D&D 5E Lighthearted / pre-teen friendly adventures

[Jeff Moulton]

I'm looking for some 5e titles that are lighthearted in nature. We're re-starting a group with my son as a player and me as the DM. My son will be 13 at the end of the month. I tried a year or so ago using HotDQ, and it didn't keep their attention - too long (the 40-day caravan was brutal) and topically not their style.

I'm looking for something a bit more lighthearted in nature, a "tribbles" episode as it were. We have four boys, ages 12-13, two of who will be completely new to the game, so I'm not taking them into the underdark. The book adventures are too long, particularly as they aren't in a hurry to get anywhere anyway.

Any suggestions?

 

[Mistwell]

This one seems good.

 

[Jeff Moulton]

Wow, that's kind of fun. It may be a bit young for what we have, but I may just use it anyway for the new players to learn mechanics. Plus the freebie items right up front are a nice bonus.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Not sure if any of these quite qualify as "light hearted," but you might take a look at:

A Disturbed Breakfast

Fishing For Gods in Strades Gallows

Gulbolga's Rule

 

[Jeff Moulton]

Fishing for Gods in Strades Gallows - fantastic!

To start, who would ever think to make a list of inspiration that included Roald Dahl with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Margaret Mitchell with Gone with the Wind, and Frank Peretti with The Oath! (Fishfingers and custard anyone?)

Then to use an old Charles Wesley hymn as background? Fantastic! And it works!

I'm going to have to clean some of it up a bit. My son hides his head when people kiss on TV still, so I'm not sure the line, “You useless waste of a whore’s maternity leave!” will be appropriate for him, but I can always edit language to fit.

 

[aco175]

I have used several of the DMsGuild adventures based in Leilon with my group and 12year old son. The Giants at the Gate adventure required the PCs to be assisted by the NPC group in the area. My son did not want them to show up while everyone oese was on board. He did not want to split treasure of XP with them. To this day, he threatens to kill them all if he sees them in town.

 

[JPicasso]

one suggestion would be starting out in a world that the group already familiar with and understands. Pick some fantasy world that they all can relate to. Harry Potter would be easy, Have them all start as wizards (or maybe there is a paladin school right next to hogwarts?) and possibly portal them to a more traditional D&D world? Or not, HP could be fun.

There was a post here (or somewhere) where one guy was running his kids in a pokemon universe (in D&D system) to help capture all the lost pokemon. This might be a bit young for your kids, but the premise is the same.

I don't have any specific adventure links, but the point is, once you have a familiar setting, you can run adventures that feel similar to something that happened in a movie, or the book, or whatever that everyone can relate to.

HTH

 

[Eltab]

Lost Temple of the Fey Gods (an LFR module) was fun to play through. One encounter: a bunch of Pixies block the path and demand "Tell us a story!"

My character got blown into a pit trap (because the Wizard couldn't aim Thunderwave very well) but I landed on top of the monster the Wizard was really aiming at - I killed it with the 'landing on top' damage. Moral: if you work on it, you can make even a mistake become fun.

Think like an Indiana Jones movie - how much comedy there is mixed into the adventure. Even Temple of Doom had laugh moments (Willie at dinner) to break up the building sense of dread.