Hello again, Adventure-Raisers!
How’s life this lovely spring (or, insert season your corner of the world is experiencing)? It’s always good to know what is going on out there, so feel free to drop a friendly update. On my side of the planet, Little Green Dragon attended his first game day after gaining the mobility feat… Ya know, since he’s become a bipedal dragon. Well, I can say I know what herding cats feels like now.
My previous posts about bringing your little dragon to the game table was, admittedly, all based on having one that is confined to their chair (Session 1). And while the essence hasn’t changed at all, keeping the little dragon happy between my role playing moments.
Tip #1: Your Place, Always Your Place
It didn’t really help that we were at Daggervan the Rogue’s, a close friend’s, house and part of the day was “testing how baby proof” it was. By that I mean that we arrived, spent two hours rearranging furniture and setting up the baby gate, and still played in his kitchen where NONE of the cabinets were locked shut… Daggervan is an absolute sweetheart who always has the best intentions, but I think his ideas grow a little too big for this sad reality sometimes. So, Tip #1 – if at all possible, play at your house or baby proof your friends place another time another time. Seems like common sense but we all know how scheduling goes (see link above)…
Tip #2: Streamline the Character
Tip #2 – if you know you’ll be multitasking, then make one of the tasks easier on yourself and either play a simpiler, more familiar class or use online tools to track your stats digitally. Luckily, the campaign we were running that day was in PF2e, which honestly if you have the pathbuilder app (https://pathbuilder2e.com/) then tracking your character and status effects requires minimal effort. On top of that, this particular campaign was a drop in/drop out format so there’s no overarching plot to manage. So, basically, as long as I could hear the character interactions and know which direction the party was heading on the map, I was free to move about the kitchen with Little Dragon and keep him out of the unlocked cabinets. Our game master (also Daggervan this time) was happy to take turns herding the dragon while I rolled my attacks.
Tip #3: Digital Dice Cannot be Choked On
That actually brings up another point/tip I wanted to make about playing with a smaller child nearby: Tip #3, if you’re at all worried about choking hazards then traditionally sized dice are terrifying. I like to resolve this by using digital dice, you can even find them on Google (online dice). But if you are one of the folks that just has to roll real dice, that’s easily solved, too. Consider using bigger dice, like these foam sets (Arrowbash Jumbo Dice) or, if the table is expendable, a giant sized set from Etsy (see example here).
Tip #4: Adventurers Rations and Tip#5: The Silent (?) Bard
Anyway, as I said, I was… mobile during that last session, haha. One thing that made the ride a bit bumpy was Little Dragon’s baby talk. Obviously walking laps around the kitchen is quiet, but his color commentary added a level of annoyance to the game. I was about to get around this by providing, Tip # 4, snacks. Snacks. Snacks. ALWAYS have a steady stream of snacks on game day. If snacks for whatever reason really didn’t grab his attention, quieter games like peek-a-boo or silent(-ish) toys like plastic cars did the trick…in that case it was just me saying “vroom vroom!” with gusto. So Tip #5, is to bring quiet baby/toddler entertainment. This allowed me to step away from him once in a while to play, when he had a toy car in one hand and a sippy cup in the other. Otherwise, the toys and games were quiet enough for me to hear what was happening about 5 feet away and I could still interject in the role playing.
Now, please don’t get me wrong, it was not, shall we say, a Nat20 session, haha. Considering the 2 hour delay to baby proof the house and then playing in a room with almost no baby proofing, I’d call it closer to a 14… There were frustrating moments where I had to ask the group to wait for me or take turns with Little Dragon. But, hey, this was my first time at the rodeo so I’m sure this will all be fine-tuned. And I’ll let you all know what I find as soon as I can, I promise! Remember, you’re not on this journey alone 🙂
PS: I am so sorry to say that this wonderful streak of me actually posting on a regular schedule is coming to an end next week. Orin, Little Green Dragon, and I are going to be in wedding all weekend!!! OH, I just can’t wait to see Little Dragon as a ringbearer… he’s going to be every bit as amazing as Frodo. BUT, fear not, I’ll be back to posting on May 17th 🙂 and saty tuned for more bad memes in the meantime! Have a great couple of weeks!
