Crafting an Exciting GM Boot Camp for Kids

An RPT GM asked me this morning to give feedback on a curriculum for a kids GM Boot Camp.

I share my response below. I don’t know if the kids are young teenagers, younger, or older. I’ll assume around 12 years old. At that age, in my opinion (I never had kids), you want to keep things simple, practical, and fun.

Before I dig into those tips, a couple of updates. I’ve processed and responded to about half the responses to my recent reader tip request for GMing lie detection and sensing motives. I’ve got about 3,000 words already piled up from some very smart GMs. I continue to work on it and will release the tips once everything’s ready and I’ve caught up on those emails.

Likewise, the same goes for my GM tip request on what makes encounters great. Thanks to everyone who responded! If I haven’t replied to you yet, I will. Just need to catch up a bit on my inbox.

Teaching Kids in a GM Boot Camp

From the email, I’m inferring it’s a homebrew type of boot camp. So, in my opinion, you want to hit the core and fun stuff:

How do you play the game? What the GM does, what the players do, and how the gameplay loop works (description => action => ruling => repeat, for example).
What’s an encounter? Ingredients. How does an encounter start and end?
What’s a dungeon? How to draw a map. How to key the map. How to populate rooms. Start with a 5RD because it’s simple, and maybe an example of a megadungeon to show what’s possible.
What’s a monster? How do you GM one? How to build a fun one by reskinning.
What’s a trap? How do you GM one?
What’s treasure? How do you give out the right amount? What do characters do with gold?
What are magic items? How do you GM them? What magic items do you give to the monsters?
What’s the wilderness? How to make a wilderness encounter.
What’s a home base? How do you create a village? What purposes does a settlement have?

For each topic above, focus on why it’s fun. Why it’s fun to make. How it’s fun to GM. And how it’s fun to play. (I also feel there are too many topics there for a weekend boot camp, so create a timeline that includes lots of practice and gameplay and eliminate topics you don’t deem essential for creating and running a great dungeon.)

I would focus 10% on the theoretical and 90% on the practical. Spend lots of time homebrewing and playing. Repeat what was learned the day before with a fun build exercise or two to start each new session.

I would steer away from plotting and forced storytelling. Don’t try to emulate published plot-heavy WotC adventures. It’s a trap to GM that way, and I wouldn’t want to inflict that on a new generation of GMs. I see, for example, Sly Flourish had to post a new article this week that fixes another broken WotC plotline.

Instead, teach critical thinking and improvisation. Teach them what a mental framework is, such as the 5 Room Dungeon, so they know such frameworks exist and why they help GMing a lot.

Finally, figure out a way for lots of GMing and playing to happen. Have the kids playtest their stuff in small chunks. This gives them a player’s perspective and practice GMing when it’s their turn.

That’s my four cents on what to focus on in a homebrew-style GM boot camp for pre-teens.

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

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