My daughter doesn't like combat..what's 4e got left?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's not unique to 4E -- a fair question is when you take combat out of D&D (any edition) what is left?

Answer: Quite a bit, but entirely dependent on the creativity of the DM to establish fun non-combat roleplaying/puzzle/exploration scenarios.

 

[Angellis_ater]

My suggestion would to NOT go with 4E. It is a very tactical and strategic game where most of the focus has been put on creating dramatic and intense action (most often provided through combat).

For games less focused on adrenalinepumping action (lets murder people), I would suggest True20. It is an extremely flexible game system that can cover anything from fantasy to sci-fi and horror.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

Happily, I didn't have to deal with this. My stepdaughter had already been playing combat-oriented video games for years before I let her into our games. She's 13 now, and perhaps a little bloodthirsty... but in real life she can't stand violence in any capacity.

I, too, would suggest you consider using a different game system, but you might also consider simply making D&D combat nonlethal for gaming with the girls. That way they can beat up on bad guys and not have to worry about killing people. You can easily have enemies willing to surrender and no longer be a threat when they've reached zero Hit Points.

Just a thought. Good luck! Teaching the younger generation the joys of gaming can be a challenge, but I always find it worthwhile... and it's really cool to be able to have family game nights of D&D. I got my parents and younger brother into it back in the day, and now my kids play. Life is good!

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

A Shower of Silver

Try Hârn and HârnWorld.

If you go to www.Lythia.com and look through the downloads section you’ll find a murder mystery scenario called A Shower of Silver. You’ll also need the Jedes location article and (possibly) the Asolade Hundred article to run the scenario. It’s all FREE! You (probably) won't need the rules.

An advantage of the scenario is that one of the NPC’s is a ten-year-old (or so) girl. It should be possible to re-write the scenario to make her a protagonist.

 

[Adlon]

The age question needs to be answered for good help.....

Instead of killing, there is trapping and capture.
Seek , record, and report.
Material gathering for the local wizard, skill based. Climbing, rope use, ignore references to edition based terms.

No one likes ants, spiders, scorpions.

I'd say even VERY young kids don't tolerate ants.

Quick scenario for youngsters:
Local friendly/eccentric wizard summons the grp. He needs to finish an experiment he's cooking up.

To finish, he needs a sap that comes from ONE tree miles away on a hill. The sap comes from the roots ONLY.
Magic will be their's IF they get this sap.

Travel, insert various encounters as befitting X age. Cantaurs, friendly elves, mini side trek, maybe helping a centaur find an herb to help get the Centaurs wife/kid/mother get well.

On to the hill. They see a few 2-3-4 foot round tunnel openings, but no access to the roots on the top of the hill, where this one HUGE tree grows.

They go into the tunnels, only to find it's a giant ant anthill. Kill, kill, killy kill as many ants as they can stand, address the ants stats based on their ages/gaming abilities.
Give them nets, if they are seriously not into killing. Scroll of hold all monsters in an area....

They beat the ants HOWEVER they beat the ants, get the sap from roots accessible from the tunnels, head home.

The wizard adds the sap to a concoction. He then serves the group pancakes, and using the concoction as syrup which is totally magical tasting.

Ad-hoc items as befitting their age.

Deadly it up as you see fit.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Does your daughter dislike combat or murdering living creatures/people?

If the problem is the latter, many people have given some great non-combat options, but I would also add:

1) Make fights against living opponents more of a "besting your opponent" scenario. The rules support striking for non-lethal damage. Zero hit points could mean your opponent is knocked out, ready for the local law enforcement to detain the villains, or it could mean they have been cowed and run off in shame. Many TV shows aimed at younger audiences focus their violence in these directions, no one is killed.
2) Create a campaign theme that pits them against non-living opponents. Undead creatures that threaten the locals. If your daughter is at an age where she would enjoy Buffy, this could be inspiration for a campaign. Or a villain that uses contructs to keep people in line.

If the problem is combat in general and you don't like the idea of modifying the game to focus solely on the non-combat options other have mentioned, then I have to agree with other posters that any edition of D&D will not be to your daughter's liking.

My wife really enjoyed Hero's Banner. It was the first and only game that inspired her to take a stab at GMing.

 

[dmccoy1693]

My suggestion would to NOT go with 4E. It is a very tactical and strategic game where most of the focus has been put on creating dramatic and intense action (most often provided through combat).

For games less focused on adrenalinepumping action (lets murder people), I would suggest True20. It is an extremely flexible game system that can cover anything from fantasy to sci-fi and horror.

This.

 

[Umbran]

Killing things has been a major part of every edition of D&D. It may not be the right system for the job.

If they don't like the killing, but aren't against the beating-up part, go for a classic superheroes game. The villains almost never get killed, and superpowers are great for creative thinking in play.

So, Mutants and Masterminds would be the current favorite, but if you can get your hands on the old Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP system), you could do well with that, too.

 

[Klaus]

My daughters are interested in gaming but they don't really dig the "let's murder people" aspect of the game. What does 4e have that will interest them? How can I get them interested in this game?

jh

Infiltrate a nobleman's mansion (round-by-round stealthy movement to avoid detection, lots of skills), steal an ancient map (skill), find (skill challenge to navigate the wilderness) and explore the ancient ruins (round-by-round mapping), dodging traps along the way (kinda combat-ish), to recover the ancient idol of Tzaklukann.

Just an example. If they just dislike long, drawn-out combat, a short skirmish against a mansion guard or guardian statue could be thrown in for spice.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

It's not unique to 4E -- a fair question is when you take combat out of D&D (any edition) what is left?

Answer: Quite a bit, but entirely dependent on the creativity of the DM to establish fun non-combat roleplaying/puzzle/exploration scenarios.

Stop the thread. Olgar Shiverstone won with a TKO.