you read the title, I need help. I've been asked to DM for my school's DND club.
the campaign I have in mind is a very metatextual spelljammer campaign, but this is some of these people's first time playing and spelljammer can be... a lot.
on the other hand, thanks to Stanger Things, Baulder's Gate, and Lord of the Rings, a lot of people know what DND is "supposed to be" and I feel spelljammer really spells the potential of the dragon game.
and because its a club, not everyone will always be there, and with spelljammer, everybody can just be a member of the crew.
or am I just rationalizing?
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Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
So I have been only DM for only 2 yrs, BUT after reading alot of books & sources from others they suggested if you want to have people come in and out write a small backstory for each person so it is easier to customize the story if they leave or take a break. It took me a while to understand the IN-DEPTH backstory I thought vs the basic outline backstory it should be. I have had alot of people from family members play then quit. It is no longer a big deal anymore. I hope this help a little. (I know this is really brief than what I got, but this is the basic)
you read the title, I need help. I've been asked to DM for my school's DND club.
the campaign I have in mind is a very metatextual spelljammer campaign, but this is some of these people's first time playing and spelljammer can be... a lot.
Metatextual and first-time players seems like a poor combination to me, but you can totally play SJ straight. But running SJ as "visit all these established settings" is, again, probably not a good fit for new players. SJ as "wild D&D stuff in space" is probably fine.
on the other hand, thanks to Stanger Things, Baulder's Gate, and Lord of the Rings, a lot of people know what DND is "supposed to be" and I feel spelljammer really spells the potential of the dragon game.
and because its a club, not everyone will always be there, and with spelljammer, everybody can just be a member of the crew.
Whatever game you run, I suggest just handwaving away the problems of players dipping in and out between sessions. They're there, but somehow didn't have a significant effect on play. No weird narrative devices, no running characters for them. And they should get loot and level up regardless, because once you've fallen behind in power, you're more likely to skip more sessions, particularly at that age.
As for what to run, talk to your players. If you want to run SJ, but aren't sure of buy-in, see if they're interested.
Metatextual and first-time players seems like a poor combination to me, but you can totally play SJ straight. But running SJ as "visit all these established settings" is, again, probably not a good fit for new players. SJ as "wild D&D stuff in space" is probably fine.
by metatextual I meant, "DM and by extension the players are powers greater than the gods, and can even be contacted" in fact the villain is a mindflayer who is trying to become a PC
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Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Have you considered the Star Trek approach? You have the PC's be the away crews that way if someone can't attend you have them captured or transported back to the spelljammer vessel and it doesn;t matter if no two away crews are the same as the "Captain" is assigning the best people for the job. You cant hen give the adventures a framework which, I hope, a lot of people are familiar with and you can basically rip off any star trek episode you want.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Metatextual and first-time players seems like a poor combination to me, but you can totally play SJ straight. But running SJ as "visit all these established settings" is, again, probably not a good fit for new players. SJ as "wild D&D stuff in space" is probably fine.
by metatextual I meant, "DM and by extension the players are powers greater than the gods, and can even be contacted" in fact the villain is a mindflayer who is trying to become a PC
Yeah, let them get their heads around the basic concept before you take a sledgehammer to the fourth wall. :)
Also, given teenagers, there'll be a question of "can we, the characters, break free and kill the DM?"
Your players have asked if they can kill the DM!? And I thought my players were insane.
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In the words of the great philosopher, Unicorse, "Aaaannnnd why should I care??"
Best quote from a book ever: "If you love with your eyes, death is forever. If you love with your heart, there is no such thing as parting."- Jonah Cook, Ascendant, Songs of Chaos by Michael R. Miller. Highly recommend
If you have people dropping in and out a lot I would highly recommend episodic adventures, like Candlekeep Mysteries, Keys to the Golden Vault, Lairs of Etharis, etc. Each story is meant for a specific level, so you can say "we're doing THIS this week, it's level 5" and whoever shows up brings a level 5 character. A bonus is that characters don't generally need lots of gold or magic items to be successful in those, nor do they drop often, so you won't have to worry much about Bob who plays every week having uber gear and Eve over here finally playing her first time all semester feeling inconsequential.
You could add external rewards to the entire group for completing stories, allowing them chances to get magic items (whether they've been there or not), gold, or even a chance to pick what story they do next time! Perhaps even some sort of reward track (highlighting things like great RP moments, Displays of Teamwork, etc) for the entire group over the course of the year and then add a big reward for everyone at the end if they meet it (like a pizza party).
Metatextual and first-time players seems like a poor combination to me, but you can totally play SJ straight. But running SJ as "visit all these established settings" is, again, probably not a good fit for new players. SJ as "wild D&D stuff in space" is probably fine.
by metatextual I meant, "DM and by extension the players are powers greater than the gods, and can even be contacted" in fact the villain is a mindflayer who is trying to become a PC
I run a club for 12-16 year olds myself and that sounds a bit much, especially if they're first time players. In my experience kids like a fairly meat and potatoes campaign where they just get to wander around and kill things. Even getting them to role play is often a losing battle. It's a cool idea but probably better left for an adult group who've played enough to get the idea of the meta.
I've also found you don't really need to do a lot to handwave players not attending, they all just seem to accept they'll miss sessions at the whim of their parents and are happy to just play when they're there
you read the title, I need help. I've been asked to DM for my school's DND club.
the campaign I have in mind is a very metatextual spelljammer campaign, but this is some of these people's first time playing and spelljammer can be... a lot.
on the other hand, thanks to Stanger Things, Baulder's Gate, and Lord of the Rings, a lot of people know what DND is "supposed to be" and I feel spelljammer really spells the potential of the dragon game.
and because its a club, not everyone will always be there, and with spelljammer, everybody can just be a member of the crew.
or am I just rationalizing?
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
So I have been only DM for only 2 yrs, BUT after reading alot of books & sources from others they suggested if you want to have people come in and out write a small backstory for each person so it is easier to customize the story if they leave or take a break. It took me a while to understand the IN-DEPTH backstory I thought vs the basic outline backstory it should be. I have had alot of people from family members play then quit. It is no longer a big deal anymore. I hope this help a little. (I know this is really brief than what I got, but this is the basic)
Metatextual and first-time players seems like a poor combination to me, but you can totally play SJ straight. But running SJ as "visit all these established settings" is, again, probably not a good fit for new players. SJ as "wild D&D stuff in space" is probably fine.
Whatever game you run, I suggest just handwaving away the problems of players dipping in and out between sessions. They're there, but somehow didn't have a significant effect on play. No weird narrative devices, no running characters for them. And they should get loot and level up regardless, because once you've fallen behind in power, you're more likely to skip more sessions, particularly at that age.
As for what to run, talk to your players. If you want to run SJ, but aren't sure of buy-in, see if they're interested.
by metatextual I meant, "DM and by extension the players are powers greater than the gods, and can even be contacted" in fact the villain is a mindflayer who is trying to become a PC
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Have you considered the Star Trek approach? You have the PC's be the away crews that way if someone can't attend you have them captured or transported back to the spelljammer vessel and it doesn;t matter if no two away crews are the same as the "Captain" is assigning the best people for the job. You cant hen give the adventures a framework which, I hope, a lot of people are familiar with and you can basically rip off any star trek episode you want.
Yeah, let them get their heads around the basic concept before you take a sledgehammer to the fourth wall. :)
Also, given teenagers, there'll be a question of "can we, the characters, break free and kill the DM?"
Your players have asked if they can kill the DM!? And I thought my players were insane.
In the words of the great philosopher, Unicorse, "Aaaannnnd why should I care??"
Best quote from a book ever: "If you love with your eyes, death is forever. If you love with your heart, there is no such thing as parting."- Jonah Cook, Ascendant, Songs of Chaos by Michael R. Miller. Highly recommend
If you have people dropping in and out a lot I would highly recommend episodic adventures, like Candlekeep Mysteries, Keys to the Golden Vault, Lairs of Etharis, etc. Each story is meant for a specific level, so you can say "we're doing THIS this week, it's level 5" and whoever shows up brings a level 5 character. A bonus is that characters don't generally need lots of gold or magic items to be successful in those, nor do they drop often, so you won't have to worry much about Bob who plays every week having uber gear and Eve over here finally playing her first time all semester feeling inconsequential.
You could add external rewards to the entire group for completing stories, allowing them chances to get magic items (whether they've been there or not), gold, or even a chance to pick what story they do next time! Perhaps even some sort of reward track (highlighting things like great RP moments, Displays of Teamwork, etc) for the entire group over the course of the year and then add a big reward for everyone at the end if they meet it (like a pizza party).
I run a club for 12-16 year olds myself and that sounds a bit much, especially if they're first time players. In my experience kids like a fairly meat and potatoes campaign where they just get to wander around and kill things. Even getting them to role play is often a losing battle. It's a cool idea but probably better left for an adult group who've played enough to get the idea of the meta.
I've also found you don't really need to do a lot to handwave players not attending, they all just seem to accept they'll miss sessions at the whim of their parents and are happy to just play when they're there
A campaign where the party are crew on Spelljammer ship sounds different and fun