Review: Tales of Aetheria An Unexpected Quest shows an image of the cover of the book

Review of Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest

In today’s review, I check out a picture book made for families who enjoy (or want to star enjoying) tabletop RPGs together!  Read on to see how this wholesome tale of family adventures is not only a fun story to read with your party of young adventurers but also shows grown ups some great ways to run games for kids!

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What is Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest?

Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest is a picture book written by Nicole Griffith about a mom playing tabletop RPGs with her two kids!  

The story follows the in-game adventure, from character creation to completing the quest, with a frame of the family being at home and then celebrating their victory after the game.

Throughout the book, the party investigates mysterious happenings at a magic school, goes out into the world to solve the problem, takes on dangerous creatures, faces internal fears, and ultimately meets a dragon!  It’s a fun romp through a variety of fantasy TTRPG challenges that showcases the joys and unique facets of playing these types of games with young players.

an illustration of the mom & kids from the book

Who would Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest be great for?

Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest would be great for families who want to introduce their kids to tabletop RPGs in a graduated way (i.e. showing with the story before playing) or who want to show kids who are already playing tabletop RPGs that other families play them too!

This book would also be great for early readers who like picture books and are willing to try reading on their own or with a little help from a grown up (think first grade reading).

the cover and one interior page spread of the Tales of Aetheria An Unexpected Quest book with the following text below the images: for kids of all ages new childre's picture book introduces kids to playing tabletop role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons) 1st book in the Tales of Aehteria series Compnaion kids TTRPG Adventures in Aehteria coming Winter 2025

How does Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest show what playing a TTRPG with kids is like?

Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest can be a good showcase for young players to see what can happen in a tabletop RPG before they start playing, but it can also be a good showcase for the GM to get an idea of what playing an RPG with kids might be like. 

There’s a part in the story where the kids immediately stray from the main quest (they found school boring) and the GM needs to kindly bring them back to the main event, which, to me, was very “parent GM’ing for their kid” coded.  While adult players also stray from the main quest, I see this way more often in my youth-focused groups, so having this book display or teach by example how to bring the story back in an interesting way (with drama and an aire of importance) was cool. 

I also like how the two additional characters brought in, Dael the Ranger and Wren the Cleric, were from the parents (never stated, but clear from the illustrations) as a way to also demonstrate how to have the whole family playing, using these characters to provide assistance, and still keep the focus and autonomy with the kids.  Wren, for example, doesn’t speak but is there to provide some hefty magic, if needed.  Dael provides words of encouragement when Talon, one of the kid’s characters, falters.  They’re healthy examples of “DM NPC” type characters that are there to promote and support the player’s actions. 

illustrations of the character from the book includeing (from left to right) Wren, half-orc cleric Talon, human fighter Brit, elf wizard Deal, dwarf ranger Dagger, Dael's companion wolf

Overall thoughts on Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest

I really liked getting to read this with my kid, and my kiddo was hooked too (giggling, particularly, at the spiders saying, “Mmmmm, snacks!”).  The whole tale was charming, clever, and wholesome, and it was a great tie-in to our family’s particular interests in storytelling games.

The art, which is a critical part of a picture book, is fantastic for the adventuring and cozy combination vibes, and it supports the story extremely well.  It was illustrated by TheDrawingBard, and it’s clear that there was thought and probably a lot of communication that went into making the story flow through the illustrations as much as it did through the words.

Overall, Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest is a great book, and I think it would be a great addition to any nerdy family’s bookshelf!

Where to find a copy of Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest?

Find a copy of Tales of Aetheria: An Unexpected Quest here on DTRPG!

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