Adventures for migrating my kids from hero kids to 5e...

[Spiritchaser]

So... the oldest is only 8 1/2, but he reads until 10 unless forcibly prevented, is strong with math, loves tactics and combat mechanics and game rules, and re-designed the mechanics of the hero kids RPG to add a (actually not horribly imbalanced) levelling system to use in play with his friends. He loves the idea of an arcane trickster... as it hits all the things he loves to be in a game.

The youngest (6 1/2) is really just too young, but she loves stories and acting, and wants to be a wizard, or a fairy. She’s been playing hero kids with her brother for about two years and wants to play... something like hero kids with her brother, especially if she can be a wizard or a fairy.

I can write custom adventures for them, and will do a few but I’m busy and I’d love to use something I can just find or buy
and run with.



Can anyone suggest anything that might already be out there for 5e?

Edit: thanks for all the help so far. If possible, it is this last point, content, I’m particularly concerned with. I’m sure we can find a way to make the mechanics of the game manageable for her, and I’m just as sure I can find something that conceptually matches what she wants.

[ChildofLuthic]

So for the 6 1/2 yo kid, the main problem is that magic is so complicated in 5e. I had a similar problem with a player who wanted to try the game out but didn't want to learn the rules, so I fluffed a half elf feypact warlock as a fairy in training. Warlocks get a lot of at will abilities with their invocations, and the rest of their spells recharge on a short rest, so its simpler and doesnt feel an accounting game.

[Vogie]

When they are that age, you can lean more on piggybacking with certain concepts that adults won't need to do. For the things that don't click, tying them to things that make sense in a literal sense, rather than the abstract rules.

One of the best examples of piggybacking is the video game Plants vs Zombies -

The creator wanted to have an enemy that was slow and easily defeated, and only dangerous in large numbers, so he chose Zombies.
The creator wanted a tower defense-style game, but without any moving parts, so he chose plants as something that is literally rooted to the ground.


So, while a 7 or 8 year old may not understand "number of spell slots per long rest", they will understand technology, and how it needs to recharge. So something like "Burning Hands" or "Scorching Ray" may be a flamethrower. A Druid that could potentially shapeshift into anything is really intense, but if you collect a half-dozen options that they can have on tap that lowers it.

As for adventures that they'd be able to do, I don't have any 5e suggestions, but I've heard amazing things about Stuffed Fables, which is an RPG about the toys and stuffed animals of a child doing things like "fighting the monsters under the bed to rescue the child's favorite blanket".

[Callak_Remier]

I find for the young ones Melee Champions are the best.
Older ones struggle with spells at 1st,
Its better if you pick their spells for the day( easier for clerics and druids) and go over what each spell does.

[Spiritchaser]

I’m not too concerned with the mechanics. My son will be fine keeping track of these things, and i’ll refluff something to work for my daughter. It’ll be far more important to have a character that catches her imagination than anything else. A feylock would probably be a good choice though, since it’s conceptually what she’d like and mechanically fine too... especially if I let them have a short rest after each encounter to start.

Healing and resource economy is very different in hero kids, with virtually everything recharging between encounters. She commented that if she was going to be a wizard, then she wanted me to make them a healer as an NPC. Thats really obviously not the whole picture in 5e, it’s founded on her experience in HERO KIDS, which does work differently... but she can and will think in game specific mechanics. She’d just have to learn new ones.

My primary concern is content. It doesn’t just have to be monsters under the bed, my daughter will listen attentively when I read them Harry Potter... at least the first two books...

But most or all of the stuff I’ve written or played has been a good deal darker than the first two Harry Potter books!

[MagneticKitty]

Depends how custom you want to make it I guess. Is what theyre used to railroaded or open world?
Here's what I'd suggest.

- Pick a book/movie/game they've never read/seen but you have read/seen that you think they would enjoy. Something fairy tale ish. Lord of the rings, the circle opens, Tamora pierce series, eragon, lionboy, ect
- Create villains and a world based on that.
Note villains' goals, take them down a peg or make them less dark if needed. Ideally your original story isn't too dark.
- let them play through the story. Adjust as needed for choices they make.

[Vogie]

My primary concern is content. It doesn’t just have to be monsters under the bed, my daughter will listen attentively when I read them Harry Potter... at least the first two books...

But most or all of the stuff I’ve written or played has been a good deal darker than the first two Harry Potter books!

If you're creating for kids, trope it up. All of those things that are old hat and worn out to a normal adult RPG player are brand new and exciting for kids.

You can steal completely from things that they haven't seen or read yet. Waking up with amnesia is something they've never experienced before. You could lift the entire plots of things like the original Pokémon series, Fern Gully, Runoni Kenshin, or the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Heck, a book of fables urban legends would work... you could have them be the Winchester siblings re-enacting in a PG rated version of the first Supernatural season. Even if you haven't watched it, you could just follow the Wikipedia entries of a season or movie, and fill in the blanks.

[Finback]

Maybe use an alternate system to represent spellcasting? Something like coloured beads. Give her a list of spells for the spell levels, colour coded - eg red spells are level 1, orange are level 2, etc. You give a number of appropriate coloured beads per spell slot, and write spell cards that are simplified text versions. eg Magic Missile could be written with, "Roll three of these dice -*picture of D4s* and add three to the total. The enemy takes that much damage".

It introduces the concept of some spells being more powerful, that there are limits on how often you can cast spells depending on their power, and adds a simplified reading/arithmetic component.

Obviously, this is convoluted with stuff like spending higher spell slots, but maybe just don't use that system for her? Introduce it once she has a stronger grasp of spells and spell slots.

[Spiritchaser]

Thanks for the help and suggestions so far

I’m really not too worried about the mechanics of the game. I can pick a class that won’t be too much of a step from what she’s used to that matches her expectations fairly easily, and she can have as much help as she asks for.

It’s primarily adventuring content that I’m looking for. 5e adventures that have been written with younger players in mind isn’t something I have any of.

[opaopajr]

Starter Set: Mines of Phandelver is structured open enough, yet enough interconnected pregens with setting-relevant motivations, to adapt very well into another Aesthetic.

Just do the GM basics to adjust the Atmospheric Dials. Y'know: Contrast (stark vs. grey morality,) Brightness (hope & cheer vs. grim & despair,) Humor, Stakes (mild naughtiness & fight to fainting vs. depravity & grisly death,) etc. Phandelver's openness at the 3rd chapter also allows you to expand the world with inserting your own Self-Made, parental-control-friendly, side-quest content.

Basically a GM can take most adventures and adjust them, but you are looking to save on work time. Of the official WotC printed adventures, I would say the Starter Set: Mines of Phandelver would save you the most time during conversion WITHOUT being too patronizing to your children by being so obviously for children, (which is very much another concern,).

[Unoriginal]

Have you considered simply giving a Pixie statblock to your daughter?

[Lyracian]

I have been running a few adventures with my 10 year old and a a friends 10 year old.

If you google something like "warlock of firetop mountain map" you can just add some stats for monsters. I used that twice since there was enough rooms to keep them occupied.

DM Guild has plenty of cheap or pay what you want adventures.

Some free stuff here. I ran Goblin Caves for a level 1 party
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B4RL52gSedncR1YyOEdkbVZXYkU?tid=0Bwe9mtdZ7AWXc1Vw YU5tUTBodjQ

[Sigreid]

If I'm reading you right the situation is:

1. The kids want to be heroes.
2. The kids are smart enough that they'll be O.K. with the mechanics.
3. The oldest one is drawn to arcane trickster, which implies he wants to use skills with a little magic.
4. The youngest one wants to be a magical (don't take this as meant to be disparaging) princess.
5. The youngest one is a bit more interested in pretending to be her character than say combat, though not opposed to combat.

If this read is right, I wouldn't do a module or even anything too planned. I'd have them be from an area where a town or city boarders on a fey kingdom and the two have a tendency to blame each other for everything that goes wrong. Your kids, one from each "world" have become friends and are working to keep the peace and build bonds between the two. It's a trope, but it lets one be fey, the other be the street wise city rat, with plenty of opportunity for both role play and adventure situations without having to invest a lot of time in the whys. Bonus you can largely use the same area content (maps, npcs, etc.).

[opaopajr]

If this read is right, I wouldn't do a module or even anything too planned. I'd have them be from an area where a town or city boarders on a fey kingdom and the two have a tendency to blame each other for everything that goes wrong. Your kids, one from each "world" have become friends and are working to keep the peace and build bonds between the two. It's a trope, but it lets one be fey, the other be the street wise city rat, with plenty of opportunity for both role play and adventure situations without having to invest a lot of time in the whys. Bonus you can largely use the same area content (maps, npcs, etc.).

That honestly sounds like a lot of fun! :smallsmile: I can see an Arcane Trickster Urchin for the 10 y.o. & [Caster Class] Noble for the 6 y.o. playing in an overlapping reality. Have a few known stable portals and some irregular temporary ones about. This way the kids will need to rely on each other when they get in trouble to switch from Prime Material to Ethereal ('Urth & Fairyland').

Still, I would start the locale small, as urban campaigns can get complex quickly. Maybe a town or village as a start with places to visit in the surrounding settled 'suburbs & exurbs'. That way Noble & Urchin background will have continual use, and it saves the Wilderness as a sort of adventuresome unknown! :smallcool:

[Teaguethebean]

If I'm reading you right the situation is:

If this read is right, I wouldn't do a module or even anything too planned. I'd have them be from an area where a town or city boarders on a fey kingdom and the two have a tendency to blame each other for everything that goes wrong. Your kids, one from each "world" have become friends and are working to keep the peace and build bonds between the two. It's a trope, but it lets one be fey, the other be the street wise city rat, with plenty of opportunity for both role play and adventure situations without having to invest a lot of time in the whys. Bonus you can largely use the same area content (maps, npcs, etc.).

I don't know if OP only has two kids but if they do this could be perfect

[Spiritchaser]

I don't know if OP only has two kids but if they do this could be perfect

I think that would be about perfect on a lot of levels, thanks Sigreid

Ah well, so much for my plan to use someone else’s work.

I better get to work

[Sigreid]

I think that would be about perfect on a lot of levels, thanks Sigreid

Ah well, so much for my plan to use someone else’s work.

I better get to work

Glad I could help.