[LFP][GMT+1] Dice or diapers?

Bet you are thinking you should have played more TTRPGs when you had the chance, right? Things were so much easier when the goblins were in the game, and not running in their underwear trashing the living room, huh?

But here we are. Schedule is a challenge in the best of times. Now with kids and responsibilities, well, free time is a rare treasure. Hoping to play a full D&D campaign? Easier to climb Kilimanjaro.

So here is what I propose: let’s jump straight into the action. Let’s play Blades in the Dark. No level of experience needed, just that you be an adult with kids and wanting to join a game. And some patience with me as I’ve never played, much less DMd, Blades (I have more experience in D&D, but I’ll learn) Games would be in the evening after 9pm GMT+1, and run for a couple of hours, probably no later than midnight, because the wicked goblins won’t let you sleep in late, will they?

If you’re a parent and are interested reply here, or send me a DM, or in Discord at Neulen#5998, or nail a dead rat to my door with a cryptic message, and let’s roll some dice before we get interrupted and have to bring someone a glass of milk or something

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Good luck! I came to tabletop role-playing after my kids were born, though the youngest was four by then. I’ll share my experience in case it is of interest.

Pretty much everybody in the games I GM are parents, mostly younger kids under 10 but a teenager too. Those with younger kids are pretty much in the same boat but parents of older kids remember how it was, so everyone tends to be very understanding about attempting to start at a certain time but bedtime is an aim and not always a perfect plan. there is also a bit more understanding when people are exhausted and and you may have to to reschedule or do something lightweight one evening.

When I started a game of blades in the dark we had scores that went on until past midnight the first few sessions but the group agreed that by 10:30 everybody was done so we now start at 8 and have around 15 to 30-minutes chat before doing a 2-hour session.

Interestingly dungeoncraft and other YouTube channels have recently come out saying that they have found shorter online sessions work better partly because it is not quite as immersive as playing face to face and there is an exhaustion with the screen interaction because people are on it all day.

in those two hours we can only really do a school or sometimes not even full score or downtime but normally not both. When I tried to push the pace the group actually pushed back that they wanted to go slightly slower and have time for the character moments in downtime and the free time scenes.

Every group of people is going to be different so I am just talking for my experience but the main takeaways are probably to allow a certain amount of time for decompression at the start of sessions that non parents may not need depending on how stressful their work is, and then absolutely cut to the action in scores because as you say that is one of the reasons for playing it this way but be aware that your crew may want to take their time at other points.

and one thing about the new normal that is absolutely awesome is that I get to play 3 games a week with my wife being in the party because we are not having to take turns leaving the kids at home while one of those drives to an in-person session. It has been a joy discovering how much we enjoy playing these games together. though it was slightly hilarious when we used to do dnd and share a character so that each session we had to come home until our partner what had happened so that they could go in the next time and carry on.

anyway whether that was useful or not I hope you have a great time. I picked blades in the dark as my first game to games master since my teens and and it has been pretty damn great. I hope you you find the same thing :slight_smile:

And as long as you did not find all of that massively patronising I would be interested in playing in your game. If you are not already full then drop me a message about possible days. I am in England so should work with timings.

Hello! Would you mind sending me a message on discord? I’m Neulen#5998

Sure thing. About time I found out what Discord actually is…

Hey Neulen, I’m in a similar situation and would be interested. Just sent you a Discord request.

Haha. Love the idea of a parents-only group. Unfortunately, thanks to the little goblin and other games I’m playing, I can’t.

Welp, seems like this is reviving an old topic now but this sounds exactly what I am looking for. If any one has such a group and has space for one more let me know! (uk based)

That matches my experience in a very similar format. We play 2000-2230 and pretty much alternate weeks - 1 week a full score and XP, the next week fallout, downtimes, free play and gather information for the next score. Usually we finish that week on the engagement roll for next weeks score.

I feel extremely called out by this post😅, and even though it might be a long shot, I would love to join this game, if there is still room😉

Hey similar situation with Goblins & Diapers here but the post is quite old. I tried to find Neulen#5998 on discord but no success…

That’s odd, double checked and that is my username alrightimage

One of the players took over GMing duties because I have some stuff coming up, so I’m not running the game at the moment. But if you are still interested I can ask

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Hello hello ! I’m a father and been interested in Bitd for a while. Bought the book. Never ran it yet. Hope to get a good experience of it before running it myself. Played thief dishonored and blood borne. I’m reading the lies of Locke lamora and saw Spartacus. I’m adding suggested tv show and movies to my watch list :slight_smile:

If you still looking for a player let me know :slight_smile: