Last time I saw my nephews (11 and 9 yrs old), they expressed interest in playing a Pathfinder game, to see if they'd like it. So I agreed to DM a one-shot adventure for them at Christmas (3 days away). My nieces from my other brother found out, and now they want to play too (10 and 7 yrs old).
I'm planning on keeping everything PG-rated. I'm going to hand out pre-gen character sheets. The Grinch will be the end boss, and they'll fight some animated toy soldiers and a couple of goblin henchmen.
I've never played the game with children this young though. Anyone have advice on keeping their attention? Pitfalls to avoid?
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It depends a lot on the kid.
My 9yo son's played several times with different PCs and he's faced dragons and undead, and he's willing to run a game himself. He's also lost a PC, the GM told him "He wasn't a good guy, your new PC is far better" and my son moved on and never thought of it again.
Yet his older friend (11) lost his PC and couldn't sleep at night.
About the second issue, I have little experience but I think you could pay attention to descriptions of places and monsters. The more you make the situation detailed, the more they'll be into it and enjoy it, no matter how big, bad and terrible their opponent is. BTW, I'd say make their enemies not humans, keep them in the fantasy world.
Oh, I almost forgot...they like magic items (who doesn't? :D) and who cares if they're lvl 1. They like feeling powerful and invincible even more than we do.
Well, I don't know if I've made myself clear or if my blabbering's been useful, I hope so!
PS As far as I noticed, kids prefer playing their "inner hero", yet sometimes they agree to play a pre-gen char. Don't be strict, if they want to be something different or weird, let them do it, they'll enjoy much more.
PPS My son loves the word "suddenly..." and me keeping the tone "mysterious", but I guess this is subjective.
Work with what they know and like: If they are into pirates, give them a sabre. If they enjoyed the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, allow them to play a halfling etc.. Even if it makes little mechanical difference, in their head the difference is huge - and that's what counts. Picking their personal pawn might also be a big deal for them.
Beyond that, I'd make the game as accessible as possible: A custom character sheet with only a fraction of the entries. Only two dice per player (d20 and something for damage), preferably with different colors. Skipping all the +1 and +2 bonuses and penalties etc.. You can always slowly move towards full CRB rules later, but the learning curve should be flattened IMO.
Just have everything prepped and ready to go, so they don't have to wait too long between map setups or changeovers. Pregenerate a few characters based on who they want to play. There are a few Christmas themed adventures floating around if you need ideas. It sounds like you have it worked out already, so just have fun and follow your instinct!
Last time I saw my nephews (11 and 9 yrs old), they expressed interest in playing a Pathfinder game, to see if they'd like it. So I agreed to DM a one-shot adventure for them at Christmas (3 days away). My nieces from my other brother found out, and now they want to play too (10 and 7 yrs old).
I'm planning on keeping everything PG-rated. I'm going to hand out pre-gen character sheets. The Grinch will be the end boss, and they'll fight some animated toy soldiers and a couple of goblin henchmen.
I've never played the game with children this young though. Anyone have advice on keeping their attention? Pitfalls to avoid?
I GM for my 8yo son. He loves Pathfinder! I’m definitely still learning as a GM, but my advice is to plan on 2-3 hours, 4-5 encounters. That’s what my son’s limit usually is.
Btw, I’m in the middle of a Christmas adventure with him that features the Grinch as the boss. His cave is guarded by snow elementals in the form of mean-looking snowmen. His lair is populated with animated objects such as the misfit toys and Christmas presents, and there is a wood golem that looks like a nutcracker soldier.
Have fun, and merry Christmas!
- Keep the rules at their most basic (basis feats and Sneak Attack avr the like track well enough, but multiple conditions and stacking penalties and modifiers can be confusing for adults, let alone people who haven't been introduced to long division). Pathfinder is...not particularly well-suited to new/young players for this reason.
- Give them limited options. Getting to pick your character is awesome. Having to pick between thirty different races and classes and a few thousand feats and items is paralyzing.
- Go back to the basics of ttrpg storytelling; set the stage. Ask "what do you do?" Resolve the action. Repeat. Now is not the time to recreate the journeys of Beowulf. Your audience can't follow a story like that when they're just reading it, let alone trying to decide how it goes and also do math and remember a bunch of rules. Green Eggs and Ham is a better benchmark.
But it really seems like you probably have a good handle on all that stuff already. Best of luck, and may this be the first game of many for them.