What is the minimum age to learn tabletop RPGS?

[J-H]

My boys are ages 7 & 4.
The 7 year old plays Stratego, Go, Chess, and will read for 2-3 hours a day if we let him. He can probably handle most of D&D 5e, but his decision-making skills will be poor. We're still doing multiplication, so factoring & division and fractions are not there, meaning he doesn't have great probability-assessment tools.

The 4 year old prefers to count to 20 by skipping 16 and 17 every time.

I've been doing a d6-based "Knights & Dinosaurs" game with them. I made a basic hexmap (about 6x8 or 8x8), assigned about 6 different terrain types, created a d10 encounter table for each terrain type, and put one unique encounter in each hex, plus a very rudimentary system for generating cave sizes and contents.
They've had a lot of fun with it and have almost filled in the map (except the ocean, they don't have boats).

Exploration, they get.
Combat, they mostly get.
Social interaction has been the hardest part. They were baffled when they walked into a blacksmith's shop looking for swords and he asked why they were standing there. They didn't know what to say.

So we have a couple of years yet before I can start DMing. I'd say about age 10-12 for full-on 5e. Maybe a bit later.

[Squire Doodad]

I started my son on systemless gaming at 3, and on a game with an actual system at 4. He ran his first game the third session we played. My daughter has proven less interested.

That has brought true joy to my heart
That's an amazing story, and it's heartwarming a kid having fun making stories like that so young.

[Mendicant]

I started my son on systemless gaming at 3, and on a game with an actual system at 4. He ran his first game the third session we played. My daughter has proven less interested.

I started my son w Amazing Tales at age 4 also. Works great and has grown w him. It's very freeform but the simple.mechanics it does have he understands and enjoys. The book is really worth it just for the advice on how to play an RPG w small kids.

[Aerys]

I think it really depends on the child. Motivation and excitement really can affect how quickly they learn. After years of seeing his dad and friends play D&D and being told he was "too young", my friend's son was excited to play at age 6. We started the Lost Mine of Phandelver with the D&D starter set. He had ownership with his own dice and was just excited to finally be "let in" on the game.

It only lasted a few sessions, but it was interesting to see him experiencing the idea of role-playing for the first time. It made us have more fun with playing the character. We disagreed on how much latitude to give him with the rules, but I would err on the side of the rule of cool with kids and not limit their imagination with RAW right away. I think they'll naturally want to learn the ins and outs of the rules as they get older, but you can plant the seeds.

I think whatever the system you can simplify it if needed. You could play D&D with just a d20 like I've seen on some streams, mirroring PbtA games. 1-5 failure with a consequence, 6-10 success with a cost, 11-15 success, 16-20 success and added benefit. Then have them find items that give them bonuses and abilities like D&D 1e.

[KineticDiplomat]

I recall an old saying from the real world: “friends don’t let friends teach friends how to ski”. The competence differential and the personal dynamics involved rarely work out well. If you’ve ever been a ski patrol type, you’re quite familiar with an angry and terrified significant other freaking out on a slope the better “teacher” decided to go on, perhaps after convincing said SO that skiing was lots of fun, it was important to them, they’d really enjoy it, etc.

The same applies here.

I tend to think while there are probably many ages children could start at, a parent figure forcing the start and then being the one running/playing the game has far more potential downsides than up. If you really want your kids to learn the joys of TTRPGs, influencing them to play with you for your own fun is not a great idea…let them play somewhere else.

[Anonymouswizard]

I tend to think while there are probably many ages children could start at, a parent figure forcing the start and then being the one running/playing the game has far more potential downsides than up.

There's nothing wrong with a parent figure running the game, but you're right in everything else. Either the child should express a desire to play, or they should be offered once and allowed to change their mind freely.

I'd likely have never got into RPGs if my dad hadn't noticed that my siblings and I still enjoyed playing Baldur's Gate and offered to run BECM for us. But we weren't forced into it, and eventually moved into our own games by our teens.

But it shouldn't be forced. If little Alphonse sees you and your friends playing D&D and wants to try there's no problem with introducing them to roleplaying. But don't force Brigid to sit down to play My Little Pony: Tales of Equestria if she doesn't want to. It's just as bad as forcing them to watch football if they'd rather be playing with Action Man and Barbie.

Also your kids might just not like the things you like. This is fine. Do not force them to engage in the things you like when other options are available.

[SpyOne]

It really depends on the kid.
That said, it is never too early, if you just adjust your definitions a bit.
See, I figured out after a while that we'd always been role playing.
When we played Risk, the guy playing Russia would start talking about "imperialist running dogs".
When we played Monopoly, ... well, you aren't really trying to bankrupt your brother, are you?
I had internalized this at an early age, because when we played Clue and it turned out my piece was the killer, I got a bit mad because I thought I should have known, and somehow been sabotaging the others.
I was about five - I was the youngest kid in the neighborhood, and it was play what older kids were playing or play alone.

So my advice is, roleplay with them.
Play boardgames with them and use funny accents.
Play Minecraft with them and play in-character, so in one game you build everything from stone, but in the next "this guy likes wood much better than stone". Or collects birds. Or whatever.

When they play single-player games, ask why they made the decisions they made.
When they start explaining why the character would prefer that option, they are ready for RPGs.

[Scalenex]

I think whatever the system you can simplify it if needed. You could play D&D with just a d20 like I've seen on some streams, mirroring PbtA games. 1-5 failure with a consequence, 6-10 success with a cost, 11-15 success, 16-20 success and added benefit. Then have them find items that give them bonuses and abilities like D&D 1e.

I tried D&D around age 10 but didn't stay interested long.

I started playing RPGs seriously around age 12. My friends had been playing for about two years with a homemade sci-fi gaming system that essentially used this. There was no formal rules, for hitting and missing, just (large) hit point totals and vague d20 rolls. You tell the GM what your rolled and he tells you if succeeded or failed with no formal table.

We switched to D&D 2nd edition about a year and a half later. Then we played West End's Star Wars RPG. Then we went back to my friend's home brew sci fi game but made new formal rules based on D&D while I created a homebrew Ancient Greek Mythology game based on West End Star Wars d6 system.

With an adult mentor I think I could have started enjoying RPGs much sooner.

[Rynjin]

If they're old enough to smash toys together and come up with stories, they're old enough for something like Amber Diceless though you shouldn't force it on them, just ask if they want to play a cool make-believe game with daddy/mommy or not.

[Calthropstu]

Technically, they can roleplay the day they are born. "Ok kid, you're roleplaying a baby about to be sacrificed by cultists. What do you do?" *baby cooing* "Excellent. Ok guys, the baby is cooing at her captors as they begin the ceremony. What do you guys do?"

[Beleriphon]

He wanted me to be a Jedi... but he told me I was Han Solo. I played Han Solo.

There are worse fates in the grand universe than being Han Solo to a 4 year old's Jedi.

[FabulousFizban]

What is the minimum age to play make-believe? The rules aren't necessary; it's imagination that is key.

[Calthropstu]

What is the minimum age to play make-believe? The rules aren't necessary; it's imagination that is key.

Imagination is a muat-have, but in rpgs, ability to accept rules to adjudicate results is key. And also abilify to understand and abide by them. Otherwise it devolves into

"Look at me, I'm Eric Cartman and I do infinity + 2 damage and I can cut through wolverine claws and **** because I am so awesome and kewl."

[Luccan]

I started around when I was 4, maybe a little older. I tended to get distracted, of course, and I think I was mostly there to let me feel included but I could grasp some mechanics at least on a basic level. I think a lighter system would probably be best for young kids and most likely not until they're a couple years older at least, but I'm sure there's some system that would work best.

[Ettina]

I tend to think while there are probably many ages children could start at, a parent figure forcing the start and then being the one running/playing the game has far more potential downsides than up. If you really want your kids to learn the joys of TTRPGs, influencing them to play with you for your own fun is not a great idea…let them play somewhere else.

There's a big difference between teaching and forcing.

If you insist your kid play D&D with you, extort a promise not to quit before the campaign is done, and bring that promise up whenever they get discouraged... Well, we have generations of people who've shown how bad an idea that strategy is with musical instruments and sports, so it should be obvious it'll be a bad idea for TTRPGs too.

But if you have a child who wants to play and is free to quit if they lose interest, I see no reason why a parent would necessarily be automatically worse as their first DM as opposed to anyone else.

A lot of D&D-playing parents I've heard from, the process goes:

Parent plays D&D with other adults while child is playing other things nearby.

Child gets interested in what parent is doing and wants to join in.

Parent finds an age-appropriate way for child to play D&D with them.

I see absolutely no problem with that process, as long as the adults involved don't mess it up in the ways that any activity with kids could be messed up by any adult.

[Lemmy]

Well... I picked up RPGs at 10 yo simply by finding my older brother's book and finding it fascinating, then kinda playing with my cousin for a few weeks before my brother decided to GM for us...

So... Clearly 10 yo is possible, since I' m probably not an RPG prodigy of any kind.

Taking into consideration my experience playing games with my nieces and nephews... I' d say around 6~8 yo is the youngest I'd willing to try a system with actual rules.

[FabulousFizban]

Imagination is a muat-have, but in rpgs, ability to accept rules to adjudicate results is key. And also abilify to understand and abide by them. Otherwise it devolves into

"Look at me, I'm Eric Cartman and I do infinity + 2 damage and I can cut through wolverine claws and **** because I am so awesome and kewl."

As long as the players are willing to accept the arbitration of the DM, rules effects can be managed entirely by said DM.

At its simplest, a story game can be described as: The Player describes an action, and the Game Master roles dice to decide what happens.

[Beleriphon]

Imagination is a muat-have, but in rpgs, ability to accept rules to adjudicate results is key. And also abilify to understand and abide by them. Otherwise it devolves into

"Look at me, I'm Eric Cartman and I do infinity + 2 damage and I can cut through wolverine claws and **** because I am so awesome and kewl."

I read that in his voice. Extended kwwwel and everything.

[Frankbit]

For most kids, that's in place by age 12; many 7-8 yo kids can do so. Generally, tho', most kids under age 10 simply are not ready for the tabletop mode of game, but some are. Further, most games' rules are written at a high school reading level. If they can't understand the rules, they'll need some older help.

[PhoenixPhyre]

At its simplest, a story game can be described as: The Player describes an action, and the Game Master roles dice to decide what happens.

Or doesn't roll dice. Dice (and other mechanics and rules) may be used to resolve uncertainty, but they're not irreducibly necessary. They're tools to be used. The default TTRPG is free form, with only meta rules/group agreement. Anything else is syntactic sugar, designed to help the players (of which the DM is one).

/Soapbox

[Calthropstu]

I read that in his voice. Extended kwwwel and everything.

Is there any other way to read it?

[LibraryOgre]

My 6 year old and I have been designing a game based on a mash-up of Savage Worlds and Amazing Tales, based on Minecraft.

[Tanarii]

I've played Hero Kids with a 6 year old and an 8 year old. The six year old was just barely old enough for it, and she's a bright kid. And it's billed 4-10 year olds.

I've also tried to get a 10 year old into gloomhaven, which is on par with a D&D spell caster, and it was too complicated for them. They lost interest. Although to be fair, I know plenty of adults that don't find a spell caster interesting due to being too complicated.

[Calthropstu]

I tried to get a pair of 7 year olds into the oots board game and it didn't turn out well.

[Anonymouswizard]

I've played Hero Kids with a 6 year old and an 8 year old. The six year old was just barely old enough for it, and she's a bright kid. And it's billed 4-10 year olds.

To be fair, age ranges are basically a guess. From what I've read on the internet Hero Kids is basically for 6-8 year olds, and then games like First Fable are for 8-10 year olds. But individual kids will vary, and I think we as adults sometimes assume that kids find things like maths easier than they are.

I've also tried to get a 10 year old into gloomhaven, which is on par with a D&D spell caster, and it was too complicated for them. They lost interest. Although to be fair, I know plenty of adults that don't find a spell caster interesting due to being too complicated.

D&D spellcasters are probably the most complicated characters I've played beyond about second level. One of the nice things that 4e did was cutting down on that complexity somewhat. Most other spellcasters I've played have had nowhere near as many spells or resource pools to track, except in Unknown Armies (where, practically, it maxes out as two pools of spell points).

But yeah, I'd more likely have gone for something Fudge based for a 10 year old, so that they could just have everything as a skill. But then again that's because one of my preferred systems is Fate, and many adults can have issues with it (mainly due to Aspects).

[Trafalgar]

My first RPG experience was "Keep on the Borderlands" which came with the B/X set. My father was the DM and my brother and I were the PCs. I couldn't have been any older than 6 or 7. It wasn't a campaign like we think about it now and was pretty much just a couple of adventurers exploring a cave.

So I think there is no problem at all for children 6+. My advice is keep things simple, make it fun, and maybe skip some of the in town roleplaying. The kids will like rolling dice and they will like designing characters as long as its kept simple.

If I was to do 5e, I would just use the free basic rules.

[vasilidor]

At the point they can distinguish fantasy from reality.
And do math, depending on the game.

[Tanarii]

My first RPG experience was "Keep on the Borderlands" which came with the B/X set.

BE of BECMI is incredibly simple. Fighters, Dwarves and Halflings are especially good characters to introduce young players to gaming. That's what I did when I was 9 and I solo DMd for my 7 year old brother. Although I have no idea how he didn't die, probably easy treasure finds and not much fighting at first. (Also I was a terrible DM in general back then ... so who knows what fudging I did.)

Because what makes it not as appropriate for youngsters is how easy it is to die in combat before you get even one level. House rules help there, because most youngsters probably aren't ready to handle easy access to a a fistful of Retainers.