forums or other online media as long as you include full credit for the cartography to Dyson Logos, and also include a link to this blog. You cannot use this license to publish the maps in a commercial product (including free products that support a commercial product of yours – so if you are selling an RPG, you can’t use my maps for free adventures for said RPG).

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/about/copyright/

Seems like he'd be OK with people using the maps for online PBP games or reports of live games, provided you credit him.
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Koren_nRhys
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Koren_nRhys »

Excellent! I think last time I looked for such a thing there wasn't an official statement like that. Thanks for the link!

In other news, my brother called me from the Middle East - he's living and working overseas. My 8yo nephew is expressing interest in D&D but doesn't have anyone to play with. This kid is amazingly bright for his age and my brother wants to get him into 5E so that he's learning the current supported edition, which I can understand. They want me to run a PbP game of 5E for them, so it looks like I'll be running Lost Mine of Phandelver - probably at RPOL.net so the dice rollers and everything are right there. Not as simple to do as with BFRPG, but I'll do what I need to, to get a new player into the hobby.
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Hywaywolf
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Hywaywolf »

when I first started DMing for my kids I used a game board from a grid type board game (don't remember the name) that had most of the pieces missing. What was cool about it, beyond that it had a grid marked on hard glossy board, was that it was cut in a way that it folded up into a quarter of its full size. That made a nice big board that fit into a small storage area. Where I worked we had a stacks of overhead projector sheets that we no longer used since we were going hi-tech. I printed out a few different maps, buildings, vehicles (wagons, carts, boats) and other design elements. They worked great when placed over that grid board.
Sir Bedivere
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Re: Newbie Players (Kids) and LARGE party HELP!

Post by Sir Bedivere »

Thanks for the suggestions. These kids are 8-12, so I think a tactical map will be really helpful, but I've never really used them much. I'll check out Dyson Logos.
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