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Whether you’re runningDungeons & Dragonsfor your kids or as an after-school activity for students, a point may come where you realize the games you’ve run previously may not line up with the style and content required in a game for children. Though we’ve all been kids — perhaps even children who liked Dungeons & Dragons!
Sometimes gauging what works in children’s games versus the ones you run with your friends can be a formidable task. But you should undertake it because tabletop is a fantastic way for kids to embrace creativity and problem-solving. Here are a couple of tips to help you run that game.
Examine Content
While you may not need to have safety tools or long, in-depth conversations about ethics, you may find it beneficial to go ahead andremove any content that doesn’t meet a PG rating.Violence is okay as long as it isn’t overly explicit, but it may be best tonix inappropriate content.
For instance, detailed descriptions of death or injury should be toned down, and themes beyond the passive mention of romance (i.e. “These two characters are married/in love”) should be nonexistent.
In the case of a homebrew campaign, this is all going to be up to you, butbe sure to read through any modules thoroughlybefore playing them, regulating what content you show.
This doesn’t mean you should necessarily ‘dumb down’ plot lines for children— after all, kids are more than capable of understanding politics, storylines, and character dynamics. In fact, they’re going to be very interested in it.
Some of the best children’s media deal with subjects like death or tragedy. However, the creators of that media have had months to deftly navigate and write those subjects, and you don’t have that time. You don’t have to be Lemony Snicket. They already have him!Your only job is to verify they’re having fun.
When running a game in a school setting, there will be rules you’ll have to follow.Make sure you check with a teacher or administrative figure to avoid any potential issues and get permission slips if need be.
Make Character Sheets Simpler
Character sheets are the hardest part of Dungeons & Dragons. While it’s a blast to fill out the little modifier squares or write down ideals and bonds, the truth of the matter is that for new players,character sheets can seem ridiculously complex.And it isn’t like you can exactly skip it, either.
The Case For Pre-Gen
This is why pre-generated character sheets are extraordinarily useful for running kid-friendly games. Now, this largely depends on your table, butpre-gen stops you from devoting a whole session to character creation.It also makes everything easier!
You can sit with your players andask them what sorts of characters they want to play.Do they want to lob fire at enemies? Do they want to be poets who sling spells, or people who draw power from their anger? Do they want to attack from the shadows, or carry a massive axe?
Pre-gen allows them totell you the tropes they want to play, fulfilling that creative urge while you get the mechanics out of the way.
Pre-gen isfast, simple to understand, and can allow them to play multiple characters throughout a campaign, letting them try on different personas until they find one they like. It’s flexible!
The Case For Character Creation
However, you may find it fun to sit with your players and go through developing the character sheets together.It may also allow you to go over their character’s backstories as a group, which could get some of the awkwardness of playing a roleplaying game out of the way.
Kids can sometimes be chronically humiliated by one another, so doing everything as a group can ease that tension.
The benefit to character creation is that it helps them understand their character’s abilities early, rather than on the go. It also allows them toengage with their imaginationsandcan make them feel like they have an impact on the story.
In a child’s day to day, they affect very little. In most cases, they can’t control their school schedule, what they eat for lunch, what they read for class, or who they see every day. They have incredibly complex inner worlds and no agency at all. Allowing them tohave a little bit of control could be a lot of fun for your players.
Set Table Rules
Table rules are important for any game, but they’re especially important in games for the little ones. Yes, children have very little agency. Yes, that is also because they have the confidence of an Olympian, and to let them run around unchecked would be the death of your game.
They want to have fun, and the way they can have fun is if everyone gets along and follows some ground rules.Some good rules to consider might be:
A good way to ensure these are followed might be toput up a sign at the head of the table,so they can reference them at any time.
Be Tolerant
As overwhelming as it might get, remember that these are still kids! They’ll have questions about things you’ve already said, or have trouble with something on their character sheet that may seem obvious to you.It will take a ton of patience on your end, especially while introducing the game to players who may not have played before.
While running a kid-friendly campaign, remember the ‘friendly’ part, even if they keep breaking the rules.You are well within your rights to stop the gameuntil they act right, too! Be firm with your rules, but be tolerant of questions or concerns.
Start The Campaign Small
A two-session campaignor aone-shot wouldbe great forintroducing yourself to a kid-friendly campaign.It’s not a huge time commitment, and it will draw them in and test-run them through the basics.
Lots of campaigns geared towards younger audienceswill work best if they’re a bit more loose with narrative.This way, you may try many different things to see what lands with the players.
Examine your player’s behavior during this time!You may find yourself with a goofier table, or you may find yourself with a bunch of children who have been fundamentally changed by reading Branden Sanderson.You’ll want toalter your DMing to the players you have, especially DMing for children.
They may connect with the characters they’ve chosen, or they may not,butkeeping the campaign concise will let you better assess the groupandthe work you’re doing.
If they seem excited about continuing,then continue!You canbuild your longer campaign from a series of short ones, but you’ll always be glad you did the short ones first.
Employ Familiar Media
Some of the best advice a writer can receive is to keep reading if they want their writing to improve. The same goes for creating a campaign. If you want to run a campaign for kids,engage with the media they’re consuming.
This could look like books, movies, shows, or music, but the point is thatchildren’s mediacan show you largelywhat is appropriate or how to craft the worldthe players will be playing in.
You may want to ask them what they like and what their favorite is. This will do more for you than guessing, andcan at least guaranteethat you havesome common ground.This can alsohelp you help themcreate little details in their characters!
You don’t have to read the whole thing or watch every episode, but even a glance at a Wikipedia page will help you better engage your players in the story you want to tell. Help raise the next generation of tabletop players by meeting them at their level, andcreate an environment they feel they can explore.
