Does anyone have any thoughts on making D&D work well for young kids - like age 5? Here are some of the issues that come to mind for me.
1. Rules complexity: This can be addressed for starters by using pregenerated characters and DM selected spells, feats, and skills (after finding out what the kid wants to play) to keep things simple. The kids don't need to see all of their stats either, probably just a few key ones like hit points and armor class. A general description will cover the rest, i.e. you are good at sneaking and finding traps or you are strong and very good with a sword.
2. Adventure complexity: I suspect that you can't present the same difficulty of puzzles and encounters to younger players, as they might not be able to deal with them as easily as adults. Is this concern unwarranted? Nothing that can't be handled by the DM though, but something to keep in mind.
3. Violence level: I know others don't mind this, and that's fine, but there might be others who agree with me. To me, D&D is too violent for a little kid. Any ideas on what kinds of adventures can be run to capture a kid's imagination without resorting to much violence? Also, this changes how you deal with certain classes, like fighters. Can you use spells like sleep and color spray to sneak past enemies instead of spells like magic missile and burning hands to kill them?
1. Rules complexity: This can be addressed for starters by using pregenerated characters and DM selected spells, feats, and skills (after finding out what the kid wants to play) to keep things simple. The kids don't need to see all of their stats either, probably just a few key ones like hit points and armor class. A general description will cover the rest, i.e. you are good at sneaking and finding traps or you are strong and very good with a sword.
2. Adventure complexity: I suspect that you can't present the same difficulty of puzzles and encounters to younger players, as they might not be able to deal with them as easily as adults. Is this concern unwarranted? Nothing that can't be handled by the DM though, but something to keep in mind.
3. Violence level: I know others don't mind this, and that's fine, but there might be others who agree with me. To me, D&D is too violent for a little kid. Any ideas on what kinds of adventures can be run to capture a kid's imagination without resorting to much violence? Also, this changes how you deal with certain classes, like fighters. Can you use spells like sleep and color spray to sneak past enemies instead of spells like magic missile and burning hands to kill them?
