So, I'll be running a D&D 3.5 game for a bunch of kids. Help!

[Covered In Bees]

This is awesome. There should be 6 of them, aged 10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 13. They've all played before, and at least a couple. One of the fathers will also be playing, and he's an old-school gamer and good at keeping the kids behaving, so I'll have his help.

I need to run a one-shot for them, about four, four and half hours. Hack-and-slash is bad, although it's D&D, so there'll be a few combats. I'd like to keep it Good-aligned, so my initial idea ("sky pirates! Sky pirates are totally awesome, right?")
I'll be making a bunch of pregenerated characters, of varying levels of complexity, for them to pick from. They're all gifted kids, apparently, and one of them sent me a session summary of his game (with his own group, unrelated to this) that indicates

Any ideas?


Here's what I've got now, not sure how workable it is, drawing on a non-one-shot game I ran a long time ago:

The PCs are agents of the royal family (direct or indirect). Said family came into power a couple of centuries ago, during a big war, and they've pretty much all been geniuses, brilliant leaders, very good for the kingdom. Currently, there's an exiled older son, a daughter off studying somewhere... and the youngest prince: a prodigal son, careless about his duties but loved by the common people, with a fondness for slumming it--he hangs out with the guards who serve him, spends his time in rather obvious disguise about town, etc.
Secretly, he's actually as brilliant as the rest of his family, and is the unofficial liason to the common people of the city (who come to him with things they wouldn't or couldn't approach the royal court with) for his parents.

He disappears. Poof, up and vanishes, no note, nothing (although there'll be plenty of clues to point them in the right direction, obviously). He does this because he wants to prevent some sort of conflict that he feels is urgent (he can't convince his father of the fact, though, which is why he's run off to do it himself). The players need to track him down and bring him back discreetly; of course, when the time they find him, he'll mercilessly try to shanghai them into helping him.

The conflict in question is a gathering of hobgoblin tribes. They're gathering at the instigation of the aforementioned exiled prince, who feels that the throne is his by right, and wants to hit the capital city during the (ongoing) big festival and put himself on the throne (at which point, because he's royalty, he shouldn't need too much military force to hold--once he's gotten his brother and parents out of the way). The Prince will be working in various ways to try and prevent this, unless they knock him out and drag him back.


Adding lighthearted bits would also be good. Maybe some bears. Bears are good.


If there's some published modules I can plunder for informations, or you have ideas or scenarios (I'm not set on this one yet), I'd love to hear'em. I'm not used to DMing, and I'm not used to DMing D&D--I've run games before, but a couple were freeform-ish affairs, and one was a Spirit of the Century game that was very, very rules-light--so I'm a little nervous about this.

Edit: I can count on the dad for help, so--any ideas for what kind of a character I should work up for him? I was thinking a Factotum, so he could fill in for any role if necessary. He could be some sort of spymaster, and thereby help me nudge the plot along if I need to.

[Charity]

Sounds like a great campaign, but it looks like an awful lot of plot to squeeze into 4 hours, you need to pair down and simplify.

One time saving device I have seen used to good effect, is to start the session with a script, it can quickly involve players in their characters position in a plot and quickly get folk into character. Also it is something that they likely will not have experianced before so it should be something they will remember (it also gives you a brief glimpse into each individuals RP motivations and help you better tune the game to them. Some 12 year olds a very much more mature than others, are they all boys btw?)

Sounds reminicent of Girl genius, which is a good thing.

[Covered In Bees]

Sounds like a great campaign, but it looks like an awful lot of plot to squeeze into 4 hours, you need to pair down and simplify.
You're right, I definitely need to cut down. I'll think about how to pare it down.


One time saving device I have seen used to good effect, is to start the session with a script, it can quickly involve players in their characters position in a plot and quickly get folk into character. Also it is something that they likely will not have experianced before so it should be something they will remember (it also gives you a brief glimpse into each individuals RP motivations and help you better tune the game to them. Some 12 year olds a very much more mature than others, are they all boys btw?)
I was going to start them off in the festival, either doing something minor and unrelated, or just enjoying

They're all boys this time around. I'm told that most of them are pretty mature for their age, and at least a couple definitely sound it.

[Saph]

You generally want to keep backstory/in-depth plot to a minimum when running a one-shot, especially so when your players are all kids. (Actually, if you assume all players are like kids with short attention spans, adventures usually go better.)

Here's a quick-and-dirty suggested blueprint:

• Players are brought in to find missing prince. They get given a sky pirate airship to find him in. (Dad is the airship captain / royal liason.)
• Scene 1: they investigate prince's last-known-location and discover where he went. You can have a non-serious warm-up combat here.
• Scene 2: they fly off out of town and discover the prince and the hobgoblin horde at about the same time. Hopefully the prince stops them from attacking the hobgoblins en mass. Prince explains what's going on and reveals the hobgoblin's secret plan; they're all riding GIANT TRAINED ATTACK BEARS.
• Scene 3: the PCs + prince have to stop the hobgoblins and their bears, whether by kidnapping/impersonating the renegade prince or convincing the bears to attack the hobgoblins. Mass chaos ensues with bears going everywhere and the PCs low-flying around in their airship. Wrap things up somehow.

That's just about short enough to fit into a one-shot, and it includes most of what you want.

- Saph

[Covered In Bees]

Keep in mind that the kids involved have expressed an interest in heavy roleplaying over heavy combat. Given the kind of stuff at least a couple of them have going on in their normal game, I don't think they'd be too impressed with that. Besides which, simplifying on the fly is easy; complicating on the fly is hard.

Here's a session summary I got from one of the 12-year-olds (the most experienced one):



Sir Amian Darakyl, Human Knight (Jack)
Half-Elf Ranger (Jason)
Jebdo, Gnome Bard (Evan)
Dragon shaman (Benjamin)
Amali, Drow Sorcerer (Sadie)
Druid who ascended to Goddesshood (Rebecca)
Kalashtar Soulknife (Zephram)

We are currently fighting a horde of dragons and undead. They are currently blocked from us by a mountain range--the only pass through which is guarded by a keep which we currently control. Between that keep and the capital of the kingdom in which we live, Hanford, is the Castle of the Order of Olympia (named after some legendary mountain the druid read about). We (The Order of Olympia) are the last line of defense against the kingdom being destroyed. All bags of everlasting rations have been filled with dire rats, which are eating the everlasting rations. I believe it would now be more appropriate to call them bags of everlasting RATions.

We are currently attempting to:

A) Collect all the Dragon Shards (also known as Dragon Orbs, Orbs of Dragonkind, or Shards of Shard-Nar). More information on these can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. We have currently collected the black, red and green Shards. Once we have all the Shards we will return them to the elves for safekeeping.

B) Kill the Shadow Sisters before they kill us. The Shadow Sisters are Amali's sisters who are trying to kill her in revenge for her being good and thus being a traitor to Lolth.

C) Destroy the horde. Even though this is our most important goal, I put it last for I fear that it will never be accomplished.

[Charity]

Well you could script them into the point where they have to convince a contact loyal to the missing brother to tell them where he is. He will be angrylivid with them for blowing his cover, then they have to tactfully extract him from his behind the scenes mechinations without getting him or themselves killed.(He being deep under cover in the Hobbo elite.) Or assist him in his plan. Or just take out the exiled brother with a surgical strike etc...

[Saph]

Keep in mind that the kids involved have expressed an interest in heavy roleplaying over heavy combat.

Their session summary sounds like it includes both (I mean, it's an invasion scenario, right?) As for what I suggested, hey, you wanted bears and sky pirates, I was just trying to help. :P

But okay. A summary version of that campaign plot would come to:

- Siege warfare.
- Multi-part fetch quest (with opponents).

So you could remake your above adventure to include those elements - they're trying to defend the city from the hobgoblins, and the best way to do that is by neutralising the leader.

Remember that if you're playing a one-shot you have a very limited time-frame to work with. Players ALWAYS take longer than you expect to do things; you have to make the main plot fairly short or there's no way you'll finish in time. So if you want heavy roleplay, you have to figure out a way to do it fast - normal character development won't be quick enough.

- Saph

Note: The forum's playing up and I keep getting 403 errors when I try and post. Not sure how much of this will get through.

[Storm Bringer]

hmm.....



Edit: I can count on the dad for help, so--any ideas for what kind of a character I should work up for him? I was thinking a Factotum, so he could fill in for any role if necessary. He could be some sort of spymaster, and thereby help me nudge the plot along if I need to.

*evil grin*

Make him the prince, acting agian in disguise. His disappearence is a ploy by the king, who needs the prince to complete a certain task (for example, talking the hobgoblin into a truce), but is unable to openly do so.

Heres an idea: the hobgoblin leader isn't really that keen on trying to take on the players kingdom, but has been forced into it by several of his more ambitious underlings acting in league with the goblin priesthood ("the One in the Sky is Angry! He Demands that we take the Paleskin lands to the east to prove our faithfullness!").

He sends a message to the king via a neutral thrid party: If the king co-operates. they can manufacure 'proof' that certian underlings are conspiring with the humans to bring ruin to the attack in exchange for power/money/ whatever. With this, he can dispose of the troublesome elements of his officer corp and call of the war.

Hows that sound for a starter? obviously, it needs expanding, more work doing on it. but it's a seed of an idea....

now, how to work those bears in.......

[Covered In Bees]

Remember that if you're playing a one-shot you have a very limited time-frame to work with. Players ALWAYS take longer than you expect to do things; you have to make the main plot fairly short or there's no way you'll finish in time. So if you want heavy roleplay, you have to figure out a way to do it fast - normal character development won't be quick enough.


You're right. I'm gonna have to rethink the whole thing from a different angle. A good set-up alone should do most of the work...

[Covered In Bees]

I just got an idea. Planescape! The setting is entertaining enough on its own, it's easy to give them a purpose (retrieve X, find person Y, etc), they'll be as new to it as their characters, there's lots of fun roleplay potential.

And it'll be a setting-based one-shot, so I've got pretty good chances of using any crunch I draw up, since it can happen to be where they go.

[Storm Bringer]

I just got an idea. Planescape! The setting is entertaining enough on its own, it's easy to give them a purpose (retrieve X, find person Y, etc), they'll be as new to it as their characters, there's lots of fun roleplay potential.

And it'll be a setting-based one-shot, so I've got pretty good chances of using any crunch I draw up, since it can happen to be where they go.

I second that, simply becuase not enough people use the setting.

I'd never heard of it before planescape: torment, and I've never forgotten it since. that game and that setting are awesome.

plus, it's got enough of a 'oh, WOW! factor to catch the kids intrest. They're likey to remeber the setting, if nothing else.

[expirement10K14]

I DM'd for some 13-14 year olds (Last year, I was actually the youngest there at 13...) and it was horrible. One of them, the one who's idea it was to play, started to watch Dora the Explorer.

Some things I learned-
*Turn off TV's.
*Keep it interesting- they may say they want role playing, but keep some combat options available in case they begin to get bored. Alternatively mix them together- give them what they want with some combat to keep them interested.
*No snack breaks. Kids that age (read: my age) plus soda, energy drinks, sugar etc. tends to cause very unnoticeable changes that can ruin the game. Not kidding at all. One of them had nachos and then decided he wanted to try and jump over the kobold with a spear.

[kjones]

The rule of "Keep It Simple, Stupid" applies doubly here - first because you're running a one-off, second because it's for kids. I think the most important thing in both cases is to keep things moving along. Make the story straightforward enough that there's never milling about trying to decide what to do next. This doesn't mean that the plot has to be linear or devoid of choice - but make those choices explicit, rathe than assumed.

Also, w.r.t. the summary above - does anyone else feel bad for the soulknife who has to adventure alongside a druid goddess?

[FoE]

One of the things to remember is, at that age, there really are no cliches. So while more mature players may scoff at the "explore the spooky cemetery" or "rescue the princess" quest, they aren't familiar with it.

[Charity]

I don't know about that, i was pretty jaded by 12 I wouldn't go for anything that straight.
Anyhow he surely wants this to be an awesome memorable and anecdotal

[OverWilliam]

Don't underestimate the kids either. I have a 11 year old brother who is as talented at character backstory/motivation as most 'mature' players I've ever worked with. They can smell fear, and they can sense condescension; 'Aww, you cute little kids, let's go rescue a princess, fun, right?' Big nono. They know when you're holding back 'for their sake' and they will eat you alive for it if you give them half a chance. If you have to, use the fact that it's only a one-shot deal as an excuse for when they ask why it's so simple, because they can take almost anything you dish out, provided more time than you're given to work with. If you whip out a Chessmaster that's been manipulating them the whole time, they WILL catch it at the reveal and if anything be even more ticked that they've played into his hands than a 'mature' gamer.

That being said, you're mostly on the right track. I mean, come on, it's sky pirates, I would get excited about that one. :smallbiggrin:

[Knaight]

I have to second that. These people are preteens to young teens, and while many adults can't seem to remember any distinctions in their childhood and any differences from who they were from a little kid to about eighteen, made obvious by treating all kids the same way, in a game they aren't going to stand for that crap. They are going to recognize cliches, and even the slightest hint of condescension is going to make your life hard. As an example, when I was in eighth grade the tech teacher we had was horribly condescending and held respect to a double standard, in that he was just supposed to have ours, and we had to earn his. The class pretty much forced his retirement after a quarter, and we found out later that he had pretty much cried out some horribly one sided story to the other teachers. While this is on the extreme end, this is whats going to happen if you treat this kids like they are dumb, need to be catered down to, and come off as doing stuff because they are kids, in the event that they become vindictive and don't just leave.