New DM - Intro adventure for kids advice

[Mozzamon]

I haven’t played D&D since AD&D and have recently got back interested in it via the starter kit and basic rules. I'm looking to have my first D&D session with my kids (9-11yo) with a little homebrew adventure. Looking for some advice on my overall approach to a simple adventure for the first session or two.

As there’s only 2 of them I’ve been thinking of adding a NPC to their party to act as their guide and story hook and to bulk up the party so I can add in more challenging encounters.

So would you experienced DMers out there recommend using the NPC (thinking 4th level fighter to use as a tank) so encounters can have higher CR monsters for variety or would I be better served just having my kids characters (1st level Rouge and Cleric) and striping back the encounters to just a few Kobolds and a couple of goblins etc?

My adventure hook is something like: a unicorn (daughter’s request to have a unicorn in there somewhere) has been captured by an evil priest and his minions.... Go rescue. The monsters will be a few of kobolds, goblins, skeletons and an Ogre as a boss fight in some simple ruins.

Thanks!

[mgshamster]

Hello fellow dad and gamer!

The first thing I recommend is read Gamer Dad's blog. He has tons of great advice for running games for kids. http://www.gamerdad.com/blog/

For your specific question, either have a single npc ally that they can look up to, or better yet, let them go on the own.

This best thing about gaming with kids is their imagination. Let them run wild with it and be creative. When they come up with a creative (and likely wacky) solution, let it work! Try to encourage them to sneak past those Kobolds rather than fight it (teaches creative problem solving over violence).

If they try to talk to the Kobolds, give them an option to befriend them. Say they ask why the Kobolds took the unicorn (because we have to!). But why? Because the goblins took our lizard-ponies and said we had to capture the unicorn to get them back. Now it's a lizard-pony rescue mission. Then when they encounter the goblins, they could sneak in, or fight, or talk. Say the goblins demand to play a game for the lizard-pony - a loogie contest! (And they can either win, or have to figure out a way to game the system so they win).

Bring them in to the world building phase - ask them why a tower is where it is and who lives in it, then make that part of the world. Integrate them into the design of the kingdom.

I've never really been a fan of teaching kids that violence is the first and only answer to problem solving, which a lot of people assume is true when playing D&D, so I like to really go the distance for kids in a game and finding new ways for them to overcome the challenges. I especially focus on describing environments (sight, sound, smell, etc), and I like giving hints for getting past challenges without killing.

One thing I love about kids over adults is their ability to engage in divergent thinking. You can test this at home. Ask yourself (or your spouse, parent, sibling, or a friend) how many things they can do with a paper clip. They may come up with 5 or 10 things. A really creative person might come up with 20-30. Then ask a kid. They'll come up with 100 easy - especially once they start doing things like, "what if it was 100 feet tall and made of foam?"

:)

[Emay Ecks]

Adding an NPC to the party is a very good idea, it definitely makes the party more durable and versatile. However, I'd recommend having the npc be around as strong as your players. This lets your players shine more and feel like they're special. How are two level one players supposed to feel amazing compared to a higher leveled player who is controlled by someone more experienced than they are?

You also want to keep fights at a low CR regardless of what level your npc is. At level one, characters can get quickly downed by a lucky attack (rogue with around 11 hp? They can easily die during a single round with just two or three goblins attacking them. Goblins hit for 1d6 + 2 which means an 11 hp character will go unconscious after two average rolls).

A strategy I like to use with new players who usually don't know the ropes and need combat to be a little more forgiving, is give them the maximum hit points of a level 2 character to start out with. (So instead of 8 + con hp for your characters, you'd do 8 + con + d8 + con). This hasn't thrown game balance out the window, and makes it so that characters aren't an inch away from death while fighting a cr 1/4 enemy like goblins.

Your adventure hook is great as is (is the Ogre the priest? Also be careful, a cr 2 enemy like an ogre would be considered a "deadly" fight for a party of 4 first level adventurers. Consider throwing something a bit easier at them). Make sure you include some interactions that your players can have in a town. D&D isn't all combat, and players love to act out their characters. Have them try to get information out of some guards about the types of enemies in the ruins. Maybe they can try to negotiate a reward from a stingy merchant? Maybe they can ask a woodsman about the safest path to these ruins through the dark and dangerous forest?

Best of luck to you, I hope your children enjoy the adventure!

[Sigreid]

Let them go on their own. Start out going fairly easy on them, without fudging, and let them build up their confidence in both their tactics and their rule mastery.

Keep an eye on them. I have a nephew that when he started playing with his brother and cousins, he got really, really scared sometimes.

[mgshamster]

Another thing about kids...

So as an old school gamer, I know how you feel about wanting your kids to play D&D, too. It's a great game.

But it may not be the best for kids. However! There's a new game out which is specifically designed for kids!

http://www.nothankyouevil.com

No Thank You, Evil is a much simpler system, uses d6, and has all the great roleplaying aspects that make D&D such a great game. It's written by Monte Cook (yes, That Monte Cook, the one who was so influential to 2e and wrote most of Planescape), and has a very intuitive character creation system.

Check it out; I think you may be very happy with it.

[Sigreid]

Another thing about kids...

So as an old school gamer, I know how you feel about wanting your kids to play D&D, too. It's a great game.

But it may not be the best for kids. However! There's a new game out which is specifically designed for kids!

http://www.nothankyouevil.com

No Thank You, Evil is a much simpler system, uses d6, and has all the great roleplaying aspects that make D&D such a great game. It's written by Monte Cook (yes, That Monte Cook, the one who was so influential to 2e and wrote most of Planescape), and has a very intuitive character creation system.

Check it out; I think you may be very happy with it.

I don't know the OP's kids (of course) but that looks like it might be something 9-11 year olds would write off as kids stuff.

[Mozzamon]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah maybe go on their own and not having this higher level dude handholding them. Gotta change the hook and adjust the encounters to suit.

Thanks for the ‘No thank you evil’ headsup. Agree that it looks a little young for my kids, especially the 11yo son, although looks like it could have a more “Adventure Time”-ish feel than D&D which would be a fun thing with the kids.


Hello fellow dad and gamer!
This best thing about gaming with kids is their imagination. Let them run wild with it and be creative. When they come up with a creative (and likely wacky) solution, let it work! Try to encourage them to sneak past those Kobolds rather than fight it (teaches creative problem solving over violence).

I've never really been a fan of teaching kids that violence is the first and only answer to problem solving, which a lot of people assume is true when playing D&D, so I like to really go the distance for kids in a game and finding new ways for them to overcome the challenges. I especially focus on describing environments (sight, sound, smell, etc), and I like giving hints for getting past challenges without killing.


Good advice that, I’ll definitely keep that in mind when running this.

[mgshamster]

I don't know the OP's kids (of course) but that looks like it might be something 9-11 year olds would write off as kids stuff.

It scales rather well, to the point where its even fun for adults. And the theme is easy enough to alter. The game is designed for 8-10 year olds, and can be easily scaled down to 6, and up to adult. So it would he a perfect fit for a 9 and 11 year old.

The key is that character generation can be done in stages depending on the age. If it were D&D, it would be like the 6 year old only playing an elf, while the 9 year old plays an elven outlander, and the 15 year old plays an elven outlander ranger.

And all three are equally viable characters in the game.

I've run 5e games for kids age range of 9-13, and character generation is the hardest part for them. There's way too many moving parts. The 13 year old loved it, but the younger kids (9-11) all got bored when it wasn't their turn. Due to this, I'll never have them build their own characters again, I'll always use pregen PCs for kids that age. But with NTYE, you don't have do, because it's so much simpler.

Then they had trouble figuring out which ability to use when, and would often focus on a single ability or two and never use anything else. So a PC with the fewest buttons to press would be ideal - allowing the kids to explore beyond those buttons at an early opportunity (which helps them grow their imagination and confidence).

Here's how my first D&D game with kids in this range went:

The 9 year old boy wanted to stealth, so he played a rogue. But had a lot of trouble figuring out which background, skills, race, weapons, etc, to use. Then when he found out everyone else got magic, he was jealous (took a bit to explain that he's better at combat than the magic users). And in game, he never attacked - he always just used "stealth mode" as he called it, and tried to steal everything he could.

The 11yo girl saw the folk hero background and wanted to play a hero. But a 5e PC is more than that, so she also had to pick a race and a class. She wanted magic, and chose a wizard, but then had difficulty deciding which spells. And since she was a "hero," she wanted to do hero things, which often clashed with her class.

The 13yo, who set up the entire game and invited me to DM (these are app my cousin's kids), did the best. Wizard with criminal background, human race. Had his PC built, just needed some guidance here and there.

While I was helping each player, the other players got bored, watched TV, picked on each other, etc. Even during game, when it wasn't someone's turn, they'd turn their focus elsewhere. The other people in the house didn't help, either. The mom and grandma refused to turn off the TV (and no other place to play), loud conversations were going on in the background, etc. Based on that, set up your game in a place with few distractions.

Edit: Here's a review (https://geekdad.com/2016/07/thank-you-no-thank-you-evil/) on Geek Dad with a 9 and 16 year old playing NTYE.

Edit 2: A similar rules system, but more mature theme (for teens or older) would be Numenera, The Strange, or the Cypher System. Cypher System is the base system that Numenera, The Strange, and NTYE all use (with variance between them, only NTYE uses d6, the rest are d20), all developed by Monte Cook.

[Sigreid]

It scales rather well, to the point where its even fun for adults. And the theme is easy enough to alter. The game is designed for 8-10 year olds, and can be easily scaled down to 6, and up to adult. So it would he a perfect fit for a 9 and 11 year old.


Yeah, it's got nothing to do with whether they would have fun. Around that age a lot of kids start rejecting things just because they view it as kids stuff. When they mature a little they can then decide "so what, it's fun". :smallbiggrin:

[mgshamster]

Yeah, it's got nothing to do with whether they would have fun. Around that age a lot of kids start rejecting things just because they view it as kids stuff. When they mature a little they can then decide "so what, it's fun". :smallbiggrin:

That's fair. To play a more adult version, pick up Numenera or The Strange. Uses d20 instead of d6, has adult themes, is a bit more complex, but the rest of the system is the same.

The primary benefit of the system is that it focuses on overcoming challenges and obstacles via means other than violence (although that's certainly an option). Mostly though, you don't get XP for killing things, instead you XP for discovering artifacts and technology, or overcoming challenges.

Plus, super easy to DM.

[Mozzamon]

I've run 5e games for kids age range of 9-13, and character generation is the hardest part for them. There's way too many moving parts. The 13 year old loved it, but the younger kids (9-11) all got bored when it wasn't their turn. Due to this, I'll never have them build their own characters again, I'll always use pregen PCs for kids that age. But with NTYE, you don't have do, because it's so much simpler.


I’m definitely using pregens and stripping back the game a fair bit, as much for myself as anything. Reading your story I’m surprised you went through all the steps of character gen with kids. I found that convoluted when I went through the process the first time (just a few weeks ago) and wouldn’t put kids through it. I’ve talked to my kids about what sort of character do they want to be and created the characters as they wanted. Will try to coach them during the game about what their characters skills/spells/abilities could do in any situation, but I will be running the game with as little complication as I can.

Read that review and watched a few review vids of No Thanks and it seems good but still too kiddy, as someone said the pictures look like they’re straight outa Dora the Explorer.

On first glance Numenera looks really cool, had a half hour look at some reviews and rules but wow I dunno if I’m up for teaching myself a whole new system and universe. I just spent the last few weeks getting to grips with D&D again after 30 years off!