D&D for children

[Thanael]

See also http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/254885-settings-games-kids.html

This post has links on Rel's daughter's LARP and A Game in a Jar including an attached pdf of the rules.

 

[Festivus]

My youngest son recently picked up on violence from Toy Story 2 (he says Zerg shot Buzz's head off!) of all things, so hiding them from violence won't really work, it's everywhere.

We usually put monsters "in jail", meaning they are captured, interrogated, etc. We regularly play "dragon" where we LARP a bit, they being the knights, and mommy and daddy being the dragons. (The kids are 5 and 3).

 

[JPL]

Just DM'd for my brother-in-law and his boys, ages 8 and 10. It's nice to have an older player working with the DM to make it a good experience for the kids.

I've encouraged the dad to play a warlord or other leader next time --- keep the kids in the spotlight, let dad use his actions to move them around and give them better attacks. I like the idea of Dad playing more of a wise adviser than a true "leader."

Eliminating violence is largely a matter of adjusting your descriptions. Loss of HP is usually fatigue rather than open wounds. Monster loses all his hit points and he either falls unconscious, surrenders, or just runs away. Think Huck Finn, the Hardy Boys, Johnny Quest and Narnia.

 

[Rel]

What I'm thinking of is something more visually oriented than conventional RPGs.

So, big, colourful character sheets, counters and toy-like objects to represent stats and abilities etc. More toward the Talisman style of representation.

I'll once again put in a plug for Descent here because it does exactly this. With all of its counters and tokens representing everything from health and fatigue to potions and coins to terrain like pits and water obstacles, it is a very tactile game. The characters are represented on individual cards and each has a figure that matches the picture on the card. Every item your character obtains in the game is likewise represented either by a counter (for things like gold coins and potions) or a card with a picture of the item right on the card.

When I first got that game I had no idea how much of a gateway drug to further roleplaying it was going to be for my daughter. But the moment I got it out of the box with its tons of counters, snap together dungeon segments, bags full of plastic figures and card upon card of neat looking magic items, my daughter's eyes lit up and she was begging to play it. As I've said many times, it is THE best single thing I've ever purchased for my RPG hobby that wasn't a core rulebook.

 

[Hairfoot]

I'll once again put in a plug for Descent here because it does exactly this.

It does look cool. Are the pieces generic enough to use in other game systems?

 

[Rel]

It does look cool. Are the pieces generic enough to use in other game systems?

Absolutely.

The snap-together dungeon pieces have a 1 inch grid on them and the figures have bases to fit that and are nearly identical in size to D&D minis. All of the counters are likewise sized to fit the grid and we use them as condition markers in our 4e game.

I literally use my Descent stuff every single gaming session.

If you mean for other systems besides D&D, I guess it depends on system but anything that uses a 1 inch grid should find this stuff equally applicable.

 

[Eridanis]

I'll once again put in a plug for Descent here because it does exactly this... As I've said many times, it is THE best single thing I've ever purchased for my RPG hobby that wasn't a core rulebook.

Your enthusiasm means I've had Descent on my GenCon to-buy list for years now, but I have never pulled the trigger. I think I'll actually do it this year.

 

[ggroy]

I thought I was making a fair observation that 1E/2E the primary method of gaining XP was by acquiring loot, and in 3E/4E the primary method of gaining XP is by fighting.

Back in the days of 1E AD&D, some of the groups I played in deliberately houseruled out all notions of gaining XP by acquiring loot. Depending on the DM, XP was awarded based on some combination of combat encounters and role playing. Some DMs leaned more to the XP for combat side, while others emphasized a lot on role playing (ie. solving puzzles, asking the right questions, etc ...). To make leveling up somewhat faster, some DMs changed the XP numbers to as much as 10 times the numbers listed in the 1E AD&D books and/or didn't bother with extensive training.

 

[Desdichado]

I think adults in general underestimate children and their capacity to deal with and enjoy this kind of stuff. My 7 and 5 year old boys, for example, are huge fans of the Indiana Jones movies. Rarely do my so-called adult games get more graphically violent than Indiana Jones. So, what's to keep my kids from playing D&D with the assumptions are written already?

If anything, it's the rules structure that's going to make it difficult to capture younger audiences. If a potential player is old enough to handle the rules, he's old enough to handle the themes of D&D as is, in my opinion.

After all, didn't most of us start playing in junior high or even younger, back in the late 70s or early 80s?

 

[Rel]

Your enthusiasm means I've had Descent on my GenCon to-buy list for years now, but I have never pulled the trigger. I think I'll actually do it this year.

Unless they are giving some kind of discount for purchasing it at GenCon then I'd recommend getting it from the FLGS (assuming they carry boardgames). The box is big and rather heavy to be lugging around the convention center.