... "herding cats" pretty much sums up the night. None of them had ever played D&D or so I didn't expect a whole lot. Would have been nice to get through the first encounter but we didn't. They quickly learned that attacking the city watch isn't a good idea; even in a sawdust choked, podunk, dung hole like Falcon's Hollow. You could tell two of them actually were trying to get on with the adventure but the other two were derp'n around and being stupid... which they couldn't resist joining in on.

Overall we all had a lot of fun though; I'm not trying to slag on them too hard here. Everyone was laughing including me. They really did push my limits as a rusty old DM on how to roll with whatever people say they want to do. It was refreshing in that regard; where as my typical game group of adults tends to stay on the tracks or at least in the ball park of the plot =)

I should have took some pics like I usually do but didn't. It was a great mash-up of Lego, card stock models I've made, and stuff I cast and painted years ago. Maybe next time I'll snap and share some pics. Lego minifigs are a perfect fit for this scale! I'm done with painting minifigs and I love how dynamic minfigs are; so do the kids. You can easily change their appearance to reflect what's going on in the game.

Is this a pretty typical experience? I guess at their age my friends and I took it a LITTLE more serious (and a couple of guys took it TOO serious =P ). I did give them some stuff to read to help prep them; they claimed they all read the and I could tell most had because they referred to it a couple times. The two who were the most difficult to deal with have ADHD but I hate to just blame that for everything.

Tips or tricks from those who have DM'ed this age group? I was thinking I need some old fashioned, straight forward, hack'n'slash ? Maybe all this social engagement role playing is a bit too much to start with? They pretty much just wanted to kill and steal everything in sight... despite their alignment =P

I always find the Star Wars beginning is effective... start with the fighting, move on to the plot later. This works for adults too; start the evening with "You're all ready? Good. Roll for initiative" and then put the encounter on the table.

It all depends on the 11-13 year olds - my teens and tweens game had players that were a whole lot more goal oriented that their parents are.... They went through one scenario in two sessions that took their parents five.... (The teens game is currently being run by one of the teens - and I can't talk to her about how it's going because I am playing in the same Adventure Path, run by somebody else! Aaaarggghhh! )

I still miss running games for kids at the old summer program. One of my youngest players in that program is now taking pre-med on a scholarship. (And is facing her arch-nemesis - Organic Chemistry.)

The Auld Grump - they're all growing up....