My younger sister (10) has started to feel left out when my brother and I go to play dnd every week, and I decided to run a one shot with her and my other siblings so that she can participate. The thing is, she is VERY easily frightened, and I've never dmed before. Does anyone have tips on "Toning down" dnd for someone of her age that aren't difficult to implement for an aspiring Dungeon Master?
Make everything like a kids show on tv. Colorful, simple language, no aggressive elements. Think Sesame Street or similar show. Check out Adventure Time. That could be appropriate inspiration for a kids game, but it is borderline. But how it presents stuff is the important part. It is very juvenile.
Also, just tell your siblings to let you know if something is making them uncomfortable. If you know your sister gets scared easily, ask her about stuff that scares her and make it a point to leave that stuff out.
If there are monsters, make them kind of goofy and silly to throw off their scariness.
Im not exactly experienced with kids, but wouldnt be better to make her character overcome her fears?
I mean for sure dont run Cthulu game and mayabe avoid some dark themes inside DnD, but regular stuff like gnolls could be fine and mayabe help her little bit behind DM screen... Not much, just to get her some confident that she can actually beat that monsters. Lean into 'how do you want to do this' to let her creativity flow
You can also lean more in her favorit themes, include more stuff which will speak to her and let her role play
Mayaby also avoid things which can be projected to real life - like ghosts, mimic and so. Just pure fantasy and highlite that its fantasy. I mean start with frases like 'in this fantasy world...' and so...
And i guess you can just google 'dnd for kids' and run sone adventure designed for tham...
But rember if she dont have nightmares, wants to play and haveing fun while playing, mayabe some scare isnt bad after all - some people enjoys horrors so...
And if she wants continue you will get feel for DMing for her
Ou and you may want to consult it with her parents because she can have fun but they mayabe not so much when she tells tham how she decapitated some gnoll or so....
The best thing to do to tone down for kids is just keep it simple. Fetch quests, skirmishes, right and wrong moral dilemmas, animals and mythical beasts they can relate to rather than more unique.
Best advice I can offer to look at the session 0 suggestions you can find in the new DMG or online, look at what really frightens her so you can leave it out and what will be scary but in a thrilling way so you know where to pitch things and also make it very clear if she gets too frightened she can just time out and you'll skip that bit. Also choose an adventure that suits that age, I'm sure DMs Guild will have something but failing that try Wild Beyond the Witchlight, it's set in the Feywild and all the monsters are sort of weird whimsical fairy type things and it's even written so the players can go through the whole thing without fighting so long as they're good at being creative and making friends
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My younger sister (10) has started to feel left out when my brother and I go to play dnd every week, and I decided to run a one shot with her and my other siblings so that she can participate. The thing is, she is VERY easily frightened, and I've never dmed before. Does anyone have tips on "Toning down" dnd for someone of her age that aren't difficult to implement for an aspiring Dungeon Master?
Make everything like a kids show on tv. Colorful, simple language, no aggressive elements. Think Sesame Street or similar show. Check out Adventure Time. That could be appropriate inspiration for a kids game, but it is borderline. But how it presents stuff is the important part. It is very juvenile.
Also, just tell your siblings to let you know if something is making them uncomfortable. If you know your sister gets scared easily, ask her about stuff that scares her and make it a point to leave that stuff out.
If there are monsters, make them kind of goofy and silly to throw off their scariness.
I hope that helps.
Im not exactly experienced with kids, but wouldnt be better to make her character overcome her fears?
I mean for sure dont run Cthulu game and mayabe avoid some dark themes inside DnD, but regular stuff like gnolls could be fine and mayabe help her little bit behind DM screen... Not much, just to get her some confident that she can actually beat that monsters. Lean into 'how do you want to do this' to let her creativity flow
You can also lean more in her favorit themes, include more stuff which will speak to her and let her role play
Mayaby also avoid things which can be projected to real life - like ghosts, mimic and so. Just pure fantasy and highlite that its fantasy. I mean start with frases like 'in this fantasy world...' and so...
And i guess you can just google 'dnd for kids' and run sone adventure designed for tham...
But rember if she dont have nightmares, wants to play and haveing fun while playing, mayabe some scare isnt bad after all - some people enjoys horrors so...
And if she wants continue you will get feel for DMing for her
Ou and you may want to consult it with her parents because she can have fun but they mayabe not so much when she tells tham how she decapitated some gnoll or so....
The best thing to do to tone down for kids is just keep it simple. Fetch quests, skirmishes, right and wrong moral dilemmas, animals and mythical beasts they can relate to rather than more unique.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/170937/The-Wild-Sheep-Chase--A-SingleSession-Adventure
Also, check out this one shot. It's free and is a about a silly wizard stuck as a sheep. Good luck!
Thanks,
- Brad (he/him)
Player Since 2020, DM Since 2022, Nerd Since Way Back
Best advice I can offer to look at the session 0 suggestions you can find in the new DMG or online, look at what really frightens her so you can leave it out and what will be scary but in a thrilling way so you know where to pitch things and also make it very clear if she gets too frightened she can just time out and you'll skip that bit. Also choose an adventure that suits that age, I'm sure DMs Guild will have something but failing that try Wild Beyond the Witchlight, it's set in the Feywild and all the monsters are sort of weird whimsical fairy type things and it's even written so the players can go through the whole thing without fighting so long as they're good at being creative and making friends