I Have No Idea What I'm Doing ....

I'm delighted to divulge that I am DMing a bi-weekly 5th ed game at my local comic-book store for six young adults, all on the Autism spectrum (there may be a seventh as well, but they will be another volunteer to help wrangle the kids). In a nutshell, we want to help them with the concepts of teamwork, communication, and character development, all the things that RPGs are great at. I consider myself extremely lucky. Not only am I volunteering for a great cause, but I get to do it with a group of kids who are, for the most part, experiencing Roleplaying for the first time ever. But I have to confess that I initially signed up just so that I'd have a regular game to go to.

So far we've had one session, where we attempted character creation. Is it just me or are the 5th Edition rules for Character Creation a bloody mess? There is nothing linear about that process and as a result it takes a lot longer than it should. In two hours we didn't get to Backgrounds, Equipment or Spells. They didn't even get a chance to name their characters.

So far we have:
- Dragonborn Paladin
- Half-Elven Paladin
- Half-Orc Barbarian
- Human Thief
- Halfling Bard
- Dragonborn Barbarian (the player wanted a 'Suli', which was a race I hadn't heard of. I've since found it and will allow it if he still wants it, though I'm putting him down as a 'tiefling/changeling'' for the game.)

No magic-users and no cleric. Nevertheless, the Fighter can heal himself, and the Paladins can lay on hands, and I'm stacking the first tavern with an apprentice alchemist for potions. The lack of a mage is gonna hurt them down the line tho, and they'll appreciate Clerics a lot more the first time I throw undead at them. Maybe the second volunteer will pick up the slack (right now we have the actual volunteer coordinator sitting in, but not playing).

One of the things I had to agree to when I took the job was that the play-realm could not have gods of any kind. There are a lot of good reasons for things, but I'm not discussing them here. Either way, after a bit of consideration, I'm going with a Law vs Chaos scenario, with mythic heroes, Lovecraftian cosmic monsters, ancient A.I.s, and powerful extra-planar beings from different dimensions/planes, but no actual deities of any kind. Paladins serve Law, as do Clerics when they aren't being other things. Crusaders of Chaos and Cultists devote themselves to the other side of that great coin.

I'm not setting the game in any set specific world, just yet anyway. So far I have a generic Sanctuary/ Lankmar/ City State of the Invincible Overlord-esque city called Carathon for them to explore; ancient, sprawling and situated along the banks of a large river. That city in turn, is ruled by three factions. First, there is the Imperial Duke who rules the whole island on behalf of the Elven Empress in  her forests across the sea. Then there is the Citadel, which represents the City Council and its Guilds. And finally, by the Courts of Law, which look down over the rest of city from the low, looming mountain known as Judgement Hill.

The Player Characters' journey begins in ancient tavern called 'Storm Crow' (named after a bar in Vancouver whose menus I stole to make my DM screen). A chance empty table will provide the necessary beginnings to bring them all together. Depending on what happens next, they can take Coaltooth the Barkeep's offer of a job cleaning out an old cellar in exchange for a free meal and a bed (the booze is not included). They can talk to the apprentice Warlock who is out looking for his Master's amulet. They can be hired by a local thief into taking a job going threw the sewers to break into a rich merchant's house, or they be visited by the ghost of a dead matchstick girl who gives them each a cursed penny that will haunt them unless they find out what happened to her baby brother.

Either way, I'm starting them off with a quick dungeon crawl to show them how the rules work, and that's all I'm putting together now.

What comes after that? I have no idea, but I figure they have four basic options: They can continue to explore the city. They can continue to explore the ruins under the city. They can leave the city and explore the surrounding territory by land. Or finally, they can board a ship at the docks and see the world that way. It was a deliberate choice on my part to keep it opened ended. Wherever the kids end up, they will get there because of the decisions they make together, not because I shove them there for the sake of my story. I first ran across this GMing concept/method not so long ago through a podcast (no idea which one) and it was honestly a revelation. I've never run a game like that before. In the past I've had to ad-lib or modify my plots a lot, but I always essentially railroaded my players into a plot, or a situation and even a resolution that I had planned out weeks in advance. But RPGs aren't novels, or even movies. They are an evolving thing with a live story made by people making decisions, not because some storyteller wants the plot to make narrative sense. Life doesn't make one lick of narrative sense, why should your game? And besides these are teenagers, I don't think I'm going to have too hard of a time getting their PCs into trouble.

In the time between games, I'll figure out what the NPCs and Big Bad were up to behind the scenes and ready a few possible encounters. Then there is nothing to do but find out what happens next.