Good Quest for First Time Middle School Players

[RyanH]

I am part of an after-school gaming club that is meeting for our last session and they wanted to try Pathfinder.

Seven kids, five of which have never played (the two that have played are my kids). I have about an hour and fifteen minutes. They've already picked some 1st level pregens and their homework was to read the character sheets, so we should be able to hop right into it.

I want to give them somewhat of a dungeon crawl experience and am currently thinking of running Ambush in Absalom. Boosting the number of baddies due to having 7 characters.

Are any of the other quests a better dungeon experience? Any other recommendations? Probably has to be a quest given the time limit and being the last session.

Thanks!

[Lady-J]

do one of the beginner boxes a simplified 1-4 campaign thing

[RyanH]

Lady-J wrote:

do one of the beginner boxes a simplified 1-4 campaign thing

I have one hour only, total, ever for this intro. Are the beginner box scenarios completable in an hour?

[Lady-J]

no idea but they all look super short i may be remembering wrong with them being 1-4 they may only be 1-2 or 1-3 there are 4 beginner modules no idea if there is an order to them tomes, terrors, ruins and relics along with the actual beginner box(super simplified box to help with character creation) so as long as you get the time consuming part out of the way before the session(character creation) and they don;t get majorly sidetracked you should be fine

[Davick]

Look up the PFS quests they're designed exactly for this and can do 1 or two in an hour. ALso there are pregens for every class.

[RyanH]

Thanks, yeah, Ambush in Absalom is one of the PFS Quests, and my current plan is to play that. I was just wondering if one of the other PFS Quests has more of a dungeon crawl feel (without reading all of them.)

[Davick]

I havent seen the latest ones, but I'm not aware of any that are dungeony. You could look at doing a version of crypt of the everflame. As written I don't think it's doable in an hour, but it could be made to be I believe.

Also, the first level of the emerald spire can be done in like 10 minutes but only if you go in the secret back door, and it can be challenging. But it may be worth a shot.

[RyanH]

I'll check out Emerald Spire's first level. Crypt of the Everflame is a pretty extensive two level dungeon. More like multiple four hour sessions. They advances from level one to two I think in the adventure... though I could gut a few rooms and lower the power of the baddie. I DO have a Hirst Arts 3D representation of the final crypt! BUT I also didn't want to make playing look like it required more than paper and dice... don't want to suggest you need to go building crypts!

[Lady-J]

well if the 1st session goes well and you can get them hooked on pathfinder the way of the wicked campaign is really good and they might enjoy playing it if you can get more than just 1 hour sessions in at a time

[Davick]

RyanH wrote:

I'll check out Emerald Spire's first level. Crypt of the Everflame is a pretty extensive two level dungeon. More like multiple four hour sessions. They advances from level one to two I think in the adventure... though I could gut a few rooms and lower the power of the baddie. I DO have a Hirst Arts 3D representation of the final crypt! BUT I also didn't want to make playing look like it required more than paper and dice... don't want to suggest you need to go building crypts!

Yeah a lot of everflame is just generic stuff that you could cut without losing anything.

[Juda de Kerioth]

there are free pfs mini adventures, each of those has 6 mini adventures contemplated to phase in an hour each. you will love them

Phantom Phenomena was one of the best of those:
- 4 1st lvl party intended
- you´ll use a lot of investigation skills and social interaction
- 6 mini adventures that will lead the party to lvl 2nd or 3rd at most
- epic final battle
- easy and shor to read tho

also, you could use the pfs sheet at the end of the document, it has magic items and some goodies. also, it has its own bestiary in the final pages of the document

[RyanH]

Phantom Phenomena looks good... sadly I have them for just one more hour. I'll look at Phantom to see if one of the quests stands out as a stand-alone.

The school library has the Beginner Box, so maybe they'll take off on their own after getting a taste.

[RyanH]

Here's the Everflame set-up I could take them through... tempting.

[Juda de Kerioth]

RyanH wrote:

I'll look at Phantom to see if one of the quests stands out as a stand-alone.

every single adventure could be an stand alone adventure except the last one (epicenter) the most challenging of the entire document, also, you will need some items from the previous adventures to make it easier

[kyrt-ryder]

Berserk Troll arc (bu5 less graphic. Kwep thw devouring mwnfolk and capturing women aspect though. Just don't go into detail.)

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

RyanH wrote:

The school library has the Beginner Box, so maybe they'll take off on their own after getting a taste.

Now that is an awesome school.

[Just a Mort]

Master of fallen fortress. Crypt of everflame is cool too.

[Azothath]

There are several

Kids Track product

First Scenario recommendations thread

PFS Scenarios for Teens Youths and Kids thread (really just season 0 reviews, not many people jumped into the shallow end of the pool)

The Quests are fine. I'd go Phantom, Honor's, then Silverhex. Just remember that you check off the checkboxes on the list of accomplishments and that the reward is given on the last line (it is not an accumulation of all the line by line rewards).

[RyanH]

Thanks everyone. Given that we had only one hour, I went with Ambush in Absalom. We played it today right after school.

Spoiler, added diplomacy potential:

I added three mites early in the sewers. They had recently fought the kobolds and lost some members. Because of this they were willing to talk with the players. They would have warned them of the ambush up ahead. The middle schooler's discussed possibly talking to them, but ended up being true Pathfinder murder hobos.

After finishing the adventure (and enjoying the funny twist at the end), they exclaimed how much they loved it and wanted to start an RPG club, or continue playing on their own. I let them know the Pathfinder Beginner Box was available in the library, and left my two pocket editions for the library to have.

A good day!

[Selvaxri]

Silverhex Chronicles, Phantom Phenomena, and the newest Honor's Echo are all 6-part quests, that do not need to be continuously.

Each quest could take up to an hour, so you can do separate quests and have plenty left to finish over the new couple of weeks.

[GoldEdition42]

RyanH wrote:

Thanks everyone. Given that we had only one hour, I went with Ambush in Absalom. We played it today right after school.

** spoiler omitted **

After finishing the adventure (and enjoying the funny twist at the end), they exclaimed how much they loved it and wanted to start an RPG club, or continue playing on their own. I let them know the Pathfinder Beginner Box was available in the library, and left my two pocket editions for the library to have.

A good day!

Excellent! I am glad everyone had a good time. Good job giving the pocket edition for others to use.