I want to take time out of the game I run to do a one shot. In the one shot I want there to be a young girl who has heard of the exploits of my players characters and wants to follow in their footsteps.
She is 11, almost 12 years old.
In an attempt to follow in the footsteps of her heroes, she has persuaded her parents to let her take lessons in with the bow and spear. Her parents even bought her a bow and spear and some armour for her birthday, because it made her happy, although they never truly believed that she would stick to it.
She has wanted to be so many different things over the years, but has never stuck to any of them, and her parents believe that this latest phase is more of the same. Although they are fairly wealthy and tend to spoil her quite a lot, indulging her whims.
For almost a year, she has practiced and trained in the use of her weapons and in combat, but has not improved much since her first day. The other, older students, pick on her and bully her for being so weak. Eventually, she got fed up of their bullying, and bragged about how she was already recruited for a job. Of course she hasn’t been, it’s a silly childish boast, in a moments weakness, born of her desperation to prove to her tormentors that she’s just as strong and capable as they are, that she can be an adventurer, just like her heroes.
As soon as she’s said it, she realises what she’s said, but by then it’s too late, she has already said it. What’s more admitting that she was not telling the truth would only earn her more scorn, more bullying, more torment. So; as children are oft to do, decides she has to do something.
She manages to persuade a local merchant to let her do a job for him, something adventurous, and so on. The quest is just a simple fetch quest. All she has to do is go and collect some herbs and spices for the merchant. He gives her descriptions and illustrations, so she knows which ones to get, and offers to pay her a silver piece for her troubles.
So that’s it, her first real quest as an adventurer.
Ordinarily it wouldn’t be dangerous at all. It’s something well within her ability to complete on her own. The person who she needs to get the herbs and spices from lives on the other side of the the river, but there is a bridge, and the area is generally safe. In fact it’s so safe that people often work in the fields without any worry, and children play freely in the sand along the rivers shore line.
When she gets to where she’s needs to go to collect the herbs and spices though, the person she is meant to collect them from tells her that he has just sold the last of his supplies and that it will be another week before more are prepared.
She doesn’t want to fail her first ever quest though and so, foolishly, as children often do, decides that she will go and get them from the next village instead.
Unfortunately she misjudges how far away it is, and although she has a general idea about where it is, she has never actually been there. She thinks that it will only take her a few hours to get there, but it takes her the rest of the day and into the night and she still hasn’t getting there. What’s more, in the dark, she gets lost, takes the wrong path and quite literally wanders into the camp where my players characters are stopped for the night.
She is freezing, starving and exhausted, and no sooner stumbles into the camp and mutters something about being on an adventure, then passes out cold. She isn’t actually hurt or anything, just passed out from exhaustion. Nothing a long rest, some hot food and a good fire can’t fix
Back home, her parents are worried sick about her and people have been looking all over the village for her and across the river, but, because she told nobody what she was doing, or where she was going, nobody thinks to look further afield. Nobody expected her to leave the village, let alone try to make it to next one.
The idea is that I want my players to protect her, to help her complete her quest, and escort her safely home.
Stumbling across the people who are her heroes, and them helping her to complete her quest, is supposed to make her even more determined to follow in their footsteps and she might make guest appearances in my actual game in the future.
The girl will be played by an actual player not as an NPC by me. Her player is actually 12 in the real world, so she will be able to play an almost 12 year old girl quite convincingly.
My other players are the normal people who play in my game. All adults.
The problem is that the ideas I have for this one shot are so basic. I have basically listed them all above, and I’m struggling to make them into a story that all my players (including my little guest player) will be able to get invested into and care about.
How can I turn these basic ideas into an actual one shot? Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
XD
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A brave hearted little girl, somewhat spoiled by affectionate and well meaning parents wants to go on an Adventure, just like her heroes. She trains relentlessly in spite of getting a lot of bullying and derision by the other students, and brags that she's already accepted a job and will be going on the Adventure she has been talking about. Having said she would, in spite of her own doubts, she feels she must or her peers will treat her even worse. She gets a friendly local merchant to send her on a simple errand that should take an hour or two, and he's willing to pay her to do it. Off she goes, but the items she was sent to get aren't there anymore, so she heads off to another village to try there, gets lost, and eventually wanders into the camp of the very heroes who inspired her. Cue everyone saying "D'aww..."
She's lost, she's tired, and she's scared. You say "exhausted" but I'd call that exaggerating a lot. A Short Rest ought to be plenty. Hot food and a drink would be nice. The players should not mind, since it can't take them as much as a day and probably only a few hours to get everything sorted out.
The real world player and the character are the same age. 12. That's well below the age of consent and her real world parents are the biggest concern here. What do they think about it? What are their rules? I have known parents who refuse to allow harsh language in the presence of their child. Nothing beyond "G" rated content, and much much less than even Disney allows. It is possible that nobody can be killed in the game when she is present. No combat at all. This isn't difficult by any means, but presents problems for a group of adults to find any fun if their characters are built for fighting.
You will need to talk with everyone involved, practically holding an entire Session Zero before you begin, which might only take a few minutes, or could possibly take longer than the game session that will occur once everything is in place.
Edit: It occurs to me that I never actually addressed your question directly. I'd say what the session would consist of is the little girl talking with the other characters, trying to pry out details of their backgrounds and backstories. No dice would be involved in that. Never ever have player characters use dice against each other. She can use dice to try and convince whomever it was to part with the herbs she needs to part with them. Say he has them promised to someone else who doesn't strictly *need* them, but is in a bit of a hurry. She can use dice once she has the herbs to make the original quest giver happy. Perhaps the little girl's parents have been furious with him and he's no longer willing to part with that silver without a darned good reason and an apology. The other characters can chip in by suggesting to the little girl how she might go about this.
Next up is the little girl's parents. At this point the other characters need to pull back and watch. The parents are frantic, they will need to be calmed down, and the little girl needs to stand on her own two feet and show what she has learned about being a Hero. This should be a touching and heart warming scene. Cue up another D'aww...
The finale comes at the school, where the little girl returns in triumph, with her silver clutched in her fist, and a group of real live heroes bringing up the rear. More roleplaying here, possible some dice involved, as the little girl tells her peers all about her quest and introduced those intimidating looking grown-ups with her. She gets their begrudging acceptance, and they all get to attend a party at her home where treats will be served, gifts given, and a little wine or stronger drink served to the adults.
SO your premise thus far (vastly oversimplified) is:
girl needs to get spices but they are sold out
girl goes looking for next village and gets lost
adventurers find girl and (you plan that) they agree to help her find the spices.
I think that this is an interesting idea for a game. The fact that you are genuinely introducing a 12-yr old to the table will affect how the players act, and this will make it all the more immersive, assuming all the players agree to it.
I also agree that her plot seems perhaps a little simple for the players to really bite into. I am assuming that you want to have no combat or bloodshed, what with there being a kid present, so most plans to spice something up (heh, I see what I did there...) will need defenestrating.
So they need to search for these herbs and spices - why would they do this instead of just taking the kid home? Bear in mind you have no control over the kid, so this could degenerate into chaos quickly - the 12yo player might say "can I stay with you guys?" and the party might confer and say yes, and this is no longer a one-shot.
The interesting interaction with an adventurer-kid and the payoff of the kids story aside, what do you intend to throw at the party to make it an interesting session? Will there be combat, or puzzles, or will they just have to go to a place and get the spices?
Flesh out the actual things they will be doing, and this will tell you whether it will turn out to be a good game as well as a good story.
Hi. First of all, a wonderful backstory and concept. You could probably write that out as a nice short story.
But, I'm not sure it's the best backstory for introducing a 12 year old girl to role-playing games. Absolutely not because it is indecent or anything, but are you sure the best thing is to have her basically playing a 'fangirl'. You are kind of taking away from her the opportunity to be an 'equal' with the others. I wouldn't have done that, I would rather create a character for her that the other players need (basically the complete opposite of you).
But really, do use that story you wrote, but I would have used it as an NPC the pcs encounter.
Those plot twists might be fine if they are an NPC but I am not sure if they are ideal for introducing a child to it. Granted, 12 is not that young and they tend to be more mature than people give them credit for but as they are just getting into their teenage years what they are up to or not can vary a lot. For example, I would usually suggest that making the herbs medicine for the man's dog or for his grandma's backpain is good to get people involved but you would have to determine how serious it is based on what you know of all the players.
As for how to play things... Go ham? Play a Red riding hood story in which the wolf wants the medicine for itself (it turns out that the unmentioned dog disease were gases) or it is an old enemy of the grandma (which would make it a geriatric werewolf with maybe a werepup sidekick who is always complaining about how they want to go home to play). If they try to gather it from the forest maybe some fairies use it as bed stuffing? Or they could be inna clearing full of myconids? Alternatively, if they go to the next town to get it then it could be in the middle of a festival and the plant be a reward for a game or participating in a play (about the party's adventures, which each of them casted as a different character than their own). Or have the other buyer want them for something ridiculous, like them being a famous artist during a material experimentation phase.
If your regulars are using their usual characters then you could also connect this or drae some parallels to the backstory of those more roleplay oriented among them. It would also be a good idea to tell the gust players the highlights (maybe somewhat exagerated) of the party's adventures and what the characters are said to be like personality wise to make the fan thing more realistic.
Or, you know, bribe the young player and have the quest giver offer a real chocolate bar as a reward for completing the quest, that would work as motivation.
Have her get lured away from the party to a lair of harpies. There she can demonstrate her combat skills (even if limited)
They find the herbs they need nearby... In a hag's garden.
She falls into a pit that leads into a mini dungeon complex or some caves infested with monsters.
Some sort of curse befalls her and, coincidentally, the herbs that the guy needed also can cure the curse. They find enough herbs to stop the curse or give to the merchant and must decide.
They meet a powerful creature that offers the girl a boon, which she uses to get stronger (or on whatever the player wants). Maybe it asks for a favour in return or has genuinely good intentions.
Hi. First of all, a wonderful backstory and concept. You could probably write that out as a nice short story.
But, I'm not sure it's the best backstory for introducing a 12 year old girl to role-playing games. Absolutely not because it is indecent or anything, but are you sure the best thing is to have her basically playing a 'fangirl'. You are kind of taking away from her the opportunity to be an 'equal' with the others. I wouldn't have done that, I would rather create a character for her that the other players need (basically the complete opposite of you).
But really, do use that story you wrote, but I would have used it as an NPC the pcs encounter.
This is really something to consider. Kids of all ages envision themselves as the heroes of their stories, not sidekicks or plot devices. I would not introduce someone to D&D by making them play a glorified NPC unless it was very specifically something they wanted to do.
You have written an NPC. It is fully fleshed out and a player would have nothing left to add. Let the 12-year-old write her own character. She should be fully capable of doing so, and playing a character that you created yourself is what roleplaying is all about.
Have her get lured away from the party to a lair of harpies. There she can demonstrate her combat skills (even if limited)
They find the herbs they need nearby... In a hag's garden.
She falls into a pit that leads into a mini dungeon complex or some caves infested with monsters.
Some sort of curse befalls her and, coincidentally, the herbs that the guy needed also can cure the curse. They find enough herbs to stop the curse or give to the merchant and must decide.
They meet a powerful creature that offers the girl a boon, which she uses to get stronger (or on whatever the player wants). Maybe it asks for a favour in return or has genuinely good intentions.
I am assuming she is first level or 0 level, so I think this might be a little too much for her. Maybe let her run into a goblin scouting out the adventurers and seeing her as she stumbles toward the fire. Giver her a chance to try and fight it off or run for the fire.
Once she is with the party, maybe the fighter can teach her some technique. Because she is tired and now realizes how serious it is, she starts to understand better than she did when it was just training in the yard. The party can help her with her quest and escort her back, which gains her some respect.
Maybe she becomes a follower of one of the party's characters?
I don't think the 12 year old would want to play a helpless character, they'd probably want to be a big part of the action. But that's just an assumption based on kids I've known, so if that's incorrect then by all means carry on.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Thanks for all you help everyone. I was making the kid as an NPC at first, and I asked my little guest player if she could help me come up with things that 12 year olds might say, for my NPC. She asked if she could play them herself.
So, I can up with the idea of running a one-shot where she could play the character of a semi-regularal NPC. She loved the idea.
It isnt supposed to be a story about a weak helpless girl. It is supposed to be the story of a young person following her dreams to become an adventurer, and, with the support of people she holds in high regard, discovering her self, her purpose and her strength. A coming of age story, if you will.
That said, the character is still a child. They are still smaller and physically weaker than adults, and far less experienced and generally less capable, and I wanted to reflect that in the story. I didn't want her to be just another bland kid, with all the powers of an adult and none of the weaknesses. So, I am trying to help her make a character that reflects her age, while still showing that she has so much potential - she just needs to get older, wiser, more experienced to truly unleash it.
She is special though. The character is not just an every-girl. She is a future adventurer, a future hero, and in this she stands apart from her peers and others. But right now, she is still just a child with enormous untapped potential.
The one-shot was meant to be her first steps into the fantastical. It is her story, the characters of my regular players are really just the supporting cast. They're okay with that, although they really don't know what story I am actually planning for the one-shot. I did ask them if they'd mind not being the centre of the story this time, so that I can make the story all about my little guest players character, and her first steps towards becoming the hero that she is destined to be.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
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Hi,
I want to take time out of the game I run to do a one shot. In the one shot I want there to be a young girl who has heard of the exploits of my players characters and wants to follow in their footsteps.
She is 11, almost 12 years old.
In an attempt to follow in the footsteps of her heroes, she has persuaded her parents to let her take lessons in with the bow and spear. Her parents even bought her a bow and spear and some armour for her birthday, because it made her happy, although they never truly believed that she would stick to it.
She has wanted to be so many different things over the years, but has never stuck to any of them, and her parents believe that this latest phase is more of the same. Although they are fairly wealthy and tend to spoil her quite a lot, indulging her whims.
For almost a year, she has practiced and trained in the use of her weapons and in combat, but has not improved much since her first day. The other, older students, pick on her and bully her for being so weak. Eventually, she got fed up of their bullying, and bragged about how she was already recruited for a job. Of course she hasn’t been, it’s a silly childish boast, in a moments weakness, born of her desperation to prove to her tormentors that she’s just as strong and capable as they are, that she can be an adventurer, just like her heroes.
As soon as she’s said it, she realises what she’s said, but by then it’s too late, she has already said it. What’s more admitting that she was not telling the truth would only earn her more scorn, more bullying, more torment. So; as children are oft to do, decides she has to do something.
She manages to persuade a local merchant to let her do a job for him, something adventurous, and so on. The quest is just a simple fetch quest. All she has to do is go and collect some herbs and spices for the merchant. He gives her descriptions and illustrations, so she knows which ones to get, and offers to pay her a silver piece for her troubles.
So that’s it, her first real quest as an adventurer.
Ordinarily it wouldn’t be dangerous at all. It’s something well within her ability to complete on her own. The person who she needs to get the herbs and spices from lives on the other side of the the river, but there is a bridge, and the area is generally safe. In fact it’s so safe that people often work in the fields without any worry, and children play freely in the sand along the rivers shore line.
When she gets to where she’s needs to go to collect the herbs and spices though, the person she is meant to collect them from tells her that he has just sold the last of his supplies and that it will be another week before more are prepared.
She doesn’t want to fail her first ever quest though and so, foolishly, as children often do, decides that she will go and get them from the next village instead.
Unfortunately she misjudges how far away it is, and although she has a general idea about where it is, she has never actually been there. She thinks that it will only take her a few hours to get there, but it takes her the rest of the day and into the night and she still hasn’t getting there. What’s more, in the dark, she gets lost, takes the wrong path and quite literally wanders into the camp where my players characters are stopped for the night.
She is freezing, starving and exhausted, and no sooner stumbles into the camp and mutters something about being on an adventure, then passes out cold. She isn’t actually hurt or anything, just passed out from exhaustion. Nothing a long rest, some hot food and a good fire can’t fix
Back home, her parents are worried sick about her and people have been looking all over the village for her and across the river, but, because she told nobody what she was doing, or where she was going, nobody thinks to look further afield. Nobody expected her to leave the village, let alone try to make it to next one.
The idea is that I want my players to protect her, to help her complete her quest, and escort her safely home.
Stumbling across the people who are her heroes, and them helping her to complete her quest, is supposed to make her even more determined to follow in their footsteps and she might make guest appearances in my actual game in the future.
The girl will be played by an actual player not as an NPC by me. Her player is actually 12 in the real world, so she will be able to play an almost 12 year old girl quite convincingly.
My other players are the normal people who play in my game. All adults.
The problem is that the ideas I have for this one shot are so basic. I have basically listed them all above, and I’m struggling to make them into a story that all my players (including my little guest player) will be able to get invested into and care about.
How can I turn these basic ideas into an actual one shot? Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
A brave hearted little girl, somewhat spoiled by affectionate and well meaning parents wants to go on an Adventure, just like her heroes. She trains relentlessly in spite of getting a lot of bullying and derision by the other students, and brags that she's already accepted a job and will be going on the Adventure she has been talking about. Having said she would, in spite of her own doubts, she feels she must or her peers will treat her even worse. She gets a friendly local merchant to send her on a simple errand that should take an hour or two, and he's willing to pay her to do it. Off she goes, but the items she was sent to get aren't there anymore, so she heads off to another village to try there, gets lost, and eventually wanders into the camp of the very heroes who inspired her. Cue everyone saying "D'aww..."
She's lost, she's tired, and she's scared. You say "exhausted" but I'd call that exaggerating a lot. A Short Rest ought to be plenty. Hot food and a drink would be nice. The players should not mind, since it can't take them as much as a day and probably only a few hours to get everything sorted out.
The real world player and the character are the same age. 12. That's well below the age of consent and her real world parents are the biggest concern here. What do they think about it? What are their rules? I have known parents who refuse to allow harsh language in the presence of their child. Nothing beyond "G" rated content, and much much less than even Disney allows. It is possible that nobody can be killed in the game when she is present. No combat at all. This isn't difficult by any means, but presents problems for a group of adults to find any fun if their characters are built for fighting.
You will need to talk with everyone involved, practically holding an entire Session Zero before you begin, which might only take a few minutes, or could possibly take longer than the game session that will occur once everything is in place.
Edit: It occurs to me that I never actually addressed your question directly. I'd say what the session would consist of is the little girl talking with the other characters, trying to pry out details of their backgrounds and backstories. No dice would be involved in that. Never ever have player characters use dice against each other. She can use dice to try and convince whomever it was to part with the herbs she needs to part with them. Say he has them promised to someone else who doesn't strictly *need* them, but is in a bit of a hurry. She can use dice once she has the herbs to make the original quest giver happy. Perhaps the little girl's parents have been furious with him and he's no longer willing to part with that silver without a darned good reason and an apology. The other characters can chip in by suggesting to the little girl how she might go about this.
Next up is the little girl's parents. At this point the other characters need to pull back and watch. The parents are frantic, they will need to be calmed down, and the little girl needs to stand on her own two feet and show what she has learned about being a Hero. This should be a touching and heart warming scene. Cue up another D'aww...
The finale comes at the school, where the little girl returns in triumph, with her silver clutched in her fist, and a group of real live heroes bringing up the rear. More roleplaying here, possible some dice involved, as the little girl tells her peers all about her quest and introduced those intimidating looking grown-ups with her. She gets their begrudging acceptance, and they all get to attend a party at her home where treats will be served, gifts given, and a little wine or stronger drink served to the adults.
<Insert clever signature here>
SO your premise thus far (vastly oversimplified) is:
I think that this is an interesting idea for a game. The fact that you are genuinely introducing a 12-yr old to the table will affect how the players act, and this will make it all the more immersive, assuming all the players agree to it.
I also agree that her plot seems perhaps a little simple for the players to really bite into. I am assuming that you want to have no combat or bloodshed, what with there being a kid present, so most plans to spice something up (heh, I see what I did there...) will need defenestrating.
So they need to search for these herbs and spices - why would they do this instead of just taking the kid home? Bear in mind you have no control over the kid, so this could degenerate into chaos quickly - the 12yo player might say "can I stay with you guys?" and the party might confer and say yes, and this is no longer a one-shot.
The interesting interaction with an adventurer-kid and the payoff of the kids story aside, what do you intend to throw at the party to make it an interesting session? Will there be combat, or puzzles, or will they just have to go to a place and get the spices?
Flesh out the actual things they will be doing, and this will tell you whether it will turn out to be a good game as well as a good story.
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Hi. First of all, a wonderful backstory and concept. You could probably write that out as a nice short story.
But, I'm not sure it's the best backstory for introducing a 12 year old girl to role-playing games. Absolutely not because it is indecent or anything, but are you sure the best thing is to have her basically playing a 'fangirl'. You are kind of taking away from her the opportunity to be an 'equal' with the others. I wouldn't have done that, I would rather create a character for her that the other players need (basically the complete opposite of you).
But really, do use that story you wrote, but I would have used it as an NPC the pcs encounter.
Ludo ergo sum!
some plot twists
someone/something is stalking her
her parents were actually trying to get rid of her
she is cursed/blessed by something she picked up in the woods
the merchant is an evil wizard who need the herbs to make a spell
Those plot twists might be fine if they are an NPC but I am not sure if they are ideal for introducing a child to it. Granted, 12 is not that young and they tend to be more mature than people give them credit for but as they are just getting into their teenage years what they are up to or not can vary a lot. For example, I would usually suggest that making the herbs medicine for the man's dog or for his grandma's backpain is good to get people involved but you would have to determine how serious it is based on what you know of all the players.
As for how to play things... Go ham? Play a Red riding hood story in which the wolf wants the medicine for itself (it turns out that the unmentioned dog disease were gases) or it is an old enemy of the grandma (which would make it a geriatric werewolf with maybe a werepup sidekick who is always complaining about how they want to go home to play). If they try to gather it from the forest maybe some fairies use it as bed stuffing? Or they could be inna clearing full of myconids? Alternatively, if they go to the next town to get it then it could be in the middle of a festival and the plant be a reward for a game or participating in a play (about the party's adventures, which each of them casted as a different character than their own). Or have the other buyer want them for something ridiculous, like them being a famous artist during a material experimentation phase.
If your regulars are using their usual characters then you could also connect this or drae some parallels to the backstory of those more roleplay oriented among them. It would also be a good idea to tell the gust players the highlights (maybe somewhat exagerated) of the party's adventures and what the characters are said to be like personality wise to make the fan thing more realistic.
Or, you know, bribe the young player and have the quest giver offer a real chocolate bar as a reward for completing the quest, that would work as motivation.
A few ideas:
Have her get lured away from the party to a lair of harpies. There she can demonstrate her combat skills (even if limited)
They find the herbs they need nearby... In a hag's garden.
She falls into a pit that leads into a mini dungeon complex or some caves infested with monsters.
Some sort of curse befalls her and, coincidentally, the herbs that the guy needed also can cure the curse. They find enough herbs to stop the curse or give to the merchant and must decide.
They meet a powerful creature that offers the girl a boon, which she uses to get stronger (or on whatever the player wants). Maybe it asks for a favour in return or has genuinely good intentions.
This is really something to consider. Kids of all ages envision themselves as the heroes of their stories, not sidekicks or plot devices. I would not introduce someone to D&D by making them play a glorified NPC unless it was very specifically something they wanted to do.
You have written an NPC. It is fully fleshed out and a player would have nothing left to add. Let the 12-year-old write her own character. She should be fully capable of doing so, and playing a character that you created yourself is what roleplaying is all about.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I am assuming she is first level or 0 level, so I think this might be a little too much for her. Maybe let her run into a goblin scouting out the adventurers and seeing her as she stumbles toward the fire. Giver her a chance to try and fight it off or run for the fire.
Once she is with the party, maybe the fighter can teach her some technique. Because she is tired and now realizes how serious it is, she starts to understand better than she did when it was just training in the yard. The party can help her with her quest and escort her back, which gains her some respect.
Maybe she becomes a follower of one of the party's characters?
I don't think the 12 year old would want to play a helpless character, they'd probably want to be a big part of the action. But that's just an assumption based on kids I've known, so if that's incorrect then by all means carry on.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Thanks for all you help everyone. I was making the kid as an NPC at first, and I asked my little guest player if she could help me come up with things that 12 year olds might say, for my NPC. She asked if she could play them herself.
So, I can up with the idea of running a one-shot where she could play the character of a semi-regularal NPC. She loved the idea.
It isnt supposed to be a story about a weak helpless girl. It is supposed to be the story of a young person following her dreams to become an adventurer, and, with the support of people she holds in high regard, discovering her self, her purpose and her strength. A coming of age story, if you will.
That said, the character is still a child. They are still smaller and physically weaker than adults, and far less experienced and generally less capable, and I wanted to reflect that in the story. I didn't want her to be just another bland kid, with all the powers of an adult and none of the weaknesses. So, I am trying to help her make a character that reflects her age, while still showing that she has so much potential - she just needs to get older, wiser, more experienced to truly unleash it.
She is special though. The character is not just an every-girl. She is a future adventurer, a future hero, and in this she stands apart from her peers and others. But right now, she is still just a child with enormous untapped potential.
The one-shot was meant to be her first steps into the fantastical. It is her story, the characters of my regular players are really just the supporting cast. They're okay with that, although they really don't know what story I am actually planning for the one-shot. I did ask them if they'd mind not being the centre of the story this time, so that I can make the story all about my little guest players character, and her first steps towards becoming the hero that she is destined to be.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.