Want to Teach Kids Dungeons & Dragons? Don’t Start with These Books
Wizards of the Coast’s Young Adventurer’s Guide series falls short in teaching the most fundamental rules of the game.
THE MIN:
The Young Adventurer’s Guide series is a collection of books meant to introduce a young reader (ages 8-12) to the world of Dungeons & Dragons — ostensibly great for kids, cousins, or students who want to game with a guardian or a friend. And while we can forgive its obvious cash-grabbiness, we find it unforgivable that it’s a poor representation of what the game actually is.
THE MAX:
Wizards of the Coast has always been enthusiastic about publishing guides. They know that by offering exclusive settings, adventures, and supplemental books, they'll attract specific people to these guides (particularly, people who want to buy their books). They also know that collectors and hardcore fans will likely buy anything they put out simply to have on hand.
It’s clear to see that they have carried this model into their Young Adventurer's Collection in what I think is a detrimental move for the consumer.
Wizards of the Coast just released the second box set of the Young Adventurers’ Collection, and I got my hands on a copy from a representative at Penguin Random House. The current count for this series is a whopping nine books. The first set of these books included four books: Monsters & Creatures, Warriors & Weapons, Dungeons & Tombs, and Wizards & Spells.
Now four more books have been introduced to the collection: Beasts & Behemoths, Dragons & Treasures, Places & Portals, Artificers & Alchemy. Each of these books can also be purchased independently, as well as a standalone Characters & Quests workbook specifically for character and quest creation.
At first glance, I really appreciated how wide-ranging these guides were, and they did a good job covering how expansive D&D can be. As a whole, I don’t have issues with the books as standalone products. They break down the many, many aspects of the game into helpful, bite-size chunks meant for younger readers. The places, spells, magic items, and monsters are all well (if briefly) described, with just enough information to keep a young reader engaged. These books are good about covering a wide swath of information, even if they don’t explore too deeply into any of them
However, I think these fail to capture one of the most important parts of Dungeons & Dragons: the game's actual mechanics. The sets don’t actually have that much information on how to create a character and then act as them. If a young person wants to use these books to play Dungeons & Dragons … they kind of can’t.
The “Encounters” provided in the game are just a one-page description of a monster, trap, or puzzle, and then asks, “What should this character do in this situation?” without actually providing the reader with useful mechanics or a character sheet. The encounter feels more like a creative writing assignment, which while beneficial to the kid’s creative development, isn’t actually that helpful in understanding Dungeons & Dragons' actual gameplay mechanics.
The other thing that gets me down about these box sets is how they’re organized. If you have a young adventurer interested in Wizards and Alchemists, then what’s already out is great! But if they want to look at any other class, they’re out of luck for now. Yes, 12 core classes are a lot to release book-by-book, but it’s an obviously greedy play by Wizards of the Coast for more money. And if a kid wants to actually make a character, they must also buy the workbook to help them through the character creation process.
These books feel like they’re only helping kids understand the language of D&D rather than actually teaching them the game.
Now to be fair, these books aren't marketed as a product to teach children how to become rules lawyers or equip them with the knowledge and nuanced takes of a DM who's spent decades running games. What these books are meant to do, however, is introduce kids to the world of Dungeons & Dragons and the Sword Coast — which, yes, these books do indeed accomplish. But that's all they do: They help kids understand the world of D&D rather than what playing the game is actually like. Readers would come away from these books with just enough context to recognize buzzwords when their adult talks about their campaign, but not enough to let them be active participants.
All of this, combined with the steep price tag that continues to grow with every book released, means this product rings hollow for me. What could have been a really cool way to get young people interested in the game now feels like nothing more than a cash grab for those wanting to collect everything Wizards of the Coast puts out.
What cements this for me is that the content in these books is not confined to just the Players Handbook or the Dungeon Master’s Guide. At first, I appreciated this, but the more I thought about the practicality of it, the more I realized this is detrimental for someone new to the game. It would be one thing if after reading these books, a young adventurer wanting more information could just go out and get the PHB and have everything they needed. But instead, the taste of information they are given is too vast for one guide.
For example, if a young adventurer wanted to play an artificer, they would have to have access to The Player's Handbook, Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and potentially Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for the expanded ruleset … not to mention someone with a Dungeon Master’s Guide to actually run the game. What was once a potentially exciting thing now feels inaccessible if they don’t have the ability to get these books.
I think these box sets are only useful if the reader doesn't care about playing the game “the right way.” If we view them just as a way for a young reader to imagine and play pretend, they’re great. They give just enough detail to create the framework that a kid can pretend in, but nothing more.
If I had to recommend one product from this line for your young adventurer, it would have to be the stand-alone workbook, Characters & Quests. That way, they can at least create a character they want to play and start writing their own adventure.
And let’s not forget that when D&D’s first edition was released it was kids who taught themselves how to play! Young people were buying these guidebooks and figuring it out as they went along. There is a long proud tradition of learning to play from your friend, who learned for their friend, who learned from their cousin. You don’t necessarily need books for kids to learn how to play, you just need to give them the opportunity to do so.
These books are a great way to get them interested in the game, but if they want to play it, they will need more than what this series can provide. My biggest recommendation is to skip these books and go through the existing material with your young adventurer. (If you need a place to start, we recommend this guide to help set up your first game.)
So, while I appreciate the initiative to bring more young people into the world of tabletop roleplaying and D&D, these books are a miss for me. I hope they can be something more in the future, but for now, I’d say save your money for something else.
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