[RPG] As a GM, how to keep Dungeons & Dragons more interesting for young players

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Currently, my group of players is my children, ages 7+ through 14+ (and several in between). They all are really excited about playing, but I am having great difficulty keeping them all interested during the game. We do keep the game sessions short (never more than 2 hours), which helps some.

I am certain the difficulty comes from me not having campaign elements that appeal to all the age groups. 7 yr old girls like very different things than 14 yr old boys.

Does anyone have any experience with making this work? OK, that's a really general question.

I'm looking for tips (preferably from parents who have experienced this) on how to keep all players engaged. Maybe some ideas on what styles of play work well for different ages of children. Are there campaign elements/dungeon features that kids find more fun than others?

Best Answer

Young children are interested in different things than you are. The D&D that they play will not be what you're used to. I've read various threads where fathers played D&D with their kids and they share a few things in common:

  1. Length of play is fairly short. 30-60 minutes seems to be typical. If you can hold their attention longer, great, but don't count on it. Plan accordingly.

  2. Play often focuses on stuff other than the fighting. One father let his son build his character and parts of the village out of LEGO blocks. Consider swapping miniatures and graph paper for LEGO blocks. Make LEGO monsters, dungeons, and so on. Do it with your children so they get invested in it.

  3. Sometimes they're more interested in the tactical game than the role-playing. Let them fight if that's what they want.

  4. Sometimes they're more interested in the role-playing than the combat. Let them freeform role-play. Remember that D&D encourages a sort of sociopathic, genocidal approach to problem-solving and that your kids know better already. Their approach to solving problems might be to run away, to plead with the monsters to stop, and so on. Let these approaches work!

  5. When in doubt, just ask them what parts they like. Do those parts. Ignore the boring parts.

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