My son was always looking at the monster pictures in my Monster Manual when he was small. That motivated him to read. Now he reads above his grade level and joined the D&D club at his middle school. 👍
So I ran games for my oldest (5years). At first I used problem solving math questions to defeat challenges. She often bribed goblin guards with cupcakes to go away. When I broke out the dice, shit got real. Lol We used the stat as the dice rolled (4,6,8,10,12,20)... And 4 stats: Speed, Melee attack, Ranged attack and Magic. Regardless of her dice rolled, I would always roll mine. After we rolled I would ask her which number was greater (her 6 vs my 4 for instance) She had little character sheets for each character and magic did what ever she wanted as long as she rolled it. Everything was roll vs roll. Oh! And one big pool of glass aquarium/vase beads for hit points regardless of the number of her characters First time in the dungeon with dice: First combat with goblins. Alex: I want to attack the goblin with magic. Me: okay, roll. * rolls, success Me: okay what does your magic do? Alex: uhm.... Me: okay, you make illusionary butterflies that make a goblin chase them Alex: .....( looks at me lie I have 6 heads) Me: or you can kill it with fire Alex: I KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!! later that dungeon she used her magic to animate a skeleton displayed on the dungeon tiles I use. God bless my little murder hobo.
I remember running Mines of Phandelver with my then 6/7 year old sister and she shot down the goblin that overlooks a bridge in the cave (her first kill) and i described it as "the goblin falls over into the water and floats downstream" to which she added "and the water turns red from the blood." At that point I knew pretty much everything was a go lmao.
One idea for playing DnD with kids that wasn't brought up: Using Legos for minis. Not only that, it's great for building terrain. There are plenty of dry-erase battlemats and tiles that can be used around kids without having to worry about them accidentally breaking or staining them (like 1985's Dungeon Craft terrain). Also, Meeples pawns are often used as a less expensive substitute for minis (it's what I use).
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 About a year or so ago I discovered an entire subreddit devoted to playing tabletop RPGs with Lego (/r/legodnd). I couldn't help but be impressed.
Letting the kid do what they want and simplifying it to a difficulty roll: this is perfect. Especially for younger kids. This is what I do with my 5yr old and 3yr old. They bloody love d&d
It's interesting to see that many of the techniques you disclosed in this video were the same things my wife and I did when we were homeschooling our children.
DnD junior would be an awesome product. Re purposing minis and possibly tiles from their board games would be great. I have run intro / short games for adults and most of these ideas would be applicable. Start at the dungeon, have a few fights, a puzzle/trap, maybe an RP encounter and call it good.
ruclips.net/video/Cx8sl2uC46A/видео.html Though this might not be Hasbro (I don't know who made it) but it is close. I had this as a child and it was great for all my friends and I to get into the tabletop hobby.
I mean Heroquest is (or did they have sold the rights) from Hasbro... Yes a great game :D ... 'but' without rpg content... what not means it it worse than DnD ;)
I'm doing that with my kids. Using Carcassonne tiles for the world, LEGO figures for characters, Pandemic virus blocks for treasures and some printed quests and cards for the gameplay. I'm planning to buy unpainted cubes and then paint feet on them to indicate steps. I'm not a DnD player :D
Great video.😎😎😎😎 When I ran my first game of D&D six years ago (after many years of playing), we too simplified our modified 2e system. My oldest grandchild was 9. He played a paladin. We were investigating missing animals in the night. I presented a puzzle involving crossing a bridge by freezing and muting all the adult players. He solved it. After the adventure, he told the NPC cleric I ran he wanted to expand her little hamlet church into a proper temple, all without prompting! Great game! He's played quite a few games since then with friends.
I recently ran a short session with my 7yo. No class features, just stats and skills. It was based on a D&Dish series of bedtime stories I've been telling her for the last year and a half. Introducing the genre through story first helped her know what kinds of actions make narrative sense.
I introduced my son to d&d at age of 8, he'll be 10 in October and has a pretty good grasp on the game in general. He loves it and I love that he loves it. Ty for the video.
I’m planning a D&D seminar class for second language learners. There were some great tips in the video with some solid pedagogical basis here. Glad the algorithm fed it to me. Thanks for making the video.
Perfect. I used a great product called RPGkids to teach my children. I used Lego minifigs for characters and terrain and drew room plans on paper. Matt Colville's Delian Tomb really got them interested. Cheers
I can't recommend "the Delian Tomb" from Matt Colville's running the game videos enough got me into DND. Use "muscles and miracles" one page RPG system for kids
This is the greatest channel on D&D. I am a father and teacher who play with my kids. Your my inspiration. This video is great in was an inspiration for me I love as just starting to play with my kids at home and in the classroom. Now, I have my own RUclips channel for parents and teachers and I’ve created my own ruleset and home-brew world.
ABSOLUTELY. Very nice. Started both of my children as soon as they could grasp simple concepts. It has served them well in life. I'm convinced it gave them advantages in school and in adult life. They are now both parents and have started teaching their children. The cycle continues HUZZAH!
I work at a Summer camp and usually let the kids (9-14) play some form of DND (started w/ 13th age, moved to Basic Fantasy because less rules are better for kids) during lunch (~12:00-1:00). Almost every kid that played it had an absolute blast. When they first started they did not know what to do besides roll a d20, and by the end of the week they would discuss tactics with each other during combat.
I try to do something unique for each of my grandchildren. With one we go horseback ridding, one is movies, one is football, one gardening & cooking and one is D&D he is 5 and he loves it. I never played with mini's and tiles but now we are off to the races. When he is older we will start painting minis and terrain. I started with homework which he did not like doing. So we got big dice and counted, then added and subtraction. On to spelling and so forth. He improved in school and he is an only child so this has helped with socialization as well. First we played 1:1 and now we are adding friends. I am now using your simplified sheet and rules for magic and it has opened up his world. Kudos for working with kids and thanks for the tips that have made our game better. .
I'm sure it's been mentioned before, But I have what I think is an effective way to omit 'magic' and spells from the game for those families that for religious reasons can't go down that path, but they'd like to play an adventure game like D&D. with their young kids. Taking everything Aralorn said into account, consider this. Wizards as inventors/tinkerers and/or as scientists/chemists. Clerics as healers/medics. Monks simply as martial artists (which is what they are anyways), Paladins as knights, Druids who can talk to and befriend animals (OK, it's a little magical), etc. My friend babysits for some Jehovah Witnesses kids and they desperately want to try D&D, but their parents are adamant about there being no magic, at least overtly so.
I just started a game for my 8 year old nephew and his parents. He's understanding the rules and math in a frightening capacity. Better yet, my older brother shockingly jumped right in and looked up stats and info on his phone. He has a warforged paladin with a backstory, detailed visual description, motivations, and full fledged story hooks. God, all three of them have PCs with honest to goodness goals, personalities, and pasts that they want to find out more about from playing. I tear up as I write this. Being a good uncle is very important to me since I don't have kids of my own (yet?) and I didn't have strong role models growing up. I've always desperately wanted something more than football to bond with my older brother about too. My sister-in-law is well aware what this DnD game really means to me and has been a super awesome family member and player. I would not have this thing without your videos giving me confidence to run a game. I have watched so much DnD content on youtube and have bought practically all the books for 5e over the last few years. Great info, I love every DnD content creator I watch, but YOU and your videos are what made me think I can competently run this game for my family. Thank you.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 A quick update. Our first session went very well. Laughter, action, mystery. My older brother is a massive pain in my ass, which awarded him inspiration because he really is creative and clever with his bullshit. They're actually roleplaying, wow. Everyone had a chance to shine, major success. We are on a bi weekly schedule! Thank you again!
Or... dare I say it... HeroQuest? I'm gently transitioning my HQ players to D&D and came up with a lot of the same concepts. Body points are strength and toughness combined, mind points are intelligence and wisdom combined. DCC does the same with INT/WIS.
Thanks for the wonderful video! I've put off gaming with my toddler, but this has inspired me to finally include him in what I've already been planning for years.
Wow, this is the most complete guide/video that I found on RUclips, your tips are fantastic for my 6 years old daughter, amazing information and really helpful, thank you ✌🏻
Thank you, Nohemi. I made this video because I have run D&D for children for years and thought it would be helpful. Yet it's gotten comparatively few views, so when someone says it was useful, it makes me feel it was worth it. Another tip: Tiny Dungeons is a great game for children because the dice are easier to read and the system allows children to create their own classes and spells.
I can envision having lists of spell words and dungeon floor patterns, but I'm not sure it would have mass appeal. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Sounds like a good Drivethrurpg system agnostic short book. Honestly I think the market for kid-centric boardgame/RPG hybrids is very under developed. Kids are natural role-players. It's just a matter of finding the right way to but some sort of light rules/railings on the experience so the parents can run it without stifling creativity.
Funny thing is, I remember as a kid (some 20 years ago) playing a computer game that was just that. A simple dungeon crawling rpg of sorts where you progressed by answering spelling questions correctly. My mother is a teacher and she was always trying to find new ways to use games for learning. Too bad I can't seem to find that specific one on the internet.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 It could. Have you ever heard of gameschooling? Its homeschoolers who use games to facilitate learning various subjects. There are several groups on Facebook about it.
This may be one of the best videos on your channel. I have two young daughters and have been trying to figure out the best way to introduce them to the game. Your video has given me a ton of ideas. Love the character sheet too!
Great video I’ve run a bit for kids and I do a lot of this already but some of your tips were above and beyond. Love the HP tracking and that spelling Dungeon is genius. Thanks!
I Love It!!! I'm in the tri-state area, and I'm teaching my kids to play D&D and Warhammer 40k, this has been an amazing bonding experience. My 4 year old asks if we are playing every day, I'm secretly teaching my kids math, strategy, and responsibility. We have the best times, and my son at 9 has started running games. I'm really proud of this hobby. I wish I found it sooner. Thanks for the tips and all the help. MUCH LOVE, and Be BLESSED!!!😁⚔
This is brilliant. I love this! I will definitely be using this with our kids once they're old enough. As a thought for people who don't have the minies or dungeon stuff, you could repurpose minis from board games or some of your little one's favorite toys as pieces. You could also use board games, like Candy Land as your dungeon.
I just stumbled across this video. I sent you a pdf of something similar I did, 100% symbols, 3 ability scores, 3 classes, rule of imagination for spell choice. For ability scores I have them roll one d8 per ability, if they get a 1, 2, or a 3 they receive that bonus. 4-8 there is no bonus. Glad to see someone doing something similar.
Here's another piece of advice that isn't in this video. The best system for kids is Tiny Dungeon. I HIGHLY recommend it. Watch the Questing Beast review.
I’m excited to try this with my nephew, we’ve played basic war games with his pvc star wars toy soldiers with a ruler and a d6. Everyone moves and shoots a rulers length. Fights are determined by who rolls higher on a d6. It was a fun way to spend 30-45 minutes
You’re a life saver! I’m trying to figure out how to first be a first time DM and trying to figure out how to do all this with my two 6 year olds! Thank you so much!!
I'm not a parent or particularly kid friendly... but this video is PHENOMENAL for understanding RPG mechanics on a functional level. Glorious! If I may humbly recommend one thing: I have a few very young nephews who haven't yet unlocked the math skill. While I generally despise specialty dice, here I will be using graphic faced D6 rather than number or pip faced. How many 💥 did you roll? How many 👊 do you need? How many 🌟 for loot? My 2¢ on top of the wealth of information presented here.
I'm an elementary sped teacher and I use a basic table top rpg setup to work on problem solving, addition, measuring, and reading/phonics. Thank you for the great ideas.
This was very helpful. I just started teaching my 6 year old nephew the game, tried to keep it simple, introduced new concepts each session. But the idea of role play was completely lost on him so I’m aware that it was too soon for that. It was all theater of the mind so I really appreciate the suggestion of miniatures and terrain. Thanks for this and your right Hasbro should start providing products for their customers that have kids because those kids will grow up to be customers.
Hello. I know this video is old, but I found this as I was trying to think of a way to include my 5 and 8 year old nephews. This was the first thing I clicked on, and everything you said was pretty much spot on. Thank you 😊
This may be my first RUclips comment ever. That’s how much this video inspired me. Thank you so much for this. I haven’t played an rpg in over 20 years, but I want to get back into the hobby. I also have young children, and we’ve “told stories with dice” once or twice. I’m trying to keep away from violent type experiences. I love your advice from perspective of a teacher. I’ve been looking for content about playing with very young children, but there isn’t much out there. I would love additional content around puzzles, or exploration and problem solving encounter ideas. Thank you so so much for this video.
Great advice! I'm also thinking about speeding up combat when I DM my daughter's first D&D game. No turns or initiative rolls, it's all in real time. Just tell her to roll 1d6 and move that # of squares on the dungeon grid, and roll 1d20 to make attacks against an adjacent monster. Every time you hit, the monster is dead (if it's a minion like an orc) or else takes one of x hits (2 or 3 hits kills a boss monster).
I stole the spelling dungeon idea and ran my little one through a few floors I put together with some of your concepts. I had him roll 2d6 against a difficulty of 7 to damage monsters. He had to read or write a word from his spelling list to cause damage this way. I used The Wrath of Ashardalon and its dungeon tiles and let him build the layer as we went. He had to do spelling words and math throughout the dungeon to solve puzzles and open doors. He also had to do extended kill checks to revive his character before the Kobolds captured him. He was very fond of a Dwarven Shop merchant who sold him some loot. Great way to teach spelling!
Side note - 6 months ago I started down the journey of crafting terrain for D&D. It was your ultimate dungeon terrain that did me in. Now, I have quite the collection! Yesterday I used them as one of many DMs for the D&D Daedalus event, a 100 player D&D fundraiser for HIV/AIDS. The event coordinator was impressed, asking me to make enough terrain for 20 tables for next year. I plan on making 20 ultimate dungeon terrains and I wanted to give you a shout out/credit. What's the best way to do this for you?
Starting my first RPG this week with my 3yo, 6yo and wife. Planning on using Hero Kids and Princess and Castles system. Hopefully all goes well! I agree 💯 that children are the future to this amazing hobby! Thank you for all your amazing helpful vids!
Thanks! You can also check out Pathfinder Society Academy, a part of the Pathfinder Society set aside for new players from ages 6 to 17 and their families. paizo.com/products/btpy9ujc?Pathfinder-Society-Academy
I love this!!!! so awesome. I am the crafter in my D&D group and I have made all this stuff and my group is coming to a close. I have 4 kids and I have been looking for a way to simplify the game so they could play and man you did it!!! Thank you sir!
I have 4 nephews ages (6/9/9/12)and I have gotten them to play D&D once a week after school. I do basically the same as you. A few differences are all small monsters, they just need to roll a 10 or better to hit. I give them toy gold pieces when they get rewards or find treasure. I make them spend there gold for potions and supplies. We play for a 1hour, sometime more but you’re right about the attention span. Oh and yes I do need headache medicine when I’m done. I also make them all go in order clockwise when attacking. They have a blast. I use the terrain and figures which keep them interested.
As it is written, Train up a child in the ways they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it. "Train up" cam also be translated."according to their bent of predispositions". Children are predisposed to play! So let them play!
I ran d&d for my wife, mother in law and our 5 year old daughter this week. She had a blast defending their cart on the way to market. Best part was when my daughter’s PC was on watch, heard an approaching giant spider and chose to hide instead of warn the others. Led to a restrained and prone grandma. Will definitely use some of the suggestions here to make next time more streamlined.
Absolutely good sir. Family fun and education. Get the kiddos off of screen time and into the theater of the mind. I have to say though, I'm 40 and I still enjoy my earlier bed time.
My 7 year old twins are wanting to start and I'm trying my best to wrap my head around it. I like the idea of spelling words to beat an enemy. I was recommended a kids game called CoraQuest. And my kids love it. Also, when I was young there was a game called "battle masters" it was a table top battle game to introduce kids to warhammer etc. In the game you had a deck of cards which indicated who's go it was. Instead of traditional numbered dice the either had a skull or a shield. I still have thes and use them when playing with my 7 yerold boys and my 3 year old girl. Makes things easier Thank you sooo much for this Prof
Great video professor! Cool concepts on running games for children- kids want to play- sometimes we adults forget that fact-there are many skills, social actions, and behaviors we learned at the gaming table- we need to share and pay it forward to the younger generation! Fantastic job professor- again- you hit it out of the park!
Wizard already have Young Adventurer's Guides, but it's advertised for ages 8-12. I once runned a session for my 5year old daughter and 9year old son. I can confirm that the younger one was very dissapointed and borred because of the social encounters, all she wanted was to kick some butts with her Forest Gnome Monk (and her pet companion - Mr. Squirrel).
Thanks Jeffrey! That one didn't get a lot of views, possibly because my progeny just isn't cute enough on the thumbnail, but it was one of my favorite videos ever. Glad it was useful.
Dungeon Craft Indeed. But I want to ask, since you record experience, but don’t use official rules for spells etc, what do you keep track of regarding levels? Only HD or anything else?
This is an amazing idea! I work at an after school care and the base issue was the supposed age rating. But having this would be really fun and good for daycares!
My youngest has been playing with his brothers after the DMPC mage died almost immediately, and he is a fighter who is the mage’s brother. He is ALWAYS ready to avenge that death and realistically is the most motivated player of our group. Tell the kids why they are there. They will accept their mission and play that character to the hilt. 🎉
I'm 3 years late to the party, but damn, this is some amazing stuff! My oldest is 5 yo now, and is already interested in the minis i print and paint. He'd LOVE this. Thanks for the awesome video, i'm definitely going to do this!
I have my own set of rules I made to run mini dungeons with my two older kids (9 and 6). It involves rolling different dice for characters and monsters and comparing the results. But I like the ideas you show here. I will try to adapt some.
Thanks, Prof. DM! :) I would definitely put my D&D group (all adults lmao) in a dungeon immediately next time. I would also like to share my experience DM-ing for English language learners. (I'm a part-time tutor.) So after a few weeks of getting to know my student's personality, likes and dislikes, I would ask them if they would like to play a game. (I would only do this after their lesson for the day is finished and we still have time. It might sometimes even be an incentive for them to finish faster.) If they say yes, I would ask them what genre they prefer ("Okay. What do you want? Romance? Horror? Fantasy?") and after they pick one, I'd immediately start the adventure. I use people, events, and concepts familiar to them so they could immediately relate. So, I had a 25 year old woman interested in romance have a date with her celebrity crush. (She successfully intimidated her crush's ex when they coincidentally met at the restaurant.) I also had a 12 year old girl interested in horror live as one of the survivors in a zombie apocalypse world. (After she escaped a zombie encounter, she meets an older survivor who helped her get back home to get her passport and pack her things.) I have a dice app on my phone so that's the only tool we'd use, and then just the D20. (This is so they don't get too intimidated.) If they get the higher roll, then they're successful. If they get the lower roll, then I determine how they fail.
3 yrs later..... Dan, why didn't you just create a jr RPG Kickstarter back then and by now you're a million dollars richer? Now at the time (of this posting) I didn't do a Google search. So I don't know if such a game exists but wow.. What a great concept. What got me back into DMing was my grandson asking me to run a game for him and his friends on his bday last yr and I'm having a blast. Thanks for all you do in the hobby Dan. Big fan of yours, all the way back to dungeon magazine!
Great video, wish I'd seen it a few years ago and I'd have started them younger. But am now running a weekly game at the local community centre for a bunch of tweens and teenagers who want to game, so although they differ in skills, I don't have to change the rules for them apart from keeping the sessions short and action packed.
Great tips and ideas! Thank you for sharing these. Also would like to point out that some of these ideas are also great for introducing people who have never played RPGs (incl. video games). Thanks.
This is really good. Im running a game for two twelve year olds tomorrow and more nervous probably than ever before. I think adventure design is a really tough one... kids are waaaaaay harder to keep entertained. Edit: the point at hasbro is brilliant
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 It went fantastically well, thanks for asking. There turned out to be several more younger children which had me nervous but it turned out fine. I think I used just about everything you suggested, I did have them roll damage as they found it exciting but just had 1 hp behind the screen. Initiative is a no go, I had them pass around an old looking medallion I have lying round so that they each got to "go first", it also helped keeping them a little quieter. The main mistake I made was not taking into account how many delays there would be and having the whole thing run over by half hour. Kids are just more easily distracted so it took longer than expected. They all had a great time though and I'll be back playing with the blue fairy and the man who "fell in a pumpkin and got magic animal powers" in a couple of weeks. Thanks again for the great advice and looking forward to more of your videos.
YES! Hasbro make a D&D Jr!! I’m almost 40, got back into D&D recently and my kids have taken a big interest. I’ve even ran a few dungeon crawls with super simplified D&D rules. My kids are 4 and 6, the imagination and creativity from them is far superior to any adult groups I’ve ran for.
"I killed a twelve year old and all his friends on his birthday"
-Professor Dungeon Master, 2019
Lmao. This is why context is important.
Its funny because he posted this on MY birthday!
I'd say this should be a t-shirt, but it would get you in a lot of trouble without the context.
Good times, and a valuable lesson learned!
I also love the "a child of 6,7, or 8 doesn't need to know why they're in the dungeon. Just put them there"
It's amazing how much of this is relevant to me in playing games with players in their late 20's.
Lol. I had a line about the only ones crying about their dead characters are millennials, but I cut it.
Haha about to say something similar
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I'm in my late 20s and that cracked me up lmao.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Millennials turn 40 this year.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 probably better not to take jabs at people, the Dungeon Master is supposed to be everyone's friend
My son was always looking at the monster pictures in my Monster Manual when he was small. That motivated him to read. Now he reads above his grade level and joined the D&D club at his middle school. 👍
So I ran games for my oldest (5years). At first I used problem solving math questions to defeat challenges. She often bribed goblin guards with cupcakes to go away.
When I broke out the dice, shit got real. Lol
We used the stat as the dice rolled (4,6,8,10,12,20)...
And 4 stats: Speed, Melee attack, Ranged attack and Magic.
Regardless of her dice rolled, I would always roll mine.
After we rolled I would ask her which number was greater (her 6 vs my 4 for instance)
She had little character sheets for each character and magic did what ever she wanted as long as she rolled it.
Everything was roll vs roll.
Oh! And one big pool of glass aquarium/vase beads for hit points regardless of the number of her characters
First time in the dungeon with dice:
First combat with goblins.
Alex: I want to attack the goblin with magic.
Me: okay, roll.
* rolls, success
Me: okay what does your magic do?
Alex: uhm....
Me: okay, you make illusionary butterflies that make a goblin chase them
Alex: .....( looks at me lie I have 6 heads)
Me: or you can kill it with fire
Alex: I KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!
later that dungeon she used her magic to animate a skeleton displayed on the dungeon tiles I use.
God bless my little murder hobo.
Ah murder hobos... gotta start them young I say.
" kill it with fire "
She is a D&D player like her father before her
Ronnie J Dio and I couldn't be more proud
@@broke_af_games9661 Thumbs up !
I remember running Mines of Phandelver with my then 6/7 year old sister and she shot down the goblin that overlooks a bridge in the cave (her first kill) and i described it as "the goblin falls over into the water and floats downstream" to which she added "and the water turns red from the blood."
At that point I knew pretty much everything was a go lmao.
One idea for playing DnD with kids that wasn't brought up: Using Legos for minis. Not only that, it's great for building terrain. There are plenty of dry-erase battlemats and tiles that can be used around kids without having to worry about them accidentally breaking or staining them (like 1985's Dungeon Craft terrain). Also, Meeples pawns are often used as a less expensive substitute for minis (it's what I use).
That IS a great idea!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 About a year or so ago I discovered an entire subreddit devoted to playing tabletop RPGs with Lego (/r/legodnd). I couldn't help but be impressed.
We use Lego Mini's all the time. They are perfect, and easy to customize.
Letting the kid do what they want and simplifying it to a difficulty roll: this is perfect. Especially for younger kids. This is what I do with my 5yr old and 3yr old.
They bloody love d&d
Awesome! The family that plays together, stays together! Or at least slays together.
It's interesting to see that many of the techniques you disclosed in this video were the same things my wife and I did when we were homeschooling our children.
Nice!
DnD junior would be an awesome product. Re purposing minis and possibly tiles from their board games would be great. I have run intro / short games for adults and most of these ideas would be applicable. Start at the dungeon, have a few fights, a puzzle/trap, maybe an RP encounter and call it good.
ruclips.net/video/Cx8sl2uC46A/видео.html
Though this might not be Hasbro (I don't know who made it) but it is close. I had this as a child and it was great for all my friends and I to get into the tabletop hobby.
I mean Heroquest is (or did they have sold the rights) from Hasbro...
Yes a great game :D ... 'but' without rpg content... what not means it it worse than DnD ;)
I'm doing that with my kids. Using Carcassonne tiles for the world, LEGO figures for characters, Pandemic virus blocks for treasures and some printed quests and cards for the gameplay. I'm planning to buy unpainted cubes and then paint feet on them to indicate steps. I'm not a DnD player :D
WOTC has started to market products for younger players. There is a book series called "Young Adventurers Guide" and my daughter loves them!
Cool!
Great video.😎😎😎😎
When I ran my first game of D&D six years ago (after many years of playing), we too simplified our modified 2e system. My oldest grandchild was 9. He played a paladin. We were investigating missing animals in the night.
I presented a puzzle involving crossing a bridge by freezing and muting all the adult players. He solved it. After the adventure, he told the NPC cleric I ran he wanted to expand her little hamlet church into a proper temple, all without prompting! Great game! He's played quite a few games since then with friends.
Wow I really like the idea of quizing the kids instead or rolling the dice as a study tool. It reminds me of typing of the dead.
Sweet! I run games for a group of kids every week, it will be great to hear some more suggestions and tactics.
I recently ran a short session with my 7yo. No class features, just stats and skills. It was based on a D&Dish series of bedtime stories I've been telling her for the last year and a half. Introducing the genre through story first helped her know what kinds of actions make narrative sense.
Oh man. You just prepared me for being a parent. Thanks.
I introduced my son to d&d at age of 8, he'll be 10 in October and has a pretty good grasp on the game in general. He loves it and I love that he loves it. Ty for the video.
I’m planning a D&D seminar class for second language learners. There were some great tips in the video with some solid pedagogical basis here. Glad the algorithm fed it to me. Thanks for making the video.
You're welcome! Glad this video was useful.
Perfect.
I used a great product called RPGkids to teach my children. I used Lego minifigs for characters and terrain and drew room plans on paper. Matt Colville's Delian Tomb really got them interested.
Cheers
I can't recommend "the Delian Tomb" from Matt Colville's running the game videos enough got me into DND. Use "muscles and miracles" one page RPG system for kids
I love the Pathfinder Goblin statue that's now featuring on your shelf.
This was a delightful video.
This is the greatest channel on D&D. I am a father and teacher who play with my kids. Your my inspiration.
This video is great in was an inspiration for me I love as just starting to play with my kids at home and in the classroom.
Now, I have my own RUclips channel for parents and teachers and I’ve created my own ruleset and home-brew world.
ABSOLUTELY. Very nice. Started both of my children as soon as they could grasp simple concepts. It has served them well in life. I'm convinced it gave them advantages in school and in adult life. They are now both parents and have started teaching their children. The cycle continues HUZZAH!
Nice!
I work at a Summer camp and usually let the kids (9-14) play some form of DND (started w/ 13th age, moved to Basic Fantasy because less rules are better for kids) during lunch (~12:00-1:00). Almost every kid that played it had an absolute blast. When they first started they did not know what to do besides roll a d20, and by the end of the week they would discuss tactics with each other during combat.
I try to do something unique for each of my grandchildren. With one we go horseback ridding, one is movies, one is football, one gardening & cooking and one is D&D he is 5 and he loves it. I never played with mini's and tiles but now we are off to the races. When he is older we will start painting minis and terrain. I started with homework which he did not like doing. So we got big dice and counted, then added and subtraction. On to spelling and so forth. He improved in school and he is an only child so this has helped with socialization as well. First we played 1:1 and now we are adding friends. I am now using your simplified sheet and rules for magic and it has opened up his world. Kudos for working with kids and thanks for the tips that have made our game better. .
I'm sure it's been mentioned before, But I have what I think is an effective way to omit 'magic' and spells from the game for those families that for religious reasons can't go down that path, but they'd like to play an adventure game like D&D. with their young kids. Taking everything Aralorn said into account, consider this. Wizards as inventors/tinkerers and/or as scientists/chemists. Clerics as healers/medics. Monks simply as martial artists (which is what they are anyways), Paladins as knights, Druids who can talk to and befriend animals (OK, it's a little magical), etc. My friend babysits for some Jehovah Witnesses kids and they desperately want to try D&D, but their parents are adamant about there being no magic, at least overtly so.
Soccer67 Great suggestions. You can also tell them I approve & that in addition to being a professor, I’m also a minister. Which is true. God bless!
I just started a game for my 8 year old nephew and his parents. He's understanding the rules and math in a frightening capacity. Better yet, my older brother shockingly jumped right in and looked up stats and info on his phone. He has a warforged paladin with a backstory, detailed visual description, motivations, and full fledged story hooks. God, all three of them have PCs with honest to goodness goals, personalities, and pasts that they want to find out more about from playing.
I tear up as I write this. Being a good uncle is very important to me since I don't have kids of my own (yet?) and I didn't have strong role models growing up. I've always desperately wanted something more than football to bond with my older brother about too. My sister-in-law is well aware what this DnD game really means to me and has been a super awesome family member and player.
I would not have this thing without your videos giving me confidence to run a game. I have watched so much DnD content on youtube and have bought practically all the books for 5e over the last few years. Great info, I love every DnD content creator I watch, but YOU and your videos are what made me think I can competently run this game for my family.
Thank you.
Thanks for writing! I'm thrilled this channel has brought your family closer together. Happy gaming!
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 A quick update. Our first session went very well. Laughter, action, mystery. My older brother is a massive pain in my ass, which awarded him inspiration because he really is creative and clever with his bullshit. They're actually roleplaying, wow. Everyone had a chance to shine, major success. We are on a bi weekly schedule! Thank you again!
This is genius. I have a 6 year old I want to get playing and your character sheet is exactly what I was looking for.
This reminds me of Dragonstrike from back in the day. That was how I taught my bro's how DnD worked.
Or... dare I say it... HeroQuest? I'm gently transitioning my HQ players to D&D and came up with a lot of the same concepts. Body points are strength and toughness combined, mind points are intelligence and wisdom combined. DCC does the same with INT/WIS.
Thanks for the wonderful video! I've put off gaming with my toddler, but this has inspired me to finally include him in what I've already been planning for years.
Thank you sir. You've highlighted a number of mistakes I've been making with my kids as we've been playing. All excellent tips.
Wow, this is the most complete guide/video that I found on RUclips, your tips are fantastic for my 6 years old daughter, amazing information and really helpful, thank you ✌🏻
Thank you, Nohemi. I made this video because I have run D&D for children for years and thought it would be helpful. Yet it's gotten comparatively few views, so when someone says it was useful, it makes me feel it was worth it. Another tip: Tiny Dungeons is a great game for children because the dice are easier to read and the system allows children to create their own classes and spells.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 totally worth the video and again, thank you for the advice 👌🏻
Wow spelling dungeon is genius. You should trademark the name lol
I can envision having lists of spell words and dungeon floor patterns, but I'm not sure it would have mass appeal. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Sounds like a good Drivethrurpg system agnostic short book. Honestly I think the market for kid-centric boardgame/RPG hybrids is very under developed. Kids are natural role-players. It's just a matter of finding the right way to but some sort of light rules/railings on the experience so the parents can run it without stifling creativity.
Funny thing is, I remember as a kid (some 20 years ago) playing a computer game that was just that. A simple dungeon crawling rpg of sorts where you progressed by answering spelling questions correctly. My mother is a teacher and she was always trying to find new ways to use games for learning. Too bad I can't seem to find that specific one on the internet.
yeah I'm totally doing this.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 It could. Have you ever heard of gameschooling? Its homeschoolers who use games to facilitate learning various subjects. There are several groups on Facebook about it.
This may be one of the best videos on your channel. I have two young daughters and have been trying to figure out the best way to introduce them to the game. Your video has given me a ton of ideas. Love the character sheet too!
Great video I’ve run a bit for kids and I do a lot of this already but some of your tips were above and beyond. Love the HP tracking and that spelling Dungeon is genius. Thanks!
I Love It!!! I'm in the tri-state area, and I'm teaching my kids to play D&D and Warhammer 40k, this has been an amazing bonding experience. My 4 year old asks if we are playing every day, I'm secretly teaching my kids math, strategy, and responsibility. We have the best times, and my son at 9 has started running games. I'm really proud of this hobby. I wish I found it sooner. Thanks for the tips and all the help. MUCH LOVE, and Be BLESSED!!!😁⚔
I'm playing the same way with dnd for my grandson whose 3 yrs old. I have lots of mini's and terrain and he loves it.
This is brilliant. I love this! I will definitely be using this with our kids once they're old enough. As a thought for people who don't have the minies or dungeon stuff, you could repurpose minis from board games or some of your little one's favorite toys as pieces. You could also use board games, like Candy Land as your dungeon.
I just stumbled across this video.
I sent you a pdf of something similar I did, 100% symbols, 3 ability scores, 3 classes, rule of imagination for spell choice.
For ability scores I have them roll one d8 per ability, if they get a 1, 2, or a 3 they receive that bonus. 4-8 there is no bonus.
Glad to see someone doing something similar.
Thank you for making this. I will plan a session this weekend. Wish me luck!
Thanks!
Actually, this resembles very much approach taken in dedicated RPG for kids Hero Kids. Even character card looks very much the same.
Thought the same thing. My kids cut their teeth on Hero kids before moving on to 5E.
Great video. I've been meaning to run Lost Mine of Phandelver for my nieces and my 6 years old, and these advices will really come in handy!
Here's another piece of advice that isn't in this video. The best system for kids is Tiny Dungeon. I HIGHLY recommend it. Watch the Questing Beast review.
Only just seen this older video. DM'ing my first RPG for my son this week. Really helpful!
I love it and will definitely be using a lot of this with my kids' games. You're a wonderful human and our hobby needs more people like you.
I remember playing theater of the mind with my dad when I was 6-7 years old. Busted out the old keep on the borderlands, loved it.
I’m excited to try this with my nephew, we’ve played basic war games with his pvc star wars toy soldiers with a ruler and a d6. Everyone moves and shoots a rulers length. Fights are determined by who rolls higher on a d6. It was a fun way to spend 30-45 minutes
You’re a life saver! I’m trying to figure out how to first be a first time DM and trying to figure out how to do all this with my two 6 year olds! Thank you so much!!
I LOVE the idea of working his spelling words and school work into a game for your son.
I'm not a parent or particularly kid friendly... but this video is PHENOMENAL for understanding RPG mechanics on a functional level. Glorious!
If I may humbly recommend one thing: I have a few very young nephews who haven't yet unlocked the math skill. While I generally despise specialty dice, here I will be using graphic faced D6 rather than number or pip faced.
How many 💥 did you roll? How many 👊 do you need? How many 🌟 for loot?
My 2¢ on top of the wealth of information presented here.
That's HeroQuest. You're welcome!
@@benvoliothefirst , you know I had actually considered that. LOL
I'm an elementary sped teacher and I use a basic table top rpg setup to work on problem solving, addition, measuring, and reading/phonics. Thank you for the great ideas.
Cool! Thanks for your hard work!
This was very helpful. I just started teaching my 6 year old nephew the game, tried to keep it simple, introduced new concepts each session. But the idea of role play was completely lost on him so I’m aware that it was too soon for that. It was all theater of the mind so I really appreciate the suggestion of miniatures and terrain. Thanks for this and your right Hasbro should start providing products for their customers that have kids because those kids will grow up to be customers.
I've been looking for good advice for how to get my young son into D&D for a while. This video is exactly what I've been looking for. Perfect thanks!
I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate you making this video. ❤
Hello. I know this video is old, but I found this as I was trying to think of a way to include my 5 and 8 year old nephews. This was the first thing I clicked on, and everything you said was pretty much spot on. Thank you 😊
This may be my first RUclips comment ever. That’s how much this video inspired me. Thank you so much for this. I haven’t played an rpg in over 20 years, but I want to get back into the hobby. I also have young children, and we’ve “told stories with dice” once or twice. I’m trying to keep away from violent type experiences. I love your advice from perspective of a teacher. I’ve been looking for content about playing with very young children, but there isn’t much out there. I would love additional content around puzzles, or exploration and problem solving encounter ideas. Thank you so so much for this video.
Great advice! I'm also thinking about speeding up combat when I DM my daughter's first D&D game. No turns or initiative rolls, it's all in real time. Just tell her to roll 1d6 and move that # of squares on the dungeon grid, and roll 1d20 to make attacks against an adjacent monster. Every time you hit, the monster is dead (if it's a minion like an orc) or else takes one of x hits (2 or 3 hits kills a boss monster).
I stole the spelling dungeon idea and ran my little one through a few floors I put together with some of your concepts. I had him roll 2d6 against a difficulty of 7 to damage monsters. He had to read or write a word from his spelling list to cause damage this way. I used The Wrath of Ashardalon and its dungeon tiles and let him build the layer as we went. He had to do spelling words and math throughout the dungeon to solve puzzles and open doors. He also had to do extended kill checks to revive his character before the Kobolds captured him. He was very fond of a Dwarven Shop merchant who sold him some loot. Great way to teach spelling!
It was one of my better child-raising ideas. Glad to hear this video helped with your child!
Side note - 6 months ago I started down the journey of crafting terrain for D&D. It was your ultimate dungeon terrain that did me in. Now, I have quite the collection! Yesterday I used them as one of many DMs for the D&D Daedalus event, a 100 player D&D fundraiser for HIV/AIDS. The event coordinator was impressed, asking me to make enough terrain for 20 tables for next year. I plan on making 20 ultimate dungeon terrains and I wanted to give you a shout out/credit. What's the best way to do this for you?
Hero Kids is a great way to introduce kids to a D&D like game. It's a lot of fun and very easy to understand.
I'll check it out.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 it's available on DriveThruRPG.com
Starting my first RPG this week with my 3yo, 6yo and wife. Planning on using Hero Kids and Princess and Castles system. Hopefully all goes well! I agree 💯 that children are the future to this amazing hobby!
Thank you for all your amazing helpful vids!
This was great. My 4 and 5 year old are really interested in playing D&D with me.
You are doing yeoman's work sir. Passing it on is the best way for it to go on.
This is perfect! Just what I've been searching for!
Thanks! You can also check out Pathfinder Society Academy, a part of the Pathfinder Society set aside for new players from ages 6 to 17 and their families. paizo.com/products/btpy9ujc?Pathfinder-Society-Academy
Love your comment about a certain bard singing. Got chocked up
This was brilliant! I know it's old but I also just realised you are basically playing "HeroQuest" at this point, which is always fun
I first played with only floorplans from Citadel. They provided so many ideas for us to adventure across. Good video :)
Right on, man. Great ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Thank YOU for watching and sharing!
I love this!!!! so awesome. I am the crafter in my D&D group and I have made all this stuff and my group is coming to a close. I have 4 kids and I have been looking for a way to simplify the game so they could play and man you did it!!! Thank you sir!
I have 4 nephews ages (6/9/9/12)and I have gotten them to play D&D once a week after school. I do basically the same as you. A few differences are all small monsters, they just need to roll a 10 or better to hit. I give them toy gold pieces when they get rewards or find treasure. I make them spend there gold for potions and supplies. We play for a 1hour, sometime more but you’re right about the attention span. Oh and yes I do need headache medicine when I’m done. I also make them all go in order clockwise when attacking. They have a blast. I use the terrain and figures which keep them interested.
Thanks for sharing!
*Taking notes to introduce new players*
Teach the children well!
Great video! I’m gearing up to doing my first campaign with my fam- Last time I played was 2000. Doing as much prep as possible!
As it is written, Train up a child in the ways they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it. "Train up" cam also be translated."according to their bent of predispositions". Children are predisposed to play! So let them play!
Also, please link that AWESOME super simplified character sheet!!!
making it yourself is super easy, barely an inconvenience
"So you have a new character sheet for me?" "Yes sir I do!"
I ran d&d for my wife, mother in law and our 5 year old daughter this week. She had a blast defending their cart on the way to market. Best part was when my daughter’s PC was on watch, heard an approaching giant spider and chose to hide instead of warn the others. Led to a restrained and prone grandma. Will definitely use some of the suggestions here to make next time more streamlined.
Oh sweet I didn't think I could find something like this for my sons. Thanks sub,comment,thumbs up!
Cool! Glad to be helpful. FYI: most of my stuff is pretty grimdark, but I love running lighter games for kids.
Great comments, I run a game for my Twins boys 10 years old and two of their friends. We have a blast and 90 minutes The perfect time for a session.
AWESOME!
Absolutely good sir. Family fun and education. Get the kiddos off of screen time and into the theater of the mind. I have to say though, I'm 40 and I still enjoy my earlier bed time.
It's funny how you eventually look at an early bedtime as a reward!
My 7 year old twins are wanting to start and I'm trying my best to wrap my head around it. I like the idea of spelling words to beat an enemy.
I was recommended a kids game called CoraQuest. And my kids love it.
Also, when I was young there was a game called "battle masters" it was a table top battle game to introduce kids to warhammer etc. In the game you had a deck of cards which indicated who's go it was. Instead of traditional numbered dice the either had a skull or a shield. I still have thes and use them when playing with my 7 yerold boys and my 3 year old girl. Makes things easier
Thank you sooo much for this Prof
Great video professor! Cool concepts on running games for children- kids want to play- sometimes we adults forget that fact-there are many skills, social actions, and behaviors we learned at the gaming table- we need to share and pay it forward to the younger generation! Fantastic job professor- again- you hit it out of the park!
This is amazing, thanks so much. Been wanting to get my 6 and 9 year old into it.
Glad you enjoyed it. I played with my children when they turned 6. Enjoy!
I started playing D&D when I was 7 and I still have the books from that era, the late 70's. Cool vid man!
Wizard already have Young Adventurer's Guides, but it's advertised for ages 8-12.
I once runned a session for my 5year old daughter and 9year old son. I can confirm that the younger one was very dissapointed and borred because of the social encounters, all she wanted was to kick some butts with her Forest Gnome Monk (and her pet companion - Mr. Squirrel).
I cant wait till my kids are old enough to play.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the great content
Phenomenal video. Subbed and going to watch a bunch of other videos.
Thanks Jeffrey! That one didn't get a lot of views, possibly because my progeny just isn't cute enough on the thumbnail, but it was one of my favorite videos ever. Glad it was useful.
I have a 10 and a 5 year old and was taking notes hrough this entire video. Keep up the good work
Great episode! Many thanks! 👍🙏
Thanks for watching it. Didn't get many views but I think it will really help people.
Dungeon Craft Indeed. But I want to ask, since you record experience, but don’t use official rules for spells etc, what do you keep track of regarding levels? Only HD or anything else?
This is an amazing idea! I work at an after school care and the base issue was the supposed age rating. But having this would be really fun and good for daycares!
My youngest has been playing with his brothers after the DMPC mage died almost immediately, and he is a fighter who is the mage’s brother. He is ALWAYS ready to avenge that death and realistically is the most motivated player of our group. Tell the kids why they are there. They will accept their mission and play that character to the hilt. 🎉
YES!
I'm 3 years late to the party, but damn, this is some amazing stuff! My oldest is 5 yo now, and is already interested in the minis i print and paint. He'd LOVE this. Thanks for the awesome video, i'm definitely going to do this!
Great video.
Brilliant video. Very well done. Thank you.
Excellent video. I'm just about to start a short campaing for my 5 year old son. Very useful tips :)
Good video with some great ideas. Thank you. I know some adults who might be receptive to this play-style too - and bring on Junior D&D, I say!
Great video. So many fun quotes and even better ideas PDM! Thank you.
I started playing when I was 4 because I was begging my brothers. Kids fucking love DnD. Those are excellent tips.
i feel like as adults we should remember how simple fun can be
Thanks for your comments. Check out my newest video. ruclips.net/video/7LCLFpPa1IM/видео.html
I have my own set of rules I made to run mini dungeons with my two older kids (9 and 6). It involves rolling different dice for characters and monsters and comparing the results. But I like the ideas you show here. I will try to adapt some.
Thanks, Prof. DM! :) I would definitely put my D&D group (all adults lmao) in a dungeon immediately next time.
I would also like to share my experience DM-ing for English language learners. (I'm a part-time tutor.)
So after a few weeks of getting to know my student's personality, likes and dislikes, I would ask them if they would like to play a game. (I would only do this after their lesson for the day is finished and we still have time. It might sometimes even be an incentive for them to finish faster.)
If they say yes, I would ask them what genre they prefer ("Okay. What do you want? Romance? Horror? Fantasy?") and after they pick one, I'd immediately start the adventure. I use people, events, and concepts familiar to them so they could immediately relate.
So, I had a 25 year old woman interested in romance have a date with her celebrity crush. (She successfully intimidated her crush's ex when they coincidentally met at the restaurant.)
I also had a 12 year old girl interested in horror live as one of the survivors in a zombie apocalypse world. (After she escaped a zombie encounter, she meets an older survivor who helped her get back home to get her passport and pack her things.)
I have a dice app on my phone so that's the only tool we'd use, and then just the D20. (This is so they don't get too intimidated.) If they get the higher roll, then they're successful. If they get the lower roll, then I determine how they fail.
3 yrs later..... Dan, why didn't you just create a jr RPG Kickstarter back then and by now you're a million dollars richer? Now at the time (of this posting) I didn't do a Google search. So I don't know if such a game exists but wow.. What a great concept.
What got me back into DMing was my grandson asking me to run a game for him and his friends on his bday last yr and I'm having a blast.
Thanks for all you do in the hobby Dan.
Big fan of yours, all the way back to dungeon magazine!
Great video, wish I'd seen it a few years ago and I'd have started them younger. But am now running a weekly game at the local community centre for a bunch of tweens and teenagers who want to game, so although they differ in skills, I don't have to change the rules for them apart from keeping the sessions short and action packed.
Great tips and ideas! Thank you for sharing these. Also would like to point out that some of these ideas are also great for introducing people who have never played RPGs (incl. video games). Thanks.
Absolutely. That might be worth a video as well.
This is really good. Im running a game for two twelve year olds tomorrow and more nervous probably than ever before. I think adventure design is a really tough one... kids are waaaaaay harder to keep entertained.
Edit: the point at hasbro is brilliant
Let me know how it goes! Funny about Hasbro--within a week I had a new subscriber--Paizo! They're always so much faster that Hasbro.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 It went fantastically well, thanks for asking. There turned out to be several more younger children which had me nervous but it turned out fine. I think I used just about everything you suggested, I did have them roll damage as they found it exciting but just had 1 hp behind the screen. Initiative is a no go, I had them pass around an old looking medallion I have lying round so that they each got to "go first", it also helped keeping them a little quieter. The main mistake I made was not taking into account how many delays there would be and having the whole thing run over by half hour. Kids are just more easily distracted so it took longer than expected.
They all had a great time though and I'll be back playing with the blue fairy and the man who "fell in a pumpkin and got magic animal powers" in a couple of weeks. Thanks again for the great advice and looking forward to more of your videos.
YES! Hasbro make a D&D Jr!! I’m almost 40, got back into D&D recently and my kids have taken a big interest. I’ve even ran a few dungeon crawls with super simplified D&D rules. My kids are 4 and 6, the imagination and creativity from them is far superior to any adult groups I’ve ran for.