JoeBlank
Explorer
I'm going to stay out of the "obey your mother" argument, as that has been well covered.
Your question was "How old do you have to be to play D&D?" As others have said, the answer depends entirely on the child. As I'm sure you are aware, one can play D&D at varying levels of depth, from a pure combat, minis game to an in-depth political and religious-filled immersion. I'm not saying one way is better or more mature than another, but it certainly takes more roleplaying ability to handle a more in-depth game.
But enough rambling: I have three sons and they started "playing" D&D at ages 3, 5, and 7. I qualify the term "playing" because they certainly played, and still play, at differing levels. We started with the minis game, just running combats. This was a great math exercise for the older boys, I would make them roll the d20 and add their to-hit bonus to tell me what AC they hit. And I would make them subract their own damage to figure how many hit points they had left.
Of course Ben, the youngest, now age 4, is mostly just rolling dice and hanging out at the table with Daddy and his big brothers. But he understands when it is his turn in combat and that his character is trying to attack some monster, and he understands that sometimes he misses and sometimes he hits. To give him credit, we played a session a couple of weeks ago where they attacked a lighthouse that had been take over by pirates. They knew that a ship was coming in and that the fire needed to be relit soon. When the fight was nearly done, big brother told Ben that his wizard should run up the stairs and light the fire. Ben yelled out "with my magic arrow!" (His wizard has a staff that shoots a nerfed form of magic missile, and he calls it his magic arrow.) I say the kid was role playing, and enjoying it.
We use a simplified version of Castles & Crusades, with a few normal D&D rules thrown in. Mostly, they understand the rules on a need-to-know basis. Joseph, the oldest, knows that his rogue can pick locks and sneak attack. Jacob, now age 6, knows his fighter can stand on the front line and protect his weaker friends from attacks, and that he can deal out some nasty damage too. Ben know that his wizard can use his magic arrow staff, and that he can cast spells when I or his brothers prompt him.
As others have said, sitting at the kitchen table running games for my sons beat the hell out of vegetating in front of the TV, for all of us. If your mom is open to discussion on the subject then this is a great point to make.
Something else to consider is religion. The myths and pretend worship is, to me, one part of D&D for which children are not ready. There has never been any mention of religion in our games. There are not clerics, but instead only "healers". I don't use modules with evil cults. You may want to consider doing something similar. The easiest thing to do, in my opinion, is to allow sorcerers to choose from any spell list, and to eliminate clerics altogether. So if you want a healer PC or NPC, just select the right spells. My game has an NPC healer that also gives helpful advice when they boys get stuck and can't figure out what to do next.
This is all simply my opinion. Not so long ago I too felt that my boys were too young to start gaming. Then I got some advice from Gary Gygax that convinced me otherwise. His advice is in my sig, below.
Regardless of how things turn out, it sounds like you are a good brother. Kudos for wanting to introduce your younger brothers to gaming. I hope it works out for you and them.
On edit: Now my sig does not seem to be show up. I'll copy and paste it here.
sig: "I urge you to make up a simplified version of the D&D game for play with as many of [your children] as are now willing and able to play. The thrill of the adventure and rolling of the dice is likely to make them devoted gamers ever after."
- Col_Pladoh's advice to me, and my advice to you.
Your question was "How old do you have to be to play D&D?" As others have said, the answer depends entirely on the child. As I'm sure you are aware, one can play D&D at varying levels of depth, from a pure combat, minis game to an in-depth political and religious-filled immersion. I'm not saying one way is better or more mature than another, but it certainly takes more roleplaying ability to handle a more in-depth game.
But enough rambling: I have three sons and they started "playing" D&D at ages 3, 5, and 7. I qualify the term "playing" because they certainly played, and still play, at differing levels. We started with the minis game, just running combats. This was a great math exercise for the older boys, I would make them roll the d20 and add their to-hit bonus to tell me what AC they hit. And I would make them subract their own damage to figure how many hit points they had left.
Of course Ben, the youngest, now age 4, is mostly just rolling dice and hanging out at the table with Daddy and his big brothers. But he understands when it is his turn in combat and that his character is trying to attack some monster, and he understands that sometimes he misses and sometimes he hits. To give him credit, we played a session a couple of weeks ago where they attacked a lighthouse that had been take over by pirates. They knew that a ship was coming in and that the fire needed to be relit soon. When the fight was nearly done, big brother told Ben that his wizard should run up the stairs and light the fire. Ben yelled out "with my magic arrow!" (His wizard has a staff that shoots a nerfed form of magic missile, and he calls it his magic arrow.) I say the kid was role playing, and enjoying it.
We use a simplified version of Castles & Crusades, with a few normal D&D rules thrown in. Mostly, they understand the rules on a need-to-know basis. Joseph, the oldest, knows that his rogue can pick locks and sneak attack. Jacob, now age 6, knows his fighter can stand on the front line and protect his weaker friends from attacks, and that he can deal out some nasty damage too. Ben know that his wizard can use his magic arrow staff, and that he can cast spells when I or his brothers prompt him.
As others have said, sitting at the kitchen table running games for my sons beat the hell out of vegetating in front of the TV, for all of us. If your mom is open to discussion on the subject then this is a great point to make.
Something else to consider is religion. The myths and pretend worship is, to me, one part of D&D for which children are not ready. There has never been any mention of religion in our games. There are not clerics, but instead only "healers". I don't use modules with evil cults. You may want to consider doing something similar. The easiest thing to do, in my opinion, is to allow sorcerers to choose from any spell list, and to eliminate clerics altogether. So if you want a healer PC or NPC, just select the right spells. My game has an NPC healer that also gives helpful advice when they boys get stuck and can't figure out what to do next.
This is all simply my opinion. Not so long ago I too felt that my boys were too young to start gaming. Then I got some advice from Gary Gygax that convinced me otherwise. His advice is in my sig, below.
Regardless of how things turn out, it sounds like you are a good brother. Kudos for wanting to introduce your younger brothers to gaming. I hope it works out for you and them.
On edit: Now my sig does not seem to be show up. I'll copy and paste it here.
sig: "I urge you to make up a simplified version of the D&D game for play with as many of [your children] as are now willing and able to play. The thrill of the adventure and rolling of the dice is likely to make them devoted gamers ever after."
- Col_Pladoh's advice to me, and my advice to you.
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) has just started this year, she is 11. Her elf, Nailo (she pronouces it Naa-ee-low), is now 4th level... Druid 4 | Rogue 2 / Ninja 2. I baited her with D&D Minis, then sunk the hook by telling her a few stories about some of my favorite PCs. She couldn't roll up stats quick enough...
