So, I recently started hosting a D&D club at the middle school I work at and since none of the students have any experience playing, I will be DMing for them. I have played before but this will be my first time as a DM and my party is made up of 5 super energetic middle schoolers. Some advice would be nice as I have barely an idea of what I'm doing. I'm mostly just stealing ideas from a book I am writing at the moment.
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"Standardized testing is at cross purposes with many of the most important purposes of public education. It doesn't measure big-picture learning, critical thinking, perseverance, problem solving, creativity or curiosity, yet those are the qualities great teaching brings out in a student." - Randi Weingarten
Read the players' backstories, and try to weave elements of their backstories into the campaign. For example, if one of the PCs is a noble, perhaps the plot could include their noble house at some point, with a rival noble house as an antagonist. Or perhaps one of the PCs' parents were murdered, and it's discovered later that the murderer was part of a criminal cartel that's working for the bad guy.
Use an adventure module like lost mines or dragon heist (good adventures for first time DMs in my opinion, but never ran them) or whip up a dungeon crawl.
Use encounter builders to tailer the battles to party level. Don't go easy on them battle tactics wise, but you can reduce enemy max HP mid battle if they need a handicap. Similarly, you can raise enemy HP mid battle, if it is too easy.
Use an adventure module like lost mines or dragon heist (good adventures for first time DMs in my opinion, but never ran them) or whip up a dungeon crawl.
Use encounter builders to tailer the battles to party level. Don't go easy on them battle tactics wise, but you can reduce enemy max HP mid battle if they need a handicap. Similarly, you can raise enemy HP mid battle, if it is too easy.
I'll vouch for Lost Mine if Phandelver. I'm running it for my group currently and also ran it for a group that ranged from high school to elementary school. It has a good mix of content, is general enough to allow for expansion or elaboration, and has more simplified rules since it was designed for use with the Starter Kit. Other early modules frequently have transitions included (Storm King's Thunder certainly does), which helps fill a few more levels. Considering that I've never played before and these are my only groups I've DMed for, I think it's going well.
Thank you both. I was able to find Lost Mine of Phandelver and I think I'll be able to play with it to make it fit into a world I had already created and was thinking of putting them in. I even ended up with enough students involved that we'll have 2 parties going so I may look into one of the other modules as well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Standardized testing is at cross purposes with many of the most important purposes of public education. It doesn't measure big-picture learning, critical thinking, perseverance, problem solving, creativity or curiosity, yet those are the qualities great teaching brings out in a student." - Randi Weingarten
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So, I recently started hosting a D&D club at the middle school I work at and since none of the students have any experience playing, I will be DMing for them. I have played before but this will be my first time as a DM and my party is made up of 5 super energetic middle schoolers. Some advice would be nice as I have barely an idea of what I'm doing. I'm mostly just stealing ideas from a book I am writing at the moment.
"Standardized testing is at cross purposes with many of the most important purposes of public education. It doesn't measure big-picture learning, critical thinking, perseverance, problem solving, creativity or curiosity, yet those are the qualities great teaching brings out in a student." - Randi Weingarten
Read the players' backstories, and try to weave elements of their backstories into the campaign. For example, if one of the PCs is a noble, perhaps the plot could include their noble house at some point, with a rival noble house as an antagonist. Or perhaps one of the PCs' parents were murdered, and it's discovered later that the murderer was part of a criminal cartel that's working for the bad guy.
They are middle schoolers, so make it very combat centered. If they haven't made characters yet, make some premade ones for them to choose from.
Use an adventure module like lost mines or dragon heist (good adventures for first time DMs in my opinion, but never ran them) or whip up a dungeon crawl.
Use encounter builders to tailer the battles to party level. Don't go easy on them battle tactics wise, but you can reduce enemy max HP mid battle if they need a handicap. Similarly, you can raise enemy HP mid battle, if it is too easy.
I'll vouch for Lost Mine if Phandelver. I'm running it for my group currently and also ran it for a group that ranged from high school to elementary school. It has a good mix of content, is general enough to allow for expansion or elaboration, and has more simplified rules since it was designed for use with the Starter Kit. Other early modules frequently have transitions included (Storm King's Thunder certainly does), which helps fill a few more levels. Considering that I've never played before and these are my only groups I've DMed for, I think it's going well.
Thank you both. I was able to find Lost Mine of Phandelver and I think I'll be able to play with it to make it fit into a world I had already created and was thinking of putting them in. I even ended up with enough students involved that we'll have 2 parties going so I may look into one of the other modules as well.
"Standardized testing is at cross purposes with many of the most important purposes of public education. It doesn't measure big-picture learning, critical thinking, perseverance, problem solving, creativity or curiosity, yet those are the qualities great teaching brings out in a student." - Randi Weingarten