The Junior Adventurers' Club
MODERN LIFE
BY ELIZABETH SAMPAT
If youre familiar with childrens television staples like Ni
Hao, Kai Lan and Dora the Explorer, youre aware that
most childrens television follows a very rigid structure:
the team is presented with a problem, the team plans,
solves the problem, and then parties down. What you
might not have realized is thatminus the partiesthe
television show Leverage follows the very same struc-
ture. While you wont see the main character of your
son or daughters favorite show sticking it to bank execu-
tives and crooked politicians, you can use the Cortex
Plus Action Roleplaying system to do what kids love
best: assemble a team of friends to tackle an important
problem.
So what you get instead is the Junior Adventurers Club:
a group of plucky kids (or anthropomorphic animals, or
robots, or whatever else your kids are excited to be) who
find and tackle problems for their friends and loved ones.
RESKINNING THE ROLES
While the Roles in the Leverage RPG are juicy and fun,
theyre not entirely suited to childrens games. (You can
see the current roles in the Leverage RPG, starting on
page 18.)
Instead of the Mastermind, Grifter, Hitter,
Hacker, and Thief, you can use the following:
Explorer: The Explorer is the kid with the plan. Shes
great at helping everyone work together, and figur-
ing out the best way to solve the problem everyone
is working on.
Charmer: The Charmer is really nice and likeable.
Hes good at talking to people, asking for help, and
helping bad guys understand what theyre doing is
wrong.
Protector: The Protector is very brave. Shes good at
standing up to scary stuff, and helping the team feel
better when theyre frightened or unsure.
Brain: The Brain always has the best gadgets for the
job. Hes in charge of maps, computers, backpacks,
and other neat stuff, and always has what his friends
need.
Sneak: The Sneak is quiet and good at sneaking into
hard to reach places, as well as sneaking past sleeping
or distracted bad guys.
MAKING THEMATIC
CHANGES
While it is possible to preserve the Bad guy gets whats
coming to him vibe of the Leverage RPG even for
kidsbullies are bullies, no matter what age!if you
plan on playing this with your kids on a regular basis,
it might be more useful or uplifting to focus instead on
solving specific problems.
How rigidly you define the problem that needs to be
solved really depends on the ages of the children who are
playing the game. If youre playing with five- to seven-
year-olds, be more structured: choose an eventual goal
that has a set number of distinct obstacles to reach it.
Make sure that there is an obstacle tailored for each char-
acter to solve by doing something fun. With this particu-
lar age group, its important that they know exactly what
to expect so that they dont get lost or confused. Tailor the
The Junior Adventurers' Club
number and length of obstacles to their attention spans.
If youre playing with eight- to twelve-year-olds, you
have more leeway with the structure. Instead of looking
at shows like Dora the Explorer, you can take a page from
shows like Cyberchasetheres one problem, one bad
guy, and the twists and turns happen more organically.
Because you may feel like you can GM this age group in
a way similar to how youd do it with adults, you need to
keep an eye on attention spans. Keep an eye out for fid-
dling, doodling, and other signs of boredom. If you see
bored faces, surprise the kids with something cool that
speeds things up a bit. Robot Ninja Dinosaurs work well.
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 DISTINCTIONS
MODERN LIFE
ANALYSIS
When a kid is having trouble with a Puzzle Action, the
AND TALENTS Brain can spend a Plot Point for a hint.

The rules for Distinctions remain the same as the

Leverage RPG (page 33). However, kids might need a
little coaching to come up with them; feel free to make
suggestions.
When it comes to Talents, many of the ones listed in the
Leverage RPG (page 34) work for this hack, as well. In
addition here are some teamwork-based example Talents
that fit the Roles available for the Junior Adventurers
Club:
SNEAK
SMALL
Any other teammate can hide the Sneak somewhere on
themin a pocket, in a backpack, or elsewhere. (That
implies that the Sneak is a very small child, or a very
bright, talking pet.)
SILENT
Get an extra d8 when trying not to be noticed.

EXPLORER
FOLLOWING THE PLAN STREAMLINING
When another character rolls to do something you sug-
gested, she gets an additional d8. THE SYSTEM
The Cortex Plus Action Roleplaying system is really
THINKING AHEAD
sleek, but there are still a lot of moving parts in com-
When trying to decide the best way to solve a problem you
parison to many kids gamesand not all of the moving
havent encountered yet, you can roll an additional d6.
parts that emulate the Leverage TV show are necessary
to emulate youth programming. Heres a list of things
CHARMER
to skip.
ENCOURAGEMENT Establishing Distinctions and Talents (Leverage RPG,
When another kid is rolling to do something other than pages 33-34): Flashbacks are fun, but, especially with the
The Junior Adventurers' Club

their main role, you can encourage them to do well. Spend five- to seven-year-old crowd, the shifting backward and
a Plot Point, say something to help give him confidence, forward in time can be fairly confusing. Instead, have the
and he can roll an additional d8. kids share their Distinctions with the group before play,
and encourage them to ask each other why and how their
ITS OKAY
characters got those Distinctions.
When dealing with an NPC that is scared or confused,
Specialties (Leverage RPG, pages 20-30): Very cool,
you can calm her down. Roll an additional d6 when
but not necessary in a simplified setup. Youre creating
trying to soothe a scared NPC.
the Job so that theres an obstacle tailored for every kid;
that alone would make Specialties less useful, and its one
PROTECTOR
fewer thing for the kids to keep track of.
BULLY BUSTER
When youre rolling in a Contested Action (or a Basic
Action, in a simplified game) to defend or protect another REPLACING
teammate, you roll an extra d8.

CHAMPION
Some kids get nervous about Puzzle Actions. Your team-
mates can spend a Plot Point to get your help on a Puzzle
Action if theyre having trouble.
BRAIN
RUMMAGING
The Brain can use a Resource as a Basic Action instead
of having to spend a Plot Point.
ACTION TYPES
Leverage has a number of different kinds of Actions that
all contribute to giving it that signature caper feel; you
can find them starting on page 68 of the Leverage RPG.
Here are the Actions for the Junior Adventurers Club:
Basic Actions are the same, though they dont break
down any further than Basic, which means theres no
distinguishing between Notice and Face and other sub-
Basic actions.

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Contested Actions are great for older kids, but with
younger ones, most conflicts are better resolved with a
Basic Action.
Instead of Timed Actions, use Puzzle Actions. In many
kids television shows, there are certain obstacles that can
only be solved by the adventurers doing some kind of
puzzle: picking which animal doesnt belong, jumping
and ducking to avoid obstacles, or doing simple math
problems. These puzzles invariably request that the kids
at home participate. Having the kids do a minigame to
get past one of the obstacles can be a fun and refreshing
way to incorporate movement or academics into your
game time.
Instead of Flashbacks, give the kids Resource Actions.
A kid can spend a Plot Point to look at their Map or
in their Adventurers Bag and see whats coming up
ahead, or find any tools they have to help them solve a
problem. These tools can be Distinctions (Leverage RPG,
page 33) or Assets (Leverage RPG, page 66) depending
on the situation.
MODERN LIFE
SECONDARY ROLES FOR YOUNGER KIDS
The concept of secondary Roles (Leverage RPG, page
17) work great as-is for older kids, but if youre playing with
younger kids, they can get confused by having SNEAK dice
if someone else is playing a Sneak, and their reading skills
may not be up to keeping track of which die is for rolling
with which Role. Give each kid a d12 for their main Role,
and d6s for everything else.
BEING THE FIXER
If youre doing a game for older kids, you may have a
Mark, but if youre doing a problem-solving game (such
as Murray the Forgetful Robot), theres no Mark, just a
Client. The people you run in to that have or cause prob-
lems are obstacles, and act as Extras or initiate Puzzle
Actions.
Make a map or flow chart of what the adventurers can
expect to encounterthe things that stand between them
and their eventual goal. These encounters should be fairly
rigidly episodic, and for younger kids, you may even want
to telegraph to them precisely what they should expect
to encounter.
The Junior Adventurers' Club
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 EXAMPLE SCENARIO:
MODERN LIFE
Dr. Gearmans Neighborhood is a nice place, but its
not that easy to get into the house. The main road is for
humans only, and Dr. Gearmans house has a combina-
MURRAY THE FORGETFUL ROBOT
tion lock.
Murray the Forgetful Robot needs more memory! But
The Sleepy Guard makes sure that only humans use
he forgot the way back to Dr. Gearmans house. Its up
the main road, but he keeps falling asleep. This is good
to the Junior Adventurers Club to take him over the
for the Sneakor maybe the Explorer.
Marshmallow River, through the Dark Forest, and de-
The Combination Lock is a minigame that works
liver Murray to Dr. Gearmans house.
for anyone. Choose a simple math problem that is age
Each one of these three locations has two obstacles that
appropriate.
can be overcome through a combination of Roles:
As a Complication, there are three similar looking
The Marshmallow River is a big, wide river of marsh-
houses, and Murray cant remember which one is his.
mallow fluff that the team cant get past without help.
Of course, other things can happen naturally along
Theres a grumpy man with a boat, and also some cookie
the way as well, but these are the six main obstacles. Feel
islands the team might be able to hop across.
free to add or subtract depending on the number of kids
The Boatman is Grumpy, which is good for the
in your playgroup and the ages; for a five-, seven-, and
Charmeror maybe the Protector.
eight-year-old, this takes about an hour.
The Cookie Island minigame works for anyone, though
the Protector can help and the Brain can get tips on how RUNNING FOR KIDS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM
to do it best.
If youre in a situation where youre planning to run this for
As a Complication, Murray may forget that he doesnt
kids on spectrum, you know that each child is different and
have a tummy and try to gum up his insides by eating
has different needs. Generally, though, be ready and willing
marshmallow fluff.
to telegraph solutions, and talk the kids through challenges
The Dark Forest is a scary place full of wildlife. Theres
that might be outside of their comfort zone.
a fox outside, and lots of spider webs covering the trees.
Additionally, if youre designing scenarios specifically for
The Spider is Scary, which is good for the Protector
HFA and Aspie kids, making Puzzle Actions that are about
or maybe the Sneak.
The Junior Adventurers' Club

recognizing the emotional states of other characters from

The Fox has a Riddle, which is good for the Brain (or
environmental clues would be a great puzzle. Sometimes
anyone good at riddles).
when playing games with my daughter, we have four car-
As a Complication, Murrays solar cells run out of
toon smiley faces out: a happy face, sad face, angry face, and
energy! The team has to figure out a way to get him some
confused faceand she chooses the one she thinks is most
sun.
appropriate for the current situation.

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