She Kills Monsters: Help Wanted

[Unwise]

I am guessing that the play is all about metaphor and the monsters representing issues in the girls life. I would suggest running an adventure around a similar theme. Rather than being about the specific PCs (since they are not developed yet), the monsters could be used to represent vices and negative emotions.

A temple of evil dungeon crawl could look like this:

Room 1 - Terrifying entry area, sharp spikes or precarious narrow walkways would be OK if not for the terrifying ghosts that make you lose your wits and hurt yourself. The ghosts don't physically attack, just make you hurt yourself.

Room 2 - An enraged beast/person that will be a very hard fight. They have an aura of rage around them that can make people lash out at random targets. This encounter could be overcome by calming them down, working through their rage, finding out who they are really angry at.

Room 3 - A treasure room, a genie offers all sorts of riches, if only the PC does X, something that generally involves releasing some horror, or betraying their friends. Failure to agree releases rust monsters that destroy all the riches and attempt to destroy the PCs gear and eat them.

Room 4 - A harem with succubi/incubi

You get the idea. It is a classic story of heroes facing their worst aspects. At the end, they find the 4 holy items that only those pure and strong enough to have passed through these perils can claim. Now they are ready to fight off the BBEG, but leave that for another time. It should end of a high point or a cliff hanger to give the D&D experience.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That’s awesome!

As far as advice goes, I think much has been covered here. Starting at 3rd level is a good idea, because I think the nature of the game changes dramatically when PCs just start out with a higher power level.

I’d talk to them about what sorts of genre exposure they do have, since you said they do not have D&D experience. Being able to draw on things they do know can help engage them. A person might not know who Graz’zt is, but they are certainly more likely to know who Loki is.

Locally, a trip to the Knights of the Arcade comedy show might also be worth it, to help get gamer humor.

 

[Bupp]

I didn't want to delve into the play itself too much, as they are already pretty deep into it, having read it multiple times and "looking forward" to watching five dress rehearsals.

We had did character creation via email, with 3rd level characters. I gave them some info on races and classes, and asked them what their character did before becoming an adventurer. They have had access to the 5e rule books, since they had them to reference for costume design and such for the play. With what they chose and told me, I did all the number crunching and made a few choices for them based on their responses. I ended up not simplifying things much.

The answer to one of my questions was sitting in front of me the whole time, the Starter Set. My daughter started running me and my sons thru it at one point, and I hadn't even read it up until this week. I was able to take some of the background notes from the pregens and offered them to the players to help with their back stories and to tie them to adventure.

The game was last night and we had a blast. One of the players wasn't able to make it, so we had three players.. They all jumped right into it and had such a good time. Focus strayed from the game at times, but I wasn't enforcing attention on the game and let them have their fun.I made suggestions at times on strategies and such, but things like "with your abilities, this is what your character might do", or "here's a couple options, or come up with something on your own".

Made it most of the way thru Cragmaw Hideout. We ended last night with them having rescued Sildar after scaring away the goblins with a combo of a silent image of a dragon with the cleric's thaumaturgy to help provide sound effects. They have yet to run into Klarg, who they have heard about. Left them on a cliff hanger. This "one shot" ended us with tentative plans to continue in two weeks. I think I've found a new group.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Really cool! Well done.