DMing for Children

One of the great things about having children is being able to share your love of D&D with them.  Children take to the game quite naturally because they still have vivid and creative imaginations.  There is no set age to start children playing, it really depends on each individual child and you will have to tailor the game to your child’s abilities.  Playing D&D is good for children on a lot of levels.  It teaches them social skills, creative thinking skills, problem solving skills, math skills, and reading skills.  Below are some tips for being the DM of children.

1.Choose by hero type and not stats.  Let them choose their character based on what they want their character to do and not on maximized stats.  Ask them what they want their character to do.  Do they want their character to sneak in shadows?  Do they want a front line fighter?  Do they want to heal others?  Do they want to turn into animals?  Ask them questions like this to determine what class they will play.  Describe the different races to them and let them choose the race they are interested in even if it isn’t the best fit for the class they’ve chosen.  For younger children you may want to skip delving into the backgrounds but if you’re using them don’t worry about maximizing the character by picking a certain background let them pick whatever background suits their fancy.  Finally let them draw their character how they envision it.

2.The Rules.  When it comes to DMing for children you have to think of them more as guidelines.  Don’t get caught up in the rules.  Yes, you need to have rules but don’t be afraid to bend or break them if you need to in order to give children the best experience.  It’s not about the rules it’s about getting children bit by the D&D bug, as they get older you can stick closer to the official rules.

3.Expect the unexpected.  Children have a very different way of viewing and interacting with the world and that goes for the fantasy world you’re creating for them too.  You never know what choices a child is going to make when you present them with a situation in the game.  Be ready for scenarios that would make absolutely no sense to an adult and let the children play out the game their way.  As the DM you’ve got to be ready to roll with anything they throw at you.  It’s best not to over plan the quest you are running for them because you’re going to need your best improv skills.

4.Keep things simple.  Children really aren’t overly complicated and their quest shouldn’t be either.  Don’t be afraid to steal plot lines from their favorite books or cartoons.  Children enjoy things that are pretty straight forward.  Plots with lots of layers and twists tend to lose them.  Don’t feel like you are cheating them by keeping things simple they won’t see it that way.  Keep things simple with the reading of character sheets and dice rolling too.  Only ask them to read and roll on their level.  You can teach them the important words that they need to know on their character sheet and only ask them to do math at their level.  You want them to have fun not get frustrated at what they can’t do.  For really young children you may want to run the quest like an interactive bedtime story with no character sheets or dice rolls.

5.Keep things moving.  Children have short attention spans.  Keep this in mind when planning the pace of your quest.  You don’t want them to spend too long in any one interaction.  Don’t rush them along but you want to keep each interaction shorter than you would when being the DM for adults.  Adults can be entertained by spending half an hour in a tavern but with children you want to plan shorter interactions to keep their interest.  Children tend to like action and movement.

6.Stick to short quests not long campaigns.  Again children have short attention spans and like instant gratification so it is best to stick to short quests.  Design ones that can be finished in a session or two.  They can keep using their character in future quests but have a definite goal for the children to achieve and have them be able to achieve that goal in a session or two.

7.Have fun.  The most important thing above all else is to have fun.  As long as the children are having fun you’re doing it right.  Once you start DMing for children you’ll figure out what it is that makes D&D the most fun to the children you are DMing for and you’ll build off of that for your future quests.  Don’t let rules or anything else come in the way of having fun and teaching kids an activity that can help them develop important skills and give them a lifelong hobby.  You’re never really too young or too old for D&D.