I am running a dnd group with 8 ten year olds, and other than a few hiccups, its been going good.
I need ideas for a side quest. The background info is that they are bringing a map written in Ghukliak/Goblin to a professor in linguistics to translate. He wants a favor in exchange for translating it.
Do you have any ideas for premade side quests or just ideas that would be appropriate for 10 year olds?
Kudos for running D&D for such a large group, and for kids!
Are your players more interested in exploring, fighting, or chatting with people? What landscape are they moving through on the way to the professor? I like to offer sidequests that fit the landscape and appeal to the way the players LIKE to play. Give the chatty folks in the forest the opportunity to talk with a druid. Offer those that want to explore a cave with strange noises while in the swamp. Give those that want to fight an opportunity to protect a bunch of camels from a sandworm attack. Pick a few small trinkets/money/magic items you can offer as a reward and go from there!
My only other suggestion is to keep any sidequests short. Something you can finish in a single session is good for me, as the players are more willing to sidequest if it doesn't look like a huge distraction from the main quest, and once done they can say "OK, with that finished back to our main quest!" before the session ends.
Thank you! Kids are fun to dm, they always have unique ideas from teens or adults. They’re more interested in the chatting and exploring, puzzling things out. And the professor Mountainous terrain. Your suggestions are very helpful. I have a better place to start now.
I stole this idea from somewhere and it made for a great adventure for younger kids
Down the Drain: the party has been hired by a wizard to retrieve his lost wedding ring. The catch is, he has dropped it down the sink drain in his lab. He offers to shrink the party down and have them go spelunking for his ring. I made it about 2 hours, but you could scale it up or down.
I had a water filled p-trap to start them off. Unfortunately it was poorly constructed and the ring wasn’t there. My party was smart enough to acquire sponges and such to get the water out of the p-trap, but forgot to do it before they were shrunk.
If I recall, I had a centipede encounter and then the ring was ultimately in a web in a spider lair. They had a character with speak with animals, so I made it possible to negotiate with the spider mom.
I tried to have a non combat out for every encounter.
I stole this idea from somewhere and it made for a great adventure for younger kids
Down the Drain: the party has been hired by a wizard to retrieve his lost wedding ring. The catch is, he has dropped it down the sink drain in his lab. He offers to shrink the party down and have them go spelunking for his ring. I made it about 2 hours, but you could scale it up or down.
I had a water filled p-trap to start them off. Unfortunately it was poorly constructed and the ring wasn’t there. My party was smart enough to acquire sponges and such to get the water out of the p-trap, but forgot to do it before they were shrunk.
If I recall, I had a centipede encounter and then the ring was ultimately in a web in a spider lair. They had a character with speak with animals, so I made it possible to negotiate with the spider mom.
I tried to have a non combat out for every encounter.
i dont remember what its called sry but the first dnd adventure i ever ran was a one shot where u went into and explored an alien space ship u could do something like that
That would probably be Expedition to the Barrier Peaks which was an AD&D adventure written in 1980 by Gary Gygax. It's an interesting twist but maybe better for teens.
For younger players, it is usually best to give them a simple and straight forward goal ie. find something, rescue someone, catch a bad guy, explore a cave, forest or haunted house etc. It is so fun and rewarding to run for younger players. Just keep their interests in mind and all will go well.
Side quest idea that would tie into the current story might be:
"Help!" (the players hear a young girls call for help)
They turn to find a young girl, carrying a loaf of bread being chased by a burly man in an apron and wielding a rolling pin.
"Stop thief!" he yells, enraged.
The distraction quickly moves from view. The PC's may opt to intervene or give chase, themselves. The young girl is actually Evelyn Brand, a 4th level halfling rogue, and no child. Despite the PC's reaction (including not intervening) the ruckus that occurs is for one purpose: the theft of the map. The PC's might notice this immediately, or not until they get back to an inn for the evening.
They can track down Evelyn, who will tearfully confess she was forced to participate under threat--to a younger brother who has fallen in with bad company (the local thieve's guild). If the adventurers can only help her with a simple favor, say delaying a caravan from leaving town on time, she is sure she can get the map back for them.
From here, it can go any number of ways, depending on the players. Do they directly intervene with the local thieve's guild? Do they try to strong arm Evelyn? (she won't budge, the love for her brother is too strong) How do they delay the leaving of the caravan? Bribery? Banditry? Roleplay?
Lot of options, and this can be thrown in for any adventure. Hope it helps.
I stole this idea from somewhere and it made for a great adventure for younger kids
Down the Drain: the party has been hired by a wizard to retrieve his lost wedding ring. The catch is, he has dropped it down the sink drain in his lab. He offers to shrink the party down and have them go spelunking for his ring. I made it about 2 hours, but you could scale it up or down.
I had a water filled p-trap to start them off. Unfortunately it was poorly constructed and the ring wasn’t there. My party was smart enough to acquire sponges and such to get the water out of the p-trap, but forgot to do it before they were shrunk.
If I recall, I had a centipede encounter and then the ring was ultimately in a web in a spider lair. They had a character with speak with animals, so I made it possible to negotiate with the spider mom.
I tried to have a non combat out for every encounter.
I used this idea for the favor. I made a squabbling NPC couple, and the wizard who dropped his wedding ring down the drain when he was trying to enchant it to make it up for her. It was their first introduction to a dungeon-ish type thing, and they had a good time problem solving. I had the P trap, some very sticky goo, a small sentient sapling, and the spider who they managed to negotiated with. They were able to retrieve the ring and translate the map.
Side quest idea that would tie into the current story might be:
"Help!" (the players hear a young girls call for help)
They turn to find a young girl, carrying a loaf of bread being chased by a burly man in an apron and wielding a rolling pin.
"Stop thief!" he yells, enraged.
The distraction quickly moves from view. The PC's may opt to intervene or give chase, themselves. The young girl is actually Evelyn Brand, a 4th level halfling rogue, and no child. Despite the PC's reaction (including not intervening) the ruckus that occurs is for one purpose: the theft of the map. The PC's might notice this immediately, or not until they get back to an inn for the evening.
They can track down Evelyn, who will tearfully confess she was forced to participate under threat--to a younger brother who has fallen in with bad company (the local thieve's guild). If the adventurers can only help her with a simple favor, say delaying a caravan from leaving town on time, she is sure she can get the map back for them.
From here, it can go any number of ways, depending on the players. Do they directly intervene with the local thieve's guild? Do they try to strong arm Evelyn? (she won't budge, the love for her brother is too strong) How do they delay the leaving of the caravan? Bribery? Banditry? Roleplay?
Lot of options, and this can be thrown in for any adventure. Hope it helps.
I did like this idea though, so I added it after they retrieved the map. They were more angry with the thieves guild than with Evelyn, but she refused to give them information on where it was or where the map was. They immediately decided to rescue her brother so she would talk to them, and they managed to break him out of the sketchy inn he was being held captive in during a rescue night heist, which allowed to rogue to shine. Successful, Evelyn was happy and willing to help them. They managed to delay the caravan with using a spell (maybe fire bolt?) as a distraction, but they tried to steal some horses which drew the attention of some people. So they were partially successful, although the map didn’t go on the caravan some thieves saw them, grabbed the map and snuck away. The party caught up to the thieves, had some nice combat, and got the translated map back!
I’m not sure if that was coherent, but it was fun to play in at least. The thieves guild ended up returning later in the campaign as well, and they eventually dismantled it by killing the boss. Funnily enough, they are now members of a different thieves guild, although a more honorable one.
I am running a dnd group with 8 ten year olds, and other than a few hiccups, its been going good.
I need ideas for a side quest. The background info is that they are bringing a map written in Ghukliak/Goblin to a professor in linguistics to translate. He wants a favor in exchange for translating it.
Do you have any ideas for premade side quests or just ideas that would be appropriate for 10 year olds?
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
InsiderKudos for running D&D for such a large group, and for kids!
Are your players more interested in exploring, fighting, or chatting with people? What landscape are they moving through on the way to the professor? I like to offer sidequests that fit the landscape and appeal to the way the players LIKE to play. Give the chatty folks in the forest the opportunity to talk with a druid. Offer those that want to explore a cave with strange noises while in the swamp. Give those that want to fight an opportunity to protect a bunch of camels from a sandworm attack. Pick a few small trinkets/money/magic items you can offer as a reward and go from there!
My only other suggestion is to keep any sidequests short. Something you can finish in a single session is good for me, as the players are more willing to sidequest if it doesn't look like a huge distraction from the main quest, and once done they can say "OK, with that finished back to our main quest!" before the session ends.
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
Thank you! Kids are fun to dm, they always have unique ideas from teens or adults. They’re more interested in the chatting and exploring, puzzling things out. And the professor Mountainous terrain. Your suggestions are very helpful. I have a better place to start now.
I stole this idea from somewhere and it made for a great adventure for younger kids
Down the Drain: the party has been hired by a wizard to retrieve his lost wedding ring. The catch is, he has dropped it down the sink drain in his lab. He offers to shrink the party down and have them go spelunking for his ring. I made it about 2 hours, but you could scale it up or down.
I had a water filled p-trap to start them off. Unfortunately it was poorly constructed and the ring wasn’t there. My party was smart enough to acquire sponges and such to get the water out of the p-trap, but forgot to do it before they were shrunk.
If I recall, I had a centipede encounter and then the ring was ultimately in a web in a spider lair. They had a character with speak with animals, so I made it possible to negotiate with the spider mom.
I tried to have a non combat out for every encounter.
That’s a great idea, it sounds fun!
i dont remember what its called sry but the first dnd adventure i ever ran was a one shot where u went into and explored an alien space ship u could do something like that
That would probably be Expedition to the Barrier Peaks which was an AD&D adventure written in 1980 by Gary Gygax. It's an interesting twist but maybe better for teens.
For younger players, it is usually best to give them a simple and straight forward goal ie. find something, rescue someone, catch a bad guy, explore a cave, forest or haunted house etc. It is so fun and rewarding to run for younger players. Just keep their interests in mind and all will go well.
Side quest idea that would tie into the current story might be:
"Help!" (the players hear a young girls call for help)
They turn to find a young girl, carrying a loaf of bread being chased by a burly man in an apron and wielding a rolling pin.
"Stop thief!" he yells, enraged.
The distraction quickly moves from view. The PC's may opt to intervene or give chase, themselves. The young girl is actually Evelyn Brand, a 4th level halfling rogue, and no child. Despite the PC's reaction (including not intervening) the ruckus that occurs is for one purpose: the theft of the map. The PC's might notice this immediately, or not until they get back to an inn for the evening.
They can track down Evelyn, who will tearfully confess she was forced to participate under threat--to a younger brother who has fallen in with bad company (the local thieve's guild). If the adventurers can only help her with a simple favor, say delaying a caravan from leaving town on time, she is sure she can get the map back for them.
From here, it can go any number of ways, depending on the players. Do they directly intervene with the local thieve's guild? Do they try to strong arm Evelyn? (she won't budge, the love for her brother is too strong) How do they delay the leaving of the caravan? Bribery? Banditry? Roleplay?
Lot of options, and this can be thrown in for any adventure. Hope it helps.
Ooh, that’s a great idea. I might use this a few sessions from now.
At the risk of using necromancy on a long-dead thread, how'd it turn out?
Oh man! So glad you asked. It turned out really fun and managed to fill up quite a lot of time.
I used this idea for the favor. I made a squabbling NPC couple, and the wizard who dropped his wedding ring down the drain when he was trying to enchant it to make it up for her. It was their first introduction to a dungeon-ish type thing, and they had a good time problem solving. I had the P trap, some very sticky goo, a small sentient sapling, and the spider who they managed to negotiated with. They were able to retrieve the ring and translate the map.
I did like this idea though, so I added it after they retrieved the map. They were more angry with the thieves guild than with Evelyn, but she refused to give them information on where it was or where the map was. They immediately decided to rescue her brother so she would talk to them, and they managed to break him out of the sketchy inn he was being held captive in during a rescue night heist, which allowed to rogue to shine. Successful, Evelyn was happy and willing to help them. They managed to delay the caravan with using a spell (maybe fire bolt?) as a distraction, but they tried to steal some horses which drew the attention of some people. So they were partially successful, although the map didn’t go on the caravan some thieves saw them, grabbed the map and snuck away. The party caught up to the thieves, had some nice combat, and got the translated map back!
I’m not sure if that was coherent, but it was fun to play in at least. The thieves guild ended up returning later in the campaign as well, and they eventually dismantled it by killing the boss. Funnily enough, they are now members of a different thieves guild, although a more honorable one.
It sounds like some great fun was had by everyone, DM included! I may borrow that drain adventure for future use :)