Escapist > Projects > Young Person's Adventure League

An Escapist project of introducing young people
to the exciting world of adventure games

Site Guide

Factually Answered Queries - questions and answers

The Adventurer's Atlas - a list of suggested games for young people

The Navigator's Notebook - play reports and reviews of adventure games

The Tinkerer's Toolbox - tips, tricks, and helpful hints

Other Resources :
- Kids-RPG Group
- kidsrpg.org
- Dragonkin podcast
- Firefly Games
- RPGs for Kids
- Youth for Creative Adventure Storytelling

RSS Feed

 


reetings to you, eager adventurers, explorers, investigators, inventors, and pioneers, all! Welcome to the official site of the Young Person's Adventure League!

This internet page device is devoted to the subject of playing tabletop role-playing games with young people. Tabletop, or pen-and-paper RPGs, are the kind played with dice and books, not the type that require a computer or game console. It's the old-fashioned way of getting into a grand adventure, and many of us older folks feel that it's still the best way.



On this page, you will find information for kids, tweens, teens, parents, and guardians about:

The best games to play with young people - the Adventurer's Atlas
Play reports and reviews of published role-playing games - the Navigator's Notebook
Tips on keeping the adventures fast, engaging, challenging, and fun - the Tinkerer's Toolbox
A few beginner adventures to get you started (Coming soon!)

 

UPDATE - 9 October, 2008A.D.:
Game designer F. Douglas Wall is looking for people to playtest his upcoming RPG based on L. Frank Baum's Oz. Since this is a roleplaying game that would be of particular interest to many young people, I have agreed to help him find suitable playtesters. If you would like to participate, you can contact him at konradthebarbarian /at/ yahoo /dot/ com.

 

UPDATE - 2 July, 2008A.D.:
It is with great pleasure that I announce the success of all of the adventures that were set upon at the 2008 Origins Ludic Amusement Convocation! A fine group of adventurepersons volunteered for each, all of them ready to strike out into unknown (and occasionally very silly) territory.

I will eventually have reports on all of the adventures on the Origins 2008 Adventure Report page, so please keep checking back. I also plan to have all of the adventures, complete with characters, in a PDF, ready-to-run format, so that you can download them and enjoy some adventure at home! Watch this space for the status of both of these.

Already, I am plotting new courses for adventure in 2009! I have a few ideas for future adventures, including - and I may live to regret this - a LARP, or Live Action RolePlaying game. If you have any suggestions of things that you would like to see at the next Young Person's Adventure League program, please feel free to contact me at !

If you enjoyed the events at Origins, or would like to let the good people at Origins know how much you appreciate role-playing programs for young people, please consider contacting them to let them know how you feel. You may contact Trey Reilly via electronic post at programs@gama.org. Be sure to mention my (real) name (W.J. Walton) and The Escapist/Young Person's Adventure League when you do so!

 

UPDATE - 20 May, 2008A.D.:
Your friend and Adventure League chairman, Dr. Awkward, will be hosting a series of excursions at the Origins Ludic Amusement Convocation in Columbus, Ohio during the last week of June.

Or, in layman's terms - I will be hosting a series of adventure games for young people at the Origins Game Fair this summer. If you are planning to attend, please look for me!

For more information on the games I'll be hosting, visit the Origins 2008 Excursion Agenda page.

The events can fill quickly, so please register as early as possible - and if you don't get a chance to play in the game that you wanted to, stop by just to say "Hello" - I may even be able to arrange some off-the cuff adventures while I'm there.

See you in Ohio!

 

UPDATE - 13 July, 2007A.D.:
The RPGs for Kids events that I organized for the Origins Game Fair were a resounding success! Both events sold out completely, and all attendants were sturdy, stalwart folk, ready for adventure. A grand time was had by all!

For the curious who were unable to attend - I ran one adventure each of TOON and Faery's Tale. Both games were attended by young people and seasoned adventurers (moms and dads) alike. To see a full report on the adventures, click here.

Due to the success of these expeditions, I feel the only proper course of action would be to organize even more of them next year at Origins 2008, in order to give more young people the opportunity to participate. I am plotting more courses even now for expeditions to Meddling Kids, The Zantabulous Zorceror of Zo, The Prince's Kingdom, and TOON and Faery's Tale, of course!

If you happen to be one of the players who participated, I thank you for making my events something special, and I hope to see you next summer!

 

UPDATE - 30 May, 2007A.D.:
John H. Kim, captain of the excellent RPGs for Kids page, has recently posted a report, complete with photographs, of a recent adventure he helmed for a young lady (and several of her friends) at her 11th birthday party. Visit Capt. Kim's on-line paperless journal to find out more!

Other Fine Resources

Be sure to visit these other fine internet resources on young people and gaming:

 The Kids-RPG Yahoo group is a long-running online discussion group devoted to kids and RPGs. To read or post to the group, you must have a Yahoo account, which is free of charge.

 Dragonkin is a kids-and-RPGs podcast hosted by Sam Chupp, founder of the Kids-RPG Yahoo group and author of numerous role-playing games and supplements, including Changeling: The Dreaming. Give a listen to Sam as he talks about gaming with kids, conducts interviews with young gamers, and more!

Dice 'n' Diapers features articles, editorials, reviews, and a forum, all on the topic of being a gamer parent - "Because gamers do breed..."

Firefly Games is a game publishing company based in northern California that designs and publishes quality child- and family-friendly games - such as Monster Island and Faery's Tale - for all ages. Their site also contains a forum where you can often find great discussions on gaming with young people.

RPGs for Kids - a list compiled by Sophie Lagacé. Her list includes tabletop wargames such as Fuzzy Heroes, as well as many of the same games found here in the Adventurer's Atlas page, plus a few others not found here.

 Youth for Creative Adventure Storytelling is an organization that develops roleplaying programs for kids during summer breaks and in afterschool sessions during the school year, to help them use the knowledge they have gained in school and exercise their problem solving and teamwork skills.

 

Remember to check back here regularly to this new-fangled internet-scape page site for future updates, articles, reviews, and adventures. Good luck, fare well, and keep your dice dry!

 

   
Dr. Otto Awkward
Commander-in-Chief, Young Person's Adventure League

   
Anna, the Time Traveling Palindromedary
Camel-in-Chief, Young Camel's Adventure League

 

Young Person's Adventure League - Main - FAQ - Atlas - Notebook - Toolbox