Teen Adventurers

About a year ago, in the Mighty Gluestick's Discord server, the subject of playing underaged characters in D&D came up. In my experience, it is not an especially unusual thing, so I was surprised when a large majority of posters there came out emphatically against it. Mostly, they were uncomfortable with the idea of portraying violence against children in their games. One poster in particular said he did not want to see a child get torn apart by undead.

As opposed to seeing an adult get torn apart by undead, which I guess everyone is cool with.

Anyway, I posted a long (by Discord standards) spiel about how I was not only okay with underaged PC's but actively liked the idea. It occurs to me that this is a post that could potentially actually change how someone out there plays D&D, so I decided to repost it here where it is findable, rather than leave it to languish in the ungooglable archives of a Discord server:

Part of the point of D&D, to me, is emulating fantasy fiction. In this genre, young and inexperienced protagonists are the rule, not the exception. Conan the Cimmerian; Eragon; Harry Potter; Lessa from Dragonriders of Pern; the Pevensie children from The Chronicle of Narnia; and Arya Stark, Danerys Targaryen, and Jon Snow from A Song of Ice and Fire are just the first few examples off the top of my head of fantasy heroes who begin their first adventures before age 18.

What's more, I would think that younger people are more likely to go out adventuring than older ones, realistically. Teenagers aren't yet tied down to careers, spouses, and children of their own. They have the freedom to leave home and throw themselves into danger- and lack the wisdom to know that they probably shouldn't! 

I also feel that D&D (and its near derivatives) is uniquely suited to playing out coming-of-age stories. Even when PC's aren't literal teenagers, they often feel like they are. I've never seen a PC begin a campaign with a spouse or kids; oftentimes they don't have a job yet, until they begin the first adventure. If your character is level 1, that implies they lack experience (they literally have 0 experience! The game measures that!). As you play, the character learns about the world they inhabit, meets and forms relationships with new people, earns a reputation, and begins to advance their skills and abilities (by leveling up.) That's what being a teen and growing up is all about!

Lest anyone accuse me of not practicing what I preach, Corwin the Zhent is 14 years old.

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