NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kobold Stew" data-source="post: 8355781" data-attributes="member: 23484">First off -- welcome to the boards. I agree with those who said having only one character is best. Using the intro adventure in the box sets is certainly a way to go. With my son and his friends, we rolled characters, and began. with what were really small, three-room dungeons (initial challenge, development, climax and reward). Just that would usually fill 60-90 minutes, once the characters were made, and the kids felt they had done something BIG.Here is one example: I think they were 8 and 9. There's some orcs on an island that are bothering a village. (a) get to the island, (b) get past their guard animals, (c) defeat the (one) big orc (the rumour had exaggerated the number, but he was harassing the village). -- The two kids borrowed a rowboat, but one of them was afraid to leave it unattended, in case the boatman they'd got it from got mad at them. The kid was afraid to get in trouble for losing the boat -- it was lovely. He needed permission to break rules, to do what he wanted, and the scenario gave it to him. But that was emotionally taxing for him. It doesn't need to be big monsters all the time. It does mean that there's a payoff every session (good) and that you can scale up when needed, throwing in complications and traps. In that case, I made them think about whether the were going to kill the orc, or not, when they didn't have to. Then, when they took the captured orc back to the village, they were thanked and called heroes. That was their payoff. Again, the emotional connection was way more interesting for them than pyrotechnics. Pyrotechnics came later. Some other things:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">handwritten character sheets. My son at 8 had written dexterity and constitution more times than he had his last name, I think. If they wanted there to be something specific in their backpack, they just had to write it on the sheet. That was parenting payoff, but was also a way for them to invest in their character choices.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">let them leave space for character drawings (or have extra paper). It was a good way for some of his friends to represent what they saw their character doing. They'd erase hats when they lost them, etc. It was wonderful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Kids like pets. Give them a pet, or a talking pet.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">whenever a friend would play, I'd give the kid a set of polyhedrals. Everyone gets their own dice, and friends get to take theirs home with them (and bring them next time!).</li> </ul></blockquote>

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