My daughter (12) is running a game of DW for a bunch of her friends from school tomorrow. She’s played DW before with her siblings and me, but this is her first time running any RPG. I don’t think any of her friends have ever played any RPGs.
She just told me about it this morning. She hasn’t read the DW book yet and won’t before tomorrow. She’ll only have an hour or two tomorrow before they show up. I’m going to give her a basic tutorial on how to run DW, but does any one have any advice or resources to help her?
Thanks!
Maybe fall back on the guide if there are parts she’s nervous about…
http://www.curufea.com/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=roleplaying:dw:dungeon_world_guide_pdf_version_1.2.pdf
Don’t worry about rules, if something strikes her as a Move apply it. And don’t say no unless it destroys the story. Oh, and have fun, that is the point!
It’s funny, she’s not nervous at all… 🙂 It’s probably just me worrying for her since I know her experience is entirely on the player side and she’s never read any of the book. I’ll definitely show her the DW Guide. Thanks!
You know, to me that’s just begging for a World of Dungeons treatment rather than full-on DW.
Hmm. I read WoD awhile ago but haven’t looked again recently. Can you use the Playbooks with a simplified WoD approach? She’s been telling them all about the classes and one of her friends has told her he wants to play a ranger with an animal… She’s definitely capable of running the game using mostly Defy Danger as a baseline, which is basically how I remember WoD working. I’ll reread WoD tonight. Thanks!
Just let things roll, try and have a cool thing for for each person sitting at the table. Say Yes a lot. Steal from TV liberally.
There’s a ranger with Pet as an option in WoDu. Using Defy Danger for just about everything should cover everything needed. Hardly any reading or prep needed, just copies of the rules & character sheets for everyone. (3 sheets of paper)
I’m going to go against the trend and say stick with full on DW:
1) It’s what she knows. Let her fall back on whatever system knowledge she has when she gets flustered.
2) DW playbooks are evocative – just reading the descriptions gives players ideas. Especially for new players, complete freedom can lead to paralysis of choice. If you have a playbook that lists Bend Bars, Lift Gates, and your Signature Weapon, right away the player has suggestions on what are good things for them to do.
You don’t want somebody just reading options off their character sheet, of course, but I think super light structure like WOD would be tossing them in the deep end.
just sit there and enjoy the fact that you are raising a daughter that is confident enough to give it a go at 12, dont correct anything while they play unless she asks you to
Isn’t that how the hobby really developed? A bunch of kids jumping head first into a game they didn’t completely understand how to run?
She’s 12. I don’t think a 12 year old can run Dungeon World incorrectly.
Don’t worry about it and don’t pressure her. It doesn’t matter if she hasn’t read the rules and doesn’t do things by the book. She and her friends will focus on the story and they will have a blast. My son (13) and daughter (10) have each taken turns running DW without reading the rules. They’ve had a blast! If I stuck my nose in to tell them they were doing it wrong, they would give it up quickly. Let her come to you if she has questions.
Thanks everyone. I printed everything out for her, gave her a 5 minute refresher on the rules (mostly just what 6-, 7-8, and 10+ mean and how to set up a situation then ask her friends what they do).
Then we geeked out a bit about her ideas for an adventure: They’re going to go into an abandoned castle rumored to have gold and a famous library. It’s full of skeletons and trapped in the deepest room is a wyvern. The skeletons are actually keeping the wyvern trapped. Also the rooms keep moving around on their own. She came up with all of that and is excited. I’ve told her I’ll answer any questions she asks but she should just have fun.
She’s going to do great.
I also found out that she made and printed invitations, wrapped them up like scrolls and handed them out to her friends. Then she gave me the shopping list for snacks. So far this is a one-shot party, but she’s already told them she wants to make it a weekly thing if they all have fun.
I’d mentioned maybe she could ask some friends over to play, but she really took the initiative on everything. It makes my geek dad heart proud.
If I was to give advice, I wouldn’t give her any advice about DW rules, she’ll make it up as she goes along. I’d instead steer her towards things like Robin’s Laws and the like – how to manage a table; how to align everyone’s expectations, things like that.
Which to some degrees the GM Principles and Agenda already cover – so I think those are worth working on.
One thing I remember from my teenage games; often the GM and the players were in opposition to each other. This led occasionally to hard feelings.
However, the fact that the GM is commanded in DW to be a Fan of the Players is such a refreshing change for us grognards. I’d put that as the #1 thing to remember in DW for a 12 year old.