Nursery Time

Today we're talking about child characters. Before I say anything else, I just want to say this.

I know.

I get it. There hasn't been a child character in a pen and paper game that's not been a rampant force of party destruction and source of endless bickering. Most people would say insisting on a child concept borders on deliberate trolling, and I have to admit this post was damn near another episode of TPK. It's not, though. I decided to be a little more even-handed and say where and how they might be introduced into a game.

So maybe there's a one percent chance someone reading this doesn't understand where the problem is. The problem is, most people play a wide range of characters with differing morals and personalities, but protectiveness toward children is going to be a fairly common trait. Not caring what happens to a kid makes someone feel scummy, and we know(both IC and OOC) that a lot of bad shit is going to surround our characters. I mean, it's a pen and paper game. It's a given.

I'm seriously trying to stay away from examples in this blog, but this is another topic rife with them, so please bear with me. Let's start with Jackie Chan Adventures. In JCA, Jackie Chan goes on a multitude of dangerous adventures along with his uncle, a former enemy named Tohru, and his niece Jade, who's about ten or so. Every episode Jackie tries to keep Jade safe(mostly by leaving her at home) and every episode she sneaks along and gets caught up in the action. Every episode. There are 95 episodes and this plays out every single god damn episode. Jackie gets a lead on something to do. Jade wants to go too. Jackie tells her no. Jade sneaks along. Jackie notices, then spends the rest of the episode periodically yelling at her for being in danger. In a show this is mostly forgivable if not a little irritating. In a PNP game, though? Nobody wants to spend the time to do this every session, and I can assure you Jade's player is having a whole lot more fun than Jackie's.

But I did say there are times where it's more acceptable. I mean, Otaku are all kids and nobody seems to have a problem with them, right? Circumstance and tone can mean the world to a character's mindset, and so can the kid's ability to take care of themselves. I'd like to say to everyone: Buy into the game's world. Make sure everyone else is too. Shadowrun and World of Darkness are places where life is cheap and a child isn't necessarily a whole lot more safe being tucked away somewhere as opposed to being near the other PCs. A superhero world generally eschews questions of protectiveness since most of the 'kids' are more than capable of defending themselves, far more than a normal person. Nobody is saying that being Robin isn't a shitty life for Damian Wayne. We ARE saying that he spent his short life training to be a master assassin under one of the most brilliant minds in the universe, and if he WASN'T Robin, his life would probably be a lot shittier.

I'll circle back to Batman in a second. I went over tone, but let's talk about Circumstance a bit. In Leon the Professional a professional hitman ends up taking care of a little girl. This is an amazing movie that I absolutely refuse to spoil, but I CAN point out a few things without discussing plot specifics. Over the course of the movie we find that it isn't exactly that Leon is worried about her on the short term: He feels himself capable of protecting her. He's more worried about her on the long term, in that nobody should WANT to be an assassin like he is. There is no truly better life for the girl, either: Her parents are both dead and Leon is too cynical(realist?) to think sending her to an adoption agency would do anything but send the girl into a life of torment being shuffled around the system.

Basically, Leon doesn't think that there's a better life for the girl away from him, and he's right. Batman feels much the same way when he sees Dick Grayson's parents die and notices the kid boiling for revenge. He sees himself in the kid, and worries that if he's left alone and kept 'safe' that he'll turn out like Bruce himself. The same thing happens with Jason Todd and after his untimely death(which we all voted for, good job guys), Batman swears off involving children in his work...only to come face to face with three more kids who don't have a happy ending without him. Tim Drake was brave and savvy enough to confront Batman who was reckless and violent following Jason Todd's death...and Tim's parents were attacked as well, leaving his father crippled and his mother dead. Stephanie Brown's father is a well-known supervillain and she took on the responsibility of 'spoiling' his plans. Finally, Damian Wayne's entire life was spent in assassin ninja training at the right hand of an immortal mastermind. None of these kids really have the opportunity to have a normal life anymore.

So what am I saying? Actually, let's split this into three groups so I can be a little clearer.

To the child players: Guys. Be a kid, but be a smart kid. Be a cool kid who can take care of themselves. You'll be just as powerful as the other PCs, after all...and that makes you a god among children. Kids aren't necessarily dumb, and you acting dumb repeatedly is only going to make the other PCs uncomfortable out of character and feel like they really ought to do something to keep you away from danger. Play a kid with a checkered or broken past, a kid with no happy end outside of the other PCs. Basically? Meet the adults halfway. You can be a kid without being delusional, or intensely stupid, or an annoyingly hyper sugar-filled agent of what-does-this-button-do disaster. Remember that kind of stuff is way, way less fun for the other guys than it is for you.

To the adults: Chill. Like Leon, like Batman, and like a million other guardians. You absolutely can think it's up to you to protect the kid, and you absolutely can feel like the best place for them is near you, and not far away where you won't be if something happens. Keep the tone of the game in mind, because shit can be rough in even epic fantasy worlds. I mean, what would you seriously say to Red Sonja if you found her a week after her village was slaughtered? Offering to drop her off at the first parent willing to take her in is lame (and borderline neglectful). Bend, don't break, to keep from being lame.

To the GM: Make the tone of your game clear. Actually, you should probably be doing this ANYWAY, but if someone wants to play a kid this becomes a touch more important. Treat the subject of the PC being a child with kid gloves(HA!) and try not to make the PCs second guess their decision to take the kid with them. They might be one derisive comment away from thinking they need to dump the kid "where it's safe".

A kid can bring a lot of cool RP and interestingly different situations to a game if you do it right. I've even seen it done right in some situations. Really, everyone just needs to chill a little bit and...ironically...be mature about it.