D&D for children

[Barry From Eastenders]

My kids (7 and 11) have been asking me to teach them how to play Dungeons and Dragons. I got to thinking that it might actually be a fun way for us to spend a Sunday afternoon doing something together. My idea is to have their characters be kids the same age as the boys are in real life. I dug out my old D&D books and read through them but couldn't find any rules concerning child characters. I was wondering if anyone else has run a campaign for children and if so, how did you go about it?

[essell]

Well D&D characters are meant to be exceptional by their very nature, so I'd have no trouble letting regular characters be that young.

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by Barry From Eastenders

I dug out my old D&D books and read through them but couldn't find any rules concerning child characters.

In 3e, there's rules in the DMG for ageing effects, both younger and older characters. I've not used them, so I couldn't tell you just where off the top of my head. Would be in the NPC section, I'm sure. I don't know if there was anything similar in earlier editions, as I never ran games under them, so never bothered looking through the DMG.

I wouldn't use the child character rules for PCs, though. It'd throw the balance off, in the monsters favour. Not insurmountable, but a lot of needless work.

I was wondering if anyone else has run a campaign for children and if so, how did you go about it?

I haven't, but I would just use regular PC generation, and make any humanoid NPCs in the same age range so it wouldn't seem weird.

[Yllaria]

I ran a few games when my kids were little. Although YKMV, there are a few things that I'd do if I started another game with kids.

I wouldn't tell them they had to play kids. I'd give them the option. I mean, this is fantasy and adults are fantasy figures. There's an aging table somewhere that shifts stats to represent different ages, but it might not go low enough and it doesn't sound like very much fun.

In the interest of togetherness and family time, I'd spend an afternoon walking them through character creation. Warn them that there may not be enough time to play the first day. I'd go really slowly and answer all their questions. I'd also simplify the equipment purchasing.

I might require them to be human for their first game, to simplify. I might assume that they have any needed spell components. I might skip alignment. And when I say skip, I'd mean explaining it, but leaving it out of the first game. I'd definitely start them at level 1.

There would be a little speech about meta-gaming and what your character knows vs what you know. Also how what your brother's character does to your character isn't something that your brother is doing to you.

I'd make the first game morally unambiguous. No mean people who are technically lawful.

I'd also tell them that they can quit any time they don't want to sit and do this any more. It's not insulting me if they want to stop before I'm finished with the story. We can always start again if we want.

Take them through a round or two of practice combat. Take them through a round or two of using skills. Be prepared to coach them on which die to use and what to add to it.

Be prepared to ad lib when their interest starts to flag. One of the most popular things I ever did was work up a table for an arm wrestling contest. It would have been completely boring for an adult as it wavered back and forth, but the kid involved was making a lot of dice rolls and really got into it.

I'm assuming that you know the game well enough to run an adult game. If not, I'd go online for general DM advice, and consider doing a module. Run a few NPCs if you need to round out their party or just to show them how a character can be run.

Good luck and have fun. Running a game for kids can be frustrating or a real blast.

[Quartz]

You might find these three threads on ENWorld useful.

[Lemur866]

Why should character creation take a lot of time? Pick a class, roll some dice for stats, and you're done in five minutes.

Next, expect not to even open the rulebooks. Sure, roll dice for combat, but junk everything else. Any other mechanics, just tell them to roll a die and if they roll high then narrate a good result and if they roll low narrate a bad result.

Imagine trying to tell a fairy-tale like story but allowing the kids to decide what the protagonists of the story would do in each given situation.

[Harmonious Discord]

I wouldn't give them a young penalized character, just play them as adults. You're looking for a fun weekend. They may not even like it, and getting really picky with a first time game would kill the fun.

[WhyNot]

The worst part of playing an RPG as a very young un with my older brothers was that I could not grok spacial relationships - that is, when I was told there was a doorway in front of me and a hallway to the right, I'd try the door, that wouldn't work, and I couldn't remember where the hallway was! It was very frustrating for all of us. My oldest brother quickly learned that the sooner I, the character, found a map, the better, and he made a map for me, the player, to consult as often as I needed to.

I still have trouble with finding my way around video games, actually, although I have a great sense of direction IRL.

[essell]

Originally Posted by Tengu

In 3e, there's rules in the DMG for ageing effects, both younger and older characters. <snip> .

2nd Edition has relevant rules too. By equally, I've never seen anyone use them.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

Originally Posted by essell

2nd Edition has relevant rules too. By equally, I've never seen anyone use them.

A secret. If you let kids create kid-sized characters who fight adult-sized opponents, only you let them use adult stats instead of kid stats, the D&D police will never find out. They'll never come to your door and drag you away.

I'd definitely allow kid-sized PCs with adult-sized stats. That'd be the easiest and simplest way of resolving the situation; it won't affect game balance in the least, and it'll allow fun.

My basic rule of thumb for running a game is that just about any window-dressing is allowed for a set of stats, the more interesting the better. If you want to call that human fighter an ex-vampire midget ogre, what the hell do I care? Work it into the storyline and go for it.

Daniel

[Lightray]

Although I haven't run D&D for kids, a friend of mine did for his. From what he described, simple characters and simple plots were the key. And not saying "the rules don't allow that."

His kids wanted to be "an elf like Legolas" and... darn, something horsey I can't remember... centaur or unicorn or somesuch. So he made up an elf archer and a horsey somethingorother, with little regard for how strictly they adhered to the rules.

Then he sent them off to rescue the Princess from the Dragon. IIRC he threw in a few "familiar" things -- the troll lived under a bridge, waiting for billygoats, etc., etc.

It was apparently a rousing success, and although I haven't heard updates I think they've continued on. I dread meeting his kids when they're older, though (they live in TX)... "let me tell you about my character" stories from pre-tween years, oy!

[I'm No Saint]

I have nothing to add other than a big thumbs up to you for raising kids that want to play D&D with you. You're obviously doing something right.

[Maeglin]

Originally Posted by Left Hand of Dorkness

A secret. If you let kids create kid-sized characters who fight adult-sized opponents, only you let them use adult stats instead of kid stats, the D&D police will never find out. They'll never come to your door and drag you away.

I spent six months in Gitmo thanks to the D&D police. I was waterboarded until I parted with my optimization secrets. I folded easier than a cheap suit, and I will never forget it.

[Tastes of Chocolate]

Take a look at getting enough dice so you can color code them, and each player can have his own.

"If you want to slash with your sword, roll the 3 blue dice. If you want to defend yourself, roll the 2 red dice." Then write the info on the character sheets.

Dice are cheap. That might help reduce the number of times someone asks "What dice do I roll now?"

Did anyone else play Shadowrun? You needed a brick of dice to play that one, in coordinated colors.

[Hal Briston]

Originally Posted by Maeglin

I spent six months in Gitmo thanks to the D&D police. I was waterboarded until I parted with my optimization secrets.

Doesn't that go against the Lake Geneva Convention?

[Lightray]

Originally Posted by Tastes of Chocolate

Did anyone else play Shadowrun? You needed a brick of dice to play that one, in coordinated colors.

Shadowrun? pshaw. We played with the Hero System and then Exalted. I don't think anyone knows how to roll less than fifty dice at a time, now.

[What Exit?]

Strangely enough, I have just started letting my kids play. My son is only 7 and has a very simple fighter character. He is a young human, but 15.

My daughter is 10 and has a Elven Mage with a smart cat familiar to help her out. In other words, as the ref, I plan to help her with her character and I am treating both characters as PC/NPC and I am just seeing how this goes.

The two adult players are OK with this so far and we are treating it as an experiment. Besides, they really wanted to get a magic user into the party so they can ID magic items. This was an easy way for them to get that.

My son did OK last week. He went to bed at 10:30 and his character just followed the lead of the Ranger as he had been doing while my son was playing him.

As I am treating the characters as partially NPC, my son barely rolled to make the character and I designed it for him. My daughter got to roll and had more input, but still her character was basically shaped by me.

Jim

[FlightlessBird]

Please update us after your first game! I'm kind of interested in how the first session goes...

[Barry From Eastenders]

This is all great advice!

My motivation for having them play child characters is, of course, things like Harry Potter, Narnia and Unfortunate Events. Rollicking adventure where the children are the heroes. I think kids get a kick outa that. In most stories of that type, there's an "adult" NPC who lends assistance, so I'll have those strategically placed throughout the story. The boys love the Shrek movies, so I thought I'd include that kind of silliness.

[Sitnam]

2nd and 3rd editions? Are you guys crazy? The kids are 7 and 11, you need to go OLD SCHOOL, you know back when Halfings, dwarves and elves were also classes, only thieves could pick locks and level advancement didn't mean midnight pouring over min-max opportunities with feats and skill points.

Ah, the good old days.

[evangelinagirl]

I love this thread! What great ideas. I let my neice (11) and nephew (9) play in a slightly modified campaign (2nd and 1st edition, thank you very much) with focus on questing and fast fighting. (Remember the battles where the rounds took forty minutes? Egads....LOL)

We have had a mini campaign go through a "play land" where their characters were transported and found themselves miniaturized, sort of like in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids." My neice has played an elven wizard and my nephew enjoys playing an elven fighter.

They love it! The value of imagination, planning and creativity is so important. What a great way to get families together at the dining room table in the evenings.

I wish you all the best! Roll for initiative!

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Sitnam

2nd and 3rd editions? Are you guys crazy? The kids are 7 and 11, you need to go OLD SCHOOL, you know back when Halfings, dwarves and elves were also classes, only thieves could pick locks and level advancement didn't mean midnight pouring over min-max opportunities with feats and skill points.

Ah, the good old days.

Actually, we are using 1st Edition in a Middle Earth setting of the early fourth age.

Elrohir is about to send them up to Angmar on a mission.

[Yllaria]

We've had some successful child characters, player and NPC, in some of our games. They were run by adults and they were sorcerers. I'm assuming that other magic users would work as well. The magic users don't use their strength as much as the other classes and therefore aren't at quite the same disadvantage because they're young.

For what it's worth.

And another vote for letting us know how things work out.

[Mister Rik]

Darths & Droids might be of some interest. The premise of this webcomic is that the Star Wars movies don't exist in the world of these gamers. Rather, the Star Wars universe is the invention of this one particular gamemaster, and he's introducing it to his players.

The reason I bring it up is that in strip #17, one of the players brings his little sister along and the GM decides to let her play a character. The strip might be helpful in illustrating some of the possibilities and pitfalls of having very young players.

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

Originally Posted by Maeglin

I spent six months in Gitmo thanks to the D&D police. I was waterboarded until I parted with my optimization secrets. I folded easier than a cheap suit, and I will never forget it.

Never use WIS as your dump stat.

Daniel

[Miss Woodhouse]

My children play RPG with extended family about six times a year. You don't have to make them be kids in the RPG. They probably want to be adults. Remember to keep the naration down (really, they don't care for a detailed description of the lovely dungeon, they just want to find something to kill.) Keep it simple with lots of chances for them to roll the dice and be directly involved in the game. They need to have conversations and time to make choices. Also don't make it a long campaign. Under an hour per session should be about right until you've got them hooked. Keep their shorter attention spans in mind and you should all have a good time.

[Attack from the 3rd dimension]

I've been playing D & D with Attacklass (10) and Attacklad (7). Its been going well, they're totally into it. I've been playing it with a very liberal interpretation of rolls and rules, making sure to always leave an out for them. Ms. Attack has been playing a gronk, a straight up stupid strong fighter type, so she takes the heat in battle. She's never played, so she's as entertaining as the kids are, trying to reason with random monsters.

Attacklass is a magic user, so she gets to blast away from a distance, while Attacklad is a thief, allowing him to be very useful and clever. The only dodgy moment came when he thought he had permanently been turned into a monkey and he then started to lose it. I had to quickly retcon, so that on closer inspection the scroll said he could turn into a monkey forever - that is, whenever he needed to, forever.

Anyway- so far, so good. A light touch, minimal gore and humour has worked pretty well. The age issue has never come up , they just are what they are.

Good luck

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

Actually, we are using 1st Edition in a Middle Earth setting of the early fourth age.

Elrohir is about to send them up to Angmar on a mission.

Your 1st ed DM's guide has a table for modifying stats for age. Without looking, I imagine that they lose some intelligence, wisdom, strength, stamina (endurance?) and gain a little dexterity.

I'd probably just let them roll "normal" characters.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

Your 1st ed DM's guide has a table for modifying stats for age. Without looking, I imagine that they lose some intelligence, wisdom, strength, stamina (endurance?) and gain a little dexterity.

I'd probably just let them roll "normal" characters.

They basically did as I explain.

[Jophiel]

Whoops.. was mixing my original posts and my responses there

[dbuzman]

Roll normal characters, start the game with them being kids, then have something happen like they get somehow transported to another dimension and get made adults phsyically in the process.

[puppygod]

As a proud owner of copy of Cat RPG I recommend this system as a kid-friendly. Fast, easy and elastic rules, fun and overall very interesting. Plus, it let them know that there is more in RPG than swordsmen and wizards.

[Maeglin]

Originally Posted by Left Hand of Dorkness

Never use WIS as your dump stat.

Daniel

You tell me that now.

And Hal Briston, the fact that you made that joke means Jesus died in vain.

[KneadToKnow]

Mentioning Jesus dying makes the baby Jesus cry.

[Barry From Eastenders]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

Your 1st ed DM's guide has a table for modifying stats for age. Without looking, I imagine that they lose some intelligence, wisdom, strength, stamina (endurance?) and gain a little dexterity.

Aging is covered on pages 12-13 of the 1st ed DM Guide. Characters start at young adult.

[C K Dexter Haven]

I started playing with my kids when they were around 5 or 6. They loved it.

But, remember that it's a game for children. You want them to have fun so they'll play again. They can learn the deep-rules later. Don't overwhelm them with rules. Think of it as like playing cops-n-robbers or whatever, but using dice and figures and maps. The goal is that they have fun. I suggest using a map and little figures, to help visualize. I suggest a simple quest: save the princess from the ogre, or kill the witch, or whatever. My kids, in fact, loved variations on fairy tales -- I had them go through a giant's castle, a la Jack and the Beanstalk, and included such wonders as finding the giant's (slightly used) handkerchief. I also had them find a cannibal witch's cottage, as in Hansel and Gretel, but changing things slightly (house wasn't made of gingerbread, f'rinstance.)

Don't spend a lot of time having them roll up characters the first time around. Make it simple. Use three or four "attributes" -- strength, intelligence, endurance, wisdom. Let them start as fighters, it's easiest, and perhaps give each of them a magic weapon to start off... and not just a +1 dagger. You want fun stuff, like a talking axe who's very boring, or a cloak of invisibility.

In fact, when I started with my kids, I stuck with 6-sided dice, and I'd say, "To hit that ogre with your sword, you need to roll higher than 2." Ignore all the stuff like dodge and attacks of opportunity and complications. Keep it simple, keep it fun. Make sure they win -- they can suffer an injury, or loss of weapon, but make sure they win in the end.

Almost thirty years later, my son is still an avid player (he plays more than I) and brags that he's second generation. So, enjoy!

[Barry From Eastenders]

I found this last night while doing some googling:

D&D - Children Characters
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/katz/dnd/kids.html

[Miller]

Originally Posted by Phase42

Darths & Droids might be of some interest. The premise of this webcomic is that the Star Wars movies don't exist in the world of these gamers. Rather, the Star Wars universe is the invention of this one particular gamemaster, and he's introducing it to his players.

Oh, man, that's awesome. Bookmarked!

[Hal Briston]

Originally Posted by Maeglin

And Hal Briston, the fact that you made that joke means Jesus died in vain.

Man, nine years of Catholic school and I have no idea if you're complimenting me or not.

[gonzoron]

I started playing D&D at recess in 4th grade, which would put me at 8 years old. This was Red Box OD&D, not AD&D, but depending on the kids, they shouldn't have much trouble with an experienced adult DM willing to take care of the nitty-gritty rules and dispense with them as need be.

PS - if you like Darths and Droids, check out "DM of the Rings", the comic that directly inspired it.

[glee]

I've run roleplaying at my school for 17 years (pupils aged 10-18), plus an occasional game for friend's families.

I use 1st edition AD+D together with a printed extension volume created by my adult group (which has been running since 1979 )

I echo what posters have said already:

- start with simple characters, mainly fighters and perhaps a healing cleric
- keep the stories something they can relate to, with strong good v evil plotlines
- keep the dice rolls simple and tell them what they need

When visiting other schools with a demonstration game with complete beginners, I used the scenario below. I can probably dig out the files (which include all the dice rolls for new players) if you'd like. Feel free to e-mail me.

Glee's intro dungeon

The player characters are:

Crumlin (1st level Cleric) - played by the Dungeonmaster

Paladin (3rd level) - female version available
Ranger (4th level)
Dwarf Cleric (4th level)
Druid (4th level)
Magic-User (4th level) - female version available
Hafling Scout (5th level)

Game introduction:

- the Paladin could have a mock battle with the Ranger
- the Cleric and Druid could heal the fighters (and learn to use First Aid), then see who has a magic item amongst the party, or if anyone is Charmed
- the MU and the Scout could try sneaking past a ‘guard’, getting over a wall, and first finding, then removing a trap.

Storyline:

Crumlin is standing for Mayor of Haranshire, a countryside province. His rival is Dag, a nightwatchman, who is clearly a simple stooge for the rich landowner Darius Kharman. Kharman is ruthless and greedy. His attitude to the election is ‘One man, one vote...I am the man and I will have the vote.’
Crumlin wants the other player characters to help him fight the election fairly. Kharman will undoubtedly try to use dirty tricks, and the party have to find ways to stop him!

Background:

Haranshire is a rural area, and Milbourne is the County town. There is only one other village, Harleton. The principal activities are farming, fishing, forestry and mining.
The chief landowner is Darius Kharman. He also owns all the mines.
Most of the population is human or dwarvish. There are also some haflings and a lizardman community living near Harleton village.
The election will be supervised by Laff, a High Priest, who looks after all of Haranshire. Crumlin knows Laff is honest, but a little gullible. (Laff thinks the best of everyone, even Kharman).

[MrDibble]

You mentioned something about silliness - teach them the basic principles of miniatures gaming with this classic. Stuffed toys as PCs vs evil hard plastic action figures! Then when they've sold your house & car to buy WarCracker boxed sets, you'll only have yourself to blame.