Hello, all. Here's the backstory: A friend of mine from my college days is the director of a college/independent living program for students on the Autism Spectrum and she asked me and the DM of a group I play in on Sundays if we'd run a group for interested students. I agreed to DM to practice and my DM has been assisting me. The problem is I don't think I'm running a game that everyone enjoys.
Here's the group: The Yuan-Ti Bard: She plays as if she's always been into the D&D scene. Call her the defacto leader and the compass of the group. The Minotaur Paladin: Our chaotic evil/comic relief who loves to attempt to subjugate different places they visit BUT still does play the game and backs down if the other players tell him he's letting a rant go on for too long. Not a problem player and respectful enough to make sure everyone else is having fun. And the Deep Gnome Druid: Their attitude is that adventuring if it doesn't directly involve us (I.E. the DM railroading you into doing something) is stupid. However, they are new to the game and learning proper conduct so they haven't become a problem player yet.
As you can guess, this party has people with different approaches to D&D which has caused me issues trying to run Waterdeep: Dragon Heist without hitting brick walls or having to tell them what to do next (at one point we were sure the Druid was going to persuade the party to not get involved with the story at the start of Chapter 3 (not saying which part to avoid spoiling the plot), which didn't happen because they weren't able to play that day).
I'm wondering if I should change tactics such as making a strictly roleplay heavy campaign with minimal to no dungeon crawling and/or combat, make a more dungeon crawling heavy campaign to avoid issues with anyone struggling with roleplaying...or if I should just try to play any adventure books/write up quests/use game hooks and see what happens. Again, I am new to DMing and still learning the ropes of how to DM but I want to make sure I'm running a game that everyone is enjoying and making sure no one is unhappy with the game.
I know it sounds dumb when it's written out for all to see, but I am hoping some seasoned DMs and/or veteran players have any advice to make sure everything is going smoothly and if I need to adjust my campaign because of everyone's different personalities the best approach. Thank you in advance for hearing this TL;DR question out and I look forward to hearing some advice.
Also, a message to the forum staff: If I've posted this thread in the wrong board, I apologize...I am new to this community and couldn't figure out where a thread like this is supposed to be posted, if at all. I just took a wild guess based off the name of the board.
I think the real problem here is that the druid is trying to play it as a sandbox homebrew adventure instead of a published one. This kind of thing is usually solved in a session 0 where everyone agress with the general adventure concept. A published adventure needs the players to follow along or you're no longer playing the story. Sure the DM can add stuff to bring players back around to the story hooks but in general, the players should expect it to be a little on the railroad side. One question I'd ask is if the druid is role playing someone who doesn't like adventuring or if the player just doesn't connect with the story. Also, Dragon Heist has a problem with making some of the events relevant to the party, so you can try adjusting some of the adventure hooks to make it more personal. Another thought, if you want to move to a dungeon crawl, is to move them to Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It connects to the events in Waterdeep and might give them more singular focus if the solve the mystery story isn't working for them.
Unfortunately, the way this group is structured is that Session 0 was just the bard and the paladin. The director asks us to give an orientation and run a tutorial one shot to see if anyone is interested in joining the party and this person came into the group around session. So basically as new students join the program, any interested parties can join the table until the available seats fill up. I did suggest having newcomers watch a session or two to see if they feel they'd be a good fit for the group.
I never thought of it as a sandbox perspective (neither did my co-DM so I'll run that by him when I see him tomorrow) but we do plan to talk to the druid on Saturday before we start. I'll definitely see how they feel about adventuring in general vs. connection and I'll definitely look into Dungeon Of The Mad Mage as possible addition to my book collection. We do a mix of published works and non published works (We've done The Sunless Citadel and wrote an adventure based off a game hook I found online. After Waterdeep I was planning a quest to introduce a recurring villain without using a game hook to test my writing from scratch skills out) so I do like to get my hands on any material that's considered good/highly recommended by others.
Do you have any training with people on the autism spectrum? If you do not it might help by learning some of the things they teach to spot and deal with specific behaviors. Also some adventures would be better for specific people on the spectrum then others so I would inform the admin of the program on what I was going to run and any possible issues in the adventure. For example you might limit play time to preserve player focus, have more skill challenges vs combat and very few direct social conflict, take breaks, etc. But each person may have areas that they are trying to work on and thus need help and support in different ways.
A good friend of mine worked dealt with the same people as your players and often talked about the various difficulties he encountered on an daily basis so i wish you the best of luck. Note: I mean the last in the best possible way but I could not think of a better or more respectful term then "same people".
Training is something I do not have. The director does, so if I need any advice or suggestions, I do speak to her. I'll definitely speak to her about the best ways to run adventures based off everyone's personality. My concern is making sure that everyone enjoys the group and that everyone feels welcome at the table. Thankfully all three members of the party get along outside the table, so I'd say the only issues I'm having are making sure I'm doing a decent job running the game.
The ideas presented are definitely helpful for me though. And I'm apprising my co-DM on all advice so he can help me plan everything out.
Training is something I do not have. The director does, so if I need any advice or suggestions, I do speak to her. I'll definitely speak to her about the best ways to run adventures based off everyone's personality. My concern is making sure that everyone enjoys the group and that everyone feels welcome at the table. Thankfully all three members of the party get along outside the table, so I'd say the only issues I'm having are making sure I'm doing a decent job running the game.
The ideas presented are definitely helpful for me though. And I'm apprising my co-DM on all advice so he can help me plan everything out.
I am guessing but it sounds like there should not be any issues based on your comments. In the past I have worked with students with learning disabilities and often it is just a matter of finding a different way for them to learn.
A couple of things came to mind, ask the admin if there is anything they want you to work on with each player (math, social skills, managing equipment, etc) or if there is anything to expressly avoid or be warry of with a player. I say this as a local new station around here just had a story about a non-profit that was helping people with life skills (basic math, money, accounting and social interactions (buying stuff in a store, using mass transit, etc). I think RPGing could possible help teach people those things and or reinforce those skills that are also being taught in the center by using a different path. For example reading a game, watching a game and playing a game are all different ways to learn and some people learn better from one or more methods then others do.
Training is something I do not have. The director does, so if I need any advice or suggestions, I do speak to her. I'll definitely speak to her about the best ways to run adventures based off everyone's personality. My concern is making sure that everyone enjoys the group and that everyone feels welcome at the table. Thankfully all three members of the party get along outside the table, so I'd say the only issues I'm having are making sure I'm doing a decent job running the game.
The ideas presented are definitely helpful for me though. And I'm apprising my co-DM on all advice so he can help me plan everything out.
I am guessing but it sounds like there should not be any issues based on your comments. In the past I have worked with students with learning disabilities and often it is just a matter of finding a different way for them to learn.
A couple of things came to mind, ask the admin if there is anything they want you to work on with each player (math, social skills, managing equipment, etc) or if there is anything to expressly avoid or be warry of with a player. I say this as a local new station around here just had a story about a non-profit that was helping people with life skills (basic math, money, accounting and social interactions (buying stuff in a store, using mass transit, etc). I think RPGing could possible help teach people those things and or reinforce those skills that are also being taught in the center by using a different path. For example reading a game, watching a game and playing a game are all different ways to learn and some people learn better from one or more methods then others do.
Good Luck and Have Fun.
Thanks for the advice. Today's session actually went a bit smoother. They're halfway done with Chapter 4. My co-DM chatted with the druid a little bit before we started they seemed to feel a bit more motivated in the RP department and actually helped lead the charge a little alongside the bard today. I'm still a little wary on how I should adventures while they start coming together as a party, but I think things are going to look up soon enough. At least I hope so.
I'll definitely talk to the director and see what other advice she can offer.
I am glad things are looking up and I think ongoing communication with the director and other helpers can only help. Also I think repeatedly saying "you are not your PC and your PC is not you" is important. Also I find if there are some hard puzzles and or riddles try and give them to the group the week before and left them have time to think and solve them during the week.
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Hello, all. Here's the backstory: A friend of mine from my college days is the director of a college/independent living program for students on the Autism Spectrum and she asked me and the DM of a group I play in on Sundays if we'd run a group for interested students. I agreed to DM to practice and my DM has been assisting me. The problem is I don't think I'm running a game that everyone enjoys.
Here's the group: The Yuan-Ti Bard: She plays as if she's always been into the D&D scene. Call her the defacto leader and the compass of the group. The Minotaur Paladin: Our chaotic evil/comic relief who loves to attempt to subjugate different places they visit BUT still does play the game and backs down if the other players tell him he's letting a rant go on for too long. Not a problem player and respectful enough to make sure everyone else is having fun. And the Deep Gnome Druid: Their attitude is that adventuring if it doesn't directly involve us (I.E. the DM railroading you into doing something) is stupid. However, they are new to the game and learning proper conduct so they haven't become a problem player yet.
As you can guess, this party has people with different approaches to D&D which has caused me issues trying to run Waterdeep: Dragon Heist without hitting brick walls or having to tell them what to do next (at one point we were sure the Druid was going to persuade the party to not get involved with the story at the start of Chapter 3 (not saying which part to avoid spoiling the plot), which didn't happen because they weren't able to play that day).
I'm wondering if I should change tactics such as making a strictly roleplay heavy campaign with minimal to no dungeon crawling and/or combat, make a more dungeon crawling heavy campaign to avoid issues with anyone struggling with roleplaying...or if I should just try to play any adventure books/write up quests/use game hooks and see what happens. Again, I am new to DMing and still learning the ropes of how to DM but I want to make sure I'm running a game that everyone is enjoying and making sure no one is unhappy with the game.
I know it sounds dumb when it's written out for all to see, but I am hoping some seasoned DMs and/or veteran players have any advice to make sure everything is going smoothly and if I need to adjust my campaign because of everyone's different personalities the best approach. Thank you in advance for hearing this TL;DR question out and I look forward to hearing some advice.
Also, a message to the forum staff: If I've posted this thread in the wrong board, I apologize...I am new to this community and couldn't figure out where a thread like this is supposed to be posted, if at all. I just took a wild guess based off the name of the board.
I think the real problem here is that the druid is trying to play it as a sandbox homebrew adventure instead of a published one. This kind of thing is usually solved in a session 0 where everyone agress with the general adventure concept. A published adventure needs the players to follow along or you're no longer playing the story. Sure the DM can add stuff to bring players back around to the story hooks but in general, the players should expect it to be a little on the railroad side. One question I'd ask is if the druid is role playing someone who doesn't like adventuring or if the player just doesn't connect with the story. Also, Dragon Heist has a problem with making some of the events relevant to the party, so you can try adjusting some of the adventure hooks to make it more personal. Another thought, if you want to move to a dungeon crawl, is to move them to Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It connects to the events in Waterdeep and might give them more singular focus if the solve the mystery story isn't working for them.
Unfortunately, the way this group is structured is that Session 0 was just the bard and the paladin. The director asks us to give an orientation and run a tutorial one shot to see if anyone is interested in joining the party and this person came into the group around session. So basically as new students join the program, any interested parties can join the table until the available seats fill up. I did suggest having newcomers watch a session or two to see if they feel they'd be a good fit for the group.
I never thought of it as a sandbox perspective (neither did my co-DM so I'll run that by him when I see him tomorrow) but we do plan to talk to the druid on Saturday before we start. I'll definitely see how they feel about adventuring in general vs. connection and I'll definitely look into Dungeon Of The Mad Mage as possible addition to my book collection. We do a mix of published works and non published works (We've done The Sunless Citadel and wrote an adventure based off a game hook I found online. After Waterdeep I was planning a quest to introduce a recurring villain without using a game hook to test my writing from scratch skills out) so I do like to get my hands on any material that's considered good/highly recommended by others.
Do you have any training with people on the autism spectrum? If you do not it might help by learning some of the things they teach to spot and deal with specific behaviors. Also some adventures would be better for specific people on the spectrum then others so I would inform the admin of the program on what I was going to run and any possible issues in the adventure. For example you might limit play time to preserve player focus, have more skill challenges vs combat and very few direct social conflict, take breaks, etc. But each person may have areas that they are trying to work on and thus need help and support in different ways.
A good friend of mine worked dealt with the same people as your players and often talked about the various difficulties he encountered on an daily basis so i wish you the best of luck. Note: I mean the last in the best possible way but I could not think of a better or more respectful term then "same people".
Good Luck
Training is something I do not have. The director does, so if I need any advice or suggestions, I do speak to her. I'll definitely speak to her about the best ways to run adventures based off everyone's personality. My concern is making sure that everyone enjoys the group and that everyone feels welcome at the table. Thankfully all three members of the party get along outside the table, so I'd say the only issues I'm having are making sure I'm doing a decent job running the game.
The ideas presented are definitely helpful for me though. And I'm apprising my co-DM on all advice so he can help me plan everything out.
I am guessing but it sounds like there should not be any issues based on your comments. In the past I have worked with students with learning disabilities and often it is just a matter of finding a different way for them to learn.
A couple of things came to mind, ask the admin if there is anything they want you to work on with each player (math, social skills, managing equipment, etc) or if there is anything to expressly avoid or be warry of with a player. I say this as a local new station around here just had a story about a non-profit that was helping people with life skills (basic math, money, accounting and social interactions (buying stuff in a store, using mass transit, etc). I think RPGing could possible help teach people those things and or reinforce those skills that are also being taught in the center by using a different path. For example reading a game, watching a game and playing a game are all different ways to learn and some people learn better from one or more methods then others do.
Good Luck and Have Fun.
Thanks for the advice. Today's session actually went a bit smoother. They're halfway done with Chapter 4. My co-DM chatted with the druid a little bit before we started they seemed to feel a bit more motivated in the RP department and actually helped lead the charge a little alongside the bard today. I'm still a little wary on how I should adventures while they start coming together as a party, but I think things are going to look up soon enough. At least I hope so.
I'll definitely talk to the director and see what other advice she can offer.
I am glad things are looking up and I think ongoing communication with the director and other helpers can only help. Also I think repeatedly saying "you are not your PC and your PC is not you" is important. Also I find if there are some hard puzzles and or riddles try and give them to the group the week before and left them have time to think and solve them during the week.