D&D 4E Getting Into 4E, Have Some Questions

[Nytmare]

It takes a little bit of tweaking (most of which is easy enough to do on the fly) but I run a solo game for my 10 year old son where he controls only one character. Depending on the adventure du jour, I usually stick him with one or two NPCs; but it's really not hard to do at all.

I'd caution against having her play more than one character at a time. In my experience having a player handle more than the combat aspects of more than one fully fleshed out PC gets to be a pain.

One PC, and a handful of NPCs built off WOTC's monster builder should be more than enough for you to run her through a game where neither one of you has to focus too much on the intricacies of a full party of PCs.

 

[Griogre]

I use Fantasy Grounds to play 4E online. I've now been using if for several years. It's a little slower than a face to face game - but with voice software you can really get that RPG feel - instead of that MORPG or CRPG. Maptools is also nice (and free).

 

[Regicide]

Running more than 1 character will quickly start seeming like work and you can easily stop thinking of them as "your character." Let her run 1 character, add a couple lesser helper NPCs, like a squire and a young explorer or something. The main thing that isn't obvious that you'll have to deal with is monsters that stun or deny actions as they will have a much bigger impact than it would on a full party.

 

[Mistwell]

A user here named Firelance runs a blog called Roll of Honor.

There you will find a solidly good, free, solo adventure for 4e. It is built for a Paladin, but I know many of his house rules for 0-level characters and such give advice for using a different class (still, it would be easier to go with a Paladin).

Firelance is a good writer, and he's also very aware of game mechanics, and properly introducing a new player to the game mechanics. In fact, he even starts the character with fewer powers than normal, and gradually eases the player into all the normal powers (with encounters built to demonstrate how that power is typically used). And, he's been posting it for nearly a year now (going back to June 2008), so there is a lot of material there, and I think it runs through around 4th level now (?).

I think it would make a perfect introduction for you guys.