DDC: The Dungeon Delver's Club (One Shot Series), HELP! [Archive] - Wizards Community

DDC: The Dungeon Delver's Club (One Shot Series), HELP! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Levism84
10-22-07, 06:22 PM A note on youth groups:

Running a youth group is hard enough, but throw in the promise of a D&D campaign to a bunch of hopeful kids who a) know the mechanics, 2) are good role-players, and finally) just want to have fun... and you have some problems to work out. Someone can't make it to the game, someone new wants to make a character and play, we don't have enough die sets. All the same things that affect any D&D game, but exasterbated by the fact there are a bunch of other kids watching and seeing the fun, thus wanting to be a part of it.

Thus, the Dungeon Delver's Club was founded. Accepting those with a clear grasp on the mechanics and any role-playing ability, the Club allows those who truly want to play to play, and allows for prospective members to learn the ropes through observation and see if they really want to join. Since not everyone can make it each time the group gathers, the campaign is broken down into a number of one-shot dungeons. Each dungeon is random and unique, as presented by Dire Press (bless them ^_^).

The kids begin with a level 5 character (allows for some customization without having too many abilities right off the bat they may not fully understand the mechanics for) and 9,000 gold to build their character. Player's Handbook, DMG, MM1, and Magic Item Compendium are the only books they have to equip themselves with, but since we have almost every book printed for 3.5 at the center they can choose from almost any race and class to customize their character as a unique representation of themselves in the gaming world.

A note on the world:

The world, as it is, is set in standard D&D (random fractile map created at Dire Press) and the characters are brought together by the Arcane Univeristy (see Complete Arcane). Filas, a Wizard 5/Geometer 5/Mage of the Arcane Order 7, is in his twilight and wishes to leave something behind when he passes. His hope is to create a complete volume of academic magical knowledge (a Boccob's Blessed Book filled with 1,000 magic spells). As it stands he possesses a book with 908 spells (as best as I could count the number of sorcerer/wizard spells of all spell levels in the PHB and Spell Compendium). Now, he wishes to "round out" the other 92 spells as independantly researched and unique spells from around the world.

Using his connections and informants he learns of places, usually dangerous, where a unique spell might be hiding. With the Wayfarer's Union to transport his "team" into the areas, he allows the adventurers to keep any treasure they might find, along with a nice bonus for a completed mission, as they search and plunder for his rummored spells.

A note on running the sessions:

The players can expect to use time inbetween missions to equip their characters, sell treasure or old items, level up if they earn enough exp, and otherwise do any downtime stuff. The meat and potatoes of the D&D experience, the dungeon delve itself, is structured to fit into the 3 hours the kids are at the center. However, most of the time, especially in the case of a larger or more complicated dungeon, the session actually takes place over the corse of several meetings.

In addition to getting off topic, eating food, getting drinks, bathroom breaks, the occassional rule discussion and the like, the group suffers from a tendancy to wanna work things out "in game." Especially between the rogue and paladin players.

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH!:

What other elements can I add to help make this a worthwild experience, say, more fun than checking e-mail and playing WoW (yes... we have computers with WoW on them)?

The kids here are aged 13-19, with a whole range of intellectual and emotional levels of development. Knowing their temperments and levels pretty well I can cut most problems off at the pass, but what should be things I need to really watch out for or just helpful hints others have used to make their gaming sessions run more smoothly?

How should I run alignments? I know some really want to play evil characters (mostly as an excuse to be vicious and get a lot of anger out). Would it be better just to say alignments don't matter and remove any class based restrictions?

The size of the group is about 4-6 per session, which is in my comfort range, but if a lot more people try to join, how should I handle that?

Any help would be really appreciated.

~Rain~
Thevail
10-22-07, 08:51 PM Yikers....

First off, no evil characters, seriously. A) as you said an excuse to act viciously..towards I'm guessing people they don't like. Kinda puts a big old hole in the no bullying rules. Especially when it can be easily excused as..well, my character is evil and he/she would do that.
B.) I'm thinking most parents aren't going to be very OK with that. I mean, your kids playing D&D, OK..Your kid is being encouraged to play an evil person, and now is in trouble with some other kid's parents..hmm. Besides lets just not start the whole D&D is evil thing again.
C.) Teenagers quite often have a tendency to lash out at others when they are having a bad time, whether at school, at home, with a sibling, or an SO. I think if you allow evil alignments you're basically setting up the game to blow sky high. Unless you're a therapist who specializes in that sort of thing, of course.

One thing that may help you a lot is a timer. I use one from an old game of some sort, it does about a minute and a half. If you can't come up with what you're doing on your turn by the time the timer runs out, your character missed it. Not to be too mean, I always say something like, you thought you saw something move behind you, but it was nothing. This really encourages players to think about what they are going to do before it's actually their turn, and consequently speed up game play quite a bit.

If a lot of different people want to play, start them off at a slightly lower level (easier DMing), and start doing different days of the week. Ie. Group A plays on Mondays and Wednesdays, and group B plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This may also allow the kids time to play D&D and WoW and check e-mail and get homework done.
Levism84
10-23-07, 02:35 PM I agree with the no evil. Just too much that can go wrong, and the group should be working together for a common goal.

The youth drop in as a whole meets every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. Sunday and Friday are the only days I can make it to the group, Tuesdays are covered by one of the other volunteers, and Fridays were specially made as a "gamers night" for the kids to come and unwind. We have other volunteers available to help out with the kids each of the days, but Fridays are where we get the biggest rate of kids.

Because they have other days to work on the computers, and there will be those who just want to check their mail or hang out instead of playing D&D, I don't have to worry about EVERYONE playing, which is nice. As for the new people interested, the reason I suggested observing the players and their characters first was to see if they had a grasp on the mechanics (ie you roll the die and add the modifier to see if you succeed). When I was first getting started as DM a lot of time was spent going over the mechanics with the players over and over, and to back track and make sure all the players are on the same page is important. However, when you are working with a half-dozen kids in a short period of time, it becomes more difficult to go over the basics.

I do like the timer idea, as that might help keep things moving along and get the kids used to thinking about what their characters are going to do and keep on task. If they know their turn will be in a couple of minutes, than they are more likely to pay attention instead of it taking maybe 10 minutes to get around to them.

~Rain~
Thevail
10-25-07, 02:33 PM You can also make a shorthand sheet for the kids.

Ability modifiers, AC, HP, special abilities (short version just to remind them of what they can do), weapon damage, three main skills (spot, search, class skill)

This really sped up the play for my daughter who is 14. No giant character sheet to try and look everything up on.
Smerg
10-25-07, 10:10 PM The D&D Wiki has a number of resources that can help.

One idea that I liked was the campagin idea of Sewer Rats.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Sewer_Rats_%28DnD_Campaign_Setting%29

It takes a Ghostbusters feel to DnD. This could be a good approach for younger gamers.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Levism84 10-22-07, 06:22 PM	A note on youth groups: Running a youth group is hard enough, but throw in the promise of a D&D campaign to a bunch of hopeful kids who a) know the mechanics, 2) are good role-players, and finally) just want to have fun... and you have some problems to work out. Someone can't make it to the game, someone new wants to make a character and play, we don't have enough die sets. All the same things that affect any D&D game, but exasterbated by the fact there are a bunch of other kids watching and seeing the fun, thus wanting to be a part of it. Thus, the Dungeon Delver's Club was founded. Accepting those with a clear grasp on the mechanics and any role-playing ability, the Club allows those who truly want to play to play, and allows for prospective members to learn the ropes through observation and see if they really want to join. Since not everyone can make it each time the group gathers, the campaign is broken down into a number of one-shot dungeons. Each dungeon is random and unique, as presented by Dire Press (bless them ^_^). The kids begin with a level 5 character (allows for some customization without having too many abilities right off the bat they may not fully understand the mechanics for) and 9,000 gold to build their character. Player's Handbook, DMG, MM1, and Magic Item Compendium are the only books they have to equip themselves with, but since we have almost every book printed for 3.5 at the center they can choose from almost any race and class to customize their character as a unique representation of themselves in the gaming world. A note on the world: The world, as it is, is set in standard D&D (random fractile map created at Dire Press) and the characters are brought together by the Arcane Univeristy (see Complete Arcane). Filas, a Wizard 5/Geometer 5/Mage of the Arcane Order 7, is in his twilight and wishes to leave something behind when he passes. His hope is to create a complete volume of academic magical knowledge (a Boccob's Blessed Book filled with 1,000 magic spells). As it stands he possesses a book with 908 spells (as best as I could count the number of sorcerer/wizard spells of all spell levels in the PHB and Spell Compendium). Now, he wishes to "round out" the other 92 spells as independantly researched and unique spells from around the world. Using his connections and informants he learns of places, usually dangerous, where a unique spell might be hiding. With the Wayfarer's Union to transport his "team" into the areas, he allows the adventurers to keep any treasure they might find, along with a nice bonus for a completed mission, as they search and plunder for his rummored spells. A note on running the sessions: The players can expect to use time inbetween missions to equip their characters, sell treasure or old items, level up if they earn enough exp, and otherwise do any downtime stuff. The meat and potatoes of the D&D experience, the dungeon delve itself, is structured to fit into the 3 hours the kids are at the center. However, most of the time, especially in the case of a larger or more complicated dungeon, the session actually takes place over the corse of several meetings. In addition to getting off topic, eating food, getting drinks, bathroom breaks, the occassional rule discussion and the like, the group suffers from a tendancy to wanna work things out "in game." Especially between the rogue and paladin players. WHAT I NEED HELP WITH!: What other elements can I add to help make this a worthwild experience, say, more fun than checking e-mail and playing WoW (yes... we have computers with WoW on them)? The kids here are aged 13-19, with a whole range of intellectual and emotional levels of development. Knowing their temperments and levels pretty well I can cut most problems off at the pass, but what should be things I need to really watch out for or just helpful hints others have used to make their gaming sessions run more smoothly? How should I run alignments? I know some really want to play evil characters (mostly as an excuse to be vicious and get a lot of anger out). Would it be better just to say alignments don't matter and remove any class based restrictions? The size of the group is about 4-6 per session, which is in my comfort range, but if a lot more people try to join, how should I handle that? Any help would be really appreciated. ~Rain~
Thevail 10-22-07, 08:51 PM	Yikers.... First off, no evil characters, seriously. A) as you said an excuse to act viciously..towards I'm guessing people they don't like. Kinda puts a big old hole in the no bullying rules. Especially when it can be easily excused as..well, my character is evil and he/she would do that. B.) I'm thinking most parents aren't going to be very OK with that. I mean, your kids playing D&D, OK..Your kid is being encouraged to play an evil person, and now is in trouble with some other kid's parents..hmm. Besides lets just not start the whole D&D is evil thing again. C.) Teenagers quite often have a tendency to lash out at others when they are having a bad time, whether at school, at home, with a sibling, or an SO. I think if you allow evil alignments you're basically setting up the game to blow sky high. Unless you're a therapist who specializes in that sort of thing, of course. One thing that may help you a lot is a timer. I use one from an old game of some sort, it does about a minute and a half. If you can't come up with what you're doing on your turn by the time the timer runs out, your character missed it. Not to be too mean, I always say something like, you thought you saw something move behind you, but it was nothing. This really encourages players to think about what they are going to do before it's actually their turn, and consequently speed up game play quite a bit. If a lot of different people want to play, start them off at a slightly lower level (easier DMing), and start doing different days of the week. Ie. Group A plays on Mondays and Wednesdays, and group B plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This may also allow the kids time to play D&D and WoW and check e-mail and get homework done.
Levism84 10-23-07, 02:35 PM	I agree with the no evil. Just too much that can go wrong, and the group should be working together for a common goal. The youth drop in as a whole meets every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. Sunday and Friday are the only days I can make it to the group, Tuesdays are covered by one of the other volunteers, and Fridays were specially made as a "gamers night" for the kids to come and unwind. We have other volunteers available to help out with the kids each of the days, but Fridays are where we get the biggest rate of kids. Because they have other days to work on the computers, and there will be those who just want to check their mail or hang out instead of playing D&D, I don't have to worry about EVERYONE playing, which is nice. As for the new people interested, the reason I suggested observing the players and their characters first was to see if they had a grasp on the mechanics (ie you roll the die and add the modifier to see if you succeed). When I was first getting started as DM a lot of time was spent going over the mechanics with the players over and over, and to back track and make sure all the players are on the same page is important. However, when you are working with a half-dozen kids in a short period of time, it becomes more difficult to go over the basics. I do like the timer idea, as that might help keep things moving along and get the kids used to thinking about what their characters are going to do and keep on task. If they know their turn will be in a couple of minutes, than they are more likely to pay attention instead of it taking maybe 10 minutes to get around to them. ~Rain~
Thevail 10-25-07, 02:33 PM	You can also make a shorthand sheet for the kids. Ability modifiers, AC, HP, special abilities (short version just to remind them of what they can do), weapon damage, three main skills (spot, search, class skill) This really sped up the play for my daughter who is 14. No giant character sheet to try and look everything up on.
Smerg 10-25-07, 10:10 PM	The D&D Wiki has a number of resources that can help. One idea that I liked was the campagin idea of Sewer Rats. http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Sewer_Rats_%28DnD_Campaign_Setting%29 It takes a Ghostbusters feel to DnD. This could be a good approach for younger gamers.