Hi. I'm looking for some advice on which of the adventure paths to start running for a group of kids.
In detail, this will be a group of three to five boys aged 10-12 who are all friends through a school designed for highly gifted kids (with all the craziness that implies-Big Bang Theory is a go-to example to explain these kids). I've decided to run Pathfinder because I have access to a lot of material for it, though for now I'm just going with the core book and a single adventure path. With this in mind, I'm asking for advice on which of the adventure paths would be best to run for a group like this. I'll be editing a bit to de-emphasize religious elements as I don't know how the parents would entirely take to polytheism (I remember my parents freaking out a bit and I don't want to alienate my sons for their friends), but for the most part, I just want something relatively straight-forwards for kids to get into and enjoy for their first game.
Thanks.
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I've played Mummy's Mask with my kids, and they had a good time. It only required a little editing (one sexual NPC, and one gruesome enemy whose description I just toned down)
We are now playing Legacy of Fire, and it's also working well.
If you want something a little shorter, the 64 page modules have some good material, too. My kids liked Dragon's Demand and Plunder and Peril. Dragon's Demand is good because it is so much the stereotype adventure, but very well done. Plunder and Peril is also a pirate adventure.
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For kids would definitely recommend shorter modules, I second dragon's Demand.
Dragon's Demand got a perfect formula, they get to meet various tropes of adventuring and even fight a dragon at the end...and become town heroes, you can literally just end the campaign right there. It's from level 1 to 7, so it doesn't get ridiculously complex too.
Thanks guys. First off, I've never used a published adventure before, so it'd be new to me in the first place, but I figured it'd be better than having to develop everything myself. Second, I have no idea how long they'd want to play, so I figured that having something that could extend if I wished would be good. Third, I asked this yesterday on rpg.net (where I spend most of my RPG time online) and have no responses, I posted this here 30 minutes ago and already have 3? I think I'm falling in love.
-Chris
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I started a table for my son and his friends, who are around the same age 10 - 11. I was using Ironfang Invasion and I think it works well except for one problem.
After the initial scene, there's a rather long section that's pretty open-ended. There are several encounters that can happen in no particular order as the characters explore, which means the party has to decide what to do with relatively little to guide their decisions. There's also some people and resource management involved. If you think those things work alright with your group it's a good choice.
I my case it wasn't. They were kind of bored with that stuff and didn't really know what to do sometimes. We went on hiatus over the summer while school was out and are now starting back up. This time we'll be playing Ruins of Azlant. It has some settlement building and so forth like Ironfang, but it will be easier for me to hand wave that stuff into the background by having the non-player characters do it. It also seems to have more fantasy awesomeness earlier on than Ironfang
I have started Hell's Rebels with some of my sons (3 of the 5 I have) and a friend or two of theirs. Ages vary from 8 to 16 and they had a lot of fun with Part 1 of the 1st book ("In Hell's Bright Shadow" I think? Don't have it with me...). Thus far, I am pretty certain it is rather family-friendly. It has a really cool theme of good vs evil with a resistance movement organizing against the Cheliax oppressors to free Kintargo from Chelish rule.
I'm playing through the second book of Rise of the Runelords right now, and while I love the path, I wouldn't consider it kid-friendly. (Some particularly gruesome murders so far.)
Most of Hell's Rebels might be fine, but the last book would need some heavy editing. (It's actually got a content warning, to give you an idea.) There's also some torture earlier on, but that's more easily skimmed over.
How do the kids feel about sci-fi in their fantasy? Iron Gods was a lot of fun, and that one's pretty kid-friendly if I remember right. I think the worst you get are some creepy aliens (and what preteen doesn't like creepy aliens?).
If they're more into exploring, Serpent's Skull is a fun adventure where you're first trying to get off an island you got shipwrecked on, and then trying to find and explore a lost city. (Some potentially grisly elements, but they'd probably be relatively easy to tone down if necessary.)
I'm running Hells Rebels, theres some stuff thats easy to remove that involves torture etc, that might be a bit graphic. I'd personally recommend finishing after book four, beyond that theres a lot of politics and then the aforementioned graphic trip to hell.
I'm running Hells Rebels, theres some stuff thats easy to remove that involves torture etc, that might be a bit graphic. I'd personally recommend finishing after book four, beyond that theres a lot of politics and then the aforementioned graphic trip to hell.
Hmmm...nice to know! I only own books 1-5 at the moment and did wonder if I really needed book 6. Thanks for the input.