How to trim 5E down to "Rules Lite" (for kids)

[TaranTheWanderer]

I started my son with FATE Accelerated and it was great. It's much more story-driven and description driven with 'approaches' to problems instead of specific skills. I'd recommend 'Do - Fate of the Flying Dragon' as a first adventure for kids. It's not too expensive to get the PDF. That said, my daughter started 5e...today...

She's playing the Princess of the Monks.... that's what she told me she wanted to play after I made a one-sentence description of each class (excluding spell casters). I think, maybe, my son convinced her she wanted a monk.

She wanted to be a princess so that's a 'noble' background. It went on like that for an hour, me asking questions and she giving me answers as I filled the blanks. It turns out she's the 3rd daughter of the King and Queen of a small kingdom of wood elves. The youngest children become monks of >>insert important religion of the kingdom<< and hold an important position in the household once they are trained and prove themselves while the oldest children get married and garner more influence.

When we play, I ask them what they want to do, they describe their actions and I pick the appropriate skills - even if it's not the typical use of that skill - as long as it suits the flavour of their description. I make them do the math. It's a fun way to get better at addition and subtraction. I don't get into 'proficiency' or anything like that because I've filled out their character sheet for them. They just roll a d20 and add the little number beside every skill or weapon on their sheet. I also take the starting packages of the class so as not to overwhelm them with choices.

Use lots of description and don't sweat the minute details. Keep it quick and fun.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I've been able to play the full version with my kids (who started at age 8 and 10) - although they certainly didn't grasp everything at once and might have benefited from some simplification. However, we did create a simpler character for the first campaign my niece played (at age 5!) - the main change was that she had a limited set of actions to choose from for combat, but those were actions that she was particularly interested in playing (think Elsa's ice powers). After a few months of playing, we added more powers - reskinning Grease, for example, to be "Ice Patch". She loved this one.

That said, the suggestions above are all great ways to simplify things at the outset. I particularly like this piece of advice:

Use lots of description and don't sweat the minute details. Keep it quick and fun.

Shorter sessions might be best for everyone at the start of your campaign. DMsGuild has a bunch of free (or pay what you want) low level adventures that can be played (or modified to be played) in an hour or two.

As the kids gain proficiency in the game, you can start introducing more of the features.
Have fun!

 

[robus]

You’ve seen this I’m sure? https://www.susanjmorris.com/dd-for-kids/

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don't think kids (or adults, even) actually need to know how the game works, as long as the DM does.

1) Make characters for them. Give them some general ideas of what the choices are, but you make the character sheet.

2) Don't ask them to learn any rules. Ask them what they want to do, and then when dice rolling is required tell them what to roll. If you have to ask them, "Hey, what does it say on your character sheet next to the 'Arcana' skill?" that's fine.

Dungeon World, as somebody mentioned upthread, is also a great option.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=59082]Mercurius[/MENTION] My go to source of inspiration has been James Stowe's blog: http://jamesstowe.blogspot.com/2011/09/dnd-for-8-year-olds.html

He took 4th edition I believe and created simplified character sheets oriented for kids. Good stuff!

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

You’ve seen this I’m sure? https://www.susanjmorris.com/dd-for-kids/

Hah! Yes, I’ve run Heroes of Hesiod! That’s super easy to print out and run.

Also, thinking about it, I know that my daughter would enjoy an adventure where she has to rescue a lost puppy rather than slay lots of goblins.

 

[Oofta]

I played with different groups of nieces and nephews that age in 3,5, they had no problems with the rules. I'd simply start with the basic rules, walk them through character creation and run games in a more descriptive way.

I had to help them sometimes with what to do at the start, and give them a lot of suggestions like all new players, but don't underestimate them. I'd also slow down level progression for the first few levels and help them make character choices if they need it,

 

[happyhermit]

If you are only going to run for 2-3 players, and are an experienced GM, I would advise to at least consider taking care of the math and most of the rules for them. I have done this a ton over the years and it really doesn't seem to detract much for most new players, and often adds to the experience.

The players need to have an idea of what their PC is good at, straightforward concepts (and backgrounds) can help a lot. They need to have a general idea of their abilities, certain classes are obviously better for this and things like spellcards can help on that end. That's all they really need to know.

The GM asks for a roll, player rolls a D20, appropriate oohs or ahhs are expressed at the value rolled, then the GM adds the relevant modifiers and declares success or victory. The GM can also grab up the damage dice in the meantime and pass them to the player, or use averages. The math can also be done as a group with other players, but that does run into one potential problem, some kids can get sensitive about this sort of thing, especially if they know they are a bit behind the curve at a skill. But, if the game is presented this way at first, and especially if it's that way for everyone (table or GM doing math) then it just doesn't ever seem to be an issue.

So yeah, it might seem daunting but having a couple character sheets in front of you and doing the math really isn't that bad and you can run the game with fewer dice rolls to help out.

 

[Wiseblood]

Give them a character based on what they know.

Teach them the character sheet.

Teach them the dice.

Build a first couple of adventures like you are showing the system eg. skills, ability checks, saves and attacks.

Teach them about rest.

Don’t dumb it down. Give them tips and insights.

Go over the character sheet again.

Play through a mini campaign 10 sessions or so. Beginning middle and end. Easy fights, tough fights and puzzles. Show them changes wrought by leveling.

When you’ve done all that help them make a character and Play some more.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Funny anecdote (at least, I think it is)

I was DMing for my 12 year old nephew, who loves D&D, and my own 5 year old, who had never played before.

The party was:
Barbarian (12 year old)
Rogue (5 year old)
Sorcerer (healer) NPC controlled by me

We started at 1st level and played *really* simple mini-adventures, each of which was a few minutes of story and then a boss fight. After each fight they leveled up. We played for a few nights and got to 8th level.

At 8th level they found themselves in a wide, dark passageway, and the 12 year old convinced the 5 year old to stealth ahead and scout things out. He agreed, and we told him what dice to roll. He gets to the enormous darkened chamber at the end of the tunnel, and the 12 year old says, "What do you see?"

At this point I guess he figured out that D&D is partly about making stuff up, so before I can answer and describe what he sees, HE starts making it up: "All along the walls there are shields and spears." It was awesome.

We explained that he doesn't get to make that stuff up, but after they killed the dragon and had a chance to walk around exploring, of course I put spears and shields on the walls.