Pathfinder Journals appropriate for children?

[Icaste Fyrbawl]

Hey guys and gals!

I have a question for you all regarding my daughter. I have a few of the pathfinder adventure path books (Rise of the Runelords, Kingmaker, Carrion Crown) and was curious as to your opinion on the Pathfinder journals. I haven't actually read them (and am currently away from them at the moment) but was curious as to whether you all thought they would be age appropriate reading as bedtime stories?

Please, opinions only from people who have read them. Preferably people who have children (although non-parents can definitely relate as well!)

Has anyone done this? I would love to hear your experience!

[Urizen]

You haven't mentioned the age of your daughter, but if you are intending to read them as bedtime stories, I suspect she's age 10 and under? There's going to be content - especially within Rise of the Runelords - that some may deem mature for younger children.

I don't have children of my own and I realize that everyone may have children that are mature beyond their younger years, so not everything is black and white as to subjectivity with the content.

YMMV.

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

I don't buy APs, but I do have something to say on the issue: It really depends on the individual child. What wouldn't negatively effect one 8 year old at all might scare another rather badly.

I would be careful with RotR. Hook Mountain Massacre is gnarly, I hear.

[A highly regarded expert]

If you're reading to her, you can skip the gruesome stuff or reword it as you read. Emphasize the heroism against the odds and the nastys. We all love brave heroes.

[Icaste Fyrbawl]

Urizen wrote:

You haven't mentioned the age of your daughter, but if you are intending to read them as bedtime stories, I suspect she's age 10 and under? There's going to be content - especially within Rise of the Runelords - that some may deem mature for younger children.

I don't have children of my own and I realize that everyone may have children that are mature beyond their younger years, so not everything is black and white as to subjectivity with the content.

YMMV.

I knew I was forgetting something! She's 4 years old.

[Liz Courts]

Moved thread.

[Liz Courts]

Kelsey MacAilbert wrote:

I don't buy APs, but I do have something to say on the issue: It really depends on the individual child. What wouldn't negatively effect one 8 year old at all might scare another rather badly.

I would be careful with RotR. Hook Mountain Massacre is gnarly, I hear.

The events of "The Hook Mountain Massacre" adventure aren't covered in the Pathfinder Journal.

[Mandisa]

4 might be a bit young for the Pathfinder Journals... Myself, I've read the two detective-style ones that Dave Gross did featuring Radovan the tiefling street-thug & Count Jeggare the half-elf noble "gentleman's detective". I'd say the one in Curse of the Crimson Throne, "Hell's Spawns" had more "mature content" than the one in Jade Regent, "Husks", but both have their share of nightmare fuel & implied sexual situations.

Hell's Spawns:

Spoiler:

Sexual attraction/relationships, a fertility demon, pretty gruesome monster at the end, implied torture at the beginning

Husks:

Spoiler:

A string of murders involving skinning victims alive, a prostitution house, a gambling den, discussion of deflowering virgins, descriptions of violence

I haven't read them all myself, but I believe Elaine Cunningham's stories featuring Channa Ti the (elf?) druid have some "female empowerment" themes, but I couldn't say how much sexuality & violence was featured.

I suspect all the Pathfinder content is kind of US PG-13 as-written. If you want some fantasy bedtime stories with a bit of an edge, but still appropriate for a young'un, you might have better luck asking in the Books sub-forum for recommendations.

There's a fair amount of stuff I can think of, either books I read as a kid or read to my sibs, but nothing too hardcore before they were 7-9 or so. (Although oddly enough, even the Bawdlerized & Disney versions of most Grimm's fairy tales are pretty gruesome & kids are still cool...)

[GeraintElberion]

I think they are probably too explicitly violent for a young child to have read to them before bedtime.
Elaine Cunningham's is the mildest but it is a murder investigation so...