DnD Junior

[mythago]

It's finally happening...the offspring are manifesting an interest in D&D.

So, has anyone run, written or adapted adventures for the smaller set? (In this case, a precocious 7-year-old.) Big moral decisions, complicated role-playing, and hot dark elf babes in bikinis are pretty much off the table at this age, but I'd like to get a little more complexity than "Orc and Pie."

 

[Dr Midnight]

There's a thread on D&D lite/D&D junior/D&D basic every now and then, and I always think it's a great idea. I just wish someone would write up a definitive rule set.

My best quick recommendation is the use the D&D adventure game box set. Really good, with everything you need, and simple simple simple. Plus, at $10, you can't beat the price.

 

[mmadsen]

Ideas for games with younger people

The only extant thread I could find was Ideas for games with younger people. Previous threads have expired.

 

[belegost]

In addition to my grown-up group, I run a fairly non-regular campaign for my son (9 years old) and a few of his friends + another dad. My son enjoyed playing with the box set but it gets old fast. As long as you are DMing, I'd go with the core game instead of the boxed set.

My son has learned a lot about the game mechanics but most of the other kids don't care at all. We use regular character sheets but for most of them I recommend a condensed sheet with just the stuff the casual young player understands (equipment, weapons, description of character, hit points, no attack/save/encumberance stuff). I keep all the #s on combat planners.

The players make all the decisions based on what their characters would do or want to do not on any numbers (or metagaming) at all. That having been said as they get more comfortable with the game some of them want to understand everything. This works perfectly since you don't have to teach them everything before gaming but can make it a gradual learning process.

As far as adventures, seven is pretty young but by nine role playing seems to come more naturally to the kids then some adults I've played with. Perhaps there isn't any self concious feelings that have to be overcome. Our game has gotten A LOT more involved than I had expected.

We've even used some of the sessions to get across some educational concepts that the kids were studying (scale, mapping, feudal government).

 

[mmadsen]

In a long-gone thread, WSmith (also long-gone from these boards) said:

Here are a couple of suggestions, from one who has been there.

Rules, depending on the maturity and intelligence of the kid, they may or may not get even the basics at 5 or 6 years old, no less adding 1.5x you STR bonus and that if you BAB is +1 or better you can draw your sword while moving. I say keep it simple.

Pokemon Jr., call me names if you want but this is one of the most underrated products for introducing young kids to RPing. I have used it and it is great. The child doesn't really play a character, but they are a trainer, with Pokemon monsters to do the actual fighting.

I agree with the LARPing angle. Go get some foam swords and bow and arrow sets, NERF launchers, etc. and actually play in character with your children. They have the whole adolescense to sit around a table and roll dice. Take advantage of their imagination and willingness to play a role in uninhibited while you have the chance. They will get to an age where they think foam swords are kids play. Heck most adults do to, that is why a lot of LARPers (I am not one and I don't play one on TV ) seem to get a worse rep' than us tabletop gamers. But, if you are running around the backyard with you 6 y.o. slaying imaginary dragons and saving fair madiens from towers, no one will think twice about you being kooky, heck they will probably say you are a good parent for playing and taking interest in your child.

The Violence: I like to curb it. (yes even though kids will surprise you, but that is a whole other thread) There is no Braveheart like slaughter and carnage. Remember in the movies of old, shoot even the Scorpion King. You wouldn't see the sword evicerate the victim, just the weilder holding the sword and plunging it into something of camera, then the next shot would be a glimpse of the ground and the sword of the foe falling to it. You didn't see the foe killed, but you knew it happened.

There are two rules I like to follow to curb violence in any game:

1. The pokemon rule: damage knocks you and others out, it doesn't kill you.

2. The Mummy Returns rule: When a creature if ill irk is struck with a sword, it is not cut or injured, it just disappears or crumbles into sand, or disapates into a mist, like Anubus' minions in the Mummy Returns during the battle with the Magi. This factor also add to the fantasy aspect of it.

If I can think of more I will post them.

 

[mmadsen]

If I look back at my fond D&D memories from childhood, I can map out my own cognitive development with amazing accuracy.

At age six, I could roll the dice my older brother told me to roll. I was happy to kill the same goblin and die to the same carnivorous ape over and over again. Sitting down and reading the Basic D&D rulebook was still out of the question. If someone sat with me and made me read it, I might've been OK.

A year later, I was devouring the Player's Handbook and memorizing easy-to-memorize rules (e.g. how many magic items a Paladin could have). Anything abstract was still out of the question, especially long, dense, tracts of text. Tables of magic items and lists of spells were great though.

By age eight, I basically knew the rules, and I could DM my friends through simple adventures, often mimicking my older brother and using snippets of his adventures -- the snippets I could understand, I'm sure.

By nine or ten, my characters finally stopped all being clones of famous characters I liked: Bilbo, Robin Hood, Arthur, etc. I'd been playing for awhile, but I still had zero grasp of reasonable tactics and no capacity for analyzing a situation, comparing my party's strengths to the enemy's weaknesses, etc. My brother, as DM, would stare at me dumbfounded as my Paladin with a magic sword and a mundane bow would trade arrows with a party of Drow with magic crossbows.

So, definitely concern is warranted, but I feel some DM guidance can (a) get around the problem, and (b) teach the kids some critical thinking skills. Ask them what they think their options are, tell them when they have no of defeating the troll, etc.

 

[Conaill]

Here's a nice thread over on the WotC boards, about one DM's experience playing with his kids:

D&D and My Kids

 

[mmadsen]

Here's a nice thread over on the WotC boards, about one DM's experience playing with his kids:

D&D and My Kids

That is a nice thread, Conaill. The salient bits, from the thread originator, MancerBear:

Just thought I'd share something that happened tonight with you guys. I ran my kids through their very first D&D adventure, and they loved it!

I used the first adventure in the boxed Advendure game set, pitting the player characters against 4 goblins to save a captured unicorn. It was quick, it was fun, and the kids (10 & 8) both showed a willingness to think, and react to the problems presented. It was a great night.

They can't wait to play again, where they'll help a thorp of dwarves rid their mine of a hobgoblin incursion.
[...]
You know [...], it was a really nice change to have such a simple game. Black and white, there's the goal, go get it.

Just listening to them figure out what to do, how to go about it, was great.

Just hearing my daughter say to the freed unicorn, "Run, get away from here and we'll meet you back in town when we've dealt with the goblins and the traps" was priceless, and to me what fantasy role playing is all about...save the victim, kick bad guy butt.
[...]
It really is refreshing playing with such young people. Their points of view are so much different from adult players. They didn't bother searching the bodies of the goblins as the idea didn't occur to them, though they really wanted to find a chest full of treasure. They ended up finding 200 gp and a suit of banded mail. My daughter, playing a wizard, cast detect magic on the armour (that buzzed me). They really played this game well, and thought through their actions clearly, and even came up with the plan to hide and get themselves ready while the rogue (played by Kendrik Larsen's player) unlocked the door to the Goblin's hideout. They then kept their distance, peppering the goblins with arrows until the rogue was injured, when my son (playing the brave fighter) charged in with his greatsword and dealt withthe goblins nicely.

And the second session's story:

Well, the second installment of my kids D&D game happened today, and it was a doozy.

Asked to help a small throp of dwarves to clear out a hobgoblin infested section of their mine, and also save a kidnapped dwarf, the kids took their characters up into the mine and through the hole in the wall that the hobgoblins emerged from.

Their first encounter involved 4 dire rats, which they disposed of quickly, but they did suffer some wounds. The ranger and wizard both took their healing potions, but the wizard was only partially healed while the rogue was fully healed.

They next entered a room with a table with some bowls of stew on it, four hammocks, a full length mirror and a colsed door. They wisely steered away from the stew, but the rogue failed his search check on the door, so when the wizard opened it, a block of stone fell from the cieling, killing her. Needless to say, this greatly upset my daughter who was playing the wizard, but she cheered up when I told her she could help me run the monsters.

Unfortunately, the falling stone alerted the four hobgoblins in the next room, so they were ready when the remaining heroes entered the room. The combat went well, though the rogue was again badly injured. This time the fighter (played by my son) offered he healing potion to the rogue (which I rewarded with extra XP).

After searching the room, the hereos found two barrels. The fighter wanted to puul the corks from the barrels and peak in to see what was in them, but the rogue just pulled the lid off his and found 300 odd gp. The fighter did pull out the cork, but couldn't see anything. He then thought about stabbing the barrel with his sword, to kill anything that might be in it. After it was explained to him that the missing dwarf had yet to be found, he thought better of it and just lifted the lid, finding the bound and gagged dwarf inside.

The heroes then bundled up the dead wizard and returned to the village to rest and recuperate.

All in all a great game. The highlight for me this session was my son, playing the fighter, offered his only healing potion to the rogue after he was badly injured by the hobgoblins. I game him extra XP for that.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Wow, that's so great. Makes me wish I had kids. That's the heart of the game, right there. The fighter giving the rogue his healing potion. Casting detect magic on the suit of armor. Man, those kids are experiencing the best time to play the game, with a cool dad who'll run it for them. I envy them, and I envy him.

I always get so sappy in these threads. Someone slap me.

 

[Wicht]

Pokemon Jr. is great (I mention that in every one of these threads)

But the DnD Adventure Box is right up there (if no one recognized it, the above scenario with the hobgoblins, stew and rats is straight out of that box). I used the DnD adventure box to introduce my two boys to the game (ages 6 and 5). They never made it past the skeletons in the third or fourth scenario but they still enjoyed it greatly.

Then, two weeks ago, I decided to run a real game with them. They played two characters who ended up saving their mother's character from certain doom. They did very well. Then last night I ran them through a haunted tower scenario. Again they did very well for their age. I have already added the first game to my storyhour and will soon add the second game as well.