So, this is something I've been wanting to do for a while. I've found the teen groups in this library very helpful growing up, and it feels like just the right venue to start recruiting the next (basically my) generation into best game.
I asked the librarians today and they're pretty interested in hosting the event. So it's doable. So now I need some advice.
My plan is to run this with a fairly loose system of membership—someone who doesn't show up has their character simply not be around, or not be able to help. I tried wrangling players before, and it's just not worth the trouble. Besides, this makes it easier for casual members. I might also dabble in other systems—Grimm and Mouse Guard, for instance, which have delightfully simple systems.
Does anybody have any tips or warnings for me if I pursue this?
For the first adventure, I was thinking a basic dungeon crawl. Goblins have taken over a mine (really a mostly plundered tomb) and fallen under the influence of an evil (or possibly good, but weakened and only able to fully control one at a time) elemental spirit.
The adventure would introduce PCs to the basics of combat, the fun of roleplaying (goblins, man!) and the existence of traps (following the advice of the "Introducing People to Pathfinder" panel from Paizocon, the traps will start out harmless but irritating—blue skin, housecats-to-face, that sorta thing). There might also be one or two distinct rooms where things would get more serious and dangerous, just to hint at the sort of fun drama that can be pulled off in Pathfinder. I'm thinking an undead room, currently.
Also, because only newbies will fall for this sort of thing, I have this scribbled down in my notes. ;)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ban Cellphones. No texting, Instagram, Snapchat, FB, any of that during a game. I tried to run a game for a bunch of early 20 somethings last summer and it just became a constant cat herding of trying to get people to put down their phones.
Sound proof or separate room. We've tried this among our group and we were, fairly rambunctious.
I'm really surprised this thread hasn't generated more responses.
Another thing is have a set start and stop time. Playing with absent players is fine; just remember to keep them on a fairly even keel with the other players level wise. If they fall behind, just give them some arbitrary XP to boost them up. It's no fun being 2nd level when the rest of the party might be 5th.
People don't want to encourage me to spend time with the youth of America.
I was planning to make use of arbitrary leveling, actually.
People don't want to encourage me to spend time with the youth of America.
Heh.
I was planning to make use of arbitrary leveling, actually.
I never trust myself to be totally fair with arbitrary leveling. I'd rather use something concrete like experience points.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just prefer to level up PCs when they're about at the right point—and, when I'm running APs, when they're approaching the point where they need a level-up. That said, I could just keep a single XP tracker for all PCs.
Bump.
|
I like arbitrary leveling. Makes things easier, honestly.
Print out a cheat sheet on basic rules stuff, and maybe include information on what they can do in combat. I find newer players typically go for constantly attacking, rather than using maneuvers, which can really enhance gameplay.
Are they creating their own characters or are you giving them pregens?
|
It is assumed that the players will not have the books, or easy access to them between sessions. So you will need to some of the work for them, or WITH them. Such as leveling up, spell list building and preparation, weapon and armor choices, then of course feats.
I would suggest they use the online sources and beable to communicate with you via email, at minimum. They should be thinking about their character a lot more than just session day.
I've been leaning on pregens for the first session, with the option to make new characters when the next session rolls around. I was thinking I'd make three pregens per "role" (melee, archer, priesty-type, rogue-type, mage) and let them first narrow things down to the role before giving them the actual pregens. So, if someone said he wanted to do melee, I'd give him a choice between the barbarian, the ranger, and the monk.
Choice overload is always a concern, so this is mainly to help counter that while still letting people play what they want.
Here are the pregen concepts I was thinking I'd use:
Melee Fighter
Paladin
Barbarian
Fighter
Ranged Fighter
Bowman Fighter
Axe Hurler Fighter or Ranger
Crossbowman Fighter
Mage
Universalist Wizard
Fire Sorcerer
Priesty-Type
Fighting-Focused Cleric
Spell-Focused Cleric
Maybe put Paladin here?
Rogueish Type
Rogue (skills/scouting focused)
Ranger (stealth/combat focused)
Possibly Ninja?
Thoughts? I'm trying to keep mostly core (though both ninja and slayer are being considered as well), just to keep things simple. Cleric might come with a printed sheet of gods that match the domains they've been given, while casters would certainly come with a sheet explaining the spells they can cast.
No bard? Having one in there for a support type I think would be of benefit.
I'd strongly consider putting slayer into the mix too, yeah, since it really does the whole rogue/fighter type mix quite well.
Another mage focused on illusion or enchantment could be fun too. Some of the most creative players I've had almost always used illusions and charm spells to great effect (and helped the idea of roleplaying sink in a bit better for new players, especially just how many options they have available to them).
I don't really enjoy PFS, so no, the thought never crossed my mind. :P
The current class roster is chosen with simplicity in mind. Bards, monks and druids have a ton of moving parts, so I'm leaning away from them. It's not like they'll be TPK'd without a bard. As the GM, I don't think that would be conducive to a healthy group launch.
That's also why I was leaning away from "utility" mages, but I could be persuaded to bend on that.
Not sure I agree with that. Just sticking someone with some character they don't necessarily -want- to play could make for a bad time. I think KC is on the right idea about having multiple choices, though I disagree about making them all simple. I suggest grabbing the actual pregens and iconics off the SRD site too. Tweak them a little since some are set up pretty badly, but they are an easy way to give lots more options with only a little work on your part.
Speaking from experience, my first gaming experience was a really free form system I don't remember very well except the DM took my idea and made me a sheet for it. Was fun because the character was my own, even if I hadn't made it. Cemented my interest anyway.
Likewise when I introduced a group of six newbies to the game I let them make their own and threw out a list of classes ahead of time. This probably won't work for KC's setup, but having multiple pregens ready so you can give them something they -want- to play is important and a good first step to them having fun.
In my case, one of the players fell in love with magus and despite being his first game and class (and warnings from me about the difficulty associated with it), he rolled one up with little difficulty and its still to date his favourite character. He needed a little help figuring out spellstrike and spell combat, but after a quick explanation he was peachy. Some players have a really good head and catch on really quick. Sticking one of these players with a simple character can bore them.
If no one wants to play a healer, I also recommend tagging one along as an NPC. Better than forcing someone into that.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If these people have no experience with table top gaming, it may be a good idea to start them with something a lot simpler than Pathfinder, in order to introduce them to gaming in general. Then the ones who stick around and want something more complex can graduate to Pathfinder. Even if you do not want to use a different game for this, at least use the boxed set to start them out.
I'm not super excited about buying the boxed set, honestly—mainly because it doesn't seem that sustainable for a shifting group. Say we play it the first session. Great, that's five players introduced, and we upgraded later to "real" Pathfinder.
Then what? What happens one or two sessions from then when more newbies appear? Any new players who try to join will be just as lost as if we'd never used the boxed set at all. The only solution would be to play the boxed set every time a new player emerges, which doesn't sound terribly practical to me.
Also, it's 'spensive. :P
On a sidenote, though, I was vaguely considering opening up with Mouse Guard.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You can always use 5th Ed D&D. The basic rules are available as a free pdf, so you would just need to create your own adventure. That would introduce them to a lot of the same basic concepts that 3.x/Pathfinder use.
We Be Goblins is tricky because it's pretty firmly designed for four players, and I don't know how many I'll get. If I'm lucky enough to get more than four, that means I have to get more goblins ready, and I'm not sure how well We Be Goblins scales to more self-destructive little idiots running around.
I don't mean to be critical—there's a lot of great advice here—I'm just running a lot of this over in my head and seeing what rings right.
I'd second the suggestion of using 5th edition D&D - a much simpler rule set to get new players acclimated.
Regardless - keep things as simple and obvious as possible. Make bad guys bad (without being too graphic) without a lot of redeeming qualities. Moral quandaries work better with experienced groups.
I'd probably print out (and perhaps laminate) a few sheets of paper with suggested actions that a character can perform in combat. If you have the time/patience, you could color-code the character sheet to the suggested actions sheet so that things are easier to find (for example, on suggested actions sheet "move" is listed in green, then on the character's sheet, speed is the same shade of green.)
Best of luck.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
You've got to make it "hip", and "in" with the kids, daddy-o.
Be sure to bring up lots of references to the Jonas Brothers, I hear the kids are really into that band these days, whoever they are.
Also, find out what this "Twerking" thing is, and make it a primary focus of the plot, that'll get the attention of today's youth for sure!
Now that I've assisted you with these amazing ideas, I'm off to do some Focus Group testing, to find out why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
You don't like PFS, and yet here you are trying to recreate a casual-entry pathfinder group at your local library... which is what PFS tries to do. That's fine, but you should probably consider what it is that you dislike, and what you can take from it. That is why people study history; so they can learn from mistakes.
Would the pre-existing pregens work, or should you just modify them to your liking?
Should you use modular scenarios, self-contained stories?
Is there a group dynamic, or a play style that you are trying to avoid?
Or maybe you would prefer more freedom in the scenarios. Who knows? Certainly not me.
I like to have flexibility in what I do. PFS is, by definition, organized by forces beyond myself and my players, which, as you said, leads to me craving more freedom. I can't help not liking something, sorry. :P
As for PFS pregens, they're inconsistent in quality levels in my experience, and aren't crafted very helpfully to new players. I'm getting the latter not just from my own experiences, but from those of a (I want to say) VL at Paizocon at the "GMing for New Players" panel. I remember because she was specifically requesting that the pregen sheets be crafted differently to be easier for new players to read. Hell, even I had trouble understanding what Kyra could do, since I don't have the spells and special abilities of a Sarenrite (sp?) cleric memorized.
Personally, it's easier to just make my own. I don't really mind it and I know how to make them accessible.
You've got to make it "hip", and "in" with the kids, daddy-o.
Be sure to bring up lots of references to the Jonas Brothers, I hear the kids are really into that band these days, whoever they are.
Also, find out what this "Twerking" thing is, and make it a primary focus of the plot, that'll get the attention of today's youth for sure!
Now that I've assisted you with these amazing ideas, I'm off to do some Focus Group testing, to find out why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
Finally, some useful advice.
Incidentally, the "trial run" at the library happens this Saturday. I'll either be running Pathfinder or the Grimm RPG. I'll be keeping your advices in mind!
