Today I told my librarian that I would be interested in starting a chapter in my village of Beiseker. Apparently there is quite a D&D following in our library system.
I have decided to break out the beginner box and run a few games before gaging interest. We will likely buy a PDF eventually, but for now I will laminate the hard copies I own.
I thought that Society play would be the best way to go. The older kids can go to events in the big city of Calgary with their characters on the weekends. We will be limiting ages to 13 or 14+. Another bonus with Society play is that we can do drop-ins. I own some of the older Society adventures, so that is not a problem. I also like the idea of the 4 hr block. We can start after school and have a supper break and still finish at a decent time during the week.
I am actually a rather inexperienced DM myself, so I thought the BB would be the best place for me to start, too.
So... I have some questions for the community at large:
How do I determine average party level to scale encounters for fluxuating party size?
Where/What is the best place/way to start a new chapter? How do I get my players started smoothly? How do we "graduate" from the beginner box?
Any recommendations on scenarios that are fun for young, new players?
Aside from several sets of cheap dice, whiteboard markers, cheap minis/tokens and graph paper what would you recommend we purchase?
Thanks in advance.
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Note about 'whiteboard markers' - Dry Erase work well on flipmats (including the one in the beginners box) but if you use a battlemat, you're going to want Wet Erase markers.
I like Starburst (the candy) for kids as tokens for enemies (the don't visually recognize the mini/pawn which is a drawback, but eating what you defeat is pretty cool)
We Be Goblins, would be pretty high on my list of things to run with anyone, especially kids and would probably be my first scenario after the beginner box.
APL = the total of the level of players/number of players, which in PFS determines your tier, and the scaling is done for you (or at least determined what you need to do.
I'd have some PFS player number cards, it gives the kids a little token to keep and has their number
A bunch of pencils and blank character sheets would be good.
Just some thoughts. Good luck and have fun.