THRUD THE BARBARIAN |
I am currently running Jade Regent for my wife and two kids (ages around 8-9) and they are having a blast!! i only had to switch out one monster in book 1. we are currently ankle deep into book 2, i would recommend Jade Regent or Kingmaker.
Jade Regent....Agreed, I have a 9yr, 15yr and two old school gamers in my group. We are starting book 3. The kids are loving it with the grognards rolling their eyes at a few of the outrageous decisions the young guys have made. I generally use the AP as a guideline to keep the group on track and improve most of it anyway. You can never plan what kids are going to do next in roleplaying games.
Snorter |
That's a great idea! Daphne as a Bard? Velma as either an archivist archetype Bard or some sort of Wizard? Freddy (or is it Freddie?) as a Fighter?
Fred must be given Trapfinding, and Trapbuilding, so at least one level of Rogue or similar is essential.
This has always been his schtick, but it's especially played up in the the most recent (Mystery Incorporated) episodes. He's obsessed, to the point of being totally unaware of Daphne's advances (who maybe ought to be an enchanter, or charm-focussed sorceror?).
KingmanHighborn |
Why is everyone downing Carrion Crown it's perfect PG-13 monster movie fun. And besides 8-11 year olds probably have seen worse then vampires, ghosts, werewolves, frankenstein, etc. They can handle that fine. Plus the villians are 'mostly' villians with some nice twists. Play that AP up like a Golden Age classic horror movie, and your golden.
(then again I only own Carrion Crown, Kingmaker, and RotRLs so...)
As far as Rise goes though...hell I saw Deliverance when I was 13, I lived...okay, okay it's not kid approperiate just saying your not going to break thier minds with it. It's the parents that will kill you.
So yeah Carrion Crown defiently run it.
Bellona |
That's a great idea! Daphne as a Bard? Velma as either an archivist archetype Bard or some sort of Wizard? Freddy (or is it Freddie?) as a Fighter?
Fred must be given Trapfinding, and Trapbuilding, so at least one level of Rogue or similar is essential.
This has always been his schtick, but it's especially played up in the the most recent (Mystery Incorporated) episodes. He's obsessed, to the point of being totally unaware of Daphne's advances (who maybe ought to be an enchanter, or charm-focussed sorceror?).
Also good ideas!
Dare I suggest that Fred multi-class between Rogue and Alchemist? :)
Steleo |
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Interesting discussion ... wish I'd found it earlier, it would have saved me some work.
I started playing again after 20+ years ... with my kids and Pathfinder as the ruleset. Of course, being rusty on the rules (when I quit, 3rd ed. D&D was just coming out) and working full-time, I did not have the time to come up with my own adventure.
Fate had it, that I got Runelords without much thinking about it / pre-reading (yes, my fault). So now I'm trying my best to reduce it to a kid-friendly level.
Some things I did:
I hope I can rewrite the rest, too ... but it's a bit more work than what I wanted it to be. Next time I read the messageboard before deciding on an adventure path.
Zaister |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Legendary Games has a five-part AP for Pathfinder RPG especially designed to be kids-friendly: Trail of the Apprentice, available here on paizo.com as hardcover collection or as individual volumes in print and/or PDF.
GreyWolfLord |
Great conversation that I would love to see an update on. Anyone have any opinions on the last three years of APs? Just from the descriptions, it seems like Mummy's Mask and Iron Gods would be good for kids (haven't read any of them, though, so am just assuming...)
I'd still be of the opinion that NONE of the APs are kid friendly as written.
If someone wants to do work to tone items down in the APs, maybe then, but as written...no.
If you want to run a Paizo AP for kids, be prepared to do some working removing elements that may be too violent or otherwise for your children.
On the otherhand, if you don't mind doing that work, almost all of the APs are appropriate. The ones that are easier than others have already been mostly commented on in this thread. Of the more recent ones out, the only one that I think would be harder then most would be HV, but that's only if you are concerned about kids getting confused between good and evil.
IMO.
Thanael |
So what about the 3pp APs?. Way of the Wicked is obviously out, but what about ENWorlds Zeitgeist, or maybe Frog God Games Northlands Saga? The Grande Temple of Jing is more a superdungeon than an AP but I feel this could be a candidate...
John Woodford |
Mummy's Mask and Iron Gods are probably good for that age range. Giantslayer...the hopeknife thing might take a bit of explanation, but other than that I don't remember anything particularly objectionable. WotR has problems unrelated to player age.
KarlBob |
Play up the silliness, downplay some of the cruelty, and I think the We Be Goblins series would be a blast for a group of kids! The modules might need some extra sanitizing for the grade school set, but they should be easy to adapt for tweens and teens.
(Making a mental note to remember this when my niece and nephew get a little bigger. It would be so much fun to send them home to my sister and her husband singing "We be goblins, you be food!")
The Shaman |
I think any AP may need some rework to make it suitable for kids in the 8-11 age range, it is just a matter of how much. Mind you, I think that if they don´t get too hung on just how many things their characters are killing, a vampire or a werewolf should not be all that scary, especially with them being in tons of pop culture nowadays.
Reign of Winter is imo not that hard, but it has a few unnerving encounters early on. I agree on Mummy´s Mask and Iron Gods being fairly light on disturbing stuff, though they do have some nastiness here and there (some undead or alien beings, swarms etc). Giantslayer could work, but I think it may be a bit repetitive for kids and they may lose interest. I would give the following a pass:
WotR has a bit too many hellscapes and generally unsavory villains.
Hell´s Rebels has an evil, oppressive autocrat,backed by literal devils. If he is played half right, it should be pretty nasty at times. Better go with Council of Thieves if you want a rebellion in Cheliax that is for under-teen kids, and even that is iffy.
Hell´s Vengeance you are bad guys. In Cheliax. Fighting to discredit, behead or dismantle good and well-meaning organizations with all the tools a diabolical empire has. No way, no how.
Strange Aeons is about horror and nastiness, and the PCs are amnesiacs with more than a few skeletons in the closet (when they find it). While you could scoobify it a bit, I would definitely not do it for kids. It is worse than Carrion Crown in that regard imo.
deuxhero |
Crypt of the Everflame sounds pretty good as far as modules go. The PCs are supposed to be pretty young too as its a coming of age ceremony.
Not too big on the sequels in terms of general quality ("Get captured by Deus Ex Machina and lose your gear" is a bad plot device. Voluntarily surrendering your stuff and apprenticing to a cult with any other path through the module being up to the GM to make is just terrible. Plus they require the PCs be the kind to jump head first into heroism, which is definitely not the kind of character I'd expect someone to make for the first one), though I'm apparently in the minority on that. Should be easy enough to change
The time limit might need adjusting (most agree it's actually too lenient if the PCs don't waste their time though) and you'll need to find some PF stat blocks (they're pretty easy to find for this one) but the 3.5 Red Hand of Doom has no real issues. There's a human eating bit that may lead to accidental cannibalism at the very end, but that's easily skipped (and often is skipped anyways because it's a very random and pure filler encounter in the first place. Why did the bad guy staff his kitchen with devils? Who knows!).
Got to agree WotR is just not a good product period, and that I'm not the minority view on.
Jason Nelson Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games |
Legendary Games has a five-part AP for Pathfinder RPG especially designed to be kids-friendly: Trail of the Apprentice, available here on paizo.com as hardcover collection or as individual volumes in print and/or PDF.
Trail of the Apprentice is getting high praise from GMs and players!
Kickstarter Backer "wolfknight75" shared this news with us:
"I just ran the first part of the Trail of the Apprentice 'The Bandits Cave' for my 2 daughters (9 and 11), son (13), and their friend (16). It was a Crit! They were both challenged as well as in awe of the encounters and and colorful NPCs. In fact, as they prepare for the next adventure, my wife is even thinking about joining them. I do want to mention, this is the first time my kids have played with the Pathfinder Rules. Normally we play with Atlas Kings by Hal Burdick (Which is a great beginner rule set too).
"I think you guys did a tremendous job on designing this as a novice adventure with young players in mind. We are moving on to the next leg of the adventure and this time we will have the AWESOME 'Trail of the Apprentice' Soundtrack By BattleBards. I have already listened to it and being a fan of BattleBards already, I wanted to give another shout-out to Legendary Games for making a great decision in choosing them to make the soundtrack. It is perfect and will couple with the adventure to make for an even more enjoyable adventure.
"Again, you guys at Legendary Games have always done great quality and well designed adventures in the past, but I have to say I think this is my favorite so far. I look forward to seeing more from you in the future. Great Job!"
Stay tuned for more fun from Legendary Beginnings in 2017!
Davia D |
Great conversation that I would love to see an update on. Anyone have any opinions on the last three years of APs? Just from the descriptions, it seems like Mummy's Mask and Iron Gods would be good for kids (haven't read any of them, though, so am just assuming...)
Yea, Iron Gods would be pretty good I think... I mean, there's some brain-eating aliens but I think kids can handle that.
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Hell's Rebels, known some of the torments the baddie inflicts on the populace is part of the thing, so probably not. It wouldn't be too hard to declaw, but it may lose narrative omph in doing so.
Axial |
Hell´s Rebels has an evil, oppressive autocrat,backed by literal devils. If he is played half right, it should be pretty nasty at times.
And if you get to the very end of the adventure path and to the part where Paizo had to throw up a content warning, you discover that the AP is REALLY not friendly for kids.
Kileanna |
Hm, I think Reign of Winter isn't too bad, though most kids will lack context for the Russian revolution stuff. You are trying to help someone who themselves is a baddie, but to prevent a worst-bad so I think that normally won't be much of a problem.
It can be done, but there are a lot of things that have to be toned down a bit. You don't want to get too descriptive with some things in Avkuskaya, i.e.
Also, if the kids are a very sensitive there are some very creepy monsters (the fiery corpse orgy, the animate dreams of the Romanov, etc.) and could be scared.It can be done, but handle with care.