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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 9891165" data-attributes="member: 6988941">I've run summer camp games for the age group, and will hopefully be running a game shop campaign for a similar age group starting later this month. My thoughts, in no particular order:I'd say the key thing to anticipate is that a "do whatever you like" game hits different for people who don't get to make major decisions in their own lives. On this front my most actionable and universal piece of advice for the age group is to prep a pet shop, because some of them, possibly all of them, will really want pets. While most of the unfulfilled things they want in real life don't readily translate to D&D, a menagerie of exotic pets 100% does. Obvioulsly the pets can never die.The other side of the "do whatever you like" aspect is that you will likely get some murder-hobo behavior, because a kid whose mom tells him what clothes to wear in real life has suddenly been entrusted with freedom to do whatever he wants, the capacity to do violence (in a game whose rules mostly adjudicate how to do violence), and the instruction to have fun. I think the best thing you can do for this is create a world full of consequences. If the first person they try to rob turns out to be a retired level 5 adventurer, they will not be so quick to murder hobo their way through things. Other times it may be best to just lean into the chaos, if everyone is having fun. Build off of whatever they are doing.Making sure spotlight is being shared can be a key problem with younger players, as the players are less likely than adults to monitor if they are monopolizing the table's time, or to speak up for themselves if they are being ignored. So remind them all about sharing spotlight and take a firm hand on it.While I don't generally believe in punishing out of game behavior with in game consequences, this is an age group where, for the right kid, it may make sense and be highly effective occasionally (it could also be a horrible mistake with the wrong kid). If you feel like you have a good handle on the personality of a troublemaker at your table and think it might be effective, don't rule out in game punishment as readily as you would with adults.Kids, particularly in this age group, generally have a far lower need for rules in their imagination games than adults in order to have fun. A level of rule of cool which would long term undermine the game being enjoyable for the average adult player probably won't bother an 11 year old.Scheduling will hit a bit different than with adults, because the kids don't actually control their own schedules, and their parents might be viewing the sessions as a babysitting arrangement. So aiming for sort of a Westmarches light structure might be good, at least until you establish that they are all actually going to consistently show up (but even after they do for a while, remember that you might not be warned of an upcoming family vacation).I ran one kids campaign off a fantasy map one of the kids had drawn. He felt super cool about it, and it set a tone of collaborative creation which I think kids thrive in but are unlikely to get in the mindset for if you are presenting published materials to them.If the dice fall wrong and you accidently kill a player's character, congratulate them on passing that milestone as a D&D player.</blockquote>

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