Appropriate D&D ish stuff to read to a baby...

[gooddragon1]

xxxxxxxxxxxx

[atemu1234]

edit: If only "the little psion that could" was a real story :(

i have found my calling!

[Grod_The_Giant]

How old is the kid? Are you looking for something a kindergartener will understand, or interesting things to read out loud while rocking a baby to sleep?

[gooddragon1]

How old is the kid? Are you looking for something a kindergartener will understand, or interesting things to read out loud while rocking a baby to sleep?

Second one. I have an affinity for psionics btw.

[Talar]

Can't really go wrong with the Hobbit. I think my dad read that one to me when I was about 3 I think.

[fishyfishyfishy]

In my experience you can read them just about anything. They just like listening to you talk to them. It's when they're a few months older that you want to be more selective.

[graeylin]

As a baby, the important thing is the noise, the vocals, not the words.

You can read a dictionary or a Chilton's manual to them. doesn't matter. Until they can start to associate words with objects, only tone and sound matter.

After they begin to exhibit curiosity, and imagination, then content matters much more.

So, read Time magazine. Read the DMG. Read anything aloud. It's all good at that age.


Except Twilight novels. There's nothing ever good about reading those.

[FocusWolf413]

My dad used to describe his D&D stories to my sister and I when we were little. Yes, they were somewhat graphic, but honestly, they were amazing bedtime stories. Watch what you say and how you say it, and it really doesn't matter what the story is about.

This is a good opportunity to try to make up ideas for campaigns and stuff.

[Rubik]

This (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8096183/1/Harry-Potter-and-the-Natural-20) would make for a good bedtime story, though the tyke obviously won't know what you're talking about. However, it's genuinely fun to read, and WHAT you read doesn't matter much right now, as others have stated.

At least you'll find enjoyment for yourself, and expressing positive emotions around the kid is a really good thing.

[Crazysaneman]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-318311.html
CRAZYLAND
My nephews loved this story when I read it to them. Totally child appropriate, hilarious, and original to boot. Enjoy.

[atemu1234]

Yeah, if it's that young it doesn't matter if you read it 50 Shades of Gray or something, it doesn't have any idea what you're saying anyway. (Not that I advocate this. You never know when it's going to start paying attention).

[sakuuya]

My six-month-old daughter's had most of the 5e PHB and DMG read to her, just because she happened to be around when I was learning 5e. As other people have said, she cares way more about the fact that I'm reading to her than about the specifics of 5e combat or whatever.

[LoyalPaladin]

This is an awesome thread. I've been reading my little cousin Player's Guide to Faerun haha. Boring, but she doesn't care.

[Michael7123]

The story of Garg and Moonslicer. (http://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2mjhz9/what_would_happen_if_an_intelligent_greatsword/cm4xnl6)

You might want to change the details a little bit, but this is a great story.

[Unusual Muse]

As a baby, the important thing is the noise, the vocals, not the words.

This. Young children are total sponges and will absorb what they are exposed to... so along those lines, I would expose their little brains to as much well-crafted prose and semantically rich verbiage as I could, just so their neural pathways could start forming those connections; comprehension can come later. I would read Dune 1-6 because, world-building and story aside, it's some of the best *writing* I've encountered in a long time. And when I needed a break from reading, I would play some Stephen Fry, probably episodes of "A Bit of Fry & Laurie." Because no one has more delicious use of language than Stephen Fry. :smallsmile:

[SiuiS]

As a baby, the important thing is the noise, the vocals, not the words.

You can read a dictionary or a Chilton's manual to them. doesn't matter. Until they can start to associate words with objects, only tone and sound matter.

After they begin to exhibit curiosity, and imagination, then content matters much more.

So, read Time magazine. Read the DMG. Read anything aloud. It's all good at that age.


Except Twilight novels. There's nothing ever good about reading those.

Disagree with the first part. Cadence, word choice and content do actually help establish the infrastructure for language. Dictionaries are good because the broad number of words help build understanding. Maybe not as much as active learning, but a variety of words is good.

[Vizzerdrix]

Ooooh! They made a monster manual thingy for kids. No stats. Cute versions of monsters (some), and a little goblin adventurer playing/ interacting with them. My google fu is failing me atm but I'll post it if I can find it.

found it!

A Practical Guide to Monsters (https://skaldforge.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/review-a-practical-guide-to-monsters/)

[Fitz10019]

A Beholder and Render are out on a bender...
But not the Homonucleus

A Manticore and a Balor are trying on armor...
But not the Homonucleus

[Agent 451]

What about The Chronicles of Prydain books? Or the short stories from Dragon Magazine?

[Hiro Quester]

I hate to say it, but very young kids benefit from vocal interaction (not just the sound of your voice, but verbal interaction, with you and I looking at things together).

They also benefit from repetition (so they can learn to discern patterns, form expectations about what's next).

So in terms of cognitive development, it's good to have routine and ritual, reading and re-reading and re-reading the same story over and over, while pointing and interacting.

There's a reason why kids' books are short, have pictures, and get read repeatedly.

So far better to read the player's manual (something with pictures) each night. Look at the barbarian. He hits things. This guy's a Bard, he sings. Here is a Ceric. He makes people better. This one's a Druid, she likes trees and animals....

[P.F.]

And poetry. You can't read young kids too much poetry. Blake, Coleridge, Poe, Dickinson, and Frost all wrote excellent poems with adventure/fantastic/supernatural themes. Even to this day, many of the best fantasy novels include some verse. You could always read selected poems form The Lord of the Rings; I'm particularly partial to The Lament For the Rohirrim.

And I would second the suggestion for The Hobbit. Tolkien's superb English prose is a pleasure to read aloud, and The Hobbit is a book from which I gain new insight with every re-reading.

After that, I would recommend T.H. White's The Sword In the Stone, the long beloved account of King Arthur's childhood in which Merlyn tutors the boy by transforming him into animals. White's English is easy to read but never simplistic, and he delights in clever turns of phrase.

[Seerow]

I hate to say it, but very young kids benefit from vocal interaction (not just the sound of your voice, but verbal interaction, with you and I looking at things together).

They also benefit from repetition (so they can learn to discern patterns, form expectations about what's next).

So in terms of cognitive development, it's good to have routine and ritual, reading and re-reading and re-reading the same story over and over, while pointing and interacting.

There's a reason why kids' books are short, have pictures, and get read repeatedly.

So far better to read the player's manual (something with pictures) each night. Look at the barbarian. He hits things. This guy's a Bard, he sings. Here is a Ceric. He makes people better. This one's a Druid, she likes trees and animals....

On this note, I'd actually recommend the Monster's Manual. Skip all of the crunch entries, just read the descriptions and fluff and ooh and ahh at the pretty pictures.

[Honest Tiefling]

I'd also recommend going to the basis of DnD, and find some cleaned up myths to tell the kid. I loved the old norse myths as a kid.

[Rubik]

And I would second the suggestion for The Hobbit. Tolkien's superb English prose is a pleasure to read aloud, and The Hobbit is a book from which I gain new insight with every re-reading.I think the phrase you mean is, "horrifically longwinded and boring to tears."

[unbutu]

Found this thread interesting :)

I'd like to second The Hobbit suggestion. It's quite the stepstone in modern medieval fantasy.

Be warned tough, if someone learns to love this book, I would expect him to learn to hate the movies as well :P

[YossarianLives]

I was essentially brain-washed into liking fantasy. My mother had read Lotr to me twice by the time I was five.