Anyone play D&D with their kids?

[danzibr]

Just wondering. If so, how did it go? When's a good age to start?

My wife and I have a 3 month old so we haven't started him quite yet, but I have every intention of playing D&D with my kids when they're older. I did play D&D with my parents.

[GeekGirl]

We just started with a friend's (my usual DM) daughter, shes 7 now. But has been asking to start since she was about 5. We started with a pre-made 4th campaign, she seemed to enjoy it and did pretty well too.

[Calintares]

My friends daugther of 7 is a member of our group along with her mother. She always play a 9 year old girl and she tends to be a bit too impulsive (such as jumping down a hatch without checking first or disturbing what looks to be a not-quite-yet-dead body)

Amusingly, the first game she joined us for was Call of Cthulhu.

[Yora]

My mom often played Sorcerer's Cave with us when we were about 8 or so.
It has no character building, but is basically a dungeon crawl in a randomly created dungeon where you find random monsters that you can kill and take their teasure, and occasionally recruit them into your party. And treasure had lots of permanent bonus and single use magic items.
(It had also blank treasure cards. My idea for making a dynamite item that can blast through a wall was awesome. :smallbiggrin:)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/43/104884441_8256028807.jpg

[olthar]

I started playing 1st edition with my parents when I was six. We played on and off for a bit and then when my sister turned six (a little over a year later) we switched to Heroquest, which we played for a couple of years.

[imperialspectre]

Started my 5-year-old (almost 6) on Legend a couple days ago. Built her a Buffy-clone Monk.

[McSmack]

My 4 year old wants to play, but he's not quite old enough yet. Same goes for my 3 year old. In a few more years I'm gonna have my own gaming group all under the same roof. It'll be like college again, except with less booze!

[LibraryOgre]

Just wondering. If so, how did it go? When's a good age to start?

My wife and I have a 3 month old so we haven't started him quite yet, but I have every intention of playing D&D with my kids when they're older. I did play D&D with my parents.

Define "D&D". :smallbiggrin:

Younger kids (any time they can communicate with language) can certainly play make-believe games that you pattern on D&D, with you slowly steeping things up until they're slinging dice with the best of us.

I'd probably start them as they're learning to read into actual game rules situations, but also be flexible on the rules, with a number of reminders (i.e. "You can run away, but he'll get one last attack if you do.")

[manyslayer]

My six-year old keeps wanting to play with us. Currently we do some Dragon Strike and Heroquest, to give him a feel for it.

[Caliphbubba]

one of the guys in our group has his daughter playing with us. She started playing with us when she was 16 I think. She's 20 now. We first met her when she was 4. Man I've been gaming with these same people a looooonnggggg time >_< lol

[danzibr]

My 4 year old wants to play, but he's not quite old enough yet. Same goes for my 3 year old. In a few more years I'm gonna have my own gaming group all under the same roof. It'll be like college again, except with less booze!

Ahh that's what I look forward to. Still got some years.

[Yora]

Darth and Droids has some of the greatest moments from one of the players little sister who plays the extras like C-3PO and Jarjar. :smallbiggrin:
I think it was that character who caused one of the other characters to say ingame "Jarjar, you're a genius".

It's also the reason for many of the weird aliens in the prequel movies.

[Gnaeus]

Faerie's Tale, by firefly games, is an RPG designed for young children to play with their parents. My 4 year old loves it and asks to play all the time, although I have to help her tell odd from even.

[McSmack]

My six-year old keeps wanting to play with us. Currently we do some Dragon Strike and Heroquest, to give him a feel for it.

Wait like circa 1993 Dragon Strike with the cheesy video? That game was epic!

[Kmcdswan]

I don't have kids, but my parents played D&D they started me playing at 8 and I've been playing ever since. At 15 I started my own group with my friends (I"m 25 now for record) and 4 years ago I let my brother start playing (he was 14 then). He's now running a game, and is by far and away one of the more talented members of our group. I think that 13 to 15 is a good age to start but exposure to the game can affect things a great deal so there some leeway to starting someone who has been raised with gaming in their life. all things considered I don't think was ever really regarded and anything but that cute kid who hangs out with us while we game to my D&D group until I was at least 12, and even then I didn't really feel like a member of the group (Hence the starting my own with friends my age). I still game with my family my Mom's boyfriend is the best DM I know, and the family bonding is invaluable, but I think I'd have been OK if they'd started me off a little later.

As Always,
LKDMS.

[Magesmiley]

What age to start at is going to depend a lot on the individual kids and also who (if anyone) you game with.

I strongly suggest trying to pick up a copy of Heroquest. My kids tried that out when they were around 7 or 8. It gave them a taste of D&D and let me see where they stood in their abilities to handle a cooperative game.

As I DM for several friends (who also have kids interested), I've used age 12 as the point where the kids got to play. We let the kids join in the games. I tend to tone things down a bit when younger kids are playing too. I'm of the opinion that 12 is about the youngest age that can succssfully interact on a regular basis with adults in the same D&D game. Much younger and it significantly increases the difficulty of running a game that adults and kids can both enjoy.

That said, if all of the players are younger, a younger age might work. My oldest daughter runs a game too. Her sisters got to play in that game before they played in mine, which was fine, as there wasn't as much of a disparity in the players' ages. They could play on a (relatively) even footing.

[FafnerMorell]

I play "Monster Slayer: The Heroes of Hesoid" with my 6, 6, and 4 year old - they like it (especially coloring-in the tokens and rolling dice). They also like playing with the standard Dungeon Tiles and tokens from the Red Box - but it's mostly making up stories about what's going on. One daughter insists that the dragon & dinosaurs are the good guys, and the other likes the humans (princesses) - so usually the gang up against the zombies and orcs.

[lumosdefortuno]

I play "Monster Slayer: The Heroes of Hesoid" with my 6, 6, and 4 year old - they like it (especially coloring-in the tokens and rolling dice). They also like playing with the standard Dungeon Tiles and tokens from the Red Box - but it's mostly making up stories about what's going on. One daughter insists that the dragon & dinosaurs are the good guys, and the other likes the humans (princesses) - so usually the gang up against the zombies and orcs.

Oh my gosh, that is SO adorable! a movie about a talking dinosaur and a princess saving the kingdom from zombies. Can you say "record breaking gross for a children's film with strong female leads"? :elan:

[OverdrivePrime]

This thread warms my heart. :smallbiggrin:

My little guy is just four weeks old, and I let him help me plan my new campaign world. I'm planning on giving him lots of exposure to quality source material but maybe not bring him into games until he's around ten or so.