How To Start Roleplaying and Larping With Your Kids

Written by Kyle in LARP

Long before the era of video games and iDevices, you and I were most likely outdoors, playing make-believe or bothering our siblings.

The possibilities were endless thanks to our childish imagination. Kids of this day and age have the same kind of imagination and the need to stimulate it.

When introducing children to live-action roleplaying, create a game with an easy ruleset, mild combat, and a short story. Starting in your backyard and expanding the adventure from there is a good start. Keep things flexible and provide guidance without dictating their experience.

Larping is basically the grown-up and structured version of the same games we were playing as kids. If your kid seems to enjoy the same kind of make-believe games, I’m sure he or she will get a kick out of larping – just like you.

Who doesn’t love to dress up for an adventure full of magical creatures, challenges, slow-motion fighting, and pizza breaks? I’m guessing no one.

Kid-Friendly Larps Are a Good Start

Kids in their teens can handle adult themes better than youngsters, It is normally suggested you avoid LARPs that will scare the kid and spoil the experience.

There are a few alternative ways to go when picking a suitable first experience for kids who want to LARP.

  • Start small by creating a very basic kid-friendly LARP and hosting it in your backyard for your kids and their friends.
  • Contact the organizers who host the events you frequent and ask them if you can bring your child to the event. It’s of great importance that you reassure them that you’ll be on surveillance 24/7. Another thing to keep in mind is how appropriate the event is for kids. If you’ve done your research and you think your kid can handle it. Go ahead.
  • Find a published LARP for kids.

I’ll go through the options one by one down below.

Published Live-action Roleplaying Games for Children

There are many published alternatives that can be massively simplified to make them more suitable for kids, although, I do recommend Adventure Quest, a family-friendly LARP.

Adventure Quest: The Live-Action Roleplaying Game

Adventure Quest is a perfect pick for parents who want to introduce their kids to LARP. It’s probably the most kid-friendly LARP around.

It has been around since 1995 and provides a very simple yet exciting way for kids to start roleplaying. As a bonus, the rulebook is full of beautiful artwork for you and your kids to enjoy. Here’s a little description.


Be the hero of a mythic quest! Simple and scalable rules, nearly unlimited character options, and fast-paced play make Adventure Quest excellent for roleplaying hobbyists, experiential learning, and youth programs. This book has all the standard powers, paths, gear, and rules for an exciting adventure.

https://www.renaissanceadventures.com/

Other LARPs that are easy to learn and teach, in no specific order:

Bring Your Kid To a Larp

There are a couple of live-action events that allow both adults and children to participate, either under the stipulation that they are in their parent’s range of sight or, if the event is heavy on combat, that they are protected from harm.

Men of all ages, this goes for you too. Because kids tend to be shorter than us, the risk of them accidentally swinging a successful boffer groin-hit increases drastically.

At the age of 7-9, the kids can use limb-hit rules decently. With a little bit of practice, they will be able to handle a very easy combat system.

Instead of having them whack each other as hard as they can, arrange a round of sword tag where all they need to do is to firmly touch the other player with their weapon to tag him or her.

Make sure you purchase very safe LARP weapons for your kids. With a well-crafted foam sword, most, if not all hits, will be harmless.

It is, however, recommended to stay away from boffer combat when playing with kids under the age of 14.

With that said, there are numerous supporting roles that a kid can handle at a young age, a bunch of other stuff to do in-game that doesn’t include combat, and lastly, LARPs that are entirely free from combat (Non-action LARPs).

I’m saying 14, others might say 12 or 18 – this will differ depending on what event you’re talking about. Some events forbid anyone who’s not an adult from participating, others allow minors as long as they are in their parent’s company, and a few are strictly for kids.

This is why you’ll have to talk to the people who arrange the event. If they are ok with you bringing your kids, try to talk to other parents who have done the same before.

Just to make sure that the game is appropriate for kids. Adult themes like sex, murder, and horror are not very suitable for children – and they appear quite frequently at adult LARPs.

On the other hand, you could bring your kids to a summer camp for LARPers. In the US, you’ll find plenty of LARP summer camps.

I’m not entirely sure about Europe, although I know many European LARPs have small events for kids next to the bigger events.

Here are a couple of LARP summer camps in the US

You Might Also Like: The Beginners Step By Step Guide On How To Start Larping

Creating a Larp For Kids

Kids have a hard time processing too much information, especially when they just want to get started.

It’s imperative that your rules are very basic – they need to be very easy to teach, additionally, keep the rules to a minimum and instead tell them about the system – kids will stretch the rules and can easily lose interest when their imagination is restricted.

Instead, tell them what they have to do to succeed – everything that isn’t THAT thing will be off the table for them.

It comes down to simplifying the game so that they can absorb the information and then execute it. This can be done by

  • Narrating the story as you go. Keeping them informed of the situation, their progress, and their goals.
  • Keep the game very flexible in case something doesn’t go as you planned it to.
  • Providing guidance on the go to keep the game flowing
  • Creating shorter stories that allow the kids to replay the story when they have finished.
  • Creating stationary challenges that are integrated into the story. Kind of like an obstacle course. Completing a challenge advances the story, ending with a battle against the final boss or any other conclusion.
  • Distributing loot and very simple clues after every challenge.
  • Letting part of the group be on your side, as NPCs – teaching them to create an experience for someone else. When the first group is done, make them switch so that the other group can go through the story.
  • Including game modes and special events such as capture the flag, escort missions, etc.
  • Making clear lines between good and bad. It can be quite hard for kids to understand if a character has good or bad intentions if it isn’t obvious to them.

When it comes to resolution, you might replace combat with another mechanic if fighting doesn’t seem suitable.

Instead, you can challenge the kids to throw balls, frisbees, rings, water balloons, etc. Make it simple, make it suitable. You’ll probably have a blast.

Finally, if you’re trying to prepare your kids for a live-action roleplaying game, why not play a session of tabletop roleplaying games with them?

They’ll have a chance to roleplay their own character, take part in a story and cooperate with others to advance the story.

I think dungeons and dragons is a little bit too difficult for kids under the age of 9-10, but there are other systems that are much easier to understand, maneuver and teach

Try these

Mice and Mystics

  • Max 4 players
  • Age 7+
  • About 60-90 minutes of playing time for older players, a little longer for younger players.

This game is an incredible introduction to roleplaying games, I’ve played it with my nephew and his friends (7-9 years old) and they absolutely loved the adventure. We’ve replayed it many times since then.

This is a 4 player-cooperative RPG at the intro level, however, it’s just as amusing with two players. The story is well-written and the gameplay is awesome.

No Thank You, Evil

  • Ages 5+
  • 3-5 Players
  • 30-60 minutes of playing time

No Thank You, Evil is an award-winning RPG for kids and families to enjoy together. The game has few restrictions but many guidelines, allowing children to use their imagination freely. The rules are scalable, making the game adaptable to kids of all ages.

For instance, a 5-6-year-old child may create a simple character with few skills and abilities while a 10-year-old may create a character with so much more to it – and they can still be played in the same game, at the same time.

If you’re looking to introduce your kids to LARP, these roleplaying games for kids are a perfect start.

You can use them as the groundwork for a live-action game later on. In that case, the kids can relate to the story because they remember it from the game.

Kyle

Kyle was introduced to tabletop games at a young age and has loved them ever since. Starting a family hasn't stopped him from visiting his fantasy workshop. On the other hand, it has given him the chance to recruit developing players, also known as his kids.

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