GM Adventures for Kids

[Vargold]

As I mentioned in my post to the Introductions thread, I'm thinking of using T&T to introduce my daughter and some of her friends to RPGs. But I know that T&T adventures often have a reputation for . . . sauciness. Are there GM adventures out there for free or for sale that are particularly kid-friendly? Thanks!

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Hmm, not that I can think of off the top of my head.

How old are the kids you want to introduce to roleplaying?

If they are very young you might be better off coming up with a shorter series of encounters and gearing the imagery and setting to something they can easily wrap their imaginations around.

I started playing at about five years old, I loved stories about trolls, dragons and monsters so fantasy roleplaying was a perfect fit for me.

Remember it is pretty easy to run a solo as a GM'ed adventure if you take the time to make a few notes ahead of the game.

Kids are probably not going to be up for doing any heavy dungeon mapping anyway.

I do have an adventure about four big silly trolls going on a beer run called "Bludgeons and Flagons" in TrollZine 3 that could be made kid friendly pretty easily.

If you think "Scapooz" ( Trollish liquor ) is a no go you could always make it "Magic Potion" instead.

There is of course the usual violence, but that can be toned down if need be, the only "Spicy" element is that one of the possible random city encounters is with Urrlu trollish lady of the evening and that can be completely ignored.

There are also some amusing carnivorous fire-breathing death camels and a crazy split personality trollish shaman so that might go over well for comedic relief.

The adventure does not take itself seriously at all and thats a good thing for an introductory experience with roleplaying.

Anyway its free so check it out and see if it could be what your looking for.

If you want any suggestions about modifying it I'm usually around the board so just let me know.

[Vargold]

It's a bunch of girls, aged 8-10. There might be an older brother or two involved, I'm not sure.

[gaptooth]

Dungeon of the Rat isn't free, but it served as my daughter's second adventure and my nephew's intro to T&T, and I would strongly recommend it. Word of advice: Even if the players find a mega-magic weapon in another adventure, you don't have to bump up the Monster Ratings here. Our delvers lost their awesome magic item to the maw of a certain bathroom denizen in this adventure, and they were subsequently routed by a swarm of ratlings whose Monster Ratings I had inflated.

I usually write my own adventures, though.

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

Well you can add as many trolls to the party as needed, just remember you'll need to give them each a chance to shine for it to be a really positive experience for them.

Strangely enough one of the pre-generated characters is a parody of Curious George. So make of that what you will! ;D

Actually playing a big tough nearly unstoppable goofy troll would have really appealed to me at eight years old....or now whatever.

[devadasi]

I ran adventure just for my 10 year old daughter and her best friend about a year ago, so they would have been 9 then.


Both of them decided to play female leprechauns. I had them" bring the King's justice" to a group of poachers who were hunting down all of the "magickal and rare" creatures of the forest. ( Unicorns, pegasi, firecats, fairy dragons, and such)

The bad guys were taking the creatures to their cave hideout and selling them to collectors, quack "medicine" makers, trophy seekers and even exotic food lovers.

Then, having rescued the creatures and defeated the poachers, the girls spent a few hours setting up their own exotic "pet store" in their home town of Moribund. THEY started naming and creating animals to sell, and I ended up playing lots of strange and interesting NPC customers. The pet store still exists today(in game), still run by those leprechauns. Both girls REALLY enjoyed that game and quite literally BEGGED to play again.

I would say use your own imagination to create an engaging story for the girls based on their own interests. ( i knew both of these girls love animals and magic, and a vision of a better world where nature isn't exploited.. the story grew very easily from that)

Also, watching movies like "the Princess Bride" can give alot of ideas for running an "innocent" game, and having it be "child-like" without being "childish".

An NPC or two that the girls characters can trust will go a long way also. I based "Muralie" (the most important NPC in my first games with my children) entirely on Hermione Granger. I made npc's TEENAGERS, and gave them fantasy parents who wondered why they weren't home on time at night when they were out adventuring. Go with tropes from young adult fantasy literature. READ some young adult fantasy literature ( I really like "Sebastion Darke, and got a number of game ideas from that book)

You would be surprised how easy it is to just let the girls be your guide. Give them a world with the same kinds of problems WE have and watch them come up with amazingly creative ways to solve that problem.


( I hate being spammy about my own folders, but I transcribed almost ALL of my early games with my kids here on the bridge. Games I ran when my daughter was 8 and my son 11 can be found in the "Tales From Moribund and Ur"folder in the "Campaign Journals" section of the bridge, INCLUDING out very first game. Have a look and see what wonder the future holds for you. Gaming with kids is a BLAST and you will gain as much from it as they will.

[ProfGremlin]

Mar 1, 2013 16:42:00 GMT -5 gaptooth said:

Dungeon of the Rat isn't free, but it served as my daughter's second adventure and my nephew's intro to T&T, and I would strongly recommend it.

I played Dungeon of the Rat with my kids and a friend of theirs, as well. All four of us enjoyed it even if we didn't manage to finish the adventure due to scheduling issues. They were playing newly generated characters and the danger/difficulty was appropriately challenging.

Beyond that, are there any cartoons that the girls like you could model an adventure after? Something that would let them be the heroes of the story? My kids enjoyed Avatar: The Last Airbender and I was thinking of basing something loosely on Ben 10. In fact, I actually wrote up a magical item based upon the Omnitrix from Ben 10. Devadasi could better tell you how it works in play as I haven't had a chance to see it.

[ProfGremlin]

Mar 1, 2013 19:07:20 GMT -5 devadasi said:

I hate being spammy about my own folders...

Nope, that's one thing you don't have to be worried about, Devadasi. Your play reports are fantastic reading. They really offer a true insight to how the game is played and are darn fun reading to boot!

[kwll]

You could also try BEAN.

[devadasi]

Professor, your bracelet is currently the property of Kazakarn, a very earnest and goodly knight of the realm, who happens to be a urok. ( in the other game he would be a LG paladin.... but Geronimo[player] has never played the other game and wouldn't know what a paladin is... he just naturally likes playing a purehearted character... so awesome!)

It was used as recently as last week to turn Kazakarn into a hawk to that he could drop a gorbel ( see 1st ed. Fiend Folio) down the smokestack of a drug lab in Sigil's Hive Ward. The ensuing explosion when the drug cookers inside got stabby with the unfamiliar thing, blew the southern wall out, thus making it possible for Taran and Kazakarn to stun the enemy early, and lead to a successful route of the "killer leprechaun" and his immoral business.

In other words, its definitely still "in-play"!

[darrght]

Jason Mills's "Bats in Dabelfry" is a fun little GM adventure available free from DriveThru RPG.

On the whole, it is good clean fun but there may be one or two words/phrases you might have to change to ensure total child friendliness I reckon. I'm planning on running my son (9.5) and his nephews (11 and just 13) through it one day soon.

[darrght]

Couldn't agree more with the comment about Bean!
I introduced my lad and his nephews to gaming through it. Simple mechanics but great fun for all.

There are 3 free GM adventures over at DriveThru RPG as well.

[Vargold]

Just read "Bats in Dabelfry"--hilarious, but perhaps a bit grim in ways for the girls. For an adult group, though, it's perfect Halloween fodder. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Vargold]

Also just finished "The Dungeon of the Rat"--it looks perfect for what I have in mind. Thanks again for the help!

[mahrundl]

Mar 1, 2013 19:07:20 GMT -5 devadasi said:

( I hate being spammy about my own folders, but I transcribed almost ALL of my early games with my kids here on the bridge. Games I ran when my daughter was 8 and my son 11 can be found in the "Tales From Moribund and Ur"folder in the "Campaign Journals" section of the bridge, INCLUDING out very first game. Have a look and see what wonder the future holds for you. Gaming with kids is a BLAST and you will gain as much from it as they will.

Devadasi, your game reports are entirely on-topic and appropriate for the board, so there is no question of them being in any way 'spammy'.

Need I remind you that when your games were on hiatus during January, there were a number of people counting the days until you'd post the next session's events? You do a fantastic job with them, and in my view they are right up there with order99's coffee-fueled player wackiness. I'd have a huge amount of difficulty if I had to pick which I liked better - any day that we see either type of post immediately becomes a whole lot better!

Have an Exalt for general awesomeness!