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Old 02-02-2023, 09:46 AM   #5
ericthered
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Default Re: How to teach roleplaying games to teenagers?

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Originally Posted by Embassy of Time View Post
I am NOT going to argue against that, dear lord can it be challenging! But the whole "awkward teen" thing makes it much worse, I think. They got the rule stuff down nicely (simplified GURPS rules, though), but helping them create worlds or design adventures is hard. They approach it like video game programming, wanting to force PCs to follow some vague narrative and designing every encounter by stats only. I think they UNDERSTAND that a lot of roleplaying is about choices and creativity, but they can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea that they have to make room for any of that. Not sure how to better explain it...
I learned to GM as a young teen (12, really), but I really only did dungeons. I got comfortable with the role and it wasn't for a few years that we branched out. I think there is an advantage to designing dungeons as a learning GM, because it teaches of the basics of setting out challenges and then letting the players do whatever.

Once I was comfortable to move on, I started doing ambitious stuff. But it took a bit of experience in a setting where the GM prep work was easy.

So maybe they need to crawl before they learn to run? Just sharing my experience. I hope you find it useful.
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