This series follows the trials, tribulations, successes, and failures of a fairly inexperienced GM who has recently picked up the hobby after a long time away. It aims to assist new GMs by examining what worked, didn’t work, and what failed miserably as he spins up new campaigns, modules, encounters, and adventures for his friends and family.
Back Behind the GM Screen
In Fall of 1988, I spent the night at a friend’s house as I was apt to do often. But instead of a night on the Commodore 64, my friend produced a small, red box with two books inside. The books and box had a Dragon on the cover. I was awestruck. We grabbed some crazy-looking dice, some pencils, and some soda… and the rest is history. That was the day I learned what a role-playing game was, and for the next decade, my friends and I would take turns being Game Master, and we pushed miniatures across graph paper for hours and hours on end. Dungeons and Dragons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Heroes Unlimited, and others were played at my table. It was a blast.
So, if it was such a blast, how come I stopped playing? The same reason I guess many of us stop gaming. Life. A budding career, marriage, friends moving away, starting families, and having small children are all common obstacles that don’t allow us to do what we want. As it was, I hung up my dice bag, and carried on with life.
So what changed? How come I picked this hobby back up just recently? Well first, my son began to get old enough to game with, and my daughter not too far behind. At the same time, I became close friends with a man by the name of Jon Hook at work who writes published Call of Cthulu adventure modules for Goodman Games, under the Age of Cthulu line. (For fans of that RPG, you can check out his latest module here. He also is a host of one of d20 Radio’s featured podcasts, the “Miskatonic University – Call of Cthulu RPG Podcast.” Find it in the Podcasts section of this website, or visit www.mu-podcast.com. It’s a must-listen for any fan of that RPG.) Jon is also heavy into tabletop gaming, and gave me the idea of buying X-Wing Miniatures to play with my son. The rest is recent history, and led me to pick up the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars RPG lines. After becoming intrigued with FFG’s narrative dice mechanics, and at the urging of more friends and family, I hopped behind the GM screen once again.
Now, my entire family plays, including my wife, along with several friends. (It’s intimidating running an RPG campaign when one of your players writes published works for a popular RPG line, let me tell you!) My son, in particular, has really grown to love what a good RPG offers. The idea of creating his own character, running it however he liked, and putting himself in his own story really hooked him, just as it did me all those years ago. Of all the games we have now, the RPGs are his favorite.
Naturally, his next request was to have me GM a new game for his group of friends. I quickly and excitedly accepted the challenge, and began my own adventure of getting four 8th grade boys introduced to and excited about RPG’s.
Like me, many gamers who started in childhood now have children reaching the age where they can join in a great RPG with mom and dad. I’m sure many out there would love to pick up the hobby again and involve their family and their children’s friends. Involving family might be the only opportunity to play for some. Family game night doesn’t have to mean Clue, or Uno. So for those of you hoping to get your family, kids, or your kids’ friends hooked on the hobby we love, here are some useful guidelines and tips from a GM who discovered these elements through trial and a lot of error.
I thought what could be easier? I mean, 13 year-old boys, Star Wars, blasters, dice, soda, and pizza… how could I miss? But, boy did I miss. I missed as bad as a 1 on a saving throw. The boys were really excited to try after explaining to them what an RPG is. They were excited about being in their own Star Wars movie. So, I had my son invite his friends over, and we gave it a go. It just didn’t go how I planned, and I believe a lot of the problems I encountered are ones that I could have avoided, or at least prepped for. The first few articles in this series will focus on the things that I didn’t do correctly, and advice for getting your family or young players up and running and in love with this great hobby.
Just Play
I learn RPG’s by making characters and learning the different mechanics involved in doing so. I thought the younger PCs I was teaching would enjoy making their characters too. So, I spent the first part of the first session having them each build characters to play a short adventure with once we were done. I wanted them to feel invested and care about who they were playing. But oh so many things backfired on me.
First, there were just too many character options. I own all three game lines from Fantasy Flight Games: Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, and Force and Destiny. I have most of the splat books. This meant there were 18 career choices, over 60 specializations, and dozens of species for the youngsters to choose from. Add to that all the different skills, talents, and equipment options, and the situation was overwhelming for them. Often heard at the table were things like, “I want to be like Anakin before he turned bad, but sorta like Luke, but with some Han Solo thrown in, and as strong as Chewbacca!” Getting them to dial in and focus on a character concept was near impossible. That, and they all just wanted to be combat junkies laying waste to anything in their path, so most of the character ideas were similar, causing them to debate who should be what. (And I won’t bore you with the dozen explanations I had to give on why they all can’t have lightsabers right away.)
The boys didn’t understand the game yet to know what was important when making their character. Sure I helped, but they had no context for what to build in their minds or why they should build it. They only had the Star Wars movies and video games in their heads.
I had a dozen books spread all over two six-foot tables and showed the boys what pages to look for things. I told them to read about the species, careers, and skills that interested them. Well, the last thing young boys want to do is read after telling them they’re going to play a game. They skimmed a few words at best, mainly looking at pictures. This caused them to ask a million things, slowing us way down. “What does this skill do? Which career can shoot blasters best? What’s a Nubian?” It was too much.
In our video game-centered, 140 character, 5-minute video world, the boys tired quickly and easily. Not only did character creation take four hours, but they were in a crazed ADHD state by the end, and getting bored fast. After an hour, I was losing them.
I had to finish this exercise by having each boy, one at a time, finish out his character with my direction, and mostly I just finished them all for them. So, how should you avoid these pitfalls?
Just play. Give your younger players pre-generated characters and jump them right into the blaster fire and the swinging swords. I was too concerned with the boys wanting to make their own characters. Fantasy Flight has a wonderful set of four beginner boxes for their RPG lines. Those would have been perfect. If your game is D&D, or any other game, I would still do the same thing. Make characters for the children and tell them to be on the lookout for skills, talents, and concepts they like as they play. Just get to the dice… fast!
Strip the game down, throw out the needless detail, and teach the new younger players while you play the game. Focus on the core mechanics and simple problem resolution. Focus on straight-forward combat encounters and problem solving. You’ll have their attention immediately, and they get to roll dice.
After they get a game session under their belt, they’ll have many more ideas about what they’d like to play and what they wish their own character had. This will narrow the daunting array of choices down for your players while learning how to play. Do character creation in your second session, giving them time to go home and use their imaginations in between. Take notes about which elements each player seemed to enjoy or be drawn to the most.
Next time I will examine some ways to help jump in and play with your new, younger players, and talk about encounter creation and setting up a world your younger players can relate to.
Scott Alden
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