Comments on: Kids and 4e

By: Kurt

Kurt — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:57:22 +0000

Loved the article, found it on google as Im planning on starting my 5 and 7 year olds in 4e when I get home from Afghanistan. I’ve been thinking of ways to simplify character sheets into dry erase cards with just the basic info they need. AC, hit points, attack and damage bonuses for their basic and special attacks etc. I’m sure using miniatures will keep them super interested and help them visualize combat. Can’t wait to get home and try it! (Got the wife reading 4e for dummies so I can get her involved too)

By: Jeff Foley

Jeff Foley — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:38:46 +0000

Hey, this was a GREAT read, thanks so much! I am about to introduce my 5 year old to D&D 4e. He loves playing my old copy of the old “Dungeon!” board game, and I immediately noticed how it was helping him with math, story-telling, and now just starting to learn to read. Every night before bedtime I make up a story about a hero we created (“the Knight of the Red Circle”) and the villains he faces, and they’ve become increasingly more like little D&D encounters. He recently added himself to the stories as the Knight’s helper and sometimes takes control of the stories. I showed him some miniatures and he was very interested in them; it’s a natural leap from the action figures he plays with now. So we’re going to give it a whirl, just he and I and two characters I pre-roll for him (me playing the Knight and him playing the Knight’s assistant), and I’m going to buy a dungeon tile set and dive right in, and probably ignore most of the combat rules except for movement, dice rolling to hit and for damage, and things like healing surges and hit points (which will be a stack of poker chips I give him.)

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:51:58 +0000

“For example, my youngest wants to summon fairies. Well, rather than coming up with a bunch of actual fairy summoning powers, I just describe all of her powers in those terms – with a fairy magically appearing and doing whatever.”

– Sheer brilliance. Thanks. My kids are 3 and 5 and are *natural* role players, though we have only made it to the *table* once. Looking forward to getting them into it more.

By: 1001 Bobs » The Second Week of March in Year 2009

1001 Bobs » The Second Week of March in Year 2009 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:51:05 +0000

[...] One Bad Egg – Kids and 4e [...]

By: One Bad Egg » Blog Archive » Icon Update

One Bad Egg » Blog Archive » Icon Update — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:38:08 +0000

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By: Ken Marable

Ken Marable — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:04:11 +0000

Great post! I have started my kids (ages almost 6, 7, and 9) on a 4e campaign and it’s a blast! In fact, after a couple fun discussion threads over at EN World about kids & D&D, I decided I’m going to get a blog going specifically on that topic and talk about how our campaign is going. Hopefully that’ll be up later this month.

But it’s great that they are begging me to play, which is pretty amazing and shows how exciting this can be. I’ve been playing so long, I had forgotten about that initial joy and exploration of being able to do anything in an RPG.

And as much as I still love 3.5, I’m finding 4e to be a good structure for kids. All of the class powers are similiar (at wills, encounters, dailies), and as much as I actually miss the 3 paragraph long spell descriptions filled with loopholes, having much more straightforward powers makes them very easy to reskin. For example, my youngest wants to summon fairies. Well, rather than coming up with a bunch of actual fairy summoning powers, I just describe all of her powers in those terms – with a fairy magically appearing and doing whatever.

I also love the name Hitterman! It’s funny the different directions kids go with names. My oldest daughter tends to use pretty real names (she’s currently playing Vanessa the Druid), my son goes with literal names (currently Acid Head, the acid-breathing dragonborn, but in the past has created Swordstrike and Macestrike – can you guess what their main weapons were?), and my youngest daughter likes to invent new names and is currently playing Gadeeta of the Fairies.

Fun stuff!

By: nick

nick — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:33:54 +0000

My wife and I don’t have kids yet, but in a way I feel like the kid at the table, learning additional rules each time we get together. After reading the comments about how new-player friendly 4e is, I find myself fortunate to have started now. And like the kids who are engaging in DnD as a result of their parents’ interest in the game, I hope to slowly come into my own with my character, as far as the role playing is concerned.

I’ve tried MMO RPGs like EverQuest (Evercrack) and Eve (a Star Trek-esque MMO RPG), but I find that playing in RW (real world) settings is much more fun and engaging. DnD is not a game I see myself giving up!

Thanks for letting my voice be heard!

By: Sasha Bilton

Sasha Bilton — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:40:11 +0000

My daughter just turned 10 and we’ve dabbled with RPGs for a couple of years, starting with Fairy Tale then trying Tunnels & Trolls and Fighting Fantasy books. She always urged me to let her try D&D, I think because she recognized it was the ‘maturer’ game. After a couple of solo sessions she joined in a grown-up one off I ran at my local WH40K club to show off the rules and held her own. I think the compartmentalization of things in 4e makes it much easier for younger players to take and own bits of the game one stage at a time, but as you say forgetting other sections. Something else I’ve noticed is that the common complaint of 4e stifling improvisation just isn’t true when played by child, I’m constantly having to come up with wing-it rules when she does crazy stuff. We’re both really beginning to enjoy our games together. Thanks for the article, it confirmed and refines my thoughts on playing with children. Hitterman sounds like a mighty, but prident, warrior.

By: chris

chris — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:55:44 +0000

Thanks for Chiming in Squirrel, Hitterman loves ya!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:51:55 +0000

I tought my son to play Settlers of Catan a couple of weeks ago, he’s 4. Its amazing to see how quickly he accommodated to rules and structure. Some times he just wants to play with the robber, but some times he wants to play the whole game by the rules. I want to get him into D&D but my wife is worried about stereotyping at school and doesnt want him to be talking about swinging swords or fighting demons with his teachers.

By: justin

justin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:31:22 +0000

Thanks for the post, Chris. Mine are still a few years away, I think, but I am looking forward to it.

I have this theory that D&D will see a big surge over the next 10 years precisely for this reason: A lot of the people who grew up on D&D are just starting to have kids reach that age. The influx of new D&D players isn’t going to come from random recruits but from the next generation, like some oral tradition passed down between generations.

By: irate squirrel

irate squirrel — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:27:39 +0000

As a player in the game I think it’s also an important to realize you are not in a full on game, gimmies need to be had. The younger ones don’t min max and sometimes don’t think of party coherence when they need to go run and hide in a barrel or go over there and hit THAT guy on the other side of the map. They also need help managing hit points and surges, daily powers etc which I do for him. He knows how far he can move and is grasping who is important to hit, that big guy over there not so much the skeleton with the stick. Hitterman and I tend to have a little talk about what to do on his turn as part of the team, it keeps him engaged in the story and gives him time to think of one liners or declare vengeance. That guy looks dangerous, we better help the Rogue out. Lets see Sure Strike or Cleave? One hits easier the other will hit two guys. “Two Guys!” or a surreptitious lean over to me “I’m going to smash that guy.” or “I’ll save you!”