One of my five year old boys wanted to GM for the first time and, given the recent discussion about gaming with kids, I wanted to share a session report of the game he ran. We took existing characters they had created for a game I was going to run for them. We used a fairly loose Dungeon World … Probably more like World of Dungeons.
Trick (me) and Shooter (my other 5 year old boy), an arcane trickster and a sharpshooting thief respectively, are in a metal city in the middle of a lightning storm. Birds made of lightning soar in the skies overhead.
Trick suggests this unusual storm is magical and that a wizard must be behind it. The two approach the palace where the queen has been possessed by a wizard. She is sitting on the shoulders of her king. The king tells the two heroes that the wizard lives at a nearby castle and is defended by knights in impervious armor. But the king teaches a secret spell to make Trick and Shooter’s weapons strong enough to defeat the knights. (Specifically “sixty hundred times stronger.”)
Before the heroes leave, Shooter goes to the bathroom and forgets to pull up his pants. They march to the wizard’s castle, pants still around his feet.
When they arrive they are immediately surrounded by six Knights. Trick uses his magic sword and slays one knight, but it turns out his sword throws out cluster bombs when it strikes! One bomb rolls over under Shooter. Shooter looks down, pulls up his pants and … You’ll have to tune in next session!
Sounds like fun. My ten year old actually just ran a two session adventure for me. I played an Antarctic explorer discovering frozen human-animal chimeras in a temple inside an iceberg.
Will Patterson​ I’m curious about how he approached the GM role. Did he railroad you in the direction he wanted or did it unfold itself as you played? Did you notice him copy your GM-ing? Did you give him any guidance or framework to follow?
Sounds like fun. My ten year old actually just ran a two session adventure for me. I played an Antarctic explorer discovering frozen human-animal chimeras in a temple inside an iceberg.
Will Patterson​ I’m curious about how he approached the GM role. Did he railroad you in the direction he wanted or did it unfold itself as you played? Did you notice him copy your GM-ing? Did you give him any guidance or framework to follow?
Tor Droplets He couldn’t really railroad. We often play for short bursts in odd places, so I just improvise everything. We were on a walk and I suggested we play with their new characters. He said he wanted to “tell the story this time.” He had no time to prep.
I said great … First you need to tell us where we are (metal city in lightning storm). What are we doing? (Hiding under a metal sheet). What’s our goal? (Stop the storm). I did a spout lore to figure out what could cause the storm (evil wizard).
Then he suggested the queen would know where the wizard was and we were off to the races. When he started combat I said … Ok what are they doing that is dangerous to us? (the Knights raise their swords and close in). Then I said … Say after me “What do you do?”
So I was very much handholding … But he was starting to get it. We only played for about 10 minutes before the walk ended.
It’s hard to describe.
Tor Droplets He couldn’t really railroad. We often play for short bursts in odd places, so I just improvise everything. We were on a walk and I suggested we play with their new characters. He said he wanted to “tell the story this time.” He had no time to prep.
I said great … First you need to tell us where we are (metal city in lightning storm). What are we doing? (Hiding under a metal sheet). What’s our goal? (Stop the storm). I did a spout lore to figure out what could cause the storm (evil wizard).
Then he suggested the queen would know where the wizard was and we were off to the races. When he started combat I said … Ok what are they doing that is dangerous to us? (the Knights raise their swords and close in). Then I said … Say after me “What do you do?”
So I was very much handholding … But he was starting to get it. We only played for about 10 minutes before the walk ended.
It’s hard to describe.
Thanks for the detail.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of a GM-ing framework for kids. Maybe something like the MC rules in Apocalypse World, but simplified and maybe structured more like being a player. It could help shy and unsure GMs come out and keep the railroady GMs (mine) in check.
Thanks for the detail.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of a GM-ing framework for kids. Maybe something like the MC rules in Apocalypse World, but simplified and maybe structured more like being a player. It could help shy and unsure GMs come out and keep the railroady GMs (mine) in check.
I’d be more than happy to help with that effort. I think its a great idea. I wonder if there are any systems specifically built for kids to be the GMs.
I’d be more than happy to help with that effort. I think its a great idea. I wonder if there are any systems specifically built for kids to be the GMs.
Tor Droplets My boys each just ran a short session and I started out by explaining that their jobs are to 1) describe where the characters are, 2) tell us what is dangerous nearby, and 3) ask what we do about it. They really got it. Might work as a base framework for the project you described above.
Tor Droplets My boys each just ran a short session and I started out by explaining that their jobs are to 1) describe where the characters are, 2) tell us what is dangerous nearby, and 3) ask what we do about it. They really got it. Might work as a base framework for the project you described above.