Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Shrike1 May 14, 2015 21:20:51	So here's my situation.  I plan on running a summer campaign for my two boys and a friend from my old D&D days as well as his son.  The boys ages are 9, 8 and 5.  My youngest doesn't have the greatest track record for attention spans, but he really wants to play and I don't think exclusion is the best way.
#2 bawylie May 14, 2015 21:58:29	Make the solution part of the adventure hook.    When the Quest is laid out and you tell the story of the last time the beast rampaged across the land, and though he could never be defeated no matter how many Knights, he was killed back to a deep and long sleep by Blah blah blah. Harp of whatever that is kept in the tower of wherever guarded by whomever.
#3 bawylie May 14, 2015 21:59:07	For younger groups, there's a Higher storytelling to play ratio.
#4 Nevvur May 14, 2015 22:20:19	I'd try to give the young one a little more agency in the game. Might be occasions when he's too distracted to play even though it's time to smash things, but you have his full attention sometime outside of combat.
#5 marius4 May 14, 2015 22:24:48	I like bawylie's suggestion about finding a mcguffin on the way to meeting the tarrasque.  You'll probably benefit from a strong, clean storyline.  Regarding the figurine character, what if he wants to talk in between combats?  You can always just treat him as a "casual" player (i.e. not super-engaged in the game but not disruptive).  You could even take over or narrate his character's actions when needed to keep things moving.  My only concern would be that should he happen to want to do something outside of combat he would be unable to.   Hope the game goes well!
#6 Shrike1 May 14, 2015 22:45:56	Oh it's easy to keep him in the game longer.  I'm just attempting to give a mildly relevant reason as to his kinda scatterbrained comings and goings.
(Reply to #6) CCS	Shrike1 wrote:
#8 Shrike1 May 15, 2015 12:23:45	That's very similar to what I had in mind.  Though I keep having to remind myself that since eveyone is so young with the exception of my friend, that railroading to maintain the plot is ok.  They are only going to care about the story itself, not how they got there per se.  And rolling lots of dice.  They love that stuff.
(Reply to #8) MarineRaider	Shrike1 wrote:
#10 Kobalus May 16, 2015 19:30:02	I know he is five but if you want him to learn then let him play. run a few small simple adventures with him first to get him familiar with the game. Make an adventure of him getting from his home to the city to buy his first gear maybe have another player act as his father on the trip to help him get there and mke the right choices. Next you have to get his gear for him but a sewer rat (low level monster) has stole his coin purse and he must recover it . Next step is deallingwith the venders to get his gear. Then have him seek the training of a higher level charater to teach him on the adventuring trail. Let him become like a follower for one of the other character that can help direct him and teach the ways of adventuring. If he gets bored in the middle it can be taken over by is trainer.
(Reply to #8) dave2008	Shrike1 wrote:
#12 Shrike1 May 17, 2015 7:23:03	Essentially, I planned on using his attention span as a barometer towards the figurine's time spent on the material plane.  In game, this figurine is a little faulty.  So it is a bit sporadic.  Sometimes it can last for (in game days) or for just an encounter or two.  And if during a fight it gets *killed*, he won't have to lose his character, it will just need to have a rest before it can smash face again.