What to purchase for a 7 year old

[Stormtalon]

If you do get your kid her own set of dice, make sure you get the kind in the long cylindrical tubes -- that way she has something in which to put dice when they misbehave.

I've DM'd for young gals before. I've seen what happens to "misbehaving dice." A spanking tube for them appears to be a necessity.

 

[N0Man]

Have you considered the Castle Ravenloft game? It's very 4E like from what I've read, but with simpler and quicker paced rules. You don't have to worry about things like flanking and opportunity attacks and it might make a good introduction game.

 

[Festivus]

Castle Ravenloft is a pretty pricey compared to the Red Box... I don't know his finances but I would get a sidelong look from my wife if I proposed a $60 board game for my son as a gift.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Get her an Ugly Doll!

 

[Taed]

My son has been playing D&D with me since he was 6. His favorite part is the miniatures. When we're not playing D&D, he loves to take all of the miniatures and dungeon times and create epic battles using 50+ miniatures. Perhaps that's a draw for your daughter as well.

There are some simpler, kid-oriented RPGs. The simplest is a Pokemon one that's long out of print, but it comes in a aqua-colored box that's about 6x3x2 inches that you should be able to find on eBay (it's not billed as an RPG, though, but it is). I've played it a few times with my son and his firiends, and it's OK. There are also ones based on other cute things such as fairies (not "Fairy Meat", though!), horses, and so on. There's a free _Dawg: The RPG_ from _Knights of the Dinner Table_ at Kenzer Co. There's also _Critter Commandos_, which is a simple miniature-based RPG based around cartoon characters fighting for a futuristic, interplanetary army against the evil Ratzis (my son and I have played that a bunch of times with other adults).

 

[Taed]

Get her an Ugly Doll!

My son and wife made their own ugly dolls after seeing them for sale once and deciding that they were way overpriced. They made a dead cat's ghost (made with glow-in-the-dark material), a weird squid thing, and I forget what else.

A friend of my wife's then made lots of them (~100) with a bunch of neighborhood kids for gifts for kids in the hospital. It was fun for the kids, a good use of time, and surely loved by the receivers.

 

[Jor-El]

Obviously you know her best, I mean, she is your daughter! But if you feel she's mature enough, go for the red box.

If you feel that she may not be ready for lots of rules just yet, go with Heroscape. You get the D&D feel, but very simple mechanics. Plus it comes with minis.

 

[jcayer]

I've tried to play Faery's Tale with her, and she wasn't interested. She wanted to play D&D, just like dad. So that pretty much locks me in.

She is a voracious reader, so I think she should be able to handle it. I recently started reading her The Hobbit and while I don't think she gets it all, she does enjoy it, so she certainly has a fertile imagination.

She has a couple sets of my dice and my wife made her her own dice bag. She also has a couple mini's....I'm probably going to have to get more of those for her.

She started watching us over a year ago and I think the mini's are what hooked her. She really likes seeing them on the board and moving them around.