Hi, fledgling DM here. I haven't run a proper full session yet, but I've done a few test oneshots and I'm pretty confident I'll do well. My main problem is that the campaign I've been prepping for was made for a group of experienced D&D players all around 18-19 years old, but now my younger siblings aged 13 and under want to play in a campaign with me. I'm not worried about the 13 year old, as she's pretty excited and already has some great character ideas, but the others are 11 and 9 and have a harder time sitting still and staying focused.

What's the best way to introduce kids to D&D, and how can I keep them engaged enough to stay at the table? And would it be easier to modify an official adventure, such as Lost Mine of Phandelver, to be more family friendly, or create my own original story? I'd appreciate any suggestions I can get.

My father is running a campaign with my younger cousins (around 7-8 years old), and he says to keep the situation low stress.

Quote from CaptainQuasar >>

My father is running a campaign with my younger cousins (around 7-8 years old), and he says to keep the situation low stress.

 So something like easy, low-risk combat? Or no combat at all, and more of a roleplay or skill-using focus?

I would say low-risk combat that's still exciting for the kids. Have them wail on some kobolds or goblins, and be sure to be animated in your delivery so that it pumps them up and makes them feel cool.

I would recommend making or finding pregenerated characters for the 9 and 11 year olds, if they're not already creating one themselves. When I tagged along with my dad in DnD games when I was younger, it got tiring to fill out all of the information. I would also recommend helping them with all of the math (via a calculator) so that they don't have to take their minds off of what they're imagining. 

Good luck with your campaign!

Quote from CaptainQuasar >>

I would say low-risk combat that's still exciting for the kids. Have them wail on some kobolds or goblins, and be sure to be animated in your delivery so that it pumps them up and makes them feel cool.

I would recommend making or finding pregenerated characters for the 9 and 11 year olds, if they're not already creating one themselves. When I tagged along with my dad in DnD games when I was younger, it got tiring to fill out all of the information. I would also recommend helping them with all of the math (via a calculator) so that they don't have to take their minds off of what they're imagining. 

Good luck with your campaign!

Awesome, thanks so much for the help!

Railroad is key especially early on, you don't have to be overly obvious but being able to give them very clear sign posts to where they need to go at each step so they are clear what they need to do, and keep it light and fun and I will say, it is the one time I am happy fudging dice rolls so they have fun and survive. 

I am currently running Dragons of Icespire Peak for my kids, age 13 and 11.  It is my first experience as a DM and we are all having a great time.  Here are my takeaways from the experience so far:

• • Before we even started this campaign, I ran a very short one-shot (used the basic framework of the "five room dungeon" approach with elements of exploration, social interaction and combat).  This helped introduce them to basic concepts like what the numbers on the character sheet mean, what the different dice are for, as well as how the game is run, different types of races/classes, etc.

  • Next we did a session zero where we went over expectations of the game (no PvP etc.) and rolled up their characters.  For picking race/class I started by asking questions like "what kinds of things do you want your character to be good at?" and gave them a couple choices based on their responses.  They will have a lot more fun and be more engaged if they get to play a character they are interested in.  13 y.o. picked half-elf paladin, 11 y.o. is a halfling rogue.  They impressed me by coming up with cool unique backgrounds too, for instance the paladin's village was destroyed by orcs which made him swear vengeance on those orcs, and gives him a general hatred of all orcs (works great with DoIP which is orc heavy).

  • They made lego figures of their characters which we use as miniatures in combat; they really like that.  We use a mix of legos and other types of minis for bad guys.  I have found using minis rather than ToTM is very helpful for them, especially in combat.

  • I started out saying things like "I will remind you, if you attack this enemy over here who is already engaged in melee, you would get to add sneak attack damage" or "if you feel you need healing, don't forget you can lay on hands."  They have gotten used to this, so I am reminding them less and less.  I like to teach them combat maneuvers by having enemies do things like disengage, grapple, dash, etc. kind of like a "monkey see monkey do" approach which seems to work.  

  • I was a little worried about an accidental TPK so I am having a NPC bard tag along to keep them alive.  Cleric would be a good choice too.  I would not recommend using "sidekick" rules for kids to run; keeping track of their own character sheet is more than enough.  I wanted to give them a NPC that would be useful, be able to heal, etc. but not take up too much spotlight.  He pretty much uses bardic inspiration, vicious mockery, healing word, faerie fire, etc. then fades into the background in social situations so the kids can RP, atypical for a bard, I know :)

  • The kids LOVE meeting interesting NPCs, especially if you are comfortable using voices, etc. to make them memorable.  I was expecting them to be more combat oriented because video games, but often they have as much fun or more with social interactions and/or skills based challenges.

  • They love the open world concept and the idea that they can "do anything" which can also be challenging.  It is tough to get to the right balance of sandbox vs. railroad.  On one hand I don't want to take away player agency but also they don't always get that I don't have anything prepped if they don't want to follow adventure prompts.  At one point rather than follow the (time sensitive) adventure, the rogue (younger player) decided he wanted to split with the party and simply "go north."  Refused to do otherwise.  I explained that this might be dangerous, and as it turned out he rolled a random encounter of an orc who attacked him as he was sleeping in a field.  He got insanely lucky and the orc missed him, with advantage, for two turns in a row, after which I let him roll perception and wake up.  I almost always roll in the open so they could see it was not just me fudging rolls.  He was low level, and it would have been an autocrit and a possible kill; if he had rolled 2 orcs it would have almost certainly killed him.  I did have an idea of a "get out of jail free card" to have him captured, not killed, but honestly that would have felt cheap and I am glad it didn't come to that.  Luckily he understood how close he came to death and this taught him about the dangers out there.  Still, he loves to sometimes do things just because he can, even if it is "I want to dig here" or "I want to sneak into that house" so be prepared to improv a lot.  These kinds of times have been some of the most engaging for him, so I like to let it happen to a point, but it can be a fine line.

  • I have had to reiterate table manners from time to time.  Things like taking turns speaking, don't constantly stack your dice which then fall loudly on the table, etc.  Overall they have done pretty well but they have a lot of energy.  I think having a smaller group helps a ton with engagement.  Since there are only two of them, it's their "turn" roughly half the time. I wouldn't go above about 3 players if they are younger.

  • Session wise, they are usually good for about 1.5 hours, maybe a little more, then sometimes get antsy.  Our most engaging session was our longest and that was a little under 2.5 hours.  I have found it is better to read the room and just stop, wherever you happen to be, rather than slog on if they are losing focus.  We have stopped mid-battle before, took a picture of where the minis were at and packed it up.  Then when the next session begins one of them always gives the recap.

  • Like I said I am running DoIP but it I have modified it quite a bit.  I used the "Dragons of Icespire Peak Revised" on Reddit and also added quite a bit of my own stuff; mainly a couple side quests, NPCs, and I expanded the Dragon's Barrow quite a bit to make it a significant challenge to get the Dragonslayer sword.  I think published adventures are fine, probably the best way to go, especially if you are new to DMing, just be sure you adjust for the number and skill of the players.  Maybe go easy the first few sessions.  Level 1's are squishy anyway and you really really want to avoid an accidental TPK as they are trying to figure it out.  Now that I think of it, in DoIP the very first battle as level 1's can be against a manticore which is a huge challenge at that level; it can one shot a lv 1 character really easy and very possibly TPK.  They didn't end up going that route but if anything I think you need to bring the challenge down early on then ramp it up.  Remember it's always easier to add reinforcements than to reduce the threat mid-combat.  As we have gone along and their skill has increased, as well as my ability to judge difficulty of encounters, I have been throwing more and more deadly stuff at them.

  • I don't think any of the content itself in DoIP is not kid-friendly, I would think LMoP would be similar.  Curse of Strahd is one I which think has some stuff that would not be good for younger kids, so probably stay away from that one.  

   

Good luck and let us know how it goes, I am sure you will all have fun!

edited to add spoiler tag, this post got really long

I'm not quite sure where your lines are as far as violence goes, but Rime of the Frostmaiden has surprising amounts of potential for non-violent problem solving, if that's what you want.  It's billed as a horror campaign, but I think it's quite plausible to get to level 7 without ever rolling initiative if you point the players towards the right quests.  You might be able to borrow a copy from your local library and check it out.

My own experience has been that 9 year olds can be shockingly bloodthirsty little monsters, so you might want to be ready to revise your "family-friendly" game plan.

Since none of you have that much experience, I'd start off, at least, with something more railroady than sandboxy.  Lots of descriptive text and very clear step-by-step objectives.  That also might need to be revised at a moment's notice.  

I'll give you one example for both of these:  I was playing with a group that had a nephew and one of his friends.  Both were 9-10.  His friend had made up - for some different group he played with - an Oathbreaker Paladin who worshipped Satan (I literally checked with this kid's mom because I was having flashbacks to the Mazes and Monsters days and didn't want some televangelist to crash through my door like the Kool Aid Man).  Thumbs up from Mom.  Isaiah the Dragonborn Hell-Paladin receives new orders from home office:  Go to the city, find the lizardman druid and help him fight The Yellow Sign (a new, violent rival to the Thieves' Guild that my nephew had been battling).  The Infernal Discord is convinced that the Yellow Sign has connections to the Far Realm and Hell has its own plans for the city.  Do not fail us!  Mwahhahaaa!  Off we go.  But all through the adventure, Isaiah keeps sidetracking things with the very specific notion of making 1000 gp quickly.  He won't say why.  Okay, this kid has something percolating.  Well, I can off-road with the best of them.  Let's get nuts.  The city in question is a big seaport, so a few "yes, and..."s later, we're basically doing the Lufthansa job from Goodfellas with the two of them stealing bales of tobacco off a ship at the docks and selling it in the bazaar TO THE ACTUAL RIGHTFUL OWNERS, who've by now been paid off for the theft by the insurance company.  They make money; Isaiah makes money.  Did I mention that this kid was nine?  So anyway, 1000 gp in his pocket, his master plan unveils itself:  He intends to hire two gangs of mercenaries, unbeknownst to one another, and have them each attack the other and slaughter one another in the open streets and then offer the souls of the dead to his unholy patrons.  0__0.  I'm seeing us barreling inevitably towards the Layla montage from Goodfellas when the kid has to go home for dinner and I have a brief talk with my nephew about the type of campaign I'm trying to run.  Hopefully, things will be a little more copacetic with your siblings, but my point is that little kids can surprise you, so stay limber.

The focus thing might be an issue, as might sibling stuff creeping into the game world.  If you use puzzles and riddles and whatnot?  I don't know your family, but I know the 11 year old WILL try to steamroll over the 9 year old's ideas and probably not let them get a word in edgewise, so make a special effort to include them all.

I don't mean any of this to scare you off.  Little kids are hilarious to play with.  Just keep the lines of communication open and know how far off-course is too off-course for you.

Wow I wasn't expecting much more, thanks to everyone who replied!

Quote from Scarloc_Stormcall >>

Railroad is key especially early on, you don't have to be overly obvious but being able to give them very clear sign posts to where they need to go at each step so they are clear what they need to do, and keep it light and fun and I will say, it is the one time I am happy fudging dice rolls so they have fun and survive. 

I was definitely concerned about how railroady I should get with this, since my usual party tends to go way off track from our DM's plans. I will keep this in mind for sure! :)

BK_Skilz - Wow! So much helpful information, thanks so much for taking the time to write that out! Lego minis are a fantastic idea. Conveniently, I already own Dragon of Icespire, so I'll definitely take a look at that book again and rework it for the kids! I will keep the support bard in mind if the party ends up a bit unbalanced. I've already helped my 13 year old sister make her character, a swiftstride alchemist, and my 9 year old sister wants to be an elf princess. I won't respond to every point to try to keep this from getting too long, but seriously, you are a lifesaver!

TimCurtin - Thanks for such a detailed story! I really appreciate you taking the time. Violence as long as it isn't over the top should be fine, as long as I can keep my brither from killing his sisters, but I have been curious about RotF so I might just pick up that up if DoIP goes well with them! That Satan-worshipping paladin story is hilarious coming from a 9 year old, but we're a Christian household so luckily I don't think I'll get that from my siblings haha! I get what you mean about kids being surprisingly dark and bloodthirsty, though. For example the 13 year old's character has a backstory involving a dead mother and a cursed brother whom the townspeople tried to burn at the stake! And you got the 11 and 9 year old spot on. I will definitely remember to check with all of them for those situations and try to give them puzzles that will let all 3 of them shine.

Again huge thanks to everyone who's taken the time to respond, I really appreciate all the help!

I don't know many kid type modules. But if you write your own adventures. Steal from their cartoons. During 3E I recommended Jackie Chan's Adventures for plot lines. The old and new Duck Tales have great plots and villains. 

Quote from jasperrdm >>

I don't know many kid type modules. But if you write your own adventures. Steal from their cartoons. During 3E I recommended Jackie Chan's Adventures for plot lines. The old and new Duck Tales have great plots and villains. 

That is a good idea! I'm not familiar with Duck Tales, I'll start looking into that and see what I can use. Thanks!

i actually have an 11 year old in my regular group (the rest of us are 15-17) and all i have to say is don't underestimate them, 11 y/o are smarter than you would think, they can pretty easily make their own characters with good backstories after showing them 1-2 times. he has actually become a good leader in my group too, coming up with 1/3 of their plans. the only thing i'd say you would have to change is to make things less graphic than you would for a 19 year old.

I will also say children are sometimes much better then adults at using their imagination. It is all something they do daily anyway while as adults new to the game it’s a skill that sometimes has to be relearnt 

I will add that you might now want to be careful about having a younger kid's character die. Even if they're used to dying in video games and restarting, losing a character in D&D can lead to tears for some kids. Sidekicks and familiars are also great for young kids to control instead of full-fledged characters. Or have them play the monsters with you as DM.

There are also a couple of GM Tips videos from Geek & Sundry on YouTube that focus on playing with kids.

Quote from TabaxiRogueFighterClericWarlock >>

i actually have an 11 year old in my regular group (the rest of us are 15-17) and all i have to say is don't underestimate them, 11 y/o are smarter than you would think, they can pretty easily make their own characters with good backstories after showing them 1-2 times. he has actually become a good leader in my group too, coming up with 1/3 of their plans. the only thing i'd say you would have to change is to make things less graphic than you would for a 19 year old.

Quote from Scarloc_Stormcall >>

I will also say children are sometimes much better then adults at using their imagination. It is all something they do daily anyway while as adults new to the game it’s a skill that sometimes has to be relearnt 

You're both right! I was worried about my youngest sister really getting into her character, but she's very imaginative, so she should be fine! Thanks for the reminder :)

Quote from NickScott >>

I will add that you might now want to be careful about having a younger kid's character die. Even if they're used to dying in video games and restarting, losing a character in D&D can lead to tears for some kids. Sidekicks and familiars are also great for young kids to control instead of full-fledged characters. Or have them play the monsters with you as DM.

There are also a couple of GM Tips videos from Geek & Sundry on YouTube that focus on playing with kids.

Even in my regular group, we don't like to let characters die, as many of us have reused the same characters and grown really invested in their stories. So if it ever comes to death saves, I will probably fudge the rules and just say they are unconscious like in Pokemon battles. Sidekicks are a good idea too! My 11 year old brother isn't very creative so I was worried about him coming up with his own character but maybe giving him a premade sidekick would be the best course of action. I didn't know about the GM Tips, I will definitely check those videos out soon!

Thanks everyone for the help!!

I'll say that the thirteen-year-old should be fine. One of the players I've DMed for was 13, and they were perfectly able to keep pace with the rest of the group, and their character was very intriguing. Actually, their character was the one that came up with the most rational plans and reigned in the more chaotic characters.

I'm currently running a campaign with my 9, 11 (and my wife). The 9 is super keen, the 11 less so.  What really causes problems is when it drags - you know when you spend half an hour with everyone finding their spells, you getting your head round what's happening, maybe levelling up. So I've started doing any levelling up, spell-choosing in a separate session. Then when we're going to play I make sure I'm ready to get straight into it and I try and keep sessions ot an hour. So far so good.

I tend to go easy on them and let them reroll when "it bumped the book" and things like that. You need to push them at all the good stuff they have as well because they inevitable get a bit "how come he has fireball and all I've got is ice knife" etc. 

Re: violence I've gotten comfortable describing violence at the level they seem comfortable with in terms of their tolerance for certain media franchises 8-12 there's sort of a Harry Potter (pre fantastic beasts) < Marvel ,  < Star Wars gauge you can apply with Vader's corridor slaughter in Rogue One being the peak.  DC television vs. cinematic universes, and whatever they're calling it now are also good reference points (and just thinking Shazam is pretty close to the violence threshold of D&D as written).  The Godzilla movies when humans are in monster jeopardy are good gauges of tension/stressful situation metrics.  Kids fiction franchises give you a sense of what they can hand in terms of graphic language.  Percy Jackson/Rick Riodan's books are one example The Warriors is another (I have so much osmosis of that stuff I've thought of making an all Tabaxi game world based on the tribe dynamics in those books, I'd be really surprised if no one's done that already).  

Managing magic is a tough hurdle.  Over ten is they grasp the slot management and selection.  Under ten they can do it with help, but I tend to steer kids in that area toward characters who can use those slots for something else.  Under ten's you'll see will pretty much stick with whatever actions have been successful in past fights while older kids will experiment more.   

Quote from TimCurtin >>

I'm not quite sure where your lines are as far as violence goes, but Rime of the Frostmaiden has surprising amounts of potential for non-violent problem solving, if that's what you want.  It's billed as a horror campaign, but I think it's quite plausible to get to level 7 without ever rolling initiative if you point the players towards the right quests.  You might be able to borrow a copy from your local library and check it out.

My own experience has been that 9 year olds can be shockingly bloodthirsty little monsters, so you might want to be ready to revise your "family-friendly" game plan.

Since none of you have that much experience, I'd start off, at least, with something more railroady than sandboxy.  Lots of descriptive text and very clear step-by-step objectives.  That also might need to be revised at a moment's notice.  

I'll give you one example for both of these:  I was playing with a group that had a nephew and one of his friends.  Both were 9-10.  His friend had made up - for some different group he played with - an Oathbreaker Paladin who worshipped Satan (I literally checked with this kid's mom because I was having flashbacks to the Mazes and Monsters days and didn't want some televangelist to crash through my door like the Kool Aid Man).  Thumbs up from Mom.  Isaiah the Dragonborn Hell-Paladin receives new orders from home office:  Go to the city, find the lizardman druid and help him fight The Yellow Sign (a new, violent rival to the Thieves' Guild that my nephew had been battling).  The Infernal Discord is convinced that the Yellow Sign has connections to the Far Realm and Hell has its own plans for the city.  Do not fail us!  Mwahhahaaa!  Off we go.  But all through the adventure, Isaiah keeps sidetracking things with the very specific notion of making 1000 gp quickly.  He won't say why.  Okay, this kid has something percolating.  Well, I can off-road with the best of them.  Let's get nuts.  The city in question is a big seaport, so a few "yes, and..."s later, we're basically doing the Lufthansa job from Goodfellas with the two of them stealing bales of tobacco off a ship at the docks and selling it in the bazaar TO THE ACTUAL RIGHTFUL OWNERS, who've by now been paid off for the theft by the insurance company.  They make money; Isaiah makes money.  Did I mention that this kid was nine?  So anyway, 1000 gp in his pocket, his master plan unveils itself:  He intends to hire two gangs of mercenaries, unbeknownst to one another, and have them each attack the other and slaughter one another in the open streets and then offer the souls of the dead to his unholy patrons.  0__0.  I'm seeing us barreling inevitably towards the Layla montage from Goodfellas when the kid has to go home for dinner and I have a brief talk with my nephew about the type of campaign I'm trying to run.  Hopefully, things will be a little more copacetic with your siblings, but my point is that little kids can surprise you, so stay limber.

The focus thing might be an issue, as might sibling stuff creeping into the game world.  If you use puzzles and riddles and whatnot?  I don't know your family, but I know the 11 year old WILL try to steamroll over the 9 year old's ideas and probably not let them get a word in edgewise, so make a special effort to include them all.

I don't mean any of this to scare you off.  Little kids are hilarious to play with.  Just keep the lines of communication open and know how far off-course is too off-course for you.

 I destroyed the upvote button on this. So awesome. XD

Use low risk combat and fudge rolls sometimes, make it so it is more roleplay and make it so it is a fun playing field that still shows them a challenge aspect. Oh, and you'll need breaks. LOTS OF THEM