ARCHON ... DCC #29 - Adventure Begins - A Question of Morels

[ynnen]

Archon, a local gaming convention here in St. Louis, went very well. I ran two sessions of A Question of Morels from DCC #29 The Adventure Begins.

There are a few minor spoilers mixed in here, but nothing too plot destroying. It's mostly the interesting anecdotes.

Session 1: The first group worked well together, except for a 14 year old punk who was a brash, loudmouthed pain in the patoot. He played a dwarf barbarian and charged everything, heedless of what the rest of the group wanted to do. Thankfully, about halfway through, he succumbed to his own jerkishness, as the party refused to aid or heal him as he kept crashing into things without any thought to the repercussions (in game or out of game).

By the two hour mark, he was Exhausted (-6 Str, -6 Dex) and poisoned from several sources (-2 more Str, -3 Con, -1 Dex). He eventually was swarmed over and slain by the group of Dobbin fey residing in the tree. The rest of the group "offered" him as a sacrifice to the mighty dobbin, and satisfied, they allowed the rest of the group or proceed relatively unharmed while they dealt with the dwarf.

Within the four hour time frame, the group got through the entire scenario, which was great. And aside from the problems created by the one kid, everyone came up afterward and said that -- despite that one kid -- they had a good time, and I handled it as well as anyone could expect, given the convention setting. I was really worried some of them were bothered by it, but the rest were in good spirits. Later that day, I saw one of them had gone into the dealer room and purchased The Adventure Begins hardcover from one of the dealers in the hall.

Session 2: The second session I ran was even more interesting. It was a 7:30 - 11:30 PM session, my last of the convention, and I was exhausted. I really just wanted everything to be over by that point. Then up to the table comes a 40-something year old dad and his two daughters, age 8 and 11. "We signed up for this, but none of us have ever played any sort of roleplaying game, other than Final Fantasy on the Playstation." Great, just great, I think to myself. Another father shows up with his 13 year old son, but they've both played. And the 6th player was an experienced gamer who didn't mind in the least.

And it turned out being the BEST session of any D&D I've ever run at any convention. It took some time to explain the very, very basic concepts and rules, but it all boiled down to "just tell us what you want to do and we'll help you do it." Those three kids came up with some of the most creative, clever and original ideas to overcome various challenges. There was not a single rules argument or issue. Nobody argued that a spell should have lasted longer, or that they should be able to move an extra space. And nobody had to be reminded it was their turn.

One great example is that during the battle that ensued with the dobbin at the beginning, as they were getting peppered with tiny arrows, the 11 year old said "We're in an old dead tree, right? I'll light my torch and threaten to burn their home down if they don't throw down their weapons and surrender." And then she rolled a Natural 20 on her Intimidate check. Classic.

In another section of the tree, there's a rope ladder nailed to the interior of the tree wall, allowing access to the second floor - but they spotted a spider swarm up on the ledge, and without any way to deal with it other than the torches, they tried thinking of creative ways to get past them. They all flipped the character sheets over to look at their equipment, and a bunch of great ideas came out -- such as tying rope to the edges of a 6' x 6' tarpaulin they had to create a massive "sling" and scrape the spiders off the ledge.

But the winning idea was when the 8 year old said "Why don't we use my hammer to remove the nails from the ladder and just re-attach it over on the other side?" And the 13 year old worked off that by suggesting he could use his spider climb potion to carry it up the opposite side of the wall and secure it so the rest of the group could climb up.

[Renshai]

It sounds like you had a great time man. Younger players always come up with great problem solving techniques.

Glad to hear it was fun for you!

[gideon_thorne]

I saw these sessions going on while I was there, I believe. I tried to make a point of stopping by, but I only caught sight of the game in passing as I was on my way to participating in one pannel or another.

[Ogrepuppy]

One great example is that during the battle that ensued with the dobbin at the beginning, as they were getting peppered with tiny arrows, the 11 year old said "We're in an old dead tree, right? I'll light my torch and threaten to burn their home down if they don't throw down their weapons and surrender." And then she rolled a Natural 20 on her Intimidate check. Classic.

In another section of the tree, there's a rope ladder nailed to the interior of the tree wall, allowing access to the second floor - but they spotted a spider swarm up on the ledge, and without any way to deal with it other than the torches, they tried thinking of creative ways to get past them. They all flipped the character sheets over to look at their equipment, and a bunch of great ideas came out -- such as tying rope to the edges of a 6' x 6' tarpaulin they had to create a massive "sling" and scrape the spiders off the ledge.

But the winning idea was when the 8 year old said "Why don't we use my hammer to remove the nails from the ladder and just re-attach it over on the other side?" And the 13 year old worked off that by suggesting he could use his spider climb potion to carry it up the opposite side of the wall and secure it so the rest of the group could climb up.

I LOVE to hear stories like this. My wife, a teacher, says I should start a "game club" at her school (with D&D as a major focus). Reading the above gives me inspiration that I could do a club like that. Also gives me hope that the hobby will continue when I'm dead.

Can I trade my grumbly group of four mid-twentysomething year old players for those kids?

Great post. Ynnen and Goodman Games, please--take a bow and a friendly pat on the back.

[Mike_Ferguson]

That's *awesome*. Congrats to you on a job very nicely done.

I keep meaning to run an adventure at a convention - for whatever reason, I usually back out of doing so at the last moment, mostly because I'm worried it'll turn into a complete disaster. However, I'm going to print out your post as proof that running a game at a convention can truly be a great experience - not to mention a rewarding one.

[Harley Stroh]

Very cool post, Little. So cool. Your story underscores some of the very best aspects of roleplaying. Well done!

//H