[D&D] for the young at heart.. and young in age

Redspo0n

So, my 8-year-old son has been 'inventing' games with his old-school green army men that feel very deeply gameified.

Bazooka guys deal splash damage, Bayonet soldiers deal 50% HP, but can't reduce health lower than one, the tanks dont take small arms damage but are weak to the helicopter, which is a special ultimate single use power you only earn after X damage dealt...

He also very much enjoys World of Warcraft (more so the character creation, and material-gathering, but he's quite good at following his mother on quests as well), HOTS, Overwatch, Torchlight, and Minecraft - and those elements frequently seep into his invented mechanics. Earlier tonight, the Tan army men were building a summoning portal, so they could teleport Darth Vader to the battlefield to assist in crushing the Greens, but the Greens brought a SUPERTANK, which in turn had to be dismantled peice by peice before it could reach the summon circle. It's fantastic to watch.. less so to play because the rules are all internal to his mind, which is where we feel D&D would help shore up some of the 'rules', but still allow that creativity to exist.

Which brings us to my wifes amazing idea: We deeply gameified parents wanted to encourage him to try his hand at DMing a small-scale adventure for us!

Unfortunetly, aside from very much enjoying the AqInc shows, both stage and C-Team, neither of us have any experience with actually playing D&D, nor have any idea of a place to start him off either.

Is there an especially simplified version that would lend itself to future depth to cut our teeth with? We feel like he would 'need' minis and maps to feel like it was more than just story-telling - whats a good source to get started on those supplies?

Also coming to mind were the Neverwinter(?) PC games - Is there a Dungeon Master mode were he could DM the adventure, but let the machine handle the details, while my Wife and I tackle the partys perspective?

Hell.. are his 2 parents enough of a 'party' to even adventure with, or do we need to find.. say.. an equally nerdy uncle and a random sassy vagrant to join us?

see317

You might want to look at the D&D starter box: http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/rpg_starterset
It looks like it has everything you'd need to start your kid on the road to DMing. If he enjoys it, then get the DM guide and the player's handbook, eventually the Monster Manual and Volo's guide to give you more beasties.
I don't have this box myself, so I can only pass on what I've read. It doesn't have the character creation information, just pre generated characters. No minis. But it's got the dice set and a stripped down rules for both the GM and players.

For minis you might look to Ebay, I heard that a Reaper kickstarter recently shipped out, so you'll likely have people looking to unload the minis they don't want there for pretty cheap.

If you're looking for specific minis, or if you have a character idea and you want to see what's available, I like Reapers website figure finder.
https://www.reapermini.com/FigureFinder
You put in what you're looking for, and it returns what they have. Generally pretty cheap per mini. Spend 35+ for free shipping.

You can get grids off Amazon, and a set of dry erase markers will let him draw his own dungeon maps.
You'd probably also want to pick up a couple more dice sets, but those can be had pretty cheap (unless you want to go expensive with stone or metal dice).

Number wise, the box looks like it's designed for a group of 4-6, I assume that means 1 GM and 3-5 players so the encounters are probably balanced around that. You could probably run it with two people, but if you've got a nerdy uncle available, they're typically pretty available when it comes to rolling oddly shaped dice (speaking as a nerdy uncle myself). Sassy Vagrant is optional.

Edit: Ideally, I think if you've got a nerdy uncle available, ask if he'd be willing to DM a small game for your family. That way you all get experience with the rules and how to play, and if it ends with nerdy uncle floating the idea that your son runs a game...?

Gaddez

I'm liable to be pilloried for this, but have you considered checking out Palladium book's line of RPG's? They have a pretty wide selection for genre's (everything from fantasy to anime to superheroes to oriental to zombies to the truly absurd) and while the rules aren't nearly as fast or clean as more modern RPGs, they do have a fairly universal rules system that can allow you to mix and match settings in ways that might really appeal to the rampant imagination of a child.
palladiumbooks.com/

As an added bonus, characters in palladium can be pretty powerful, so a duo team becomes a lot more feesible then it would be for D&D (where the optimal party size is closer to 4-6)

Lord Palington

You might try something like this : https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Legend-Drizzt-Board/dp/0786958731/ref=sr_1_9?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1497629786&sr=1-9&keywords=dungeons+and+dragons

They have a few of these D&D themed board games that (as far as I know) use pretty similar rulesets. I don't think these are DM and Player games, more co-op as a group. The top review on that one specifically has a father talking about playing with his 6/7 year old, and it seems like your kid would be able to grasp the rules on it. This may be a decent trial run for him, maybe play the game a few times through, and then see if he'd like to try a more free-form version, one where he can run the monsters and make up the story.

Whatever you guys end up doing, it's really cool to see parents let kids explore their passions like this!

OptimusZed

Dungeon World is something with less moving parts that is significantly easier to run but still has the D&D-style game elements. Running Dungeon World is basically just a workout for your imagination, since all the math stuff is on the players. For a young person running their first system, I'd take a look at it.

WACriminal

On the extremely rules-light end of the spectrum, take a look at Roll for Shoes. Each player starts with 1 skill, "1d6 - Do Anything" and builds from there.

Fuselage

Index Card RPG!

It was made by the creator playing/running 5e and boiling it down to what he and his group enjoyed out of that game. You still get the same traditional dice, character creation is point buy, and your classes can definitely stay in their roles or branch out based on loot they receive. There is no XP or leveling, just loot and spells (which are also loot).

http://artifactsandrelics.blogspot.com/2017/05/review-index-card-rpg-core-set.html?m=1

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/212262

CaptPoco

What you want is Hero Kids http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/106605/Hero-Kids--Fantasy-RPG

It's a fantasy RPG designed specifically for children ages 4-10, it's got adorable artwork and it's twelve bucks. It only uses d6 dice (the kind you find in a Monopoly box), so it's doubtful you'll need to buy much in the way of supplies. Maybe a dry erase board and markers for a few bucks?

Dracomicron

Is this the general D&D thread?

Because look what i snagged yesterday.

see317

Chapter 1: Rocks don't even get a chance to fall, and everyone dies.

Brody

I personally would suggest 13th Age, it's D&D but with an attempt to streamline rules, and add some actual story into the rules.

Brody

Oh shoot, I don't know why I didn't think of this first, but you could also go the wargame/skrimisher route. Mobile Frame Zero is a set of rules published under Creative Commons, so its free to share, and was designed to be played with robots made out of lego's (about the same scale as little green men, actually), but could super easily be applied to anything you want. The rules for it are fairly simple, and iirc only use D6's and D8's.

Endless_Serpents

I was gonna post what @Brody has, so this is my post of too slow approval.