Picking a Module for a bunch of kids


Adventures


Since my own group has run into some awful-people-who-can't-keep-a-date problems, I have taken it upon myself to convert my younger siblings into Tabletop nerds.

(Honestly, I wish I had gotten into it as a kid. Talk about math comprehension skills.)

Anyways, the group is locked at a little girl gnome druid with a deinonychus pal, and a ridiculously badass human ranger with bow specialization and a wolf friend. The players are twelve, the ranger's backstory is needlessly tragic, and I am pretty proud of these dorks for sitting down and learning something about the Pathfinder universe.
We're planning on at least one more player, who I predict will use magic. Additional question, do you think we can manage with three players? I was considering pulling in my older sister's combat druid to level things out.

Er, back on topic-- what Module do you kind folk recommend I start out with? Nothing needlessly complicated, but something interesting enough to keep these kids on topic and paying attention. Something with enough combat for the girls, and enough flavor for the boy. Something that won't murder these kids for having zero teamwork and less than zero experience. Something... Awesome.

Sczarni

You couldn't go wrong with the Godsmouth heresy. Starts at level 1, cool underground crypt with a frankenstein type boss, undead minions in spades with a bit of secret doors/traps.

I ran it once with some twelve year olds myself and they loved it for the combat and also the story unfolding which wasn't difficult to follow.


Crypt of the Everflame starts as a coming of age story for a newly released apprentices. It was also designed to introduce a number of the new PFRPG rules, and the dungeon map is sold as a flip mat making mapping easy. It also has 2 more modules in line to continue the story if the kids like it.

Just my 2 cp


Sniggevert wrote:

Crypt of the Everflame starts as a coming of age story for a newly released apprentices. It was also designed to introduce a number of the new PFRPG rules, and the dungeon map is sold as a flip mat making mapping easy. It also has 2 more modules in line to continue the story if the kids like it.

Just my 2 cp

I'll second Crypt of the Everflame. Unfortunately, the flip mat is sold out. However, you could purchase the pdf and take it to Staples to be printed out as a poster.

I have run through this adventure as a player and I found it to be a lot of fun.

-Aaron

Dark Archive

as a GM, you can make it as difficult as you want...I suggest seriously narrowing down the options for kids, it can be overwhelming if everything is possible. Take it down to the level of 'Would you like to let Jack's rogue try to pick the lock, would you like to go help Will's ranger search for the key, or would you like to stand back and let John's fighter smash the door to bits?'

Once they 'get it' they'll suddenly become very eager. Use that enthusiasm, bend the rules around it if you need to :) At that point you can increase the challenge level, by giving them new situations and letting them come up with their own plans, until their faces go red and they get all frantic, and then quickly tone it back down.

Also, have the big bad evil guy escape and threaten them 'next time...!', just like in the cartoons. They *will* keep nagging you for that next time after that, though ;)


Okay, first of all, you rock.

Second, if it's at all practical, start with We Be Goblins!, then move on to their characters. If not, I'll defer to other suggestions, but WBG! is just a rollickin' good time.

Silver Crusade

Sniggevert wrote:

Crypt of the Everflame starts as a coming of age story for a newly released apprentices. It was also designed to introduce a number of the new PFRPG rules, and the dungeon map is sold as a flip mat making mapping easy. It also has 2 more modules in line to continue the story if the kids like it.

Just my 2 cp

Yup, this was to be my recommend as well.

Heads up, Amazon still has 13 of the flipmaps for this in stock as I post this.

AMAZON LINK

I only post this as Paizo is out of stock.

Scarab Sages

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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

We have just introduced my kids (7 & 9) to PF, along with a friend's children (10 & 12). We started them with Crypt of the Everflame, which worked quite well. We have then used the hook in the back to make them members of the Pathfinder Society, and am using the scenarios as modules.

I find this really good....they are a good length with short plot lines, and are generally written to be more kid friendly than some of the modules that definitely have some adult themes. You could almost start with scenarios from the very beginning.

Silver Crusade

sanwah68 wrote:

We have just introduced my kids (7 & 9) to PF, along with a friend's children (10 & 12). We started them with Crypt of the Everflame, which worked quite well. We have then used the hook in the back to make them members of the Pathfinder Society, and am using the scenarios as modules.

I find this really good....they are a good length with short plot lines, and are generally written to be more kid friendly than some of the modules that definitely have some adult themes. You could almost start with scenarios from the very beginning.

Using the PFS scenarios for kid sessions is genius. That should counter and loss off attention span that can be common.

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber
Winter_Born wrote:


Using the PFS scenarios for kid sessions is genius. That should counter and loss off attention span that can be common.

Yes, I love it when an idea works well. It works well exactly because of the shorter attention span and the episodical nature of the scenarios.

Silver Crusade

Winter_Born wrote:
Sniggevert wrote:

Crypt of the Everflame starts as a coming of age story for a newly released apprentices. It was also designed to introduce a number of the new PFRPG rules, and the dungeon map is sold as a flip mat making mapping easy. It also has 2 more modules in line to continue the story if the kids like it.

Just my 2 cp

Yup, this was to be my recommend as well.

Heads up, Amazon still has 13 of the flipmaps for this in stock as I post this.

AMAZON LINK

I only post this as Paizo is out of stock.

Just got my GameMastery Flip-Map: Dungeon and it's suitably epic. Now I just need to pick up some extra sized Post It notes to use as fog of war.


sanwah68 wrote:

We have just introduced my kids (7 & 9) to PF, along with a friend's children (10 & 12). We started them with Crypt of the Everflame, which worked quite well. We have then used the hook in the back to make them members of the Pathfinder Society, and am using the scenarios as modules.

I find this really good....they are a good length with short plot lines, and are generally written to be more kid friendly than some of the modules that definitely have some adult themes. You could almost start with scenarios from the very beginning.

Do you have a list of the PFS scenarios that have worked well with the kids? If so, thanks in advance.

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Maps Subscriber

We have been running them through the 4 'Devil You Know' scenarios quite successfully. We started with Mists of Mwangi and Silent Tide.


I'll second the Pathfinder Society scenarios as good ones. 4 hours (or less) and you're done. No remembering what happened last time, no need for long plots.

For my group (10-13), we've string together several scenarios leading up to the Ruby Phoenix tournament. That group of adventures was:
Google Doc. The modules with a * are specific to the Ruby Phoenix tournament.

We started with the 3-parter that beings season 3 - On Hostile Waters, the monastary, Nesting Swallow; exact names escape me at this point.

Feast of Ravenmoor at level 3 worked out OK, but was maybe a stretch. I'd probably start with Crypt of the Everflame, have them become Pathfinders, and then start the arc from there.


Didn't expect to see this thread still up! Well, after a lot of postponing, I ran a little session with them. The beginner box one, to be exact. I think I did a very sub-par job, but they loved it, and my older sister's character is now a minor legend for a small group of goblins (she doesn't know it yet, of course)

This saturday I plan on doing Crypt of the Everflame, as suggested. I am bamboozled by the amount of information in the module, but I'm planning on memorizing all of it by saturday to do the best job possible.
Our rogue and ranger did well enough, the battle-druid did an excellent job of flying into danger screaming, and my magic-druid has done squat. I feel bad, because she's my younger sister and while everyone else is running around stabbing things and murdering, she just sits there and runs perception checks. I try to give her some bonuses- I gave her knowledge of arcane languages, to help with the water section, and her deinonychus mount (RULE OF COOL) allows her to jump damn high.
I know eventually she'll become OP, but when exactly is that? The last thing I want is for her self-esteem to tank because of DnD, that would be lame as anything. And she's at that age where literally anything could knock her down, yaknow?


Overpowered is something relating to stuff you actually DO, not stuff you COULD do. If she is afraid to flex her wings, so to speak, giving her some badassness isn't going to hurt anyone. Once she grows into having the power, have the discussion then.

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