Now, my group doesn’t typically play foraging and survival campaigns. However, I will say that I doubt we need to run one anymore. Ever since Little Green Dragon joined the table, we’ve had to step up our strategy in this department.

I mentioned in Session 1: Scheduling, that one of the keys to having your little table topper join you for a campaign is keeping their tummies happy. “Can’t run an army on an empty stomach” (my Dad), after all. Your inventory should reflect that. That said… your inventory in the campaign and your inventory in real life do compete for your attention, and it can make relaxing into your hobby hard. Not to mention theater of the mind. But obviously you want to be relaxed at the table, both for your own sake and for your little dragons’ (no one will want to take up a hobby that stresses their mom and dad out). But don’t worry, I’ve got a scroll of ideas for you!

Drinks!
Ok, so as the usual host for my group’s campaigns, I am accustomed to purchasing AdUlT bEvErAgES for game day. Heck, I even have a little brewing operation in my kitchen for making my own beer. Obviously the little dragon can’t have any of that, but I bring it up because if you’re already in the habit of packing or buying drinks for game day than prepping bottles for your little isn’t a big deal.

If you or your partner are breastfeeding directly then don’t sweat it and just build some breaks into the session’s schedule, same as you would if you’re at the office. Or, just build a character that wears a big poncho and say your breastfeeding shawl is part of the cosplay! Basically, barring stripping in front of your D&D group (which I mean… I guess you could, but your group needs to be FULLY on the chaotic side of the alignment chart, imo) you should be fine. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if your group doesn’t understand the situation, I’m sorry to be harsh honey, but you need to find a new group.

In other drinkable news, there are bottles and sippy cups. Little Green Dragon just turned 1, so this is definitely the realm we’re in. I personally don’t trust him with sippy cups at the game table yet, just because he likes to… bathe in whatever contents he has in the sippy cup, rather than just drink it. BUT we are making progress on that front and using bottles on gameday in the meantime. It is far simpler to run upstairs and mix some formula up for me, personally. If you’re packing to go, then a trick I learned that has saved us the worry of refrigerating bottles and stocking ice packs is to simply fill your bottles with water and wait to add the powder until you need it. Magic your potions on the road, not back in the village!

Finally, and I know this is an obvious one, you need to keep your drinks and the party’s drinks away from the littles. It can be tough when the baby is at the grabby age AND the table is fully of 6-7 people’s minis, dice, screens, swagger, dice jails, spell cards, spell counters, tablets, pencils… and drinks. Don’t panic, I know that’s a lot of choking hazards. Usually what works for us is as simple pushing the highchair back away from the table, or playing near a shelving unit so that the majority of the game’s equipment can be stored behind us out of reach with LGD on my lap. Finally, pack your drinks in cups that have lids.

Snacks!
Ok, you know best what you want your baby to eat or not to eat. I, for example, am still trying to avoid sugar and cover a lot of fruits and veggies and whatnot. So, first rule here is to never feel like you need to compromise your baby’s nutrition for game day (it works both ways if you want to share your Derito’s with them too, let’s be honest). No one, even me, gets to force you one way or another. See what I wrote above about breastfeeding and breaks, etc, because we are gaming parents and the group needs to appreciate both those monikers.

Second rule, and this is where the advice you can choose to ignore starts, is: stick to dry, containable snacks on game day. The wettest thing I feed LGD on gameday is a banana. And that is strictly for ease of cleanup later since we play over a Pergo floor and rug in our basement. So he gets a lot of teething wafers right now, a lot of fruit, peanuts (not peanut butter) and some homemade bread snackers. it has the side benefit of being a snack that you’d have to literally spoon feed; I obviously watch him closely with the peanuts, but I can have one hand extended to him and one hand rolling my dice this way. When he has soups or yogurts it’s a little more involved for me, haha.

Third rule, and I learned this the hard way, is to keep your snacks varied and flavorful. If your little dragon gets bored with his cheese cubes (doubt it) then he’ll vie for more of your attention that you may want to split away from the combat you’re running.

Fourth rule, is to HIDE THE LOOT. If your little dragon is anything like mine, he will forage and he will succeed; or a true Nat 1 would be he will see the jar of snacks and scream until they are delivered to his throne on a silicon suction-bottomed platter. So I recommend a hidey hole or a bag of holding, as it were. Get creative.

Now this is NOT me saying that if you pack enough food, you should just let your dragon stuff themselves for 6 hours while you play a game. No, obviously not. This is meant only as a guide. Also, my son can handle peanuts and things like that right now, but if you’re not comfortable with that or your baby isn’t at the right age for it then COMMON SENSE IS KING. Use my words as a springboard for your own thoughts and plans, which should be tailored to you and your situation.

clean Up
So we already really touched on most of what I wanted to cover here, main point being that drier snacks and bottles over sippy cups tend to make clean up a lot easier. It’s been a Nat 20 for me. I even bring along his changing wipes and will use one to just do a once-over of the table and the floor, then if we are playing at my own house I’ll grab the broom for a 2-second job. And it is at that point that I realize, of the 7 people who crammed around that table, LGD actually left the smallest mess! Most of the time.

That’s all for me this week guys, and I hope this post really helps some of you! Please, feel free to comment below with some of your tips and tricks – multiple heads are better than one! I think next week I want to cover a deeper topic, and that is what social skills I hope my son gets out of table tops.

PS Featured Internet gram this week is a beautiful discussion about the DM’s favorite snacks, in case you weren’t aware of this Brennon