Sunday, March 11, 2012

Creating a GM Starter Kit

Tonight I spent a good portion of it organizing my gaming/office area.  It's still a fricking mess.  I keep getting distracted by the stuff I find.

Another portion of the night has been spent putting together a GM kit for one of my former newbie players.  He is the one I will help out and teach him the basics of running a game.  Included in the GM kit is...
  1. a copy of Swords & Wizardry Complete Rules
  2. six character sheets
  3. sheets of graph paper
  4. a print out of two of my short adventures
He has the dice.  I want to keep the kit small as I don't want to overwhelm him with too much too soon.  The two adventures I gave him are good 1st level jaunts that he can run his players through with little prep work.

I plan on sitting down with him this week sometime and discuss what he would like to do and some tips that work for me when I'm running a crew.  He's pretty enthusiastic, but let's see if he'll do the work.  I'll answer his questions, but won't read the rule book for him.  I'll see if he's willing to put in the work to be successful.

What's cool about this little binder, it's like giving him the keys to countless worlds.

10 comments:

  1. Maybe include A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming by Matt Finch? Just an idea.

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  2. And Blackmarsh. Perfect starter setting for a new game master.

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  3. Oh, Blackmarsh would be a good choice, as would the Quick Primer.

    I hope he does stick through it. It's always good for there to be more Referees.

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  4. I thought about Blackmarsh and if he seems to follow through that will be absolutely another addition to the kit. I'm trying not to overwhelm him with too much. He still needs to learn the basic game so I want to keep the content streamlined.

    And I still might copy the Old School Primer. Put it in.

    Hex paper. Also thought about it, but I'll see what he does. If he wants to start worldbuilding then I got a stash for him. I still might add it in. Cause its just cool.

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  5. First off, what a terrific idea. I wish I'd had a DM like you to get me started. It would have made the job so much easier. OK, not easier maybe, but more enjoyable, perhaps, to make the transition from one side of the screen to the other.

    Second, I want to support you in your "distraction issues." I have suffered from the distraction-effect since I was a young child. Cleaning my bedroom often turned into a mutli-day/multi-week endeavor, because every time I picked up a bit of steam, I'd find something interesting or cool and there went my focus.

    "SQUIRREL!" Yeah. Like that.

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  6. Kellri's CDD4 would be a sweet addition.

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  7. What a great idea! I know newbies like me would love something like that.

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  8. The wife is going to be starting up an All Muslim Ladies D&D group, and it will be her first time to GM.

    I'm totally going to put together an identical kit for her. Thank you!

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  9. Hmm... sounds like you should start a "Create a New DM Day" meme.

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