The Podge Cast

For all the years I’ve gamed, one of my fondest memories is still from when I was 7 years old. I had been gaming with friends for a couple years, not that we knew there was a formal quantification for what we were doing. There were no dice or character sheets. We simply took turns presenting each other with challenges to overcome. You’re in a tower wanting to leave, but your path is blocked by a giant spider. What do you do? Already obsessed with He-Man and loving these situational challenges, it took nothing more than a glimpse at the 1st edition PHB and a teenage friend of the family asking, “Do you want to give it a try?” for my very first warrior to come into existence. All by my heroic lonesome, I infiltrated a goblin tower in an effort to steal their treasure.

No imaginary exercise has ever been more vivid for me than the brief time I played that character. It planted the seed, and no matter how long it was until the next time I played, I was destined to be a gamer. As gaming has become a more defined industry and companies produce more rules sources with more complex designs, it can be difficult to separate those rules that create an immersive world for adult players from those elements necessary to introduce young children to the game. Below are suggestions on how to present role playing in a fashion accessible to children ages 5-10. (Note that you know these child gamers better than I do and should scale these age ranges as appropriate.)

Young Children (ages 5-7)
Role playing is a safe and valuable exercise for young children to explore social interaction. At this age, plots and NPCs should be straightforward. Good guys are good. Bad guys are bad. Present to them challenges and ask them what they want to do to overcome those challenges. The goal for both the player and the DM should be for the player to win. If the player is making a mistake, explain to them the likely results of their decision and compare it with other decisions available to them and what results those might lead to. Combat is a staple of these types of games. The monster is evil and needs to be slain. If you succeed, you are rewarded. Dice are unnecessary for either social or combat encounters. Present the child with a challenge and ask them how they want to overcome it. Once they make a decision, adjudicate what happens. Wounds, fatigue, and the like can all be described in more abstract terms, “the orc is limping,” “the orc looks weak,” “the orc is almost dead,” etc. Reward them with treasure and levels. Counting is an exercise they understand from school, so advancing in a manner they understand is rewarding. It’s helpful to equate the worth of those levels. Explaining that they can fight stronger monsters or survive more grievous wounds because of this advancement helps.

Gamers at this age have an incredibly vivid imagination. It does not take a lot to paint them a robust picture of the world they are adventuring in, but offering a little can accomplish a lot. Work in archetypes: dungeons are cold and damp, etc. They’ll fill in the rest. Be mindful also of not overdoing it. The more gory elements—skulls, blood, sacrifices, etc.—can have a more potent effect than they might on an adult and are more likely to linger. Children in this age range don’t always separate fantasy from reality as well as older kids and adults. Most importantly, find what is fun for them and pursue it (keep in mind their attention spans). It won’t be hard to tell.

Children (ages 8-10)
I have shared many a table with children in this age range that are capable of handling a full rules system, but I’ve found it’s rare that they need that system to enjoy themselves. Left to their own devices, they’ll normally take the most basic elements of the game they understand the best and abandon all the rest. This type of game can be much like that for Young Children but you can introduce a higher level of complexity. Succeeding in a mission may earn them a continuing enemy or lead to another consequence that they have to overcome. While it’s still great for the player to win, they are at an age where failure doesn’t require quitting. They can learn from their mistakes or try again. They may even be able to understand that a challenge is too much for them (although since few adults are capable of this, there’s no reason to expect this of children :)).

One way to add complexity is to add a d20 to the mix. Now, when the player tells you what they want to do to overcome your challenges, have them roll a die and add their level and see if they succeed. Easy challenges have a target number of 10, moderate challenges 15, hard challenges 20, and so on. Adjust as circumstances warrant.

You can also make treasure a more defined element of the game. Rather than wielding a magic sword, perhaps that sword helps them hit better. They get to add +2 to their die roles. It may not be a +2 bane, holy, vorpal longsword, but watch the pride your player has in his magic sword and tell me it’s not the same. Don’t feel constrained by the rules you’re used to playing with. Little trinkets and major relics all have something in common, they’re unique and they belong to the player.