Tuesday night my regular group was missing enough guys that we postponed the game. In a fit of insanity, I invited my brother and his 2 step daughters(ages 11 and 12) and my cousin and his son(age 8), to join my 2 daughters(ages 8 and 5), in a short D&D adventure. My two have sat at our game table a couple times for an hour or so, but this was going to be purely the kids.
Here were the basic rules I drew up for them:
4 basic classes:
Fighter - Prime stat - Str
Wizard - Prime stat - Int
Thief - Prime stat - Dex
Cleric - Prime stat - Wis
Races: Elf, dwarf, human
Ability Scores 4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired
No charisma
Ability score bonuses
Score Bonus
14 +1
15 +1
16 +2
17 +2
18 +3
HP= Con score + appropriate hit die - I liked this from D&DNext
Most monsters will be hit on a roll of 10 or more. Weaker monsters on an 8, stronger monsters 12.
So d20 + prime ability score bonus to determine if hit
Damage per weapons in AD&D PHB + bonus
AC - this is a little wonky
Starts at 10
Leather = 11
Chain = 12
Plate = 13
Add Dex bonus
AC is what a monster needs to hit you.
Thieving abilities are a d20 + dex bonus. DC set by me, but usually 10
Wizards can cast magic missile as an at-will. d20 + int bonus to hit
d4 + int bonus for damage
They can also choose 2 from the following(one use per encounter)
Sleep, web, and there were a couple others
Fighter got 2 attacks
Clerics - My brother got to improvise that, and help herd them in the right direction when needed.
We built the characters right away and had the kids select equipment. I remembered this as really helping me feel like I'm building the character. That was all done in 25 minutes.
So how did it go?
A group of 5 kids, median age of 8, was definitely more of a challenge than I expected.
For the record, it took exactly 6 minutes of play time till we hit analysis paralysis with the kids.
Races/classes
Elf - Thief - Pickey - 8 year old boy
Human - Fighter - Merelda - 5 year old girl
Dwarf - Thief - Sparkles - 12 year old girl
Elf - Magic User - Raistlen - 8 year old girl
Elf - Magic User - Ashley - 11 year old girl
Dwarf - Cleric - Nurse Persimmon -grown man
After meeting with King Rard and receiving his request to save Kuppies, who had been turned into a troll, we headed out. I had hoped for more engagement at this point, but they are young. It was a 2 day trip to visit the witch Aleris in her hut outside the swamp. At the end of day one, they could see a cloaked and hooded man limping ahead of them. Enter Analysis Paralysis. The suggestions were several. Pickey wanted to kill him. The Nurse suggested talking with him. Raistlen suggested using her sleep spell on him, then tying him up, and interrogating him(not bad for an 8 year old). In the end, Pickey and Sparkles, both thieves, used their skills to hide in shadows while Nurse and the rest of the gang approached the man to talk with him. Enter 10 minute crying fit by 5 year old. He turned out to be a bandit and the group was attacked. Combat lasted exactly one round before the bandits fled. My intent had been for this to be a quick battle to introduce the kids to combat. They got it.
Next up, they met with the witch and after some minor analysis paralysis about how to approach the hut, they spoke with Aleris and learned they needed a leaf from the Tree of Life, a freshly mined piece of hematite, and the essence of fire from the heart of the volcano. They immediately headed to see the Elves, since they had built their city around the Tree of Life. The Elven king was not happy to see elves, dwarves, and humans travelling together, but once he heard the leaf was to cure Kuppies, he provided it. Apparently Kuppies had assisted the elves in the past. This was meant as more of an RP event. The kids were struggling a bit with it, so we moved on.
Heading south, the dwarves led them to the dwarven city, carved out of the side of a mountain. The dwarves were more open to satisfying the request, but were not able to do so since a band of orcs had invaded the area where hematite was mined. This led to an encounter that I think ran 2 rounds. The kids rolled well and I probably under powered the monsters, but they got their hematite as a reward for assisting.
At this point, it was 8:30 and the kids were killing us. But we pushed on.
They all knew where the volcano was, but Meralda knew how to get in. If the kids had been more engaged, or we had more time, I would have done a little mapping and encounter here. As it was, it was getting late and we wanted to finish. In the heart of the volcano, they met a pair of Fire Elementals. The elementals presented them with a puzzle. It took me a while to figure a puzzle out, never mind one that was a challenge for a 5 year old, all the way to a 12 year old. They were each given a cipher. The degree of difficulty was based on their age. Each one decoded to a color of the rainbow and the elemental asked what was missing from the list. Not my greatest puzzle, but it worked. Once they solved it, the elemental filled their container with lava from the heart of the volcano, they returned to the witch, brewed the potion, and restored Kuppies. 5 minute wrap up to finish around 9:00!
Lessons for next time. I had wanted to provide them with examples of RP, Combat, and Puzzles. I think I should have done more combat. At that age, that is the easiest thing to understand. Next time it will be a dungeon crawl. I think a map would have helped hold their attention better.
Here were the basic rules I drew up for them:
4 basic classes:
Fighter - Prime stat - Str
Wizard - Prime stat - Int
Thief - Prime stat - Dex
Cleric - Prime stat - Wis
Races: Elf, dwarf, human
Ability Scores 4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired
No charisma
Ability score bonuses
Score Bonus
14 +1
15 +1
16 +2
17 +2
18 +3
HP= Con score + appropriate hit die - I liked this from D&DNext
Most monsters will be hit on a roll of 10 or more. Weaker monsters on an 8, stronger monsters 12.
So d20 + prime ability score bonus to determine if hit
Damage per weapons in AD&D PHB + bonus
AC - this is a little wonky
Starts at 10
Leather = 11
Chain = 12
Plate = 13
Add Dex bonus
AC is what a monster needs to hit you.
Thieving abilities are a d20 + dex bonus. DC set by me, but usually 10
Wizards can cast magic missile as an at-will. d20 + int bonus to hit
d4 + int bonus for damage
They can also choose 2 from the following(one use per encounter)
Sleep, web, and there were a couple others
Fighter got 2 attacks
Clerics - My brother got to improvise that, and help herd them in the right direction when needed.
We built the characters right away and had the kids select equipment. I remembered this as really helping me feel like I'm building the character. That was all done in 25 minutes.
So how did it go?
A group of 5 kids, median age of 8, was definitely more of a challenge than I expected.
For the record, it took exactly 6 minutes of play time till we hit analysis paralysis with the kids.
Races/classes
Elf - Thief - Pickey - 8 year old boy
Human - Fighter - Merelda - 5 year old girl
Dwarf - Thief - Sparkles - 12 year old girl
Elf - Magic User - Raistlen - 8 year old girl
Elf - Magic User - Ashley - 11 year old girl
Dwarf - Cleric - Nurse Persimmon -grown man
After meeting with King Rard and receiving his request to save Kuppies, who had been turned into a troll, we headed out. I had hoped for more engagement at this point, but they are young. It was a 2 day trip to visit the witch Aleris in her hut outside the swamp. At the end of day one, they could see a cloaked and hooded man limping ahead of them. Enter Analysis Paralysis. The suggestions were several. Pickey wanted to kill him. The Nurse suggested talking with him. Raistlen suggested using her sleep spell on him, then tying him up, and interrogating him(not bad for an 8 year old). In the end, Pickey and Sparkles, both thieves, used their skills to hide in shadows while Nurse and the rest of the gang approached the man to talk with him. Enter 10 minute crying fit by 5 year old. He turned out to be a bandit and the group was attacked. Combat lasted exactly one round before the bandits fled. My intent had been for this to be a quick battle to introduce the kids to combat. They got it.
Next up, they met with the witch and after some minor analysis paralysis about how to approach the hut, they spoke with Aleris and learned they needed a leaf from the Tree of Life, a freshly mined piece of hematite, and the essence of fire from the heart of the volcano. They immediately headed to see the Elves, since they had built their city around the Tree of Life. The Elven king was not happy to see elves, dwarves, and humans travelling together, but once he heard the leaf was to cure Kuppies, he provided it. Apparently Kuppies had assisted the elves in the past. This was meant as more of an RP event. The kids were struggling a bit with it, so we moved on.
Heading south, the dwarves led them to the dwarven city, carved out of the side of a mountain. The dwarves were more open to satisfying the request, but were not able to do so since a band of orcs had invaded the area where hematite was mined. This led to an encounter that I think ran 2 rounds. The kids rolled well and I probably under powered the monsters, but they got their hematite as a reward for assisting.
At this point, it was 8:30 and the kids were killing us. But we pushed on.
They all knew where the volcano was, but Meralda knew how to get in. If the kids had been more engaged, or we had more time, I would have done a little mapping and encounter here. As it was, it was getting late and we wanted to finish. In the heart of the volcano, they met a pair of Fire Elementals. The elementals presented them with a puzzle. It took me a while to figure a puzzle out, never mind one that was a challenge for a 5 year old, all the way to a 12 year old. They were each given a cipher. The degree of difficulty was based on their age. Each one decoded to a color of the rainbow and the elemental asked what was missing from the list. Not my greatest puzzle, but it worked. Once they solved it, the elemental filled their container with lava from the heart of the volcano, they returned to the witch, brewed the potion, and restored Kuppies. 5 minute wrap up to finish around 9:00!
Lessons for next time. I had wanted to provide them with examples of RP, Combat, and Puzzles. I think I should have done more combat. At that age, that is the easiest thing to understand. Next time it will be a dungeon crawl. I think a map would have helped hold their attention better.
