There are probably a few of you experienced gamers reading this right now that are rolling your eyes and thinking: “Yeah, I’ve played with a few of those.” But I am not talking about that adult child you brought to your table once that tried to disrupt everything that happened. (I have another column coming up in the future to address those children.) This is for those of you who have been brave enough to introduce the RPG hobby to someone under the age of 13 who wants to do so. Whether it is your own children, nephews, nieces, neighbors, or kids in an after-school program, how do you go about introducing them to dice and all the rules? I am going to tell you some of my own experiences in this area, give you some advice, and hope that it assists you with inspiring love for Roleplaying Games in a new generation!
The youngest child I have ever introduced to RPGs was eight years old, but there are plenty of people who have tried with much younger kids. Regardless of what age group you are working with, try to stick with a genre that interests them. If they are familiar with Star Wars and enjoy it then play Star Wars. If they enjoy watching The Hobbit, live action or animated, start them off with D&D. This is just to give them a general context about the game no matter what system you choose to use.
Once you’ve chosen a general setting and a game system, help your young players to create their characters. When I introduced my own kids to gaming they were the ages of 12, 12, and 8. They had all seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I started them with D&D using the 3.5 rules and one of the beginner box sets. I asked each of them what kind of character they would like to be without even showing them the rules. One daughter wanted to be a noble warrior like Eowyn and I suggested she play a human fighter, paladin, or cleric. With a little explanation of the differences in the classes she chose paladin. My other daughter wanted to be an elven archer like Legolas. I suggested that she create an elf fighter or ranger and she chose ranger. Finally, my son wanted to be big and mean with a large axe. For him I suggested a human or half-orc fighter or barbarian. He chose, of course, the half-orc barbarian.
I spent a little time with each individually to roll up their new characters, name, and equip them. I gave them advice on how best to assign rolls for their characteristics depending on what their classes were, but they had the final say. When it came to naming, I let them go with what they wanted. That first group with my kids included Eowyn, Arwen Wolfsbane, and Bonecrusher. Finally, in order to minimize their stress over picking equipment, I gave each of them a standard set of appropriate equipment consisting of armor, primary weapon, secondary weapon, and adventuring gear. For lack of a cleric or mage, I gave each of them a potion of cure light wounds and one scroll of identify. I even found a set of equipment cards in my FLGS and gave them cards to represent everything they each had. If they used rations or torches they just had to discard them to keep track of their inventory. I tried to keep the bookkeeping to a minimum for them so that they could just enjoy. The final part of preparation was having each of them choose a miniature to represent them in the game and we were set to start.
Next, heed these words of advice from Yoda: “Unlearn what you have learned.” To try to game with children you have to begin with a mindset that channels your inner child. Try to remember what you enjoyed at that age and bring that sense of wonder and boundless curiosity to your table. I remember when I started gaming, at the age of twelve, that my friends and I were mostly just interested in kicking down doors, killing monsters, and finding neat treasure. The story was secondary. I vaguely remember the plot of the “Slave Pits of the Undercity” from my first summer playing D&D; you begin captured and have to escape. The politics and larger meta-story were lost on a table of young adolescents. With that in mind, give your young gamers clearly defined objectives to accomplish. Evade the guards, escape the dungeon, capture the thief, protect the king, recover the magic item, etc. That staring adventure for my kids was just to explore the environs presented in the box to find gold and magic items.
During the adventure itself, keep things light and fun and don’t penalize your young players severely if they make a wrong decision or are unable to overcome an obstacle. Instead, tell them that a given choice didn’t work out as well as expected and offer them alternatives that may allow them to try again or to try a new way. My group of young newbies found out early on that not having a thief in the group penalized them in trying to open locks and I probably should have suggested one of them take that class, but it was our first outing. When I realized that a locked chest, which the barbarian failed to break open, was going to be a barrier to them having fun, I changed their next encounter so that one of the goblins had a key around his neck. Once they beat that encounter they found a key and instantly thought to try it in the chest, which it opened, and they got their reward.
Everything was not smooth sailing. Siblings can easily come into conflict and my son, oldest of he and his sister by fifteen minutes, did not like taking directions or suggestions from either of his younger sisters. I had to take GM cap off at that point and be a parent explaining that, like any other game we play as a family, we each needed to take our turn. This effectively let each of them have their own moment to do their own thing in each room they explored. If one of them said he or she was going to search a table then that person was not able to next say that they were searching the chest. I did not let any one of them dominate the rest of the party. The best thing I can say is that they all survived the adventure and completed it successfully.
Fourteen years later, my kids are all adults now and they still, sometimes, get into conflicts with each other. My son is headstrong and, when not working or with his girlfriend, he plays World of Warcraft on the gaming computer he built from scratch and he used to play Star Wars: The Old Republic with me. I’ve tried to get him to try tabletop RPGs again, but he thinks anything not on a computer screen is “too boring” and “old school.” His twin sister is a mother to two dogs and my grandson. When she is not working or spending time with her family, she reads a lot and enjoys watching anime, fantasy, and horror. I think she can take or leave RPGs though her husband used to play D&D in high school. Finally, my youngest daughter is working on her college education and discovering her path in life. She started playing Pathfinder with friends in high school as well as playing World of Warcraft with her brother and Star Wars: The Old Republic with me. She currently plays League of Legends online, Pathfinder with college friends, and has played in my Age of Rebellion campaign on occasion bringing in her flame projector-wielding bounty hunter to cause mayhem.
So they didn’t all end up with a lifelong love and appreciation for RPGs like their Old Man, but that is okay. All of them appreciate gaming to some degree. Each is on their own path through life and I am glad to have had some fun moments with them along the way. We can’t hope for anything more!
Latest posts by Brian Wilson (see all)
- Campaign HQ – Going Out With A Bang…or a Whistling Bird…At Least - April 14, 2020
