Ideas for encounters, puzzles, etc for young players

[AHF]

DMing for an 11 year old and 8 year old. The purchased content is a bit too combat heavy and my own bias leans towards mechanics as well so trying to overcome that tendency. Feel good about developing a bigger story arc but was looking for ideas for encounters, puzzles and other scenarios I could build into the story that would entertain without being too much for young players.

Their party will be level 4 and comprised of Arcane Archer and a Divine Soul Sorcerer along with the NPC Barbarian/Rogue that acts as melee target. Looking to move a bit more towards the silly side so that type of scenario is welcome as would be anything interesting and engaging in or out of combat. Appreciate any help from the many creative minds of this forum!

[stoutstien]

A ettin that is having a disagreement with itself is allways a fun one.

[hymer]

A visit to a pet shop went down terribly well for a guy I played with, when he GMed for his daughter(s?) and some friends.

[Expected]

Since they are younger and combat might be too difficult or boring for them (depending on their preferences), it might be fun to homebrew rules. They could be hired by the city guard to cull the numbers of dangerous beasts in the area and for each one that they dispatch, they get an equivalent snack in real life (they hunt a bear and get a gummy bear; defeat a giant burrowing worm and get sour worm gummies in return. It would be a nice little incentive to keep them interested and they (if they love treats like my children, might even compete with each other to see who can slay more and get more treats).

As for puzzles, add humor into it and make the quest NPCs have eccentric or silly personalities. For example, to finish a quest, have them speak to a REALLY old man who used to be an adventurer. Have him reminisce and go off on tangents telling stories of his youth and also have him doze off during conversations--a former DM of mine did this and it was hilarious. Give him a silly name, too, like "Old Man Willy," which is short for William. A puzzle could be that he had a fortune stashed somewhere but due to his bad memory, he forgot where it was and asks your young adventurers to find it. When they do find it in-game, give them a $1 each in pennies, nickels, and dimes and pretend that that is his treasure. They could also find an assortment of old rusty armor and weapons that have seen better days.

[SirGraystone]

An evil wizard stealing animal or creature (anything from a goat or dog, to an unicorn or owlbear) to make experiment on them. And the your heroes have to save them. They may even end up with animal companion once they win.

[Man_Over_Game]

Have you considered looking into FATE? It's a much more simplified Tabletop RPG that might be better for the two younger players. Mostly, it revolves around storytelling vs. combat, and has your players come up with their characters' abilities on the fly based off of their backstory.

"Well, I was the original Indiana Jones, so of course I have a whip with extra range!"

"My tribe did spend most of their time tending to animals, so I'd like to see if I can calm it down".

Stuff like that. The mechanics are based around the players describing what they're doing and why they can do it, and the dice are just there to keep things interesting. It's really good for people who aren't interested in the complicated stuff of DnD.

[AHF]

An evil wizard stealing animal or creature (anything from a goat or dog, to an unicorn or owlbear) to make experiment on them. And the your heroes have to save them. They may even end up with animal companion once they win.

This is the exact mission they are running now. It is a monkey that the wizard is going to experiment on. I’m thinking of blowing things out so that the Divine Soul Sorcerer then gets a message about how the monkey is the key to stopping some emerging evil and they run some quests getting things that enhance the monkey in funny ways (wings, etc). The archer character really wanted a pet so giving that and having it be more of a focal point might be fun.

They are capable of doing combat but with the archer’s limited options for actions it tends to get repetitive — especially when combined with the sorcerer always seeming to keep his slots and fire cantrips. Hoping that metamagic will encourage more things like twin guiding bolt for bigger splash at a minimum. That said, ideas for some encounters where there are fun environmental aspects or traps / puzzles that encourage interactive problem solving would be more than welcome.