D&D 5E Adventure ideas for kids

Tormyr · Oct 18, 2017

I am thinking of starting a 5e game for my 10 year old daughter and some of her school friends. I am looking for adventure ideas that are relatively low on violence and scary stuff with lots of other ways to succeed at the tasks required. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Alternatively, I am also looking at the Tails of Equestria RPG as an option. Does anyone have experience with that yet?

aco175 · Oct 18, 2017

Most everything I'm thinking of involved killing things and taking their loot. You could modify things like in cartoons where the monsters are ghosts and holograms that just disappear in a puff to go back to their home realm instead of die. Or better, like in GI Joe where the tank or plane would blow up and you see the pilot parachute out at the last minute.

robus · Oct 18, 2017

Something along the lines of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or Wizard of Oz) might be a good seed point?

Have your daughter and her friends get transported to some alternate universe and the adventure is finding their way back home, but encountering all kinds of strange characters and side quests on their way? Have them choose their class once they've landed in their new reality?

Tormyr · Oct 18, 2017

aco175 said:
Most everything I'm thinking of involved killing things and taking their loot. You could modify things like in cartoons where the monsters are ghosts and holograms that just disappear in a puff to go back to their home realm instead of die. Or better, like in GI Joe where the tank or plane would blow up and you see the pilot parachute out at the last minute.

I seem to recall even the old D&D cartoon had very little actual killing. Maybe I need to go back and watch that.

robus said:
Something along the lines of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or Wizard of Oz) might be a good seed point?

Have your daughter and her friends get transported to some alternate universe and the adventure is finding their way back home, but encountering all kinds of strange characters and side quests on their way? Have them choose their class once they've landed in their new reality?

That is a good idea, and would fit into the D&D cartoon world setting. Maybe I could transport them in, have them choose a race that they appear as in the new world, lay out the different kinds of things the classes do so they can choose, and set them up with an iconic item that fit with the character class a la the cartoon.

alienux · Oct 18, 2017

Maybe have them do the classic "rats in the cellar" scenario or a variable of that.

Or maybe use enemies that, instead of dying, just vanish back to a home base to recoup.

You might also want to take a look at this adventure designed for kids 6 and up:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/monsterslayers

Tormyr · Oct 18, 2017

alienux said:
Maybe have them do the classic "rats in the cellar" scenario or a variable of that.

Or maybe use enemies that, instead of dying, just vanish back to a home base to recoup.

You might also want to take a look at this adventure designed for kids 6 and up:

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/monsterslayers

Thanks, I am familiar with Heroes of Hesiod, and that may work as an adventure within the larger setting.

Ath-kethin · Oct 18, 2017

The old D&D cartoon is amazingly nonviolent. It is well worth revisiting for inspiration, especially given the character development shown over the course for the series.

On point: Tails of Equestria is an amazing rules-light system, and the adventures published for it (one in the core book, one in the boxed set with dice and a GM screen and some character sheets) follow the show's friendship-focused and nonviolent tendencies perfectly.

The only gripe I have with it is the typos in the core book, but they don't make the game unplayable.

jasper · Oct 18, 2017

watch Jackie Chan Adventures for plot ideas. Watch some of your kids' shows for plot ideas.

robus · Oct 18, 2017

Tormyr said:
That is a good idea, and would fit into the D&D cartoon world setting. Maybe I could transport them in, have them choose a race that they appear as in the new world, lay out the different kinds of things the classes do so they can choose, and set them up with an iconic item that fit with the character class a la the cartoon.

Perhaps they land in some castle and are immediately told to stop sitting idly about and get busy. The various skill masters are looking for apprentices and they should each find one and make themselves useful. These could then become quest givers with the big quest given by the lord or lady of the castle that sends them off on their grand adventure. Perhaps this person knows they're not really from this world and tells them to seek out some ancient seer who will help them find their way home?