New to FGU - Tips for running a kids' game?

[natalieb]

I am old to RPGs, but new-ish to D&D5e, and super-new to playing on line. I just installed FGU because my 9yo begged me to teach her and her friends how to play dnd and run a game for them online. Social distancing sucks when you're 9 and trying to maintain friendships, so I said "yes" Boy, am I regretting it. I would like to talk to them about their character concepts and actually create the characters on my end and just up-load them. Is that even a thing? Or do they have to input everything? I'm going to run a private Discord for us, but I still want to do as much of the input for them as I can. They're little, I want to get them into the game ASAP.

Also, resources? Any ideas for kid-appropriate resources? I mean, I can certainly have them save the blacksmith's daughter, but I was trying to find a full campaign that wouldn't be terrifying/wildly inappropriate. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[LordEntrails]

Welcome. Half way down this list of blogs are a couple about DMing and young players. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?36014-GM-Advice

Biggest thing is to keep it fun and don't worry too much about the rules (i.e. if you miss a modifier or three, just let it go and catch it next time).

Yes you can create the characters yourself and then have them select them. During session zero, talk about character concepts, use a standard array, then you can assign according to "Is your character's best ability strength, or wisdom or charisma?" "What's their next best?" Have them look online for character portraits, and maybe type of their back story. Though it will be easier if session 0 is a bunch of one-on-ones, they will feed and build off each other, so let let all be there. End session 0 with the intro story, what ever that is, that leaves them excited to come back next time to figure out what you left the cliff hangar for.

There are a couple of kid centric RPGs you can take plots and stories from, but you could also run Dragon Heist or Lost Mines with minimal changes.

[natalieb]

Awesome resources. Thank you so much!

[Granamere]

Welcome!

I do not own this but I keep looking at it. https://www.dmsguild.com/product/320034/A-Night-of-Fright-Fantasy-Grounds It looks like a Scobey doo D&D adventure. No idea what age group it is designed for but it might be fun.

[DaddieCat]

This module looks amazing and I love it. Thank you for sharing this so I can add it to my shopping list.

[Nylanfs]

Here is a company devoted to younger players and getting them role playing. https://www.playgroundadventures.net/
Also Silver Games makes Ponyfinder if anyone is into MLP. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5559/Silver-Games-LLC

[MassSailor]

I've been running a 5E kids' game for my 9yr old with one of my friends and his 11yr old for about 8 months. We play a 2-3hr session most weekends - we start losing their attention at ~2.5hrs unless in the middle of an exciting battle. I run a separate player's instance of FG on another screen so my son doesn't get to peek behind the "DM's screen" but I can still see his display and help him navigate the program. My friend and his son share a computer on their side.

Not sure if it's an option in your situation but I'd highly recommend having an adult (or even a willing teen) join with kids as young as 9-10. There's no way we'd still be going strong without having having an adult on the other side for tech support, alone. I don't think I could have walked my 9yr old through the logistics of loading/updating/launching the program and getting voice connected on Discord remotely - probably soon, but he hasn't crossed over from console gaming to doing much on a PC (yet). The same with learning FG - he can now make skill checks and attacks on his own but it would have been hard to teach him or my friend's son the basics remotely.

That all said, the Bring Your Own Kid format has worked out fantastically. Even with the learning curve (I was the D&D "expert" having last played AD&D more than 2 decades ago and and none of us had ever used FG before), it's been a great experience. We're 3 time zones apart, so my son and my friend's son would have never really gotten to know each other. Having a parent as a player has helped the game experience, too. Role playing can be tricky for our young ones (his is shy and mine can be comically direct with NPCs), so I can count on my friend to step up and be the voice of the party while also encouraging them to get into character, too. It also helps having someone in the party to help steer things towards becoming heroes of the realm, rather than devolving into a pack of pillaging murder hobos... It's also nice not having to worry about being the parent for more than my child - I only have to break out into "Dad mode" on occasion to deal with the occasional temper flare up when the dice don't cooperate. My friend hasn't had to switch into parent mode much (those 2 years make a big difference) but it's nice having complete understanding when we need to take a pause to go on mute for a few minutes before returning with cooler heads.

As far as play recommendations: They created characters on D&D Beyond and I entered them in FG before our first session. We started with Lost Mines and played through that in just over 4 months before transitioning into Storm King's Thunder (I like the open world format so they can explore and they love beating up on dumb hill giants). They wanted to continue to growing their characters, so we skipped Ch1 of SKT and the party carried on in the same location unaware that they've even started a "new" adventure. For play mix, the boys gravitate more towards roll playing instead of role playing so we tend to use more skill checks for things like intimidation and deception - they are much more comfortable describing what they want their characters to do rather than acting it out. I'd put the mix at ~70% combat / 30% role play). 100% agree with LE's comments in post #2 - we had a lot of hiccups in the beginning between learning/relearning D&D and FG but the focus was always on keeping it fun rather than worrying too much about the specific rules. I'll explain at the start of the next session if there's anything that's "new" rules-wise after going back and educating myself. I'm also slowly introducing some optional rules as we go for things like flanking, climbing on bigger creatures, etc. under the guise that their skills have improved with experience and now they can do cooler stuff.

One thing that seems to have stuck with my son was an early encounter where FG added a campfire to the Combat Tracker (since it could damage something pushed into it). I had made everything visible, so the boys got instantly suspicious when a token for the fire popped up and it got it's own turn on the combat tracker. We went with it and every round the campfire took it's turn, too - sometimes "crackling menacingly" or "flickering with evil intent" before doing absolutely nothing while the battle raged on around it. The monsters are long forgotten, but he still brings up the funny fire they "fought" at the beginning of their adventure.

[Nylanfs]

Oooo, Smiteworks should have a "Bring your kids to your Game weekend". Doug or Dave, get on that. :)

[GunbunnyFuFu]

I run a Savage Rifts game for a group of kids at our local library. I think for kids, the story trumps the rules in a lot of cases, at least in my games. Focus on telling a story, and less time teaching the rules. They'll pick up the rules in good time, but if they're not enjoying the game they won't stick around to learn the rules. Make NPCs larger than life, with funny quirks, give them outrageous accents, and generally just have fun telling the story, and the kids will love it.

I do have an assistant GM...a member of the library staff who helps wrangle the kids in when they get too rambunctious, especially when we have a group of 10 kids. Having a second person to bounce ideas off of and to help with the management of the game is key as well.