My son, Davon, showed a little bit of interest in running his own game, and to learn what it means to be a DM. I think that is fantastic, because being a DM means you will always have a game to play. I know lots of people that only ever want to play the game, and some of them are very good players, but they just have no ambition to ever be a DM.
To be the DM means that you are the fuel to the game. A DM is proactive, and players are generally reactive. Personally, I think a table full of players that also love to be DMs would make for the best game ever.
So Davon, to cut his teeth on DMing, has agreed to run the “Sample Dungeon” from the DM’s Guide, Kobold Hall. Awesome.
I am playing a Knight named Ederon Bladelaw, and two other kids are playing as well. Mikki is playing a Sun Cleric and Tiny is playing a Battle Mage named Jeleneth. All the characters are made with the DDI Character Builder using basic Essentials rules. Mikki decided her cleric would also be named the same as all of her other characters (who are usually elf/ranger-types), Sansalar (I originally created her character in the CB with the name of Luuci Brightwalker, but that’s just how I roll).
Our party agreed to help someone that has been missing some incoming shipments of thinks like dragon hide for making armor and such. He offered us 100 gold if we could come back with evidence that we had made the roads safe. Maybe we will get even more if we can recover any of his shipments. We’ll see.
We set off and found our way to a ruined keep and into a dungeon below. They call it Kobold Hall because the kobolds have taken it over. So we have a pretty good idea what we will find here.
Sure enough, we have been through three rooms now, and each had kobolds in them. Go figure. 🙂
The most fun part of this game is, of course, sitting across the table from the new DM, remembering what it was like when I started my first games just a year or so younger than he is. In those days, I also ran the sample module, where PCs come down steps to a long hall, and are met by a loud Magic Mouth spell warning them of dangers ahead, and to turn back.
Davon also wants to play his own character while DMing, against my recommendation that he just work on DMing. But I am amused by this whole “I could play this whole game solo” idea that might spark something in the future, as I watch him take his turn with his character and then the monsters as well.
He is still very enthusiastic about his character, like he gets with his DDO character, or his Pirates character, or his Runescape character, or his other D&D character in my game. This is the rudimentary aspect of role-playing wherein you can watch your character grow in experience, choose new powers and abilities, etc.
I am waiting to see the moment when he begins to see the game world the same way, as his character…the stage upon which all things exist and move at his will. A world that grows with experience, and he can choose new challenges and encounters for the players.
I wonder if there will ever be a “me vs. you” phase where he will attempt to conceive of challenges and enemies that are bigger and badder than what the players have, and how he will evolve over time.
For now, I will sit back, and enjoy the ride. 🙂
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