I’m looking for published adventures that are kid-friendly, either intentionally written that way or with some editing/modification. I’m open to Paizo products and 3PP material. Target audience is 8 years old; current PC level is 8th. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated; I’ve been writing my own adventures but could use a break!
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If anyone can add to that some kid-friendly one-on-one adventures (one kid PC; one adult GM) then that would be great.
A few options:
1. Have you tried using the Adventure Finder? I think it has a section for one-on-one adventures. I haven't looked at any of them, so I can’t make any recommendations, but it might be a good starting place. Go to Paizo > Store > Pathfinder > Adventures > First Edition Adventures. You should see a link for it there. (I’ve been looking around there, myself, but it’s sometimes hard to tell how kid-friendly an adventure is just by reading the synopsis.)
2. You could use some of the pre-generated iconic characters to fill out a party of 4 so you could then play the adventures that are designed for 4-6 characters. Of course, you’d then be in the same boat as me. I GM for my son, who plays a fighter, with me playing Merisiel, Kyra, and Ezren as GM “PC’s”. (I’m sure the pre-gen character sheets are on the Paizo website somewhere, but I can’t think of where at the moment. We started with the Beginner Box, which has them in it.)
3. Legendary Games has a few kid-friendly adventures for lower-level characters (1-3). These aren’t meant for one-on-one play, though. They are: Into the Feyweald, A Feast of Flavor, and Crisis at Falling Spring Station. We played all of them and really enjoyed them. There is also an adventure path called Trail of the Apprentice, but we haven’t played it yet. I believe it covers levels 1-5.
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If you just want to have a lot of fun, you can check out 'We Be Dragons'. It is a short little adventure that lets the players take the role of some fairly young dragons with unique little twists on their abilities (to reflect class-like abilities).
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Go straight into Mythic, because it's ridiculous... and that way, when a kid says he wants to punch a hole in the planet, or jump a mile... they actually can.
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Go straight into Mythic, because it's ridiculous... and that way, when a kid says he wants to punch a hole in the planet, or jump a mile... they actually can.
As a parent, the idea of trying to learn the mythic rules well enough to GM them for an 8-year-old makes me want to use language I wouldn't dare use in an 8-year-old's hearing. :P
Go straight into Mythic, because it's ridiculous... and that way, when a kid says he wants to punch a hole in the planet, or jump a mile... they actually can.As a parent, the idea of trying to learn the mythic rules well enough to GM them for an 8-year-old makes me want to use language I wouldn't dare use in an 8-year-old's hearing. :P
I get that. I have been avoiding touching Mythic, as well. I think I would rather eat glass. Lol.
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If anyone can add to that some kid-friendly one-on-one adventures (one kid PC; one adult GM) then that would be great.A few options:
1. Have you tried using the Adventure Finder? I think it has a section for one-on-one adventures. I haven't looked at any of them, so I can’t make any recommendations, but it might be a good starting place. Go to Paizo > Store > Pathfinder > Adventures > First Edition Adventures. You should see a link for it there. (I’ve been looking around there, myself, but it’s sometimes hard to tell how kid-friendly an adventure is just by reading the synopsis.)
2. You could use some of the pre-generated iconic characters to fill out a party of 4 so you could then play the adventures that are designed for 4-6 characters. Of course, you’d then be in the same boat as me. I GM for my son, who plays a fighter, with me playing Merisiel, Kyra, and Ezren as GM “PC’s”. (I’m sure the pre-gen character sheets are on the Paizo website somewhere, but I can’t think of where at the moment. We started with the Beginner Box, which has them in it.)
3. Legendary Games has a few kid-friendly adventures for lower-level characters (1-3). These aren’t meant for one-on-one play, though. They are: Into the Feyweald, A Feast of Flavor, and Crisis at Falling Spring Station. We played all of them and really enjoyed them. There is also an adventure path called Trail of the Apprentice, but we haven’t played it yet. I believe it covers levels 1-5.
Yes, we are using the BB.
1. The adventure-finder has not been that useful, and all of the one-on-one adventures published under that name have not been kid friendly.
2. I tried that. She did not like having her character escorted around by an army of dad-bots.
3. I have Into the Feyweald and the Basic Paths, plus the BB adventures in various Wayfinders. I am trying to save some for when my daughter manages to rope in a few friends (post-pandemic). Trail of the Apprentice looks interesting.
If you just want to have a lot of fun, you can check out 'We Be Dragons'. It is a short little adventure that lets the players take the role of some fairly young dragons with unique little twists on their abilities (to reflect class-like abilities).
Thanks, I’ll check that out! I think my son would have fun with that.
If anyone can add to that some kid-friendly one-on-one adventures (one kid PC; one adult GM) then that would be great.A few options:
1. Have you tried using the Adventure Finder? I think it has a section for one-on-one adventures. I haven't looked at any of them, so I can’t make any recommendations, but it might be a good starting place. Go to Paizo > Store > Pathfinder > Adventures > First Edition Adventures. You should see a link for it there. (I’ve been looking around there, myself, but it’s sometimes hard to tell how kid-friendly an adventure is just by reading the synopsis.)
2. You could use some of the pre-generated iconic characters to fill out a party of 4 so you could then play the adventures that are designed for 4-6 characters. Of course, you’d then be in the same boat as me. I GM for my son, who plays a fighter, with me playing Merisiel, Kyra, and Ezren as GM “PC’s”. (I’m sure the pre-gen character sheets are on the Paizo website somewhere, but I can’t think of where at the moment. We started with the Beginner Box, which has them in it.)
3. Legendary Games has a few kid-friendly adventures for lower-level characters (1-3). These aren’t meant for one-on-one play, though. They are: Into the Feyweald, A Feast of Flavor, and Crisis at Falling Spring Station. We played all of them and really enjoyed them. There is also an adventure path called Trail of the Apprentice, but we haven’t played it yet. I believe it covers levels 1-5.
Yes, we are using the BB.
1. The adventure-finder has not been that useful, and all of the one-on-one adventures published under that name have not been kid friendly.
2. I tried that. She did not like having her character escorted around by an army of dad-bots.
3. I have Into the Feyweald and the Basic Paths, plus the BB adventures in various Wayfinders. I am trying to save some for when my daughter manages to rope in a few friends (post-pandemic). Trail of the Apprentice looks...
1. That’s too bad, though I guess not too surprising. Overall it seems like Pathfinder is more of a PG-13 level game than PG.
2. “Dad-bots”!
3. I’m saving Trail of the Apprentice for the same reason.
3. I have Into the Feyweald and the Basic Paths, plus the BB adventures in various Wayfinders. I am trying to save some for when my daughter manages to rope in a few friends (post-pandemic). Trail of the Apprentice looks...
I forgot to ask you, what are the Basic Paths?
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They are three, linked adventures from 0one Games that try to be usable with either the Beginner Box or the core rules.
They're a bit more serious/adult than the other BB stuff but they're well written: not surprising when those involved include Tito Leati, Tim Hitchcock and David Schwartz.
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Having recently finished Kingmaker, you could probably modify it to be all butterflies and bunnies pretty easily if you want a fairy tale forest adventure.
You could manage the kingdom building behind the scenes just asking their input on where they want cities and what those cities are named, maybe what buildings are where (to an extent). Soften the reasons some things are happening, maybe omit a few details here and there. But overall I think it could be done.
Running Kingmaker with a bunch of kids may actually make the whole sandbox thing easier to keep on track, honestly.
They are three, linked adventures from 0one Games that try to be usable with either the Beginner Box or the core rules.
They're a bit more serious/adult than the other BB stuff but they're well written: not surprising when those involved include Tito Leati, Tim Hitchcock and David Schwartz.
Thanks, I’ll check them out!
Having recently finished Kingmaker, you could probably modify it to be all butterflies and bunnies pretty easily if you want a fairy tale forest adventure.
You could manage the kingdom building behind the scenes just asking their input on where they want cities and what those cities are named, maybe what buildings are where (to an extent). Soften the reasons some things are happening, maybe omit a few details here and there. But overall I think it could be done.
Running Kingmaker with a bunch of kids may actually make the whole sandbox thing easier to keep on track, honestly.
Thanks, I’ll look into it!
A couple questions in the meantime:
1) I’ve never played an AP before - about how long do they take to complete? Obviously it depends on how frequently we play, but would you be able to give an estimate based on comparison to an adventure module?
2) If I don’t make any adjustments or edits, what kind of monsters and details am I looking at? Is it dark and/or mature content? Demons and devils and bloody stuff? Those are the types of things I’m trying to steer clear of.
You could probably modify several adventures to be "kid friendly" depending on how you define the term.
Depending on what you feel your child can and can't handle, you can change all damage to non-lethal, you don't have to describe bloody or gory bits. But, on the other hand, children used to get by just fine with Grimm's fairy tales. Even The Wizard of Oz is pretty straight forward about sometimes the good guys have to kill/destroy the bad guys, without being traumatic.
I guess my question is, with absolutely no judgement, what are you not wanting your kid to encounter?
Thanks for your feedback, Sysryke. Unfortunately I’m short on time at the moment, so I’ll respond later today.
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Having recently finished Kingmaker, you could probably modify it to be all butterflies and bunnies pretty easily if you want a fairy tale forest adventure.
You could manage the kingdom building behind the scenes just asking their input on where they want cities and what those cities are named, maybe what buildings are where (to an extent). Soften the reasons some things are happening, maybe omit a few details here and there. But overall I think it could be done.
Running Kingmaker with a bunch of kids may actually make the whole sandbox thing easier to keep on track, honestly.
Thanks, I’ll look into it!
A couple questions in the meantime:
1) I’ve never played an AP before - about how long do they take to complete? Obviously it depends on how frequently we play, but would you be able to give an estimate based on comparison to an adventure module?
2) If I don’t make any adjustments or edits, what kind of monsters and details am I looking at? Is it dark and/or mature content? Demons and devils and bloody stuff? Those are the types of things I’m trying to steer clear of.
Overall, it's an insane fairy trying to put a huge chunk of land into a jar... and you happen to be building a brand new kingdom on this same chunk of land. Lots of wilderness adventures, animals, magical beasts, humanoid bandits, some undead but in no way focused on them, some outsiders but again not focused on it... nothing too adult, honestly. You can downplay some of the politics involving Pitax, but it helps if the players know that the ruling class of Pitax are bad people.
It took me well over a year, meeting every other week to complete it. But it was my first time GM'ing Pathfinder... coming from 5e. Got the party to level 19 in the AP with a little added here and there... used the optional dragon at the end to get everyone to 20, just for the sake of giving them closure on those characters.
Fun fact; mass combat can be entirely avoided if your players take the initiative and start assassinating certain people. Lol. But, that probably won't be the case for a bunch of kids... so make the mass combat fun, like a minigame of Risk inside your DnD session. You can even have everything predetermined, and just have fun putting every miniature on the board at the same time. It's probably not fair to actually allow the kids to lose/fail during mass combat. If they are new to Pathfinder rules in general, having an entirely different subset of rules determine their fate and the fate of their kingdom is kind of bogus.
You could probably modify several adventures to be "kid friendly" depending on how you define the term.
This seems like the way I'll need to go, but it can be a little challenging sometimes. Some of the adventure summaries / synopses are helpful in that they clearly indicate the tone, monsters, etc. in the adventure, and I can easily determine if it's something I'll pursue or avoid. Others, however, aren't as clear. For example, I just bought a PFS scenario because it sounded like it would be a cool dungeon exploration that I could use in a non-PFS setting. Reading through it once so far, I think my initial impression is correct ... except that it also has a bunch of demons in it, which the synopsis said nothing about. I've already thought of some ways to describe them to my son that will tone down the demonic aspects, but I was a little bummed that I have to do that when the synopsis didn't say anything about it.
I understand that Pathfinder is targeted more toward a PG-13 level than an 8-year-old level, and I'm fine with that. It's just tough sometimes when I really want to run a published adventure and I can't find one that seems suitable.
I guess my question is, with absolutely no judgement, what are you not wanting your kid to encounter?
Primary examples are demons, devils, gory / gruesome / grisly things, blood, torture, sacrifices, etc. As I hinted at above, I know I can modify things and tone them down, it just seems that an abundance of Pathfinder material is filled with things that I'm trying to avoid.
Overall, it's an insane fairy trying to put a huge chunk of land into a jar... and you happen to be building a brand new kingdom on this same chunk of land. Lots of wilderness adventures, animals, magical beasts, humanoid bandits, some undead but in no way focused on them, some outsiders but again not focused on it... nothing too adult, honestly. You can downplay some of the politics involving Pitax, but it helps if the players know that the ruling class of Pitax are bad people.
This sounds like a lot of fun! I really appreciate the summary. I think my only concern at this point would be the length of time needed to complete it. Our sessions are usually 2-3 hours, depending what my son's attention span can handle on any given day. :) But he's a very imaginative and creative kid, so I think he might really like the idea of building his own kingdom.
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"Primary examples are demons, devils, gory / gruesome / grisly things, blood, torture, sacrifices, etc. As I hinted at above, I know I can modify things and tone them down, it just seems that an abundance of Pathfinder material is filled with things that I'm trying to avoid."
That is like a whole list of key elements used to establish tone. Those elements are what make the bad guys "bad". Some of it is necessary to properly motivate the good guys to take appropriate action against the bad guys in order to further the plot.
However, I see what you are saying. And you don't need preteen children contemplating things like human sacrifice before bed. A lot of occult and horrible things that are simply tone-setting details for desensatized adults, would create a lot of undue questions from an audience of children... and thus a lot of undue explanations... explanations to things you otherwise would not have to be explaining to these children... explanations that slow gameplay and distract the players from the story you are trying to tell.
With the plethora of diverse and completely made up monsters in Pathfinder... unless the demons/devils are thematically tied to their domain in Hell, just describe them in generic physical terms... leave all association with pure evil and Hell out of it. A barbed devil is just a skinny creature with spikes... absolutely no relation to anything found in any real religion... might as well be called Spine-man, or whatever.
You don't have to confuse anyone or make anyone uncomfortable just because the book calls for demons/devils... they are a stat block, with numbers... those numbers are what are important to encounter balance. How you describe what those numbers belong to is completely up to you. It is not required to make anyone question their faith or feel uncomfortable playing a game their pastor might not approve of.
I am driving that point home, because when I was a wee-lad... probably 5 or 6... my super religious mother threw my brand new DnD box set in the fireplace. I just wanted to play a game, and my mom made me think I pissed off Jesus. That $#!+ is confusing as a kid. It's easier just to avoid it entirely.
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If anyone can add to that some kid-friendly one-on-one adventures (one kid PC; one adult GM) then that would be great.
You can run almost any adventure one on one, but you have to decrease the CR by -2. Give your player an NPC (such as a healer Kira) to keep them company and you're all set.
Any of the We Be Goblins are very light-hearted in tone.
The perfect starting point for any players is The Crypt of the Everflame about a group of young adventurers setting out from Kassen to complete a yearly rite of passage only for things to take an unexpected turn.
Running this one on one would definitely require a healer NPC. As above, throw in a Kira and your ready!
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My daughter's problem is, really, adult levels of tension/drama.
If she has to stop the goblins from killing the cute dog (RotRL) and she fails then she will cry.
'Defeating' a silly monster that's obviously not real is fine and fun. Doing it to save the rainbow bridge that delivers fresh fruit to fairytown is also fun.
Killing a desperate, starving brigand who was turned off his land by a greedy lord, because he is causing our friends to starve in the village because traffic over the old bridge is drying up, that is not fun.
Some things you can dress differently, as in my example above, but, for instance, digging through the crime scene at a sawmill where someone was murdered is not easy to 'lighten'.
A plague which is arbitrarily killing hundreds, perhaps thousands, and has been spread by vile cultists, is also difficult to re-skin.
And that's just the first two post-Dungeon APs.
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The Runelords adventures are for long time players that like good gritty games. I wouldn't recommend them for kids. There are plenty of other starting points.
Conversely, nothing stops you from taking ideas from anywhere and tailoring it to suit your daughter's specific needs.
You could probably modify several adventures to be "kid friendly" depending on how you define the term.
So would anyone be able to name some specific adventures that might be easy(ish) to modify? The party is currently 8th level.
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Tyrant's Grasp is an uplifting AP with teachable moments and positive themes, but sadly requires the heroes to involve themselves in needless violence against innocent unliving individuals.
Tyrant's Grasp is an uplifting AP with teachable moments and positive themes, but sadly requires the heroes to involve themselves in needless violence against innocent unliving individuals.
Yeah, no. After seeing a helpless human impaled on a wooden beam and left clinging to life to entice passing travelers into an ambush that consisted of a wight and near legion of skeleton minions... *narrows eyes*
We were successful in saving her, by the way. And crushing that wight's skull was extremely satisfying, as was PERSONALLY escorting its soul back to the Boneyard to await judgement. Kaius, the venerable Aasimar Barbarian who pretends to be a wizard in his downtime, once spurned the advances of the gods, but gladly took up the mantle of Mortal Usher for the remaining time he walks the mortal realm.
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You could probably modify several adventures to be "kid friendly" depending on how you define the term.So would anyone be able to name some specific adventures that might be easy(ish) to modify? The party is currently 8th level.
What adventures have they played so far? Which part of Golarion are they based in? Or is this homebrewed?
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Based on your OP, I'll answer my own question as "homebrewed" and "what's a Golarion?"
I recommend the excellent third installment of the Ironfang Invasion "Assault on Longshadow" wherein the PCs try to warn the nearby town of Longshadow of impending invasion. The entire adventure is very sandboxy in how it can be run and offers a variety of challenges and ways to approach them.
Here is the GM thread where you can read and ask for advice.
Based on your OP, I'll answer my own question as "homebrewed" and "what's a Golarion?"
I recommend the excellent third installment of the Ironfang Invasion "Assault on Longshadow" wherein the PCs try to warn the nearby town of Longshadow of impending invasion. The entire adventure is very sandboxy in how it can be run and offers a variety of challenges and ways to approach them.
Here is the GM thread where you can read and ask for advice.
Thanks! I’ll definitely check that out.
We’ve done a mix of homebrew and published adventures. The party is based in Sandpoint. Here’s the list so far:
1. Black Fang’s Dungeon (beginner box)
2. The old mine adventure in the BB GM Kit
3. Into the Feyweald, A Feast of Flavor, and Crisis at Falling Spring Station by Legendary Games
4. Homebrew Minecraft-themed adventures (2)
5. Homebrew adventure using about 5 of the adventure hooks in the BB GM’s guide
6. Homebrew Christmas-themed adventure with Mr. Grinch, some misfit toys, and a nutcracker (this was a lot of fun to write!)
We’re now using the full rule set in the CRB.
My next homebrew will be a Ninjago-themed adventure into Tian Xia to return a daisho they found in a treasure haul from #5 above. But as I need to write the story and research Tian Xia, I’m looking for a published adventure or two that I can run in the meantime.
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If you like Tian Xia have you seen the Jade Regent adventure path? It deals with the journey to Tian Xia. You might be able to mine some ideas from it.
"Primary examples are demons, devils, gory / gruesome / grisly things, blood, torture, sacrifices, etc. As I hinted at above, I know I can modify things and tone them down, it just seems that an abundance of Pathfinder material is filled with things that I'm trying to avoid."
That is like a whole list of key elements used to establish tone. Those elements are what make the bad guys "bad". Some of it is necessary to properly motivate the good guys to take appropriate action against the bad guys in order to further the plot.
However, I see what you are saying. And you don't need preteen children contemplating things like human sacrifice before bed. A lot of occult and horrible things that are simply tone-setting details for desensatized adults, would create a lot of undue questions from an audience of children... and thus a lot of undue explanations... explanations to things you otherwise would not have to be explaining to these children... explanations that slow gameplay and distract the players from the story you are trying to tell.
With the plethora of diverse and completely made up monsters in Pathfinder... unless the demons/devils are thematically tied to their domain in Hell, just describe them in generic physical terms... leave all association with pure evil and Hell out of it. A barbed devil is just a skinny creature with spikes... absolutely no relation to anything found in any real religion... might as well be called Spine-man, or whatever.
You don't have to confuse anyone or make anyone uncomfortable just because the book calls for demons/devils... they are a stat block, with numbers... those numbers are what are important to encounter balance. How you describe what those numbers belong to is completely up to you. It is not required to make anyone question their faith or feel uncomfortable playing a game their pastor might not approve of.
I am driving that point home, because when I was a wee-lad... probably 5 or 6... my super religious mother threw my brand new DnD box set in the...
Sorry for the delayed reply, you wrote a lot of good things here and I wanted to let them sink in a little first.
You very eloquently made a case for both sides of the issue. Bad guys should be BAD, this is very important to the story we’re telling ... yet HOW that bad-ness is presented to the players is just as important to the story. If it’s done in a way that meets the players where they are, not just in relation to the game itself, but to where they are in life as a whole, then job well done. But if it acts as a distraction or even has a harmful effect, then it needs to be modified and adapted. You’ve given me a lot to think about.
And I’m glad you mentioned that last bit about faith and religion. I’m a Christian and a gamer, and a number of years ago I was pulled aside by my pastor and cautioned about playing D&D because of his (mis)understanding that it had demonic and evil influences. This was really confusing for me because I had been gaming for over 15 years at that point and never once sensed anything evil about D&D. It was a fun game set in a genre that appealed to me, and truthfully, my friends and I spent just as much time cracking jokes, quoting movies, eating food, and laughing with each other as we spent actually gaming. That’s what it’s always been about for me, so when I asked a friend at church if he wanted to join us in a game of D&D, and was cautioned by my pastor who overheard my inquiry, I was completely stunned and confused.
So I guess I’m trying to find the sweet spot that balances being a responsible parent and an honest gamer.
Thanks for your thought-provoking words!
Tyrant's Grasp is an uplifting AP with teachable moments and positive themes, but sadly requires the heroes to involve themselves in needless violence against innocent unliving individuals.Yeah, no. After seeing a helpless human impaled on a wooden beam and left clinging to life to entice passing travelers into an ambush that consisted of a wight and near legion of skeleton minions... *narrows eyes*
We were successful in saving her, by the way. And crushing that wight's skull was extremely satisfying, as was PERSONALLY escorting its soul back to the Boneyard to await judgement. Kaius, the venerable Aasimar Barbarian who pretends to be a wizard in his downtime, once spurned the advances of the gods, but gladly took up the mantle of Mortal Usher for the remaining time he walks the mortal realm.
Sigh. More vitalist propaganda.
Dear Egregiously Misnamed One,
I'm afraid your contractor status with the Guild have been permanently revoked, but we're pleased to announce we've fast-tracked your application for the new "Undead Squirrel Kibbel" role within our organization.
We look forward to speaking with you soon.
Sigh. More vitalist propaganda.
Propaganda? Which part? The living person impaled alive, the ambush by the undead, or the part about dragging the wight's soul to the boneyard for judgement? I'm sure a properly used divination spell could reveal the truth of the statements if you are doubt the veracity of my claims.
Dear Egregiously Misnamed One,
I'm afraid your contractor status with the Guild have been permanently revoked, but we're pleased to announce we've fast-tracked your application for the new "Undead Squirrel Kibbel" role within our organization.
We look forward to speaking with you soon.
Its quite interesting how you keep finding these "applications" that have never been submitted. I briefly accepted an outsourced role within your organization though it was unsolicited. Revoking the title means little.
To be fair, most avenues towards necromantically extended life require a death in the first place, from which one gloriously recovers.
DeathlessOne is ineligible from all of those avenues, by definition.
I feel like you made an assumption about the name being necromancy related but I don't recall that ever being confirmed.
Your sense of betrayal is on you ;p
Oh, I have most certainly tasted death at the hands of negative energy, though in this incarnation something unprecedented happened, and the blast that slew me was tainted with positive energy. I was reconstituted as a pseudo-outsider in the Boneyard and had the unique experience of facing ... well, let's not spoil it for those who might be on a similar journey as myself. Let's just say that I had some ... deep grievances to settle with 'myself' once I got back to the Material Realm.
But, take heart. Necromancy has little effect on me now. I do not fear the powers of the undead. I exist to hunt them down and bring them to judgement. Those who do not engage in atrocities and generally behave themselves can relax for the moment. They are last on my list.
Interesting... Deathless One, are you a Mortal Usher? Regardless, I patiently await your arrival. In the immortal words of Optimus Prime;
"One shall stand, and one shall fall."
Interesting... Deathless One, are you a Mortal Usher? Regardless, I patiently await your arrival. In the immortal words of Optimus Prime;
"One shall stand, and one shall fall."
In this particular incarnation, yes. I found the powers offered uniquely suited to my quest to find the fiend behind the destruction of the town I spent over half a millennia watching grow and flourish, and if I am not able to deliver to it vengeance, I will at least deal a blow to its forces that it will take another millennia for it to recover. While I do not worship Pharasma, I do work for her (or one of her powerful subordinates).
Eventually, I will be reborn in another life, once my soul has tasted enough of the afterlife to desire a fresh start. Then I shall be dispersed among the other souls that await in the endless sea of quintessence, become one with the sum experience of all life that was, is and will be. And then, I will emerge from the plane of Positive Energy, renewed and eager to take on another role in the vast and unknowable pattern of existence. As is the destiny of every soul, over and over, until Pharasma decrees the end.
Do not worry, VoodistMonk. Your time will come. You have only temporarily delayed your return to the cycle of souls, and perhaps stunted your own evolution. In the end, you have only damaged yourself.
I don’t know how helpful this will be, but to add to the whole “how you present it will determine how age appropriate it is” thing, look at the cartoon Adventure Time. It is basically a D&D parody, and they made the bloody Nightosphere (basically their version of the Abyss, as it has demons, and the ruler is pure chaotic evil, by his own words,) a good time for child viewers (it was actually kind of messed up when they went there, from an IN universe prospective, but as a viewer, it was all fun and games).
So yeah, take notes from Adventure Time.
Thanks, I’ll take a look at it!
Interesting... Deathless One, are you a Mortal Usher? Regardless, I patiently await your arrival. In the immortal words of Optimus Prime;
"One shall stand, and one shall fall."
In this particular incarnation, yes. I found the powers offered uniquely suited to my quest to find the fiend behind the destruction of the town I spent over half a millennia watching grow and flourish, and if I am not able to deliver to it vengeance, I will at least deal a blow to its forces that it will take another millennia for it to recover. While I do not worship Pharasma, I do work for her (or one of her powerful subordinates).
Eventually, I will be reborn in another life, once my soul has tasted enough of the afterlife to desire a fresh start. Then I shall be dispersed among the other souls that await in the endless sea of quintessence, become one with the sum experience of all life that was, is and will be. And then, I will emerge from the plane of Positive Energy, renewed and eager to take on another role in the vast and unknowable pattern of existence. As is the destiny of every soul, over and over, until Pharasma decrees the end.
Do not worry, VoodistMonk. Your time will come. You have only temporarily delayed your return to the cycle of souls, and perhaps stunted your own evolution. In the end, you have only damaged yourself.
Oh, I assure you, I have damaged more than only myself. [Insert maniacal laugh here]
Anyways, Mortal Usher is a fascinating career. Your whimsical optimism and obsession with repeating the tedious cycle of living Many Lives sounds like a Druid "thing". I find that fitting... as Pharasma, along with most of her minions, are dedicated to the dull, featureless neutrality. Being devoutly boring, I mean neutral, is also a Druid "thing".
Not to say all Mortal Ushers are Druids. The only one I have had the pleasure of encountering was a Wayang Warsighted Oracle. "Was" a Wayang Warsighted Oracle.
But, I digress... I think most of the modules designed for small races would be fitting for small children. From what I have heard, the Goblin-related and Kobold-related modues are relatively lighthearted. Children are small, and the world is big. Small races are small (go figure), and the world is big. It inspires a sense of awe and grandeur...
I came across an adventure that was along the same lines as 'We Be Dragon', that I think would be pretty fun for the younger players. 'We Be Leshys' was a fairly fun read through and I can't wait to get it to the table in our next 'off game'.
Oh, I assure you, I have damaged more than only myself. [Insert maniacal laugh here]
I do not doubt that. It is one of the reasons why Pharasma has such a deep seated loathing for the undead. Suffering and tragedy that happen during a mortal life is eventually overcome and shed in the afterlife, but the taint and corruption of the undead have vast, lingering effects on the entire fabric of the cycle of souls. I am not privy to the specifics but even I can see some of the effects.
Anyways, Mortal Usher is a fascinating career. Your whimsical optimism and obsession with repeating the tedious cycle of living Many Lives sounds like a Druid "thing". I find that fitting... as Pharasma, along with most of her minions, are dedicated to the dull, featureless neutrality. Being devoutly boring, I mean neutral, is also a Druid "thing".
I was nearing the end of my mortal existence for this incarnation when the necessity of adopting this path became clear to me. Seven hundred years is a long time in which to exist in a mortal shell, bolstered only by the barest touch of celestial blood somewhere in my ancestry. It was only after waking in the Boneyard, my very soul stitched in the body I wore in this incarnation (instead of merely residing within it), that I began to regain glimpses of my past incarnations.
I once walked the paths of a Druid, but those memories are faint and distant like a half-remembered dream. They do not influence my desire to retrieve the souls of the undead and bring them to judgement. My anger and rage, the chaotic forces that once fueled the berserker strength of my youth, THAT is what drives my fury. Though my frame is weakened with age and my venerable body often fails to live up to my needs, it is in those moments of wrathful frenzy that all the powers of my youth return to me and I AM vengeance incarnate.
So, do not confuse me with the often complacent, peace-loving Druids or those more interested in balance. I do not exist to bring balance. It is merely a side effect of the path of destruction I walk. My soul is old enough that it has encountered nearly every shade of evil and suffering that the mortal realm contains, and has felt the sting of scorching agony at the hands of the wicked. My body is old enough that the boundaries that usually exist between this life and my previous incarnations have begun to blur. And now that my body and soul are fused, I have begun to REMEMBER every one of these experiences.
It is not a single soul coming for you, VoodistMonk, and those like you. It is the collective incarnation of every soul of every life I have lived, now concentrated into a single being. Mortal Ushers are not patsies that just work for Pharasma. We are agents of the multiverse, bestowed with the power of the Positive AND Negative energy planes, for the sole purpose of returning you to the cycle.
Not to say all Mortal Ushers are Druids. The only one I have had the pleasure of encountering was a Wayang Warsighted Oracle. "Was" a Wayang Warsighted Oracle.
I have yet to meet another Mortal Usher. I expect my time as one with be short. The evil I seek is powerful beyond imagining. If I do find you in your fallen state, you would be wise to be cautious, because the power I will wield at that encounter will be far greater than I possess now, for it means that I survived the encounter with Tar-Baphon.
**OOC: I enjoy the back and forth we engage in. Would be great fun if we ever had a chance to game together. Talking tough is great fun, but it is better saved as banter between PC and BBEG.
Take the Kingmaker AP... change literally everyone to a small sized race... make Nyrissa into a bald Wizard, and call it Gargamel... give Gargamel a cat...
In Kingmaker, Nyrissa is literally trying to steal Le Pays Maudit... not unlike a certain Gargamel...
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You might try a slightly different approach than Adventure Paths or Modules. Sometimes they're easy to modify and sometimes not. They generally have linear plots, which can start to fall apart of too many things need to be altered or removed.
Paizo has a gazateer for the town of Sandpoint out called Sandpoint: Light of the Lost Coast. It's a very detailed treatment of the town from the Runelords adventure paths, which are often quite gritty, but those adventures don't really figure in except as stories or maybe some background for this.
It's a very detailed treatment of the town and the NPCs living there. Most all of the important NPCs, and there are many, have a couple of "quests" attached to them. These are favors they'd like done or things they would like solved. The quests aren't included, but they're generally simple things that would be easy to put together as short adventures that happen around town, or maybe take them outside the town for a couple of days.
The advantage I see is there's no central plot running through it so you don't need to worry about that kind of story complexity. Your kids have a familiar and very well laid out town to explore, where there are lots of well developed people to get to know. Slapping together a couple of simple settings for the quests and putting some opponents in based on a quest's theme would a lot simpler to manage than constant movement and new places. The players can make friends, rivals, enemies, and so forth among the residents and feel good about being able to help them.
The quests run from level 1 up through about level 12, with some being of varying possible levels. It would be easy to just leave out ones you didn't want to use due to content. It's been a while since I've looked through it, but as I recall the content is fairly benign. You might also find other small adventures you could plug into the setting if you find you're short of content for getting them leveled up.
This would probably work best starting at 1st level, but you could start at level 8 I suppose. You would be bypassing a lot of the quests though, unless you wanted to power them up for higher levels.
Sigh. More vitalist propaganda.Propaganda? Which part? The living person impaled alive, the ambush by the undead, or the part about dragging the wight's soul to the boneyard for judgement? I'm sure a properly used divination spell could reveal the truth of the statements if you are doubt the veracity of my claims.
Dear Egregiously Misnamed One,
I'm afraid your contractor status with the Guild have been permanently revoked, but we're pleased to announce we've fast-tracked your application for the new "Undead Squirrel Kibbel" role within our organization.
We look forward to speaking with you soon.
Its quite interesting how you keep finding these "applications" that have never been submitted. I briefly accepted an outsourced role within your organization though it was unsolicited. Revoking the title means little.
To be fair, most avenues towards necromantically extended life require a death in the first place, from which one gloriously recovers.
DeathlessOne is ineligible from all of those avenues, by definition.
I feel like you made an assumption about the name being necromancy related but I don't recall that ever being confirmed.
Your sense of betrayal is on you ;p
Oh, I have most certainly tasted death at the hands of negative energy, though in this incarnation something unprecedented happened, and the blast that slew me was tainted with positive energy. I was reconstituted as a pseudo-outsider in the Boneyard and had the unique experience of facing ... well, let's not spoil it for those who might be on a similar journey as myself. Let's just say that I had some ... deep grievances to settle with 'myself' once I got back to the Material Realm.
But, take heart. Necromancy has little effect on me now. I do not fear the powers of the undead. I exist to hunt them down and bring them to judgement. Those who do not engage in atrocities and generally behave themselves can relax for the...
Egregiously misnamed in the fact that their life shall be short (even for a mortal), and their death shall be long indeed.
But rejoice! We have at your request employed divinations - and determined the veracity of your many grandiose claims. No surprises in the answers we found.
As it turns out, "DeathlessOne" is a third level human commoner with the standard NPC array. Apparently making baseless statements on the internet doesn't earn you much XP, much less any class levels.
The more astute among you may have picked up on the contradictions among his mary-stuish claims, and already realized this is no demigod. He'd lose a footrace with a pack of zombies, which is a concern because that is almost certainly in his future.
His temporary stint with our operation was as our Social Media Intern, but we fired him soon after for making similiar absurd and depreciating statements on our Twitter. We believe he is still unemployed.
But this isn't all bad news! We have finally found a spot in our organization - we're going to give your mind to our Callers in Darkness before feeding your body to our Ghoul constituents.
Oh, and yes, "Deathless", please regale us with more impotent stories of your godhood. I'm sure your power has tripled since you totally hung out with your bros Pharasma and Aroden and Rovagug! Very plausible!
...
Update: The writer of this PR statement has been fired. They do not reflect the views or opinions of the Thread Necromancers Guild, nor do we take culpability for the statements within. The Thread Necromancers Guild does not condone violence towards anyone, living, unliving, or constructed. We do not discriminate based on ancestry, alignment, heritage, gender identity, mortal status, orientation, political beliefs, pregnancy, and religion as well as other any other identity markers. We believe in advocacy for the equal treatment of the all creatures and all threads.
This said, we have put in a legal injunction against the individual who uses the alias "DeathlessOne" immediately cease any and all attempts to communicate with us due to defaming and inaccurate statements as well an immediate cease-and-desist in publicly making discriminatory and hateful speech towards to the unliving individuals (as well as others). Further questions should be directed to our legal team.
For whatever reason, I still keep going back to butterflies and bunnies... it seems using natural animals and environmental hazards is the safest way to avoid the topics in question.
You can get pretty dark and scary with Druids, Fey, and Hags... like easily scarier than it sounds you want to go. Not saying that you have to, by any means, but the opton is still there... it's not like choosing nature is immediately equatable to choosing an easy or weak campaign.
we're pleased to announce we've fast-tracked your application for the new "Undead Squirrel Kibbel" role within our organization.
"The Swarm shall devour this "deathless" imposter until he is nothing but dust and memories!" the Swarm of Undead Sentient Squirrels echoes in unison while bringing their fingers menacingly together like a steeple, "ALL shall be consumed by the Might of Undeath!"