Does anyone play D&D with their kids? My kids have independently been inventing something that looks a lot like a Monster Manual. I never played, but my brother did so I'm passingly familiar with it. I'm wondering if there is an easy/simplified way to get set up. We actually have the Dungeon board game, but that's pretty different.
I played it as a kid, and my DD showed enough interest last year that I acquired the books online, and started getting her and some friends set up with players, before their interest tailed off. It was just too complicated for them at 8. She still brings it up from time to time, as she clearly enjoyed the process of inventing the character, so we'll probably try again in a year or two. I never started with it until I was 11 or so.
The new version is a lot more complicated than I remember it, but keep in mind that you can basically ignore any parts of the game you find inconvenient.
There's a thing called a Starter Set that has a much smaller set of rules, spells, monsters, etc. It includes a pre-packaged adventure story to play through. It's not a great value, because it quickly becomes obsolete if the kiddos decide D&D is a hit and they want more.
