Playable with just myself and my daughter?

[Hoggle]

I've always been interested in D&D throughout the years, but never really had a chance to play. My soon to be 11 year old daughter (who, to be honest is very smart for her age) has expressed interest in playing lately. I just picked up the 'Red Box', as well as 'Heroes of the Fallen Lands' today. I'm going to pick up the DM box as well. I'm going to ask the wife if she would be interested in trying this, but not sure how that will go. If I can't get her to join, is it too difficult to play with just two people, with her as a player, and myself as the DM? I was also thinking of creating a character as well to join her if that would work...

Thanks for any info, it is appreciated.

 

[Mentat55]

Most of my first experiences in D&D were one DM, one player. It is a great way to play, so long as you don't cleave too closely to the rules. Focus on character interactions, on your daughter interacting with the world, and just having fun.

 

[OnlineDM]

This is a great question, and I would have expected that someone would have written at least a blog post on this topic (maybe they have).

I personally started playing D&D in just this way. Back in 3rd Edition my wife and I picked up a D&D starter set and played a few sessions with me as the DM and her as several characters (I believe she played 3 different characters at once). It wasn't ideal for sure, but at least we got to play!

I would say that yes, you can play with 2 players for a little while, just to get a flavor of the game, but that the game is far more fun with a group that includes multiple player characters. If you're just looking to pique your daughter's interest, I say go ahead and try a game with just one player and a DM to see if she likes it. If she does, try to find a few more people to game with.

 

[Reaper Steve]

Even though I'm a D&D veteran, I've used the new Red Box to introduce my 7 yr old son to the game.
Here's what I did to make it a 2-person experience:
I ran him through the solo adventure in the player book. (Even though he can read, I DMed by reading out loud and running the monsters while he made decisions and rolled the dice for his character's actions.)
You get 2 encounters out of that.
Then be sure to download Ghost Tower of the Witchlight Fens. It's an solo extension of the encounters in the player book and it's meant to be slotted in before the Twisted Halls in the DM book.
I did the same with this: I read and played the monsters while he made the choices and played his character.
Now you have a few choices:
My son is already confident enough that we wants to run two characters. I'm sure your daughter could do the same. If you have a couple as well, you can continue w/ Twisted Halls, or
You could try to find a friend or two (of yours or hers) to join you, or
You could make your own solo encounters for her using the info in the Red Box.

Another suggestion: get the Rules Compendium before you get the DM kit. I love the DM kit, but you can wait for it. The adventures in it are great, but hopefully you can find another player or two for those.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

This last weekend I introduced by 10 year-old stepson to DnD using the new Castle Ravenloft Board game... he loved the game and looks forward to playing it again.

Of course, stereotypically boys like combat and numbers while girls like character interaction, so that might not be the best option for a daughter.

I would recommend running a very rules-lite variant with the focus on characters, perhaps even using a non-DnD ruleset. I have been considering using vsMonster as the rules with my stepson, as they are extremely simple rules to grasp.
My freind has introduced his 11 year old nephew using the full blown 4e game, so we might be combining our game.

Solo adventures are possible, the key in my opinoin is to treat the PC as the star of the show and give him/her a cast of supporting NPCs. One solo game I ran actually was at the point where other players joined in but they had to run NPCs I would also recommend a more free-form style of play in which the player guides the major plotlines, with you as the dm putting out tons of options and be ready to go whichever way the player wants to.

 

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

I disagree with using a different system or trying to make 4E "rules light".

11-years-old is old enough to play the game as written.

And D&D is totally playable with just 1-2 players. NPCs, animal companions, and thoughtful adventure and encounter design will be able to make up for missing 2-3 other PCs.

I'm playing through the Red Box with my 4-year-old daughter now. She's playing a female dwarf wizard who likes to launch fireballs ("Freezing Burst"). She also like the wolf tokens and so has "Wolfie" as a NPC/animal companion who can help out in combat. That's a four-year-old. An eleven-year-old will have no problems.

All that said, D&D is more fun with a few friends. Encourage her to invite friends over (11 is old enough for sleep overs), invite parents and kids from extracurricular activities like church groups, athletic teams, etc., and search these forums and the "official" forums over at community.wizards.com for the years worth of advice on building and running adventures for few parties with few PCs.

 

[Atlemar]

I have played 4e with my eight-year-old son many times.

We play without a mat. Since there is usually just one opponent, he can "step back" for shifting to go from melee to range. If he's facing multiple opponents (usually four minions) he can be "surrounded" (flanked).

I introduced a bard who is coming along to watch, and who can trigger healing surges but is otherwise uninvolved in combat. Storywise, he dispenses advice in a sagely form. There's also a fey warlock who provides a near-limitless stash of healing potions.

The skill challenge rules are a great way to make travel interesting. I find quests to find something are a good story. His current character is a druid who is out to observe and record rare wildlife, so letting him find out that, say, the blue-crested shadowdrakes are nesting in the mountains right now can make for a quest and allow me to throw in social and combat encounters.

So, yes, I'd say absolutely it can be played with just you and your daughter. The biggest problem I have is coming up with adventures as often as my kid wants to play.

 

[aco175]

A lot of the style of play depends on giving the players, or one player in this case, what they want to make it fun. If she has likes of monster slaying and wants to play a fighter or paladin, you mostlikely will want a NPC to tag along. If she would like a Harry Potter theme school environment, this brings several reoccuring npcs. A lone thief doing sneak missions for the guild may be good by themselves with little fighting but a lot of roleplay.

Generally I would have a npc character that is opposite of what she plays and can fill a role, or even be something of a squire to her character. This way she is in the spotlight and you can focus on everything else. A sidekick also allows you to feed tips and clues to the players when they get stuck. I would recomend making a companion character from DMG2, if you do not want that book just go with a npc that is easy to keep track of, you should find some 'monsters' in the books with something simple enough to copy.

 

[SoulsFury]

Me and my best friend play one on one D&D. We have a lot of fun with it.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I must start off by saying that I have never tried it (one on one play) but if I was I would be inclined to peruse the monster lists and look for some whos powers would be useful as companions. Then reskin them as necessary to fit with the pc. Then provide them with 2 or 3 healing surges and an action point each. Your daughter can them run them as companion characters. There are rules for companion characters in the DMG2 but that would do for the beginning.
The thing to remember is that DMG2 companion characters are weaker than pcs but easier to run and reskinned monsters will be weaker still.
You will have to be careful with encounter design, I would make extensive use of minions, and interesting terrain, traps and so forth.
Stay away from solo and elite monsters unless you give the pc the resources to overcome them.