Hi guys, been playing D&D off and on since the red box, and I'm gearing up to run a game for my daughter (11) and 2-3 of her friend, and possibly parents as well. I bought the starter box a couple years ago, so I have the Lost Mine adventure. Would I be best served to run that to start, and then branch off from there? I've done homebrew in the past, so I'm not against it, just not sure what to set up for these guys, as this is their first encounter with D&D.
I'm also debating running a PC myself to show them things to watch out for, but not 100% sure on that, especially if I have a group of more than 4 players. I want to make this a great experience, and hopefully hook them on D&D, what will give me the best chance of doing this? I'm looking at 2-4 hour sessions, depending on attention spans and engagement.
For players who are unfamiliar with the game it is easier to run Phandelver. There are pregen sheets for the complete novice, the ability to roll your own character for the more experienced, and the module can handle both. The module will hand hold the novice DM, giving a good amount of information to handle most of the average player decisions. However it's got enough freedom to allow for the more experienced DM to tackle the truly random nature of players.
If you are intimately familiar with another module, like me with Sunless Citadel (Tales From the Yawning Portal), then you can use that module instead since you'll know the ins and outs of it without having to pause every time the players do something wacky. I would strongly suggest you make sure it's a 1-X lvl module so the newer players can get their feet under them.
If, by some chance, you decide to home brew, I would suggest using the first 3 levels of play as a tutorial for your table. Give them various social, combat, and environment interactions so they can learn what freedoms they have. It will also allow you to learn play styles as well as give them a stronger understanding of how you DM.
Thanks guys, maybe I will go with LMoP, I'd like to go through character creation with the girls, as I think that'd be fun, and that way they get a character they like. Is there a good flowchart system out there with a few questions, then give them the choice of 1-2 classes?
Honestly, with kids/young adults, I go with their intent rather than mechanically building.
Give them a brief explanation of the module and what they'll be doing then follow it up with these types of questions:
Is there a character from a movie, cartoon, video game, or book that you think would be fun to play as? -This provides a broad idea for what they might like to play
What about that character do you like most? -This helps narrow down, or slightly change the choices
Since you'll be playing this character, it's not going to be the exact same, is there anything special you want your character to be able to do that this character cannot/doesn't do? -Again refining the class/sub-class
Keep asking questions like this until you, and the player, have around 3 different class/sub-class options. Describe those options and see which one fits closest to what they are looking for. This will help them with the theater of the mind parts of the game immensely since they're going to be pretending to be the character on the sheet and have influences from the character that they're basing it off of.
Do not worry, for the first characters, about the fluff info (background, ideals, bonds, etc.) just use the necessary core information, let the players figure the rest out as they play.
I run LMOP for new players, I laminated the 5 pregen character sheets and I just let them fight over which one they get. Works great with using markers on them.
I do not recommend playing an NPC let them discover and figure things out. Rule based off their intent.
I ran it for a group of new players this a week ago, and was stunned when they used food and handle animal to get passed the wolves, yes they did not say they were using handle animal, but I interpreted their intent. I had never had a group do that before.
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Hi guys, been playing D&D off and on since the red box, and I'm gearing up to run a game for my daughter (11) and 2-3 of her friend, and possibly parents as well. I bought the starter box a couple years ago, so I have the Lost Mine adventure. Would I be best served to run that to start, and then branch off from there? I've done homebrew in the past, so I'm not against it, just not sure what to set up for these guys, as this is their first encounter with D&D.
I'm also debating running a PC myself to show them things to watch out for, but not 100% sure on that, especially if I have a group of more than 4 players. I want to make this a great experience, and hopefully hook them on D&D, what will give me the best chance of doing this? I'm looking at 2-4 hour sessions, depending on attention spans and engagement.
Any advice is welcome.
Mines is an excellent dive into the game. It gives you some of everything without punishing you for not knowing every little game mechanic
For players who are unfamiliar with the game it is easier to run Phandelver. There are pregen sheets for the complete novice, the ability to roll your own character for the more experienced, and the module can handle both. The module will hand hold the novice DM, giving a good amount of information to handle most of the average player decisions. However it's got enough freedom to allow for the more experienced DM to tackle the truly random nature of players.
If you are intimately familiar with another module, like me with Sunless Citadel (Tales From the Yawning Portal), then you can use that module instead since you'll know the ins and outs of it without having to pause every time the players do something wacky. I would strongly suggest you make sure it's a 1-X lvl module so the newer players can get their feet under them.
If, by some chance, you decide to home brew, I would suggest using the first 3 levels of play as a tutorial for your table. Give them various social, combat, and environment interactions so they can learn what freedoms they have. It will also allow you to learn play styles as well as give them a stronger understanding of how you DM.
Thanks guys, maybe I will go with LMoP, I'd like to go through character creation with the girls, as I think that'd be fun, and that way they get a character they like. Is there a good flowchart system out there with a few questions, then give them the choice of 1-2 classes?
Honestly, with kids/young adults, I go with their intent rather than mechanically building.
Give them a brief explanation of the module and what they'll be doing then follow it up with these types of questions:
Is there a character from a movie, cartoon, video game, or book that you think would be fun to play as?
-This provides a broad idea for what they might like to play
What about that character do you like most?
-This helps narrow down, or slightly change the choices
Since you'll be playing this character, it's not going to be the exact same, is there anything special you want your character to be able to do that this character cannot/doesn't do?
-Again refining the class/sub-class
Keep asking questions like this until you, and the player, have around 3 different class/sub-class options. Describe those options and see which one fits closest to what they are looking for. This will help them with the theater of the mind parts of the game immensely since they're going to be pretending to be the character on the sheet and have influences from the character that they're basing it off of.
Do not worry, for the first characters, about the fluff info (background, ideals, bonds, etc.) just use the necessary core information, let the players figure the rest out as they play.
I run LMOP for new players, I laminated the 5 pregen character sheets and I just let them fight over which one they get. Works great with using markers on them.
I do not recommend playing an NPC let them discover and figure things out. Rule based off their intent.
I ran it for a group of new players this a week ago, and was stunned when they used food and handle animal to get passed the wolves, yes they did not say they were using handle animal, but I interpreted their intent. I had never had a group do that before.