Now that you have signed up as a Dungeon Master on Young Heroes, you'll need to make some games!

A Game Template is the blueprint for your game. It contains all the important information about your game, except dates and times.

Your Adventures will pull information directly from your Game Template.

You cannot create a Game Template until you are approved as a Dungeon Master.

Process Overview:

All Game Templates are manually reviewed to ensure they follow our Terms of Service.

Review time is 24-48 hours on average.

If your template is rejected for any reason, it will move to Draft. You’ll receive an email explaining what needs to be fixed

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Below is a breakdown of every section you’ll see when creating your Game Template.

If a new D&D adventure comes out, you will probably want to run it - so does everyone else. You can have a game in Eberron that isn't named "Eberron."

Put a little creativity into the name, and it will help you stand out from the crowd of others submitting that same adventure.

Select if your template is for a Campaign or a One Shot.

You cannot change this after approval, so double-check before submitting.
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The only system that is currently available for Young Heroes games is D&D 5e. You are welcome to simplify the rules for younger players, but the system should remain D&D 5e.

Select if you will be using the 2014 or 2024 ruleset for D&D 5e.

If you are running one of the official modules or settings for D&D 5e, you can select that from these dropdowns.

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If you have an idea of what level your game will be running from, set the level range in this section.

The Game Hook is a short description of your game that should be between 1-2 sentences. You can think of this as an "Elevator Pitch" for prospective players, to draw them in, so they will read more about your game!

This is one of the most important parts of your template.

A strong description helps players understand the tone, theme, and style of your game.

Select what level of experience you will expect of the kids who join this game from this dropdown.

This image acts as your game’s cover art.

We have a whole Google Drive folder with art available for GMs to use. Make sure that whatever art you choose is family-friendly and appropriate for the kids who are playing.

Our image uploader only accepts PNG and JPG files.

Use this field to credit the artist if you are using artwork with permission.

Game Masters can customize how their game appears in search engines and on platforms like Discord and Facebook.

You can customize your:

To enable this, click the Enabled switch in the top-right corner.

What age group is your game designed to be played by?

This is where you can provide more details about what Guardians can expect from the game you will be running for their kids.

Games can cover a wide array of educational topics ranging from Creative Thinking to Teamwork & Collaboration. Use this field to list up to 5 Educational Topics that will be focused on during your game.

Add tags that describe the tone or genre of your game, like Fantasy, Pirates, Spies, or Vikings.

This section is used to describe anything you want people to know about ahead of time that you think may be triggering for some players.

All games listed on StartPlaying are required to list their content warnings.

Consider central themes when creating warnings and avoid listing every possible warning unnecessarily. For example, campaigns such as Curse of Strahd inherently contain gothic horror elements. Discuss any additional potential themes with players during Session 0 to ensure transparency.

Explain how characters will be made for your game.

You can include:

📌 Tip: We recommend having pre-generated characters available, since many players book same-day.

How long your sessions usually run. Try to list the most accurate estimate rather than a broad range.

We recommend a 1 hour time difference at most (ex: 2-3 hours is a 1 hour time difference)

The price per session per player. The Guardians will be charged this for each of their kids in every session they are signed up for. You can update your pricing at any time.

There are few things worse for players than showing up excited for their first session of a new campaign, only to learn that they don't actually get to play. Maybe they didn't know they needed to have a character ready, so they spend the whole first session making one.

This section prevents that from happening by telling players exactly what they need to bring to game night.

If you have any fun extras that set your game apart, here's where you can list them. Think things like animated VTT maps, custom soundtracks, or original art. You can also add what you bring personality-wise as a DM!

List out any equipment that the player will need in order to join your game, such as microphones, computers, or headphones!

All Young Heroes games are run over Zoom for video/voice, and D&D Beyond is currently the only VTT that the kids are permitted to access due to COPPA Compliance standards.

Go over your safety tools in greater detail, as well as anything you don't allow at your table, or special rules you have in place for the safety of your players.

Safety Tools are crucial for making sure all players have a good time and feel safe during play. You must select at least one safety tool from the checklist and use it in the games attached to this template.

All of the safety tools in this section are explained in depth here, and each safety tool has a brief description if you hover over the blue icon next to its name.

Common safety tools include Session 0, where players discuss the game’s themes and boundaries; Lines and Veils, which set non-negotiable boundaries and sensitive topics; and the X-Card, a tool that allows players to discreetly indicate discomfort mid-game. Using a combination of these tools ensures player safety and comfort throughout the campaign.

To submit your Game Template, double-check that every section of your template is fully completed. You cannot submit a template for approval if any mandatory field is left blank.

Once your Game Template is ready to go:

Yes, you can edit your game template before or after it has been approved.

Click the three dots next to the template, then select Edit.
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Yes. Due to the increased safety standards when running games for Young Heroes, you will need to resubmit the application for review if your Game Template is updated.

No, StartPlaying does not support markdown at this time.