Post/Author/DateTime	Post
edveal 08-01-05, 11:04 AM	I am going to be putting a small campaign together for my 8 yr. old son. It will be a solo campaign and a bit of an introduction to RPG. He has been playing the mini’s game with me and has basic concept of combat and encounters. What I am looking for are some good hook and adventure ideas that I can use for a single player. He wants to play a rogue or ranger type character. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Sereno 08-01-05, 01:27 PM	I am going to be putting a small campaign together for my 8 yr. old son. It will be a solo campaign and a bit of an introduction to RPG. He has been playing the mini’s game with me and has basic concept of combat and encounters. For someone that young (or, really, for most players) a "campaign," in the traditional sense, is less necessary than a "series of exciting adventures". Most of the players I've ever played with were just as happy with loosely-tied together "adventures" than they were of long-story-arc campaigns. A long campaign can be very rewarding when finally accomplished, but short adventures tend to make you feel like more like a person in the "world" than a person in a "story". Mind you, this is my opinion and lots of players DO love the traditional long campaign. If he likes the idea of being a rogue, there's a whole host of "steal the item"-type adventures you could create for him ... give him the opportunity to outsmart, outrun, and (sometimes) outfight guards and traps to recover items for a wealthy patron. Eberron is really well suited to this type of play ... especially in Sharn. You could even modify the Forgotten Forge so a single rogue wouldn't get killed (just be careful with the swarm and the horrid rats ... they're bad enough for a 1st level party, let alone one rogue!). If he likes being a ranger, he can be from the Eldeen Reaches and there's an equally large host of adventures ranging from "rescue the kidnap victim" to "stop the monsters" to "guard the caravan." Eberron is also well suited to this. For a younger player, you'll want to keep the action high (more pulp than noir), lots of combat that isn't too likely to kill his character. If he likes Indiana Jones movies, throw in a few opportunities for his character to play out a favorite scene: running from the giant stone ball, fighting on a ship in a stormy sea, spell out the name of a god to cross a cavern. If he has a favorite cartoon or comic book, pull some ideas from there so he'll recognize them. Most kids love imitation. Most important ... have fun!
edveal 08-01-05, 02:27 PM	You are exactly right about the idea of a campaign versus a group of adventures. That is what I really had in mind. I don't really want to get into Sharn so I think I will set it in the Reacher or Thrane. I am also going to have him hook up with an NPC that I will run to help him out a bit. Not the patron but a comprable companion. I you can think of any free adventures that I can download and then modify please let me know.
Pax 08-01-05, 02:47 PM	What I am looking for are some good hook and adventure ideas that I can use for a single player. He wants to play a rogue or ranger type character. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks This may sound odd, but ... what about taking your cue wform Harry Potter? Your son is only a couple years younger than Harry was in the first book, after all. Give him a character who's about as young as he is - ten, maybe. Talk with your son about what kind of character he wants to be - and keep the initial range of classes as simple as possible. Sorceror, Cleric (use the spontaneous cleric from UA, if you can), Rogue, Bard, Fighter - all easy enough to use that he should be able to focus on PLAYing, and not the mechanics. ^_^ Have his in-game parents send him off to an appropriate school for his class (though Rogue is a bit trickier there, I admit). Start off small - with kid-sized adventures (the typical excusion-on-a-dare into a haunted house is a good one, if you keep the actual undead to a minimum). If you do the attribute-assignment yourself, you can even adjust some of it downward to account for the character's youth - and if you follow the HP mold, and boost things forward by a year after every adventure-arc, you can slowly increase those scores as the character gets older (and, one hopes, a bit wiser, heh). Anyway. It's an idea, at least. ^_^
edveal 08-01-05, 03:25 PM	If you do the attribute-assignment yourself, you can even adjust some of it downward to account for the character's youth - and if you follow the HP mold, and boost things forward by a year after every adventure-arc, you can slowly increase those scores as the character gets older (and, one hopes, a bit wiser, heh). I am not familiar with the "HP mold, and boost things." Could someone give me a quick rundown and where to find the details? I really like the idea of it being age set. However, he has been playing the mini's game with me and PS2 Balders Gate games for a while. I think he like the hack and slash, and what 8 yr. wouldn't... hee hee. So I would have to have a bit more action that the age naturaly would. But it sure sounds like a good place to start.
Ricohard_Draconis 08-01-05, 03:46 PM	"HP mode" would be the harry potter, basically in this sense it means that every book was a year. Personally i would steer away from Thrane. unless you comfortable with all the religion there within. if you want to avoid Sharn, you could go 'indiana jones'esq in Xendrix. The eldeen reaches are open for the old wander around and slay things type adventures. you could look into using gestalt classes if he's going solo to try and counter act the fact he's alone. rogue/artificer would make a good 'batman' type character if he likes that.
edveal 08-01-05, 03:55 PM	Personally i would steer away from Thrane. unless you comfortable with all the religion there within. I was going to start him off around Lake Brey that way I have lots of options as to where to go given how he ends up playing... I was also thinking of starting him in southern Aundair. But those are just my thoughts.
Majorafire77 08-01-05, 04:55 PM	I you can think of any free adventures that I can download and then modify please let me know. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b
Pax 08-02-05, 02:20 AM	I am not familiar with the "HP mold, and boost things." Could someone give me a quick rundown and where to find the details? By "HP Mold", I was referrig again to the Harry Potter books ("HP" = "Harry Potter"). In that series, each book represents the key happenings and such of one school year (and, often, the summer preceding it). I really like the idea of it being age set. However, he has been playing the mini's game with me and PS2 Balders Gate games for a while. I think he like the hack and slash, and what 8 yr. wouldn't... hee hee. So I would have to have a bit more action that the age naturaly would. But it sure sounds like a good place to start. Well, you could always go for a Sorceror or other "you were born with magic, boy ... it's in yer blood" sort of classes. Also, consider that you can have the same sort of hack-and-slash, if you just tone down the opponents to suit the character. A ten-year-old cadet at a military academy facing off against two or three ten-year-old thieves (with the Expert class, rather than rogue - rmeember, in Eberron, 99% of the population (or more) does not have a PC class level!) is going to be a heck of a challenge, but, it's not going to be impossible. With, say, a Constitution of 14 ... he'd have 12hp. The young thieves? 6hp each, IIRC. You can send him on a rat-killing mission (ah, the staples of old-time RPing ... heh). A few dozen ordinary rats, taken in small doses, with one dire rat as the "rat king", sitting in his lair in a msall sectionof sewers ... you've got a miniature, kid-sized dungeon crawl right there. You can even reward him with a magic item for thelast one - rats HAV been known for collecting shiny thngs, and for the sort of story I'm picturing, finding an old "+1 short sword" that also happens to have once belonged to a prior (and famous?) cadet at the academy ... ^_^ well, I'm sure you get the idea. First year, he deals with some pickpocketing kids (who steal his letter of introduction to the headmaster of the academy, so he has to go beat the tar out of them to get it back), makes some friends, learns a bit about the school, has a few small adventures along the way and ... say, on adare from an older student ... goes and plays slice-and-dice with some rats. Sword found, adventure over, schoolyear closes and it's off home to spend a month or two with the parents again. Fade to black. By now, he should have the XP for second level. So - level up, he's another year older (maybe one of his attributes gets closer to the "adult" scores he'll have at sixteen), and it's back to school again ... for some new adventures, of a more-challenging sort. Honestly, though - this'd work best if you were running it other than solo. Harry Potter would be long dead if it weren't for friends like Ron and Hermione; having some other kids to play your son's "school chums" would enhance the whole affair, IMO. Just don't hang the "boy who lived" star on ANY one particular kid's character. ^_^ Intaparty conflict isn't something you want to teach 'em about just yet, eh?
Setherial 08-02-05, 04:51 AM	This is something that interests me a lot, I would appreciate if you posted your progress while playing with your kid, tell us what went great and what didn't. Once my kid is old enough I want to play dnd with him. I think tension and storytelling are very important, kids have an imagination adults can't even come close to. I wouldn't focus on killing stuff to much (from an educational point of view) but rather, and the rogue class is excellent for that, emphesise on stealth, reflexes, skills (climbing walls, jumping over rooftops or on wet slippery rocks while, balance, etc...) and ofcourse describe the outcome with colorfull detail. Build up the tension as the monster is closing in and the situation becomes dire. Have him escape just barely with his life and let the spoils be great. Reuse the character in every story you spin and have him enjoy the spoils of his last adventure. You could use a computer and show photo's, drawings, fragments of movies to create an even more realistic picture of what is going on. Also, Eberron or not, kids think in black and white, it's part of the fun of being a kid, everything is still simple. Don't make things too complex, that's for adults. A backstab here and there, a little betrayal or an ambush are all ok but don't overdo it, don't confuse him too much. I'm also thinking of using a simplified sheet. Basic stats, a cool picture of the hero, a few basic skills and feats and AC, Melee and Ranged attack scores without too much detail. (hide the calculation stuff) If he has spells write down the spell names + some key ingredients maybe (as gathering them and running out of ingredients might appeal to him and add to the tension of the situation) anyway I hope you both have fun Seth
edveal 08-02-05, 11:42 AM	I am very grateful for all the ideas I am getting from you all. My big problem with adding his friends is they don't really seem interested at this time. His only neighborhood friend is very immature and could not even begin to deal with the game. I am not is a rush to get this started. As I said I love all your ideas and will be using many of them. I am now leaning toward one of two ideas. Either have him off at a school of some sort or a kind of Oliver Twist type rogue. I would like to lay down some real plans for either or and then allow him to pick if he wants to be a fighting type or a rogue type and then go from there. I will defiantly use the condensed sheet idea... Has anyone looked at the "New Basic D&D" box set that is out? Might it provide me some ideas, especially relating to condensed character creation? I know it is designed for younger players, just not this young. I have been playing D&D since the early 80's and it is hard for me to remember what it was like to be beginning...
Arden Blackleaf 08-02-05, 03:05 PM	What kind of character would he want to play? Edit. Lets keep things simple shall we? http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm I think these might work well.
Setherial 08-03-05, 10:36 AM	Has anyone looked at the "New Basic D&D" box set that is out? Might it provide me some ideas, especially relating to condensed character creation? I know it is designed for younger players, just not this young. I have been playing D&D since the early 80's and it is hard for me to remember what it was like to be beginning... I still have the Heroquest box from when I was a kid. I loved to make up new dungeons to play with my brother. Now looking back to the game it's kinda silly and so limited compared to dnd but there's a lot there that appeals to kids. The visual aspect (cool miniatures, a board with furniture and doors, nice little cards, simple but very nice player charts etc...), it's not very complex (simple stats, only a few monsters and a simple combat system) and it's an adventure. It's always new since you can rearrange the stuff on the board. What also appealed to me back then was getting the rewards of one game and buying new stuff before starting the next game. cheers
Quithion 08-03-05, 09:48 PM	I will defiantly use the condensed sheet idea... Has anyone looked at the "New Basic D&D" box set that is out? Might it provide me some ideas, especially relating to condensed character creation? I know it is designed for younger players, just not this young. I have been playing D&D since the early 80's and it is hard for me to remember what it was like to be beginning... The basic D&D box contains some good adventures (they might be 3.0 ruleset) . Run him through those and see what he likes/dislikes about them. Then Move him to eberron
Beleriphon 08-03-05, 11:36 PM	Has anyone looked at the "New Basic D&D" box set that is out? Might it provide me some ideas, especially relating to condensed character creation? I know it is designed for younger players, just not this young. I have been playing D&D since the early 80's and it is hard for me to remember what it was like to be beginning... This would be the best option actually. The basic set provides a group of characters with full builds, but only presents the relevent information. For example we don't need to know that Tordek the dwarf fighter has a +0 bonus to listen checks so its not included in the sheets. Something else to keep in mind, get your son to do some of the work of calculating his rolls himself. Its a good way to practice basic math skills, and isn't that ultimately the whole point of the D&D? :)
Lord Psynister 08-04-05, 03:24 AM	Check out some of the adventures that WotC has to offer. One that I really like is the first one listed there, A Dark and Stormy Knight. It's simple, it's easy, and it's short, but some cool stuff happens in there. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b The first time I really got into playing, I played a necromancer, because that's the character that was most appealing to me. So, the first game in which I got to create a small band (I called it an army at the time :rolleyes:) of undead, it was the single-most amazing moment in my D&D career. I've been playing now for just shy of 14 years, and that moment was in my first year. So, I would suggest talking to him and finding out which type of class he wants to be, <u>and then find out why</u>. If he doesn't know, try finding out. Talk him through each of the abilities and such, and find out what excites him. If he likes that he can sneak around, throw in some adventures that focus on that. If he likes the extra damage dice he gets from sneak attacking, then set him up on an adventure where he has to sneak into some safe-keeping building of some sort, sneak up on the guards and knife 'em in the back, and then sneak on inside and snatch the fist-sized diamond off the podeum. There are tons of things that you can do with him that will be simple enough that he understands what's going on and really enjoys doing it, a lot that will help him with educational stuff such as basic math skills, and there really is a whole lot more that he can learn when he's playing too. As someone above mentioned, you might want to steal a scene from his favorite book/movie/video game/cartoon/whatever, and stick it in there. If he really likes a joke from one of the movies, throw that in there too. There's no end to the amount of imitation that you can throw in there as long as you're willing to look for the place to put it. I'd also like to second Seth's request above, about keeping us posted about how it goes once you get started. It's really cool to see how suggestions turn out for other people, and it'll help us to come up with even more idea for you as you go along.
Missekat 08-04-05, 04:20 AM	Try checking out the serie of books called "The knights of the Silver Dragon". They're childrens books developed using the basic d&d classes and ideas. I havent read them myself but they seem appealing. And the heroes are all children! And one of the heroes is a rogue. There should be some stuff u could use for inspiration in there ;-) + i dont think they're too expensive. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=books/knights
cmanos 08-04-05, 07:57 AM	I'll go back to my favorite kids books. Susan Coopers, The Dark is Rising series. Boy comes of age and gets a strange belt buckle from a neighbor. Dark things start happening. He finds out he's 'special' and starts collecting 5 other symbols. Once he gets all six, he can push back the dark. Hmm... First off, you'll notice that I try and refrain from 'KILL the bad guy" scenarios. Not that I had any problem when I started playing at 9, but I like to have kids figure out alternative methods instead of killing. So he gets an iron symbol from a neighbor as a birthday gift. He runs into some guy on the road who spooks him out, but finds out the symbol repels the guy. From there, he goes on series of adventures to get the 6 symbols (in the books, they were wood, iron, bronze, fire, water and stone). The idea of a companion is a good idea. A 'best friend'. Y'know, this would be a good idea for a book. Adventures for Eight-Year Olds.... Also another good source of material....the movie Goonies. Seriously. Kids exploring caverns overcoming traps in search of pirate gold. Might have to see if I can draw some stuff up. I like to see parents taking an interest in doing things with their kids like this. I'm sure your son will love it.
edveal 08-04-05, 12:33 PM	I just finished reading the free adventure Something’s Cooking at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Cooking.pdf and it seems perfect for a great little beginning adventure for my son. It reminded me of the Mickey Mouse part in Fantasia… Here is what I am thinking place it somewhere, don’t quite know where yet and change the wizards to artificers. Change some stats to make it appropriate for one 1st lvl pc. What are your thoughts?
Ryan_Singer 08-06-05, 04:44 AM	One thing to remember if your son has a rogue and a friend, and that's if he and his friend team up on someone in a fight(position themselves on opposite sides of bad dude), they are both doing sneak attack damage (if both rogues). This encourages thinking about tactics and not just rushing into the fight.
CTHUHLU_THE_GROOVY 08-06-05, 08:30 AM	I started playing when I was 6 and was actually more exited by the traps than the hach n' slash.(it was the blue box set,I must have worried for ten minutes before I looked in the skull!) I really enjoyed convincing my porters to stay with me after a spider killed one. Don't underestimate children. start off with clear cut dungeons or the like, roleplay should be easy. Let him be a hero,minor monsters will eventualy become boring. feel free to change description's of monster's,a gnoll can be a werewolf a bugbear can be an ogre,a minor demon can be terrible and awe inspiring with just a little flavor, and +1 sword can be powerful unique,mechanics matter less fudge when necesary,let a critical hit be epic. And a first level rouge sneaking past the dragon people(kobolds) is better then sneaking past regular boring kobolds . cliches aren't cliches to those who don't know them so a brawl in a tavern is exiting and new,let bad guys be defeated,villains lasting more than 2 encounter's will be frustrating. involve friends as soon as possible.
Kinger 08-07-05, 12:29 AM	If he'll be playing solo, I'd stick in a character for yourself. I mean, c'mon, every hero has a sidekick! It'll also give you an ever-so-subtle way of nudging him in the right direction, plus it lets you say things like "Holy Bag-of-Holding, Batman! That rat just ran off with the keys to the treasure chest!" Just be careful that buddy-sidekick doesn't consistently steal the show (though it might be good for a laugh once). Give him/her a funny voice, some skills/abilities your son's character lacks (ie: healing magic), and a cowardly streak, so that there's no question who the hero is. Also, sidekicks are meant to be kidnapped. :)
Lord Psynister 01-07-06, 10:20 AM	Checking up here. Did anything ever happen with this?