These miniatures of young D&D adventurers and their companions are adorable

It’s often easy to overlook, but Dungeons & Dragons is a fantastic game to play with young children. As well as featuring all the things kids love to play with and talk about anyway – dragons, monsters, sword fights, magic, spooky dungeons – D&D’s rules, like most roleplaying games, encourage creative thinking, improvisation, teamwork and countless other beneficial traits that are useful when you’re forced to return to real life.

Despite this, many of the accessories for D&D focus on the adult portion of the RPG’s audience, showing fully-grown elves, dwarves and humans rather than their younger companions.

It’s nice to see, then, that a new collection of Dungeons & Dragons miniatures due for release next year will give the kids something they can relate to on the tabletop.

The pre-painted figures are based on classic D&D classes, including rogues, clerics, fighters, druids, rangers and wizards in both male and female variants.

What’s more, each adventurer will come with a companion, including badger, battle dog, lynx, tree creature, genie and winged snake buddies.

The first set will be out in the first quarter of next year, with maker WizKids promising more figures and classes for future packs.