Where the kids at? Adventures for young PCs

[Darius Kane]

I'm going to run a game where the PCs will be very young (less than 14 years old). I would appreciate some ideas for interesting, funny or cool adventures and encounters that kids could get involved in.
Because the PCs will be kids, they will generally interact with other kids and because of that I also need some suggestions on places where kids could gather. An adult adventurer goes to taverns, churches, shops, etc., but children aren't really welcome in such places, especially in groups.
The game is D&D, the setting is kinda generic (think of FR or Greyhawk), the campaign takes place in a big metropolis.

[ArcturusV]

Treehouse or similar location. Almost any kid around those ages is going to have some "Secret Spot" they've discovered over the years and will use to hang out with friends.

[Rhynn]

What age exactly, and what social class? In some ancient, dark ages, and medieval societies, 12-14 would already be "an adult" (just possibly a bit small and not very knowledgeable about anything). And in others, not nearly (although a 12+ year old noble's son would probably be fostered as a squire already, the boys were not considered adults until 21; oddly, men sometimes couldn't marry until 21, but girls were good to be married at 12 ).

Anyway, the classic, obviously, is "you're doing kid stuff and wouldn't you know it, that place looks very interesting - oops, it's also very dangerous."

- The kids come cross an irresistibly interesting cave, door in a cliff face, portal into a faerie realm, or similar.
- One of the kids, or possibly a younger NPC (maybe one who tagged along with them to explore somewhere), falls into a hole, a crevace, a mundus pit, a sewer, or whatever, and the other kids have to go after them (right now; maybe a monster like a giant rat is about to eat the fallen kid right now).
- The kids see some grown-ups doing some bad stuff - bad enough that they have to interfere personally right now, because there's no time to get help from adults. Maybe they've kidnapped someone's younger or older sibling or parent and are just loading them on a boat, or taking them into a dungeon, or imminently about to make a human sacrifice out of them.
- The kids plain stumble into a portal into Undermountain (or equivalent dungeon). This could get a bit "Battle Royale with goblins."
- Turns out adulthood isn't so simple. Initiation ritual, undertaken with your age cohorts (within a few years) at 11-14 or so. Maybe you go into an otherworld, maybe you go into the wilderness, maybe you go into a dungeon...

Kids obviously gather in the streets and courtyards, where they play. Kids of lower social classes will probably form gangs in a metropolis, possibly tied to neighborhood gangs of adults and young adults (frankly, 15 would probably be old enough to be in one of those, and slightly younger kids could be pretty tightly involved already).

Kids of artisans, merchants, and guildsmen might go to a school (possibly run by a temple), so they might gather there or afterwards - although many artisans' and guildsmen's children would be apprenticed to another artisan or guildsman by age 12. (Not sure apprenticing your own kids to yourself was really done; it was generally considered a good idea to make them somebody else's headache, to give them wider experience of the world. Nobles fostered their children off to be pages at 6-8, etc.)

[Darius Kane]

Treehouse or similar location. Almost any kid around those ages is going to have some "Secret Spot" they've discovered over the years and will use to hang out with friends.

Treehouse is out. They live in a big city. What "Secret Club" spots could there be in a metropolis?

What age exactly, and what social class?

Less than 14 years old. Normal citizens or poor slum kids (so no noble and/or rich kids).

In some ancient, dark ages, and medieval societies, 12-14 would already be "an adult" (just possibly a bit small and not very knowledgeable about anything). And in others, not nearly (although a 12+ year old noble's son would probably be fostered as a squire already, the boys were not considered adults until 21; oddly, men sometimes couldn't marry until 21, but girls were good to be married at 12 ).

Generic D&D is neither ancient nor medieval. It's more like early renaissance, IIRC?

Anyway, the classic, obviously, is "you're doing kid stuff and wouldn't you know it, that place looks very interesting - oops, it's also very dangerous."

Danger isn't a requirement for an adventure. Just so you know.

Kids of artisans, merchants, and guildsmen might go to a school (possibly run by a temple), so they might gather there or afterwards - although many artisans' and guildsmen's children would be apprenticed to another artisan or guildsman by age 12. (Not sure apprenticing your own kids to yourself was really done; it was generally considered a good idea to make them somebody else's headache, to give them wider experience of the world. Nobles fostered their children off to be pages at 6-8, etc.)

In D&D worlds like FR it is assumed that children are mostly home-schooled by their parents/family. If a parent is an artisan it is likely he will take his child as an apprentice (to teach it a profession and to pass on the family business).
But a school isn't a bad idea. And considering that D&D schools have considerably less to teach children than RL modern schools (just speak, write, read, count, some basic knowledge) they would most likely double as "babysitting homes".

[ArcturusV]

Well, ones I've seen used in life: (Also what sort of city doesn't have ANY trees in residential areas? Manhattan? Hong Kong? That's all that really leaps into my mind)

Vacant lots, particularly abandoned houses.

Under bridges.

Boiler Rooms.

Libraries/Archives have lots of underused hidden areas.

Neighbor's unused attic/garage/basement.

[Bad Situation]

Treehouse is out. They live in a big city. What "Secret Club" spots could there be in a metropolis?

Abandoned or otherwise condemned buildings? They could meet under bridges or by riverbanks too. I would probably avoid using alleyways and the like, unless you're going for a grittier tone.

[Rhynn]

Generic D&D is neither ancient nor medieval. It's more like early renaissance, IIRC?

Uh, yeah, D&D pretty much is Medieval by default, just mixed up from all over the period. And "early Renaissance"... is... Medieval. By most definitions, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance overlap by two centuries or so. (Possibly more, given that the Renaissance can be argued to have begun much earlier in Italy, for instance, than in the rest of Europe.)

Generic D&D has no gunpowder or firearms, often no printing press, very little that is like the Renaissance more than superficially (e.g. rapiers, full plate). Meanwhile, an assumption of feudalism, peasants, etc., remains. It's not like there's a functional difference for most of the world anyway, or even a clear-cut line of "this is Medieval, this is Renaissance." (Is the 15th century Renaissance or Late Medieval?) Still, kids at 12+ in the 16th-17th century would still have been apprenticing for their parents' trade or, in some lucky cases, in school (probably while apprenticing the rest of the time; it didn't take an awful many hours a day to learn to read and write and to memorize scripture).

D&D is definitely more Late Medieval than Renaissance. (Granted, Faerûn has Lantanese smokepowder, "gonnes," and bombards, but that's pretty marginal in the 1300s.)

In D&D worlds like FR it is assumed that children are mostly home-schooled by their parents/family.

Is that indicated anywhere? The overwhelming literacy rate definitely suggests some kind of organized schooling, and with how common temples are, it'd make sense. It's certainly possible, though city life would have to differ pretty radically from what it was (for no apparent reason) for there to be no schools.

Danger isn't a requirement for an adventure. Just so you know.

Ooookay.

You maybe should have specified "no danger" then, I guess?

[Darius Kane]

(Also what sort of city doesn't have ANY trees in residential areas? Manhattan? Hong Kong? That's all that really leaps into my mind)

A D&D metropolis. And even if there are some trees (maybe there's a park or something), I doubt that the city guard would allow some kids to build (or even play) on one of them.

You maybe should have specified "no danger" then, I guess?

Except I didn't say "no danger".

[oball]

You could go for a sort of Famous Five/Three Investigators vibe, with the kids coming across mysterious goings-on and deciding to solve it on their own.

EDIT: As an example, maybe a zone of the city was gutted by plague a few years ago, and now there are strange voices and lights sometimes appearing in one of the abandoned houses. People living nearby attribute it to ghosts of the plague-dead, but kids being curious decide to check it out...

It could be a criminal gang using the forsaken district as a hideout, it could be a cult trying to use the negative energy caused by the plague for some unspeakable ritual, or it could even actually be ghosts.

Just make sure that after they foil the bad guy, he mentions how he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids.

[ArcturusV]

Well, the few FR novels I can think of that mention schooling of the characters?

There's the occasional "Wizard College" of a sorts which provides a formal education. It is suggested they learn a lot more than just spell slinging in there. Things like the Great Library from the Cleric Quintet as well, which is part giant library, part school from the sound of it.

Some societies seem to have very formal educational structures. Like Drow Military Academies (And Propaganda schools).

Or you compare the Icewind Dale, where it seems suggested characters there follow a typical apprenticeship idea. Sometimes with their parents, other times just because a skilled craftsman has no apprentice and takes a random kid in town. Also some Barbarian Tribes where it is suggested that basically the whole village informally teaches every kid everything they know.

[mjlush]

I'm going to run a game where the PCs will be very young (less than 14 years old). I would appreciate some ideas for interesting, funny or cool adventures and encounters that kids could get involved in.
Because the PCs will be kids, they will generally interact with other kids and because of that I also need some suggestions on places where kids could gather. An adult adventurer goes to taverns, churches, shops, etc., but children aren't really welcome in such places, especially in groups.
The game is D&D, the setting is kinda generic (think of FR or Greyhawk), the campaign takes place in a big metropolis.

Send them to school. It makes a terrific framing device because they get a cast of NPC staff and students to rub along with every session which gives a nice sense of community and continuity. There is a whole load of School Tropes to mine (and you can take the mick out of Harry Potter).

As for having adventures for a start there are school trips, sneaking round the school after lights out and my party have found that they can justify almost anything by saying its "for a school project".

[Killer Angel]

Except I didn't say "no danger".

Yes, but it was you the one who lectured Rhynn, for suggesting an "interesting but also dangerous place".

[Daer]

Perhaps watching movie "Stand by me" (or read "the body" as book) would give some inspiration. It is movie about four kids hearing out about body and going to see it.

[Darius Kane]

Yes, but it was you the one who lectured Rhynn, for suggesting an "interesting but also dangerous place".

Except I didn't.

[Killer Angel]

Except I didn't.

Danger isn't a requirement for an adventure. Just so you know.

Maybe I'm too touchy, but this seems an opinionated sentence.
Yes, danger isn't a requirement, but in your OP there was no mention of presence / absence of danger, so I don't see the need to point out that thing, adding a "just so you know", in responce to Rhynn.
If I'm wrong, I apologize.

Edit: on topic, i find the concept of "Stand by me", very interesting. +1 to that.

[Darius Kane]

Seeing as the PCs will be children, I assumed it is fairly obvious that the adventures don't have to be dangerous. I know it's D&D, but still. Apparently it wasn't obvious to everybody, so I clarified. I don't understand what's the problem here.

[Killer Angel]

Seeing as the PCs will be children, I assumed it is fairly obvious that the adventures don't have to be dangerous. I know it's D&D, but still.

Eh, indeed, it wasn’t so obviously immediate. Take Oliver Twist, or “the lies of Locke Lamora”… I could very well imagine a (moderately) dangerous adventure for your 10 years old 1 lev. Rogues. Add a boy that is discovering sorcerer's powers, and here you are.

[The Fury]

The meeting places mentioned so far make sense, abandoned houses, under bridges and the like. Boarding school or an orphanage could work too. What would you think of something in the vein of "It?" The kid player characters team up to take down some supernatural horror that's been troubling the city for centuries?

Spoiler

Show

Though hopefully the adventure would not include that stupid giant alien spider at the end

.

[JusticeZero]

There's home, and school, and then there's all this urban space that they can wander, most of which is unknown to the people who are going from destination to destination - all the abandoned lots, the hideyholes in the parks, the alleys, the space behind the bazaar tents.. A lot of that space is places that adults aren't aware of and honestly don't care about the existence of. But kids are sort've pushed off the edge of the official spaces, the 'grownup' spaces where business happens that adventurers go to, so they slip off to the edge, find some door or hole in the bushes, and wander through that into the edge. Everywhere that adults go to, remove from the map.
That doesn't mean that they're going to be stumbling into danger all the time. Kids aren't dumb, and they have some sensitivity to dangerous spaces.

They're also a lot more competent than people give them credit for. Modern culture in the UK, US, and AU are all really well known for having a lot of extreme infantilization of kids. My grandmother was babysitting and cooking without supervision when she was 6, which wasn't considered unusual. Watching kids being driven en masse to schools today is absolutely bizarre. And also horrifying, because I know how much real danger the kids are being exposed to in the cars versus how much danger there ISN'T for the few who are allowed to walk or bike.

[Lady Tialait]

This seems like a good idea, mind you, I love the goonies so there you go. You could partly use the goonies as a measure.

[killem2]

If the kids are willing to pay attention and not get distracted, (my son failed this after a few sessions), just about anything is actually great, aside from your choice of content appropriate for them.

If they play video games, see if you can find any similarties in plot!

[JusticeZero]

I think it was the characters that were young, not the players.
Young PLAYERS are a completely different issue.
Anyways, just make up a map and describe the space well, developing a lot of detail on the fly as needed to flesh out geographical features that you probably just scrawled in like canals, creeks, bridges, parks, alleys, space behind businesses and the like. The places you think of as important are the spaces kids think of as "places where people tell us to shut up and stand still" and they wander away from those. Be ready to flesh out the spaces behind those. there's no doubt all sorts of stuff that's been hiding in the city that people don't care about because it's relatively inoffensive that they will find there - wererats, kobolds, homeless people, low level criminal flunkies and strife between rival gangs..

[killem2]

doh.

it is for young pcs.

reading FAIL!