Comments on: The D&D Teen Comedy http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/ A Dungeons & Dragons Resource Blog For Dungeon Masters & Players Thu, 24 May 2012 21:53:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Ameron http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/comment-page-1/#comment-18181 Ameron Mon, 31 May 2010 15:44:22 +0000 http://dungeonsmaster.com/?p=4754#comment-18181 @Wally I've tried playing teenagers in other RPGs too, but never in D&D. I think it would work best if everyone agrees to play teens. If it's just you playing a 14-year-old and the rest of the party is in their 20s and 30s it just seems kind of creepy. @Mike Katz I envision a D&D campaign playing out more like the Breakfast Club than Ferris Bueller's Day Off. By having all the PCs in the same situation, sharing common problems and foes, they can bond and develop as a group. Singling out one "spotlight" character isn't really fair to the rest of the group. But that's not to say that situations from Ferris Bueller's Day Off couldn't be expanded to be relevant to an entire party. @Dungeon Newbie These are all excellent suggestions. Normally I encourage players to avoid stereotypes, but in this circumstance I think playing the "teen comedy" stereotypes might make the adventure a lot more fun. @Nick You bring up an excellent point that I totally forgot to mention in the article. Some classes are defiantly more suited to younger characters than others. I really like the idea of another PC being a metaphorical or literal guardian of the younger PC. You just have to make sure that both players work out the details together. The player working the younger PC should dictate how the other guy plays his character. @Wally
I’ve tried playing teenagers in other RPGs too, but never in D&D. I think it would work best if everyone agrees to play teens. If it’s just you playing a 14-year-old and the rest of the party is in their 20s and 30s it just seems kind of creepy.

@Mike Katz
I envision a D&D campaign playing out more like the Breakfast Club than Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. By having all the PCs in the same situation, sharing common problems and foes, they can bond and develop as a group. Singling out one “spotlight” character isn’t really fair to the rest of the group. But that’s not to say that situations from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off couldn’t be expanded to be relevant to an entire party.

@Dungeon Newbie
These are all excellent suggestions. Normally I encourage players to avoid stereotypes, but in this circumstance I think playing the “teen comedy” stereotypes might make the adventure a lot more fun.

@Nick
You bring up an excellent point that I totally forgot to mention in the article. Some classes are defiantly more suited to younger characters than others.

I really like the idea of another PC being a metaphorical or literal guardian of the younger PC. You just have to make sure that both players work out the details together. The player working the younger PC should dictate how the other guy plays his character.

]]> By: Nick http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/comment-page-1/#comment-18160 Nick Mon, 31 May 2010 08:00:59 +0000 http://dungeonsmaster.com/?p=4754#comment-18160 I just rolled a human psion who is a fifteen-year-old son of minor nobility. Interestingly, the ability scores for the psion class map on fairly well with what would reasonably be expected of a fairly exceptional teenager: a high INT is easily justified, as is his decent CHA score--he's a likable and well-educated son of nobles, so it's natural that he would be more charismatic than the average person. On the flip side, his relatively low CON and 8 in STR make a lot of sense--there is nothing more squishy than the kid psion, and his -1 to Athletics is rather fun to roleplay. The class itself is one that lends itself to a kid hero, too. Certain classes stretch believability, raising the question of how a teenager could rank as an exemplar of humanity despite his callow age: fighters, warlords, wizards and clerics do not lend themselves to young heroes. However, some classes make sense, especially those that either involve low thresholds of training or spontaneous manifestation of powers: rogues and possibly druids and seekers fit the former, and sorcerers, psions and invokers fit the latter. I went with the psion because psionic abilities can manifest without years and years of training that would be the case with, say, a wizard; a crazy STR score and accompanying battle prowess (ie, a warlord) is harder to justify than the manifestation of psychic abilities in a child. To justify why my young psion has joined up with a bunch of rugged adventurers, a fellow player rolled a guardian character: a warforged battlemind that is the psion's companion and protector. The synergy between the defender and the controller works well both in terms of RP and battlefield tactics, and it avoids the necessity of elaborate justifications for why the kid is allowed to tag along with ale-swilling dwarves and pyromaniacal tieflings. I just rolled a human psion who is a fifteen-year-old son of minor nobility. Interestingly, the ability scores for the psion class map on fairly well with what would reasonably be expected of a fairly exceptional teenager: a high INT is easily justified, as is his decent CHA score–he’s a likable and well-educated son of nobles, so it’s natural that he would be more charismatic than the average person. On the flip side, his relatively low CON and 8 in STR make a lot of sense–there is nothing more squishy than the kid psion, and his -1 to Athletics is rather fun to roleplay.

The class itself is one that lends itself to a kid hero, too. Certain classes stretch believability, raising the question of how a teenager could rank as an exemplar of humanity despite his callow age: fighters, warlords, wizards and clerics do not lend themselves to young heroes. However, some classes make sense, especially those that either involve low thresholds of training or spontaneous manifestation of powers: rogues and possibly druids and seekers fit the former, and sorcerers, psions and invokers fit the latter. I went with the psion because psionic abilities can manifest without years and years of training that would be the case with, say, a wizard; a crazy STR score and accompanying battle prowess (ie, a warlord) is harder to justify than the manifestation of psychic abilities in a child.

To justify why my young psion has joined up with a bunch of rugged adventurers, a fellow player rolled a guardian character: a warforged battlemind that is the psion’s companion and protector. The synergy between the defender and the controller works well both in terms of RP and battlefield tactics, and it avoids the necessity of elaborate justifications for why the kid is allowed to tag along with ale-swilling dwarves and pyromaniacal tieflings.

]]> By: Dungeon Newbie http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/comment-page-1/#comment-17916 Dungeon Newbie Thu, 27 May 2010 06:58:59 +0000 http://dungeonsmaster.com/?p=4754#comment-17916 What about having them escape school? Then, when playing truant, they "meet" a wise old prophet who makes equipment "appear", then trains them. In case you cannot roleplay well, here is some inspiration: High Strength? The Jock High Sneak? The Lunch Stealer High Charisma? The Popular Guy High Knowledge of enemies? Teacher's Pet High Knowledge of dungeons? The Geek(that's you and me, peoples) High Street Smarts? The Orphan High Intimidate? The Gangster High Bluff? The Homework Hider Now for weapons: Too heavy weapon? Don't talk nonsense. Mr Jock over there can lift 100 pounds. Too Low-Damaging weapon? Hey, that guy can kill with his slingshot. Whaddya mean he can't even hurt the monster with his bow? Too few weapons? There's no weapons? Rubbish. Grab 5 stones and a Y shaped stick and we're done. No distractor weapons? What happens if you throw a stinkbomb at that Hellhound which can smell a person 10 miles away? The PCs themselves: Goody 2 shoes=Paladin Jock=Fighter Tree Hugger=Ranger/Elf/Wildkin Nerd=Studious Magician? Bad Boy=Anything that's good at killing and is Chaotic Evil Druggie=Erm... Drunken Kung Fu? Insane Psychopath=Chaotic Evil Demon(Yay! I get to be a demon. Wait... that implies that-oh never mind) The Guy who believes in Magicka=Invoker/Shardmind? I hope that helps and inspired you! ________________________________ Celebration time! School is out for the whole of June(Summer for you Americans) What about having them escape school? Then, when playing truant, they “meet” a wise old prophet who makes equipment “appear”, then trains them. In case you cannot roleplay well, here is some inspiration:
High Strength? The Jock
High Sneak? The Lunch Stealer
High Charisma? The Popular Guy
High Knowledge of enemies? Teacher’s Pet
High Knowledge of dungeons? The Geek(that’s you and me, peoples)
High Street Smarts? The Orphan
High Intimidate? The Gangster
High Bluff? The Homework Hider

Now for weapons:
Too heavy weapon? Don’t talk nonsense. Mr Jock over there can lift 100 pounds.
Too Low-Damaging weapon? Hey, that guy can kill with his slingshot. Whaddya mean he can’t even hurt the monster with his bow?
Too few weapons? There’s no weapons? Rubbish. Grab 5 stones and a Y shaped stick and we’re done.
No distractor weapons? What happens if you throw a stinkbomb at that Hellhound which can smell a person 10 miles away?

The PCs themselves:
Goody 2 shoes=Paladin
Jock=Fighter
Tree Hugger=Ranger/Elf/Wildkin
Nerd=Studious Magician?
Bad Boy=Anything that’s good at killing and is Chaotic Evil
Druggie=Erm… Drunken Kung Fu?
Insane Psychopath=Chaotic Evil Demon(Yay! I get to be a demon. Wait… that implies that-oh never mind)
The Guy who believes in Magicka=Invoker/Shardmind?

I hope that helps and inspired you!

________________________________
Celebration time! School is out for the
whole of June(Summer for you Americans)

]]> By: Ferris Dragonborn’s Day Off « Mike's D&D Blog http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/comment-page-1/#comment-17895 Ferris Dragonborn’s Day Off « Mike's D&D Blog Wed, 26 May 2010 23:01:26 +0000 http://dungeonsmaster.com/?p=4754#comment-17895 [...] for a D&D Adventure, but then I read Ameron’s (of Dungeon Mastering) post about doing an adventure in the style of an 80′s Teen Comedy. There’s a lot of great iconic moments from the various nerd, teen, and screwball comedies of [...] [...] for a D&D Adventure, but then I read Ameron’s (of Dungeon Mastering) post about doing an adventure in the style of an 80′s Teen Comedy. There’s a lot of great iconic moments from the various nerd, teen, and screwball comedies of [...]

]]> By: Mike Katz http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/comment-page-1/#comment-17884 Mike Katz Wed, 26 May 2010 19:03:48 +0000 http://dungeonsmaster.com/?p=4754#comment-17884 There are some iconic plot points of these movies: an underdog (usually poorer than one's peers), a love (triangle) story, a mean teacher and a wise, understanding surrogate parent figure, etc. Most of these work around having a central character. How do you see working these in for a whole group of protagonists? .-= Mike Katz´s last blog ..<a href="http://mikesdndblog.com/2010/05/24/do-you-play-differently-in-a-one-shot/" rel="nofollow">Do You Play Differently In a One-Shot?</a> =-. There are some iconic plot points of these movies: an underdog (usually poorer than one’s peers), a love (triangle) story, a mean teacher and a wise, understanding surrogate parent figure, etc. Most of these work around having a central character. How do you see working these in for a whole group of protagonists?
.-= Mike Katz´s last blog ..Do You Play Differently In a One-Shot? =-.

]]> By: Wally http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/05/the-dd-teen-comedy/comment-page-1/#comment-17874 Wally Wed, 26 May 2010 15:44:48 +0000 http://dungeonsmaster.com/?p=4754#comment-17874 This could be very intresting. One of my favorite campaigns was the teenage super hero campaign we ran for Champions and Mutans and Masterminds. This could be very intresting. One of my favorite campaigns was the teenage super hero campaign we ran for Champions and Mutans and Masterminds.

]]>