It's not very common for children to go adventuring in the way you'd expect of adults, but anyone who has been a child generally remembers going on adventures with their friends- exploring the old forest behind the park, walking along beside the train lines, or going all the way to the corner shop together. So what about children inside the game setting?
Obviously, children can't face the same challenges which adult adventurers would, but they might slip by foes unnoticed where adults would face a challenge. Telling the story appropriately here will be an important factor, as having children brutally murder an Orc together probably isn't the story you want to be telling- like the Hobbits play-fighting with Boromir in the Lord of the Rings, tripping him and scarpering is probably much more important to them than crushing his skull with a big rock. Gauging your players' interest in this will be an important step. How you can use Junior Adventurers in your game: - You can use this as a narrative framing device, playing through as local children to sneak into the overgrown ruins and past the Dark Growly room and under the table where the Ogre chops his food, which will let you foreshadow threats to your players while threatening (but generally not using) a real sense of danger for unarmoured and defenceless children. This can make their later attack on the dungeon all the more enjoyable, as the Dark Growly is revealed to be an aggressive Dire Wolf, and the Ogre is armed with an ogre-sized set of kitchen tools, which can make for some enjoyment. - You could also use this as a serious challenge where local children need to rescue their adult adventurer friends or parents, who have been captured or incapacitated somehow. Taking your players' agency by having their characters already defeated by something can be really un-fun, especially if they're resistant or immune to something, but can make for a memorable adventure if they're into it. - Alternately, this could be a flashback (or dream sequence, or something inflicted by a mind-affecting enemy), revealing how some of the characters knew each other. For longer-lived races like Dwarves or Elves, they might already be adults, and could participate in a very different way to human-type children, but getting to play your gruff, tough noble fighter as a snot-nosed brat with a wooden sword, or your bookish mage as an excitable nerdish child could be enjoyable as an almost-one shot game. Learning how your fighter broke their nose, or gained that scar, could really be fun. Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 7 March 2020. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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