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I am coming to the community in order to get some guidance with younger players. I have very little experience with youngsters, but several months ago a 8 years old and his father joined our group. They are now regular players and we all enjoy their company.
But said Young Pathfinder often likes to rush into things, whether it’s a Roleplay Encounter, or a Combat Encounter, he just likes to charge right in with his first impulse. (This isn’t an issue with roleplaying, he does that just fine especially with NPCs he’s met before). When he says aloud his intended action, the group imminently responds in various forms of “No.” This vocal opposition almost always includes his father as well. To be fair his choice of action will usually have negative consequences for himself or the party three times out of four. But being a youngster, his unique perspective sometimes has positive outcomes the rest of the party would not achieve otherwise.
So I have the problem of trying to balance between allowing the group to police itself, and allowing him to do what he wants to do for good or ill.
I figure people with more experience with youngsters might have some helpful tips. I am going to try to give him more attention in game than I have been hoping that might settle him down some. I also decided to sometimes try to shush the other players and ask him “What would YOU like to do?” Yeah his choice might make things worse but experience is a better teacher sometimes. After his death in the Arena of Aroden this past summer I did notice a difference in his behavior for a few months. But time has healed those wounds.
I’ve also invited him and his father to our non-PFS sandbox game in the hopes that being able to make the choices he couldn’t before might help settle him down for PFS. I’m not so sure it’s working but he’s been rather amusing and helpful for me as a GM… His first “dead” character in that game is now a recurring villain…
The other issue I have is his choice of actions sometimes fall under the “There is no reason a player will ever consider this course of action.” Two recent examples of this:
The Merchant’s Wake
The Weapon in the Rift
I know I’m often on my own in these situations since it is sometimes so far off the beaten trail… but any advice would be appreciated.
An obvious question, but have you tried talking to him?
Perhaps suggest that before he jumps in with a role play encounter, that he mention what he intends to do, to see if the group can/will support him? Or the group may modify/upgrade his plan, so that everyone can contribute?
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We've had more than a few talks. Covering Teamwork, Alignment, and keeping track of his chronicle sheets. I guess I reached the point where I feel experience is a better teacher...
I also wonder if he has grown bored with his character as at some points he seems almost suicidal with his character and then when it almost dies he panics that he might actually lose the character. This could be because he join in with a 2nd batch of players and really only has the one character now where most of the people around him have 2 or more characters. But if that is the case, it will be fixed as I have decided to start alternating between high level scenarios and low level scenarios due to a possible influx of new players. He does have a 2nd character but it is only lvl 2 while his first character is level 6 and we are currently doing tier 5+ scenarios. Been running them through season 5 and not gonna do the whole season but we're almost at a good ending point where we can finally reach some closure.
We've had more than a few talks. Covering Teamwork, Alignment, and keeping track of his chronicle sheets. I guess I reached the point where I feel experience is a better teacher...
Then it may be time to have the talk about the "don't be a jerk" rule. I would coach it with something like "I know that you are excited about playing and like to be in the thick of the action, but..."
Or perhaps come at it from the other side, ask about how would he feel if other players kept putting his character's life in danger because they were bored/didn't think/didn't talk it over with the team/etc.. Then ask how he thinks the others feel when he does that.
Both ways have worked for me.
Also, does he follow the game intently the whole time, or does he get bored at times? And is it when he is bored that he jumps in? The reason that I am asking is that when my youngest started to play at 6, I encouraged her to color when she got bored - stay at the table and follow what was going on, and be ready to act if she needed/wanted to (like combat or saying something to an NPC), but otherwise quietly coloring or using a sticker book when bored. It has worked well for her, and the other players (mostly adults) have appreciated her approach to the game - it doesn't hurt that she likes to play a raging invulnerable barbarian who likes to protect everyone else.
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The Weapon in the Rift
Spoiler:While the party battled the Allip, he went back to try and recruit the 2 Hound Archons to help them. I decided that he could technically use his wayfinder as a way to allow the archons into a different room.
I think this is a brilliant ideal on his part. I makes lots of sense and I'm kinda surprise that other parties did not think of doing so.
Should you encounter this again, I would suggest letting the 2 HA help out the npcs, aka giving the party a couple more rounds to solve the encounter.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Hamburg
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Sometimes, adults are just more aware of the fact that the scenarios are written with a clear path in mind and that most encounters need an entire party to work together.
One of my newer players is also quite young (I don't know his exact age), and when we played First Steps 1, at one point he suggested the party should split up, each group of about 2 people going after one of the tasks.
Theoretically, this is a good idea as it saves time, but we quietly explained to him that in a roleplaying game, there might be situations that can only be solved with multiple characters working together (and also it's complicated for a GM to run several encounters at once), which he then understood.
I'd say, with young players at the table, be prepared to get some creative solutions to encounters, and don't be afraid to have them bypass difficult encounters quickly if the solution is extremely creative and good.
Also, be prepared to get some decisions from young players that might be good in the real world, but can be dangerous in a fantasy world where there are monsters and people actually trying to kill you. In that case, tell them their decision would be a good one in the real world, but can be dangerous in a fantasy world. There's a good chance the young player simply didn't think of that.
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The Weapon in the Rift
** spoiler omitted **I think this is a brilliant ideal on his part. I makes lots of sense and I'm kinda surprise that other parties did not think of doing so.
Should you encounter this again, I would suggest letting the 2 HA help out the npcs, aka giving the party a couple more rounds to solve the encounter.
It did helped counter balance something else the party did...