Best posts made by 2mspris

Perhaps less "baby gamers" so much as a new generation of tabletop roleplayers.

My life has become pretty intensely mixed with stress and responsibility of late, but in the midst of it I've found something that I'm really enjoying and thought I would share for the entertainment of it as well as because I'm curious if any other folks have really spent time sharing roleplaying games with a new generation?

We've started up a kids roleplay club out of the library where I work, specifically for kids in 4th - 6th grade where we had been playing more specifically "kid friendly" RPGs, such as Hero Kids and Little Wizards. About a month ago, a handful of those kids talked us into running a D&D (5th edition) game for them through the summer. There is a table of 7 kids who have met once a week to play, just for a couple of hours - which always goes over just a little bit, and they are really-really getting into roleplaying. Things are being kept pretty simple and straight forward, following pre-planned adventures, but the notion of being in-character and interacting with one another (and using "voices" and playing characters that possess character quirks), it is all coming very easily to these kids.

As an example, this afternoon's game ended with the group going into a large town to an inn and the course of RPing between themselves and the GM towards the goal of getting rooms was hindered by the fact that one of the people in the party has a very low charisma. He's decided this is because he smells bad and is known to eat and smoke weird things. This hindrance was overcome by another of his party choosing to cast "Charm Person" on him to convince him to take a bath which he was refusing to take. He failed his saving throw and got a bath and the party got their rooms. And all of those kids were laughing and having a great time.

That's a pretty good feeling.

Re: Raising Baby Gamers

Not quite 2 years ago, I shared that I had just started sponsoring a "Tabletop Gaming Club" for elementary school-aged kids out of the library where I work. Fast-forward to the present and this particular Gaming Club (which the kids that participate in it refer to it as HAK Club) has been so popular that we featured it as part of our summer reading programming for the past 2 summers in the library where I work + it has expanded into 2 groups. HAK Club Lvl 1 and HAK Club Lvl 2. The Lvl 1 group is still the original model, 5-6th graders, while the Lvl 2 group are Jr. High kids who want to learn more mechanics and build on what they picked up from the first group which was learning to role play, do collaborative storytelling and also the basics of the system of choice for the kids. (They all seem to prefer playing D&D 5th Ed, but we also keep Pathfinder, Savage Worlds and Hero Kids available for them.)

And now the older of those Lvl 2 kids have actually started coming in on their own to the library and setting up a gaming table to run a game for their own friends, letting the Tabletop Gaming Bug spread to other kids!! This is something that has had me incredibly happy.

And tonight I just found out that the Gen Con Trade Day Event that I submitted to teach other librarians/teachers how we started this and the ups/downs of it since it began has been accepted and will be part of the line up of events offered on Trade Day. So I had to share, with people that I figure will get why I'm so very-very excited about this.

I thought I would share a bit of the latest from the little Dungeons & Dragons group I had previously mentioned.

This particular roleplaying group (of 4th - 6th graders) has dubbed themselves the H.A.K. Club (Heroic Adventure Kids). We're up to 8 players now, an even split of boys and girls, though for the last couple weeks they aren't all there at once - so adventures happen for the characters who are there and they are all part of an adventuring company that works together. And I can tell you that these 8 players have rounded out 8 very unique and entertaining characters.

Gandalf the Brown - A human male wizard who likes to chew on mushrooms, smoke strange things and while being very smart has a charisma of 8 (because he smells bad).

Bob - A human female druid, one of the co-leaders of the group, she's never met a captive animal she wasn't willing to turn loose (which works out great in the wild but less so in town).

George - A human male fighter who is very likable, incredibly clumsy and thinks he's a great tracker. (He isn't.)

Puff - A dragonborn female fighter, she is the sworn protector of Bob, doesn't really talk much at all and is the group's "tank".

Seth-Shadow - A male half-elf bard, who is more of a jester than he is a singer. He tells jokes and puns almost constantly and now has a chicken animal companion because he cast "speak with animal" on it so many times, and kept feeding it, that the chicken now loyally follows him everywhere and even tries to defend him in a fight.

May - A female halfling ranger, the group's other leader, a position she earned by being the one who would IC jump in to talk and take charge during the games so it just kind of fell to her. (This is the youngest player in our group but one of the one's who has really jumped into this. She started writing "journal" stories about her own character after they would play.)

Raid - A female halfling thief. She's very loyal to the group, but very much one of those "not exactly a good thief". (She is our oldest player, and to a tiny extent she has her own agenda, but she plays the character as also kept in check by May and the bard.)

Merlin - A male dragonborn sorcerer with wild magic. This is the newest character to join the group and in today's game, the very first roll for a spell he did went wild and he ended up with a third eye opening up in his forehead.

We're still working out how we want to chronicle the adventures these kids have - blog posts and some youtube videos is the current preference of the kids, but a final decision hasn't been made yet. In the mean time, the library where I work ended it's summer reading program for this summer (and started the kick off for a "year round" program, which is why this was such a short summer) which always ends with prizes given to people who participate in things. One of the prizes that I was able to arrange is a D&D 5e Player's Guide went home with the player of May the Ranger. You would have thought that little girl won a trip to Disney World. She squealed, jumped into the air and then hugged that book all night after it was given to her. Her mom said she kept it with her everywhere she went and today when she came to the game, she marched in carrying that book of hers.

It was another one of those "good feeling" moments.

All the cool kids are doing this, it must be the things to do. This is who I have been:

Past Staffing:
Harahel@San Francisco (Mortal/+ Staff)
Ruin@SHH (Headstaff)
Dresden@The Reach (Build co-TL, various family staffing)
Windshear@Depraved Creations (General Game Admin)
DarkRider@Dark Metal (Mortal+ Admin)
Voodoo@Denver: Dark Destiny (Headstaff, Mortal+ staff)
Cold Spell@Ashes to Ashes (Mortal+ Wiz)
Mspris@Wicked Purity (Headstaff)
Mspris@Bloody Roses (Headstaff)

Past PCs:
Charlotte and Miriam@San Francisco
Lucy and Agatha@SHH
Crystal, Lucy, Agatha, Honey@The Reach
Poppy, Panthea, Regina and Cierra@Depraved Creations
Calliope@Haunted Memories
Jenny, Eliza and Brenna@Denver: Dark Destiny
Lydia@Ashes to Ashes
Hannah@Due Rewards
Iolia@Aether 1.0
Cassandra@The Forth Cycle
Mira@Metro
Dyan@Eternal Night
Faith, Lily, Geneva, Sorcha@Crack

And there are probably another dozen or so PCs that I don’t remember offhand. There were a bunch of Marvel Comics mushes before I started playing WoD heavily.

Currently
Isla@Goldenroad (1st year Mysterium Acanthus)

I'm also currently working on building a CoD game, a small handful of people know about that and that's enough for now as it's not ready to be shared broadly yet.

There is a snowstorm on my horizon. (Yes, yes, I know how much most people hate snow. I love it and I would like to be snowed in for a few days and that's not really something that has happened this year.) It won't be anything like hit part of the US recently, but I'll take what I can get!

And Monday I begin the first full time job I've had in 12 years. Full time librarian. At a library only a few blocks from my house. So I can give up the housekeeping work/combination of part time jobs I've done for other people for the last 10 years to make ends meet. It's a good thing.

@Coin said:

Maybe Troy's right. >:|

gasps in shock, drops a coffee mug... somewhere in the background a baby cries

There was really nothing remotely nerdy about my family when I was born (way back in the 70s), except I was an avid reader of anything I could get my hands on, including stuff I eventually got to read that I probably should not have read. From age 3 - 10 I lived on a farm in the middle of no-where in Nebraska and all there was to do was read and ride my bike and otherwise "play outside" unless I wanted farm work to do. So I read everything that came across my path. (I literally have report cards with the comments added by teachers indicating that I read too much and to please discourage me from reading as much as I do at home, they were sure it would be unhealthy for my development. I was also a quick-learner that there were things that should not be told to my parochial teachers & family that I was reading that wouldn't be approved of. I did read Playboy (thanks, Dad) for the articles.)

About halfway through elementary school I started playing a musical instrument, thus ensuring my future status as a "band geek". And in 7th grade my parents divorced, which is significant because my mom started dating someone (who eventually became my step-dad) and he was just out of the Navy. He had been a SEAL, and while in the Navy between missions his SEAL team apparently spent a good chunk of their travel time playing D&D with him running games for them. So when he got out of the Navy, and involved with my mom, for this new blended family (there were 6 kids total + 2 adults = 1 heck of a gaming table) D&D was our family bonding. He was also my introduction into the vast world of books of a fantasy and horror genre. I was probably the only 9th grader who had read all of Lovecraft's works, could quote large chunks of Beowulf and I wrote an English paper on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales that same year. My reading comprehension level well surpassed anyone else in my school. For that I got to be the Academic team's English captain.

D&D 2nd ed. being the gateway game that it was lead to ALL MANNER of geekdom and nerdy activities and I continued through my mid-twenties just obsessively reading all the stuff I could get my hands on. I tell people I'm a 2nd generation nerd, raising a 3rd generation, because that's basically accurate - but I wasn't born into it, more like adopted.

Lunch delivered to you at work. And it's the best grilled cheese sandwich (3 types of cheese, herbed tomato and bacon) ever. SO VERY GOOD.

And it's my birthday. I understand that's suppose to be a good thing. (In truth it tends to run hit or miss, but I'll fall on the "Optimistic" side this year.)

@Cirno said:

I jest, of course, but you must admit that the hobby is displayed as being Less Than Ideal, here. I credit this place with dampening my enthusiasm about MU*ing, personally.

I think that if you were to look hard enough (especially online - since the internet is full of trolls), every possible hobby or interest is a terrible/horrible thing depending upon who you ask. And I've been on the various incarnations of WORA long enough to be able to weed through most of the vitriol and spewing to recognize what is genuinely enthusiasm dampening and a problem and what is just people blowing off steam/spouting off.

Granted, this recognition doesn't prevent me from stressing about things outside of my control or being upset by certain situations or individuals. Someone not part of this hobby but who is a writer told me that emotional investment is indicative of the value that I put on the hobby/the people interacted with and something that I'm passionate about. (Your mileage on that sage advice may vary, she's a bit of an old hippy who is a great spoken storyteller but is learning to tell stories through writing and she struggles with it.)

Sadly I did not win any cool prizes for the Fitbit challenge at GenCon. I did, however, manage to walk between 13,000-15,000 steps a day for that 5 day stretch though, so at least I wasn't slacking.

Over twenty years ago now, but I was one part of the "welcome committee" on a superhero game. Tasked with paging guests/brand new people to answer questions, tell them about the game, encourage them to come play.

Maved a guest an extremely graphic TS pose.

@Miss-Demeanor said:

GAME OF THRONES

• Familial Murder
• A Hanging!
• Trials
• Drunken Debauchery

• Weddings

Fitbit challenge for GenCon 2015 underway! If I'm lucky I'll win prizes by the end of it.

I occasionally talk about mu*ing with my co-workers, and with my writing group, none of whom are in this hobby.

Most of them, who understand that this is something that I have volunteered my time for with the interest of entertaining and making fun for other people lump this in with the amount of time that I spend doing volunteer work for our local school. (Weirdly there are parallels to be found there from volunteering as a fundraiser for the school and organizing/managing/planning for a game.) Frequently there are suggestions that I must be a masochist. More often than not there are questions about why I would put so much effort into doing something that won't have a return in appreciation for the effort put in. It tends to take a lengthy explanation about the rewards from Cooperative Storytelling to get anyone to really understand it.

I help teenagers and college students write them as part of my job. I would be willing to take a look at yours to give pointers? And I can give you some of the same advice that I give them, if it helps:

1. Experiment with the templates in Word. (Or whatever you use for word processing.)
2. Write a functional or skills-based format resume. You've not been working in a while, so you don't want to highlight that specifically. Summarize the amount of time you spent doing specific jobs without giving specific dates. (Ex: 8 years of customer service experience. You don't need to specify that it was 10 years ago.)
3. Keep in mind to include any skills that you have used in the time since you've worked - any groups you've been part of (professional or hobby) could have marketable skills. (Not joking, I know a lot of people who have used gaming related skills on their resume - I'm one of them.)
4. Google it. If you check online there are TONS of examples of other resumes people have shared, there are also literally hundreds of sites that give free advice and other free templates you can try out so that you can build something that suits what you are wanting to do.

But honestly, I'm willing to help.

We, meaning I, like a mix. I want the option to have other players running plots & to be able as a player to run plots for people. And I also want to have staff running plots that perhaps have a larger impact than what is done between players, perhaps even having a game-wide impact where it's appropriate - but at the very least those are the stories where the most significant risks should exist.

Things that are mostly "player run" plots weren't something that I really had heavy experience with until I started playing on Depraved Creations (where everything was player run, staff existed to support players but not to actual staff plot) and there were some extremely entertaining player run stories. (Crazy apartment buildings and oWoD mage adventures come to mind.)

But on the other end, games where staff were heavily involved in running plot, as with Denver's Mage sphere where there was a good deal run, or at least directly organized, by Thessaly & John Constantine, or on The Reach and nearly everything ever run by Lemuria.

Good Things need to be revived. After almost 3 straight weeks of many things kicking my ass (and stomp kicking me while down for good measure), today has been an awesome day.

Today a 3rd grade boy came into the library where I work and gave me a loaf of chocolate raspberry bread and told me that it was a gift to show appreciation for the work I've done at the library and in other areas of my community. And while the world is full of some pretty jerk-like people (and the internet is particularly populated by them, as we all know), this little boy has devoted himself to being nice and thanking people that he sees as not getting the appreciation he believes that they should. His mother told me that he was spending his Spring Break from school visiting a number of businesses and individuals and passing out certificates for free meals, cookies and baked goods with money that he had raised himself. (He's a farm kid, he has his own chicken coop and sells the eggs and then uses all the money he makes to buy gifts for people.)

There's something to be said for a small gesture of appreciation.

Also, someone brought a new puppy to visit in the library. Tiny, fuzzy black mutt with puppy breath and OMG cute.

I accept that I probably fall into the minority here of people who actually enjoyed the hell out of Iron Fist from start to finish. Because I honestly did. (Though I was honestly hoping that we'd see Harold Meachum go more beast-mode bad guy than we did. David Wenham as a badie, awww.... ) I enjoyed the details and the tie-ins to all the various storylines through-out this corner of the Marvel Universe. For example, I thought that the exploration of Harold's resurrections was interesting because we're bound to see Elektra return thanks to The Hand. (And it confirmed what Stick told Daredevil in the previous series, the only way to actually kill these people is by removing their head.) I found Danny to be appropriately "stumbling through the real world" as someone who is a bit out of touch since he'd been away from it for over a decade and then his experience was limited to the perspective of a child and clearly harboring some serious PTSD issues, my only big issue with him was how single-minded he was with "Gao killed my parents", but we never want to see the worst in the people standing right in front of us, in his case the Meachums.

I still like the fact that is wasn't so overwhelmingly depressing as the other Defenders were - Daredevil was an emotional yoyo, Jessica Jones hit a new level of "I might need therapy after I watch this that I hadn't experienced since I watched Torchwood: Children of Earth" and Luke Cage started out depressing for me post-Jessica Jones and honestly was my least favorite. (That's the series for me that I enjoyed the first half of the season perfectly well, but struggled to even make myself watch the rest of it.)

Since we're full of spoilers, I'll tell you that right now I strongly suspect that Gao is the actual Crane Mother, which if so would be pretty awesome. That she's pulling Davos' strings (and he's already the Steel Serpent) backing him up to charm Joy the rest of the way into the dark side (She's just as bat shit as her brother in that series, she just hid hers better all along. She's the full canister of bat shit in the comics, where there was no brother - Ward Meachum was her uncle in the comics.) and since Joy Meachum and the Steel Serpent partnered up all the time and were 2 of Iron Fist's major antagonists that's just set up for them to be the thorn in his side if Iron Fist gets a season 2.

I found the divisions within The Hand to be interesting, especially since some of the repercussions of The Incident are what created those opportunities and I do enjoy when all the corners of the MU line up together. My 2 cents, anyway.

I feel the need to scream about this but that's not really an offline/real world option for me, in part because I have family & friends that I'm trying to give support to without piling more Feels upon them. (Insert various things about Adulting and responsibility.) So I'm going to vent instead in the hopes that this will serve as my screaming over the recent revelation of how one of my best friends (and a fellow gamer) turned out to be someone getting his kicks out of child pornography online and hanging out in chat rooms with others who roleplayed fantasies of sexually abusing children, potentially for the last year if not longer.

We had been friends for a little over 20 years. (He'd been friends with my husband since they were in 4th grade. Best friends even.) He was part of our TT (and one upon a time LARPing, and MUSHing) group, he was someone who would hang out with us regularly. Someone who helped us with home improvement projects. He & his ex wife (who is a close friend to us as well) would go on vacation with us sometimes. There's a lot of history there. We thought we knew him. And he knew us better than anyone, he knew that when I was a little girl I had been molested and my husband's job as a police officer is catching child predators online. He had also recently gotten engaged to a woman who has a teenage daughter. (Thankfully it's been determined he hadn't laid a hand on her.)

The evidence against him is significant at this point, and he'd admitted that he had the stuff and that he "had a problem" and didn't know how to ask for help. He has a hearing coming up in the coming week and it will be a question of how he chooses to plead. In the mean time I have been juggling a daily yoyo of anger and mourning.

@Thenomain We've discussed doing that yes, we're trying to decide the best way to do it. There has been talk of videoing the sessions so that they can be viewed by other people. We've also talked to the kids about them doing journals about what their characters are doing. The idea of giving the kids something to motivate them long term for playing, as well as making something that they can look back at, especially if they keep with the hobby is appealing.

I'd originally tried to build a gaming group of local teens but while there was a lot of talk from teenagers wanting it, motivating them to come in and participate was a struggle. They weren't already hooked to make it any sort of priority. So by starting younger this might make it a higher priority to be involved with as they grow up because they will have a familiarity that the older kids lacked.

I'll let you know what we come up with though! We did come to the decision today that among the various "I participated in a summer reading program" prizes that we'll give to people at the end of the year through the library, we're going to have a drawing that one of these kids is going to win their own copy of the D&D 5th edition Player's Guide. We have copies that they use through the library, but there's something to be said for having your own gaming books.