Note: This post may contain affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission from purchases made using them. TTRPGkids uses this to keep the site going. Read full disclosure here.

Youth focus: Rolling With the Youth

Rolling With the Youth is a 63 page book that explains how to run TTRPGs with elementary school to young adult, gives advice on what to include or watch out for based on the author’s experience, and provides several story blocks to help with creating some awesome adventures.  It has everything from TTRPG basics and safety tools to fostering inclusion and seeing how the stories you make can impact your players and is a GREAT place to begin your journey as a youth TTRPG facilitator! (full review here)

Youth focus: Making a Tabletop RPG for YOUR Particular Kid

For full disclosure, Making a Tabletop RPG for YOUR Particular Kid is a book that I (Steph, who runs TTRPGkids) wrote to summarize some of the basics from the TTRPGkids site into a more condensed (60 pages) and analog version of the Tips & Tricks articles found throughout the site. It’s there to help both families/facilitators and publishers with making a TTRPG that will connect with young audiences and be accessible to their needs, from mechanics to story elements, and features advice from other creators in the all-ages TTRPG space (including a couple folks from this list).

EDU focus: Teacher-Gamer Handbook

Teacher-Gamer Handbook by Zach Reznichek is an engaging, jam-packed, and meaningful guide for educators to learn how to run a class based entirely around tabletop RPGs.  In a very easy to read discussion-esque tone, it details what students can learn from TTRPG-based classes that they don’t from traditional teaching, covers everything you need to start your class, and even explains how to get buy-in from schools.  There’s tons of hands-on projects for experience-based learning available throughout the book, and it is a solid kick off point for gathering a ton of info on classroom TTRPG use. (full review here)

EDU focus: The Classroom Ready TTRPG Toolkit

This is another one by TTRPGkids! The Classroom Ready TTRPG Toolkit is a free digital resource that’s made primarily for creators who want to outfit their games with classroom accessible elements so teachers can drag and drop your game into their class without having to do a ton of extra work, prep, or modification to get it approved and work with lesson plan requirements. My hope is that this reference document will help make the shift to having classroom-ready TTRPGs (not just educational TTRPGs) so that they can be a feasible tool for wide use.

Therapeutic focus: Wizards, Warriors, and Wellness

Wizards, Warriors, and Wellness by Jack Berkenstock and Baron Blakley from The Bodhana Group is a wonderful intro to therapeutic tabletop RPGs whether you’re a therapist or layperson and experienced or new to applied gaming. This is a guidebook, not a game, so it falls into the resources category of this list, and it’s a great read for learning more about the therapeutic benefits of TTRPGs. (full review here)

Therapy focus: Tabletop Role-Playing Therapy: A Guide for the Clinician Game Master

Tabletop Role-Playing Therapy: A Guide for the Clinician Game Master by Dr. Megan Connell is precisely what it says on the cover – it is a handbook that discusses the reasoning and evidence behind using TTRPGs in clinical and therapeutic settings while also providing a guide for how to establish these sessions based on best practices and tangible examples. It has a particular focus on use with youth, while also covering everything from what a TTRPG is to specific diagnostic applications to running your first session… and much more. If you are thinking of incorporating TTRPGs into your therapy practice or are working with a therapist on applied TTRPGs, this is a great book for deepening your understanding and finding a place to start from someone who has already done a great amount of research. (full review here)

Recommend a TTRPG creation resource!

For other recommendations, let me know what you think I should check out! There’s a lot of great TTRPG resources out there, and, for this list, I’m searching for ones that specifically have an all-ages focus and that are aimed at making a TTRPG (as opposed to being an SRD, I’m looking for how-to guides). Lots of games will have a small section explaining how to make your own games, but I’m looking for something that is just the resouce, and I’m excited to find more to check out since I seriously think they help to build the industry (especially in the indie community) in a major way.

If you have a suggestion for a resource to check out, let me know in the comments or by one of the methods on the contact page here so I know what to investigate!

I hope this list helps you to find some awesome resources for making your own games, and… If you liked this post, make sure to subscribe to the TTRPGkids monthly newsletter to stay up to date on the latest reviews, tips and tricks, game and podcast list updates, and more! Thank you for playing tabletop RPGs with your kids and sharing this awesome hobby with the next generation!