D&D 5E Running a game for a 6 year old

[aramis erak]

Another thought - there are a couple of simplified games intended for use with kids.

HeroKids is pretty straightforward. And has matching print-n-play minis.

There's a D&D specific one Monster Slayers: Heroes of Hesiod
http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/monsterslayers

 

[Jester David]

There's also RPG Kids: http://newbiedm.com/rpgkids/
And the Kickstarter for No Thank You Evil just ended: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ank-you-evil-a-game-of-make-believe-for-famil

 

[SubDude]

This is a pretty good notion for a scaled down type of D&D. This might be too simple for your tastes, but I think it get to the heart of the game right away.

https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/90-minute-dd/

 

[Abciximab]

My kids have been role playing with simplified versions of Pathfinder/D&D since they were 5 yrs old and they handled it really well. WoTC came up with "Monster Slayers" recently based on the original "Monster Slayers: The Heroes of Hesiod". I haven't tried it, but I would if they were 6 again.

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/MonsterSlayers.pdf

Oop, Looks like someone beat me to it.

No wait, that's the original. This link is a new one. Get both!

 

[Scurity]

Write an adventure akin to a kid's adventure show. Something like Dora the Explorer or Team Umizoomi. Look at the format of the episodes and mimic the design. Lots of big setpiece scenes that you move through rapidly, but are known in advance so there's a feeling of progress. A simple quest that seems easily accomplished. Monsters and threats that are defeated when you make them laugh or give them something they want.

My daughter watches everything from My Little Pony to Doctor Who and Harry Potter. So I want to make sure I include a mix of cute, socially responsible solutions and just plain defeating of evil. I think I'll work out a starting location and a couple of mostly railroad adventure options.

 

[Scurity]

For my son's first (6 years old) foray into D&D, and to play to his interest in all the crazy dice, I borrowed a page from the old Dragon Strike game and made it so that all abilities and checks were set to different dice (d4-d12) depending on how good you were at it. For magic and special abilities he had a hand of cards (with text, pictures, and icons) that operated off the standard at-will/encounter/daily mechanics.

I also patterned the game (as well as each of the first 3 or 4 little mini-campaigns I ran for him) very heavily off of what his primary TV/movie/video game interests were at the time. The first had been a Pokemon/Legend of Zelda kind of game where he basically played Link as a Ranger who could capture different monsters he was fighting in Pokeballs and use them later as animal companions. The second was a Ben Ten styled game where he could temporarily change into different legendary heroes that had been trapped inside of cursed story books. The third, probably first "true" D&D game he played, was about a mild mannered half orc barbarian called The Incredible Rulk who had a bunch of rage abilities.

I also am always a really big fan of doing a lot of "and then what happens"-ing story building when I run games for kids.

Lots of good tips here. I know a lot of the shows she likes and I'm the one who reads the bedtime stories so I've got a handle on that as well. I draw the line at The Winx, though! Did you ask what sort of character he wanted to play, or did you make the character for him based on what you know of his interests?

 

[Scurity]

Also, I like your map, Nytmare.

 

[Scurity]

Keep it simple. Roll up the 6 attributes. Pick a class and race. Then strip away all the mechanics and tell her to roll dice when it is time for random chance to determine a situation and tell what she needs to solve a puzzle, hit on an attack, dodge an attack, etc.... then you can add more complexity after she gets used to playing a storytelling game.

I think I'll tell her when to roll and the bonus to add. It'll help her maths and is within her abilities. However, I do want her to focus on describing what she wants to do as well. You're spot on with focusing on narrative now adding more complexity later.

 

[Scurity]

Another thought - there are a couple of simplified games intended for use with kids.

HeroKids is pretty straightforward. And has matching print-n-play minis.

There's a D&D specific one Monster Slayers: Heroes of Hesiod

The DND adventure is cute. I had a read of a Herokids review that seemed very positive. I'll definitely keep it in mind.

 

[Scurity]

This is a pretty good notion for a scaled down type of D&D. This might be too simple for your tastes, but I think it get to the heart of the game right away.

It's a good pairing down. I made some basic rules that used a similar level of complexity when I was first considering how to make a roleplaying session work.