Dungeons and Dragons is a popular game for people of all ages. This leaves a lot of parents asking questions about the game. Is DnD appropriate for my kids? How old does my child have to be to play DnD? Can a 7 or 8 year old play DnD? We’re a group of parents, educators, and gamers who run games for young players, so we have a pretty good idea of when to start children on D&D and how they can have the best experience.

The pantheon of Dungeons & Dragons is vast, containing mythological deities from our world, like Asmodeus, alongside original gods, like Selûne. When playing a D&D character with divine powers, like a cleric or paladin, you get to choose one of these deities to get power from - plus you may encounter them along your adventures! If you’re a fan of Norse mythology, you may wonder what Norse gods are in D&D and how you could incorporate them in a Norse mythology campaign or into your own D&D character. If that’s you, read on!

For years, people played Dungeons & Dragons at tables in homes, libraries, and convention centers. But with the dawn of the internet, many started playing online and, particularly around the height of the pandemic, switching to more robust tools like Discord. We started Young Dragonslayers during the pandemic and have exclusively run games online, several of them using Discord, so we have a few tips and tricks to share about how to get started playing D&D on Discord. 

The new Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual brings a fresh look at popular monsters in D&D 5e. You may be familiar with some monsters, but did you know that many of them were actually directly inspired by Lord of the Rings! Here are a few classic monsters from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts, and how the new D&D monsters 2024 shape up. 

When most people think of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, they usually picture the action happening on land: in castles, caves, cities, forts, mountains, roads, and, of course, dungeons. But some adventures are not content to stay landlocked - they call for the pull of the saltwater, to sail on a ship, fight aquatic monsters, and explore the depths of the ocean. If you’re an old or new Dungeon Master looking for unique D&D campaign ideas, why not look to the water? We’re professional DMs over here (I know, it is the coolest job), so we have a few ideas for themes, plot hooks, and settings to inspire exciting and memorable D&D sessions that your players will love.

As parents, it can be difficult to find good activities for neurodivergent children. So many activities for kids and teens aren’t made with neurodivergent brains in mind: unstructured anxiety-inducing social settings, sudden unexpected changes, and often either too much or too little stimulation for our young one’s minds. The best activities for our children not only appeal to them and their interests, but will also build skills, connections, and confidence that we want them to carry through the rest of their lives. While my little one is still too young to play, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that Dungeons & Dragons can have on neurodivergent teens, tweens, and older children. Let me tell you why I think it’s the perfect game for kids with autism, ADHD, and anything else that sets a brain apart from the “norm.”

With the newfound popularity of Dungeons & Dragons and the growing suite of tools to play games online, there’s a higher demand for professional Dungeon Masters; people who are skilled in running D&D and would like to get paid to be a DM. But there’s a huge gap between having an inkling that you want to become a professional Dungeon Master and actually making money as a DM with recurring clients. Over the past five years, I’ve gone from never running a game of D&D to being a professional DM running multiple sessions each week. While everyone’s journey is unique, here’s what I’ve learned on my journey and what I recommend as the steps to become a professional Dungeon Master. 

If you know and want to get birthday gifts for a D&D fan, fear not! We have 10 unique D&D gifts that are sure to enchant any Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast.

Here at Young Dragonslayers, I’ve seen how Dungeons & Dragons can increase creative thinking, confidence, empathy, and so much more. What if the power of D&D could also help me keep my New Year’s resolutions? The safe play space of the game might make difficult things easier (and help me be more invested in following through). I’d certainly like to find out.

Say “Dungeons & Dragons” and most people picture a scene right out of Stranger Things: a group of players huddled around a basement table, rolling dice and moving tiny plastic figures around. But, unlike Stranger Things, we have the whole internet at our fingertips (and are also free from supernatural horrors, but that's beside the point). These days people play Dungeons & Dragons over the internet. But that begs the question: how do you take a game designed to be played on a table and move it entirely online? Well, online D&D is kind of our whole thing, so let us talk you through what you need to know. 

The game Baldur's Gate 3 is about as close as you can get to Dungeons & Dragons in video-game form. Players create a party of adventurers, choosing from the D&D classes of barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard. They cast D&D spells, like Fireball and Polymorph, use D&D items, like a Potion of Healing or a Sword of Life Stealing, and fight D&D monsters, like owlbears and mimics. Even the world itself is D&D, from organizations like the Harpers and the Flaming Fists to the eponymous city of Baldur's Gate itself. So many young people play D&D and have heard about Baldur's Gate 3, which has many parents asking if this game is right for their children. We're here to help you answer that question! 

I’ve recently been re-watching Alex Hirsch’s masterpiece, Gravity Falls—a Pacific Northwest adventure full of magic, cryptids, and mouthwatering mysteries. This is one of my favorite TV shows ever made, and what makes it even more fun is Alex’s hilarious references to D&D. (Seriously—there’s a whole episode on it. Go watch “Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons” featuring the hip-hop version of their in-world spoof, Diggity Dungeons & All That.)

There’s so much potential for both giggles and gasps in the madcap world of Gravity Falls (I’ve been working on a one-shot that I really need to stop procrastinating), but one standout aspect of the show is the hilarious, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable characters. If you want to bring some Gravity Falls goodness into your own game, here are a few suggestions for how to adapt your favorite characters into powerful, playable OCs.

Some Dungeons & Dragons stories become legendary: a perfectly timed natural 20, a ridiculous use of a spell or item, or a plan of attack the Dungeon Master never expected. I've been a Dungeon Master for a while, so I’ve been witness to many such moments. Now, whenever I see a meme template, hear a song, or watch a movie, somewhere in the back of my head is a D&D story that fits right along. So of course, with the upcoming release of the Wicked movie (and the soundtrack I've had memorized since 2009), my brain has been pairing up my favorite songs with my favorite D&D stories, which I have decided to share with you. Enjoy these moments from my many D&D campaigns along with a matching song from the musical Wicked. 

One of the great strengths of Dungeons & Dragons is getting to play with others: going on adventures as a team, interacting in-character, and getting to spend time with geek-minded friends. But this strength can also be a weakness. Many a well-intentioned campaign has fizzled out due to scheduling mishaps, interpersonal conflicts, or difficulty finding a Dungeons Master - and that's if you can get a party together in the first place! This struggle has many D&D enthusiasts asking if it’s possible to play the game alone. With a little bit of creativity, the answer is yes! Here are a few different options if you want to play D&D by yourself.

Did you know homeschooling is the fastest-growing form of education in the U.S.? I didn’t until I saw recent research showing that, even post-pandemic, the number of homeschooled kids continues to climb—up to 2.7 million, according to the Washington Post!

Families from all walks of life are choosing to homeschool for various reasons, so there’s no single “type” of homeschooler. Still, anyone considering it has probably faced the same question: How do homeschooled students socialize?

As a therapist, I can confirm that socialization is crucial to every child’s emotional and cognitive growth, especially for preteens and teens whose development relies on peer relationships. So, whether you’re asking this yourself or fielding questions from curious (or nosy) neighbors, it’s a topic worth exploring.

Socialization can be challenging for all kids, regardless of school setting. Homeschooling families just face different hurdles than their public school counterparts.

In this post, I’ll dive into the importance of socialization, why not all social events are equal, and how parents can intentionally set their kids up for social success. We’ll also look at how online platforms (like our D&D games) can add valuable support to a homeschooler’s social world.

Creating a Dungeons & Dragons campaign from scratch is a lot of work. Not only do you need a good grasp of how the game plays, but you need fun ideas for characters, plots, encounters and more - plus the chops to put them all together! If you want to be a Dungeon Master but don’t want to spend hours crafting a custom campaign, there are plenty of pre-made campaigns that you can use.

No matter what tone of game you’re looking for (wholesome and cozy? traditional fantasy? dark and spooky?) there’s a D&D campaign on this list for you. Drawing from both official and indie sources, here are a few campaigns we recommend for beginner Dungeon Masters and D&D players alike.

There is no official Dungeons & Dragons holiday (not yet, anyway), but Halloween is the next best thing. It's the perfect celebration for D&D fans: you can dress up as your favorite characters, revel in the spooky vibes, and enjoy all sorts of classic D&D monsters (zombies, ghosts, witches, and more)! Halloween also comes with some of the most iconic spooky characters from pop culture. We’ve taken inspiration from these characters to give you ideas to make your own in the game of D&D!

We are big fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings here at Young Dragonslayers, and we aren't alone. Many of the very first people working on Dungeons & Dragons loved Lord of the Rings, taking inspiration from the books as they crafted the rules and world of the game. So, that got us wondering - what would Tolkein's stories have looked like in D&D? Could we use these classic tales to teach people how the game worked? Let's find out together!

You get to do a lot in Dungeons & Dragons: go on fantastical adventures, fight cool monsters, and embark onmysterious quests. But perhaps the best part is that you get to go on those quests using a character that you made yourself! Using the basic rules of D&D and a little guidance, you can create your own original character that's playable in any D&D game. We've helped tons of players create their own characters, so let us give you a hand!

It’s one of the most searched D&D terms on the internet: “how to make a good dungeon.” And no wonder. The dungeon crawl is a quintessential aspect of the game, else we’d be playing High-Rises and Humans or Shambling Mounds and Shopping Malls.

But what actually makes a dungeon fun? And how can you keep your players engaged, equipped, and emotionally captivated throughout a two-hour, four-hour, or even multi-session crawl?

I’m by no means a master builder, but I’ve crafted more than a few daring delves for my players. Whenever I feel like it’s time to venture beyond the open world and into the clutches of a deep, dark lair, here are a few factors I consider.