D&D for children

[Hairfoot]

Forked from: No 5e threads for now, please

I've always thought it would be a great idea to have a non-violent, more "cutesy" D&D edition for children. The elements are all there: gnomes, trolls, pixies, halflings, toy soldiers, magic and big adventures...

If it was supported by colourful, easy-to-grasp modules it could be an excellent education tool and something fun for parents to do with their kids, and would boost the future market substantially.

D&D used to be aimed at kids (exhibit 1: the old cartoon show), but the target audience aged during the game's progression through editions. Hasbro already makes children's games, so it would seem like an obvious addition.

Why not?

 

[malraux]

Isn't that called Star Wars RPG?

More seriously, I don't know that the age range wherein a child can handle the abstractions of an RPG but also need a specifically tailored non-violent task resolution system is all that large.

 

[JeffB]

K,C&C is what you are looking for.

 

[the Jester]

Forked from: No 5e threads for now, please

I've always thought it would be a great idea to have a non-violent, more "cutesy" D&D edition for children. The elements are all there: gnomes, trolls, pixies, halflings, toy soldiers, magic and big adventures...

If it was supported by colourful, easy-to-grasp modules it could be an excellent education tool and something fun for parents to do with their kids, and would boost the future market substantially.

D&D used to be aimed at kids (exhibit 1: the old cartoon show), but the target audience aged during the game's progression through editions. Hasbro already makes children's games, so it would seem like an obvious addition.

Why not?

You'd lose the current fan base, for one thing.

What's wrong with kids playing dnd as it is? If you let the kids watch tv, read comics, look at the newspaper or leave the house, they will be exposed to violence. Shrug.

 

[darjr]

K,C&C is what you are looking for.

Hmmm... I was going to say try Faeries Tale, with a little bit of easy adjustment you could get what you want.

But this seems interesting. JeffB care to give a bit more detail?

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Forked from: No 5e threads for now, please

I've always thought it would be a great idea to have a non-violent, more "cutesy" D&D edition for children. The elements are all there: gnomes, trolls, pixies, halflings, toy soldiers, magic and big adventures...

If it was supported by colourful, easy-to-grasp modules it could be an excellent education tool and something fun for parents to do with their kids, and would boost the future market substantially.

D&D used to be aimed at kids (exhibit 1: the old cartoon show), but the target audience aged during the game's progression through editions. Hasbro already makes children's games, so it would seem like an obvious addition.

Why not?

I like the premise of a D&D themed game aimed at a younger audience. I don't think a "D&D Jr." and the current D&D RPG are mutually exclusive.

What age children are you talking about? D&D is playable down to around 10 but younger than that it gets difficult without stripping rules out.

I would like to see a version of a D&D game that appeals to 6-10 year olds. Something like HeroQuest or Descent that has elements of roleplaying, dunegon delving, and the D&D fantasy without the need for a DM to adjudicate rules.

 

[Mercutio01]

Funny, because I am currently working on a boardgame style dungeon crawl for younger kids, specifically aimed at my daughter (almost 5) and including education (incorporating mechanics for math and reading skills).

It still has some "violence" but the creatures run away rather than die. I have first draft rules and simple vector art in progress here, at DragonAvenue (my primary site for this), and at RPG.net as well as a primitive wiki hosted in my DropBox.

I envisioned it as a way to introduce roleplaying from a game aspect to kindergarten aged kids while incorporating basic learning skills of that age. I am making 7x7 dungeon tiles to print out and use with this as well. I'd love some feedback.

 

[Rechan]

The ChattyDm has a whole section on his blog dedicated to RPGs with Kids: Gaming With Children | Musings of the Chatty DM

 

[Rechan]

I know that violence is okay and such, but really what I would like to see is a kid's RPG that is meant to be whimsical and epic and fantastical. More like Peter Pan, rather than revolving around kid-friendly dungeon crawling.

 

[Mercutio01]

I know that violence is okay and such, but really what I would like to see is a kid's RPG that is meant to be whimsical and epic and fantastical. More like Peter Pan, rather than revolving around kid-friendly dungeon crawling.

There's an awful lot of violence in Peter Pan, though. Hook and Pan fight all the time. Hook's hand was eaten by a crocodile who follows him around hoping to eat the rest of Hook. Tiger Lilly is tied up and left to drown. The Indians tie up the Lost Boys and threaten to burn them at the stake. Tinker Bell tries to have the Lost Boys shoot and kill Wendy. A bomb is sent to the hangman's tree to kill Peter.

Etc, etc. In fact, just about every Disney film out there has violence all over it.