I started playing in a new Lost Mine of Phandelver campaign tonight. It feels good to get to enjoy it from the other side of the screen for once! I have run the campaign before and thus know most of the goodies, modulo whatever the DM changes. However, I see my role as primarily supportive, since my kids and I make up half the party while I help them continue to learn the game.
Almost as importantly, the DM is a first-timer – although to be honest nobody would have known had he not said so. He did a great job and, as always when playing with a new DM, I learned a few new tricks. For example, he tracks 10-minute turns by dropping dice into a shot glass. Once he’s dropped six in there, he rolls a d6 to determine whether we find a random encounter (and then empties out the shot glass). Generally, I hung back, threw out some druidic heals, and played my California hippie stoner elf.
An important balance exists between being sitting back silently while a new DM struggles and turning into “that guy” who tries to overshadow the DM, either via rules lawyering or throwing out assumptions about the game world and environment. My job is just to be the experienced player who can answer rules questions when the DM asks. Players should look to him first because he may have a preferred interpretation, and anyway Rule 0 overrides anything in the book. (One of the joys of not playing an actual Adventurers League game!) I also try to help other players navigate their character sheets, especially the two young players I brought with me.
You know how everybody gets nervous when a kid shows up to a game, whether a tabletop RPG or some online gaming? Me, too. So I work really hard as a parent to be a good Dungeon Dad. My kids know basic table etiquette, the core game rules, and still manage to play according to their own style. As an example of the latter, my 10-year-old is playing a dragonborn ranger who was a clockmaker before becoming an adventurer. I have never run across that race/class combo before, myself. We come prepared with character sheets, our own dice, pencils and pens, and even minis.
The real problem player is… me. Sort of – really, my travel schedule for work is the culprit. I have a couple of trips to the American Southwest later this month. For those doing the math, yes, that means I get to enjoy heat indices north of 110 degrees. I’d rather be slaying dragons, but the group will either run some one-shots or otherwise proceed (depending on whether my kids can talk their mom into taking them). That’s the main reason I like AL: my lack of consistency doesn’t create much of a problem for other people.
Image from Girls Guts Glory, my new favorite actual-play web show.
Technoskald's Forge 