So I think my mouth just wrote some checks my imagination can’t cash. 

my lovely mother just retired, and she’s taken an interest in my hobbies. On one hand awesome - on the other terrifying. She told me she played DnD once in college, and added “hey you’re a dungeon master… why not run something for me and your dad?”

I of course without hesitation said sure! Now of I’m panicking because I am spiraling and freaking out it won’t be good enough. 

I'm looking for a box campaign to run that is less combat focused and not Wild Beyond the Witchlight. A little context, my mom is the sort that wants to be harmonious, not a fan of horror, and when we talked said “oh I’d love to play an elf Druid and then I could plant flowers!” She’s a fan of LotR but more for the story and history (kinda not sure I know her anymore. She schooled me on the Maiar - a moment I’m going to delete from my brain and move on with my life.) she’s not super excited about combat or competition but not avoidant of it. My old man is a huge Henry the 8th fan, queen Elizabeth of old. He fenced, dresses up for ren fairs, and collects old coins. He’s a bit of a renaissance man and can build most anything. 

so I’m looking to run something that will have some intrigue, a bit of swashbuckling, and some nice rainbow stuff. Was thinking Ravenloft? (I kid) I was actually looking at something in Waterdeep or Neverwinter - give it that Game of Thrones politics vibe but holding it in the countryside. 

any ideas?

Maybe, instead of a printed module, you take something historic like the War of the Roses and manage the D&D crunch as you twist up the history. The script is written and concluded. You can add elves and other things to make it yours!

I'm thinking it'd work for your dad. Or maybe Arthurian inspired. Or both!

oooooooo I can work with that. Thanks, usually this is no problem but they just put me on such a sense of alert my brain stops functioning hah.

Waterdeep Dragon Heist is a pretty decent campaign if you’re looking for something a bit varied rather than straight combat. It’s basically a treasure hunt around the city against one of four possible villains. Runs level 1-5 so has the added benefit of not being too long if they decide they’re not having fun after all, but if you want to add a bit more meat you can just bring in one of the other suggested villains (I merged two into my version but I’ve heard of people running all four quite successfully)

Reading through a copy of it right now - that could be interesting. Hmmmmm I might go with that just cause I don't know how far these two will go with this. I'd hate to pour hundreds of hours into building a world that they'll never use.................... (immediately goes to put hundreds of hours to a world they will never use). This is a good campaign though it's light hearted and has some intrigue in it. Thanks for the suggestion!

I hope it goes well and everyone has fun 

It actually sounds like they're looking for a kind of 'sandbox' playstyle where they can just do what they want - planting flowers isn't a major plot point to any module I've ever used or been involved with lol.  But then I've done most of my DMing without having a script at all - usually for just one or two players.  It doesn't work so well with groups of more than two, however - for larger groups, yes, I'd always do a lot of prep or use a module.  But with one or two friends, I'd just sort of start them off in a given town, in a given setting, in a given time period in that setting, then let them decide what they want to do.  A lot of interesting things can come out of playing that way.  It's the way the DM that first taught me how to play back in the early 80s used to do it and seemed like the 'default' way to play DnD in those days unless you had a group of 3 or more players, because everyone I knew DMed that way when there were less than 3 players. 

First pick a time period, that's critical.  Is it going to be 'modern day' Sword Coast (i.e.; after the events of BG3 - late 15th century DR), or... ?  If either of your parents is at all familiar with Forgotten Realms, ask them what stories from it they like, what parts of Toril, if not Faerun, they know the most about, and who their favorite characters are from the setting.  If they say Drizzt and Elminster or something,  that doesn't narrow it down much.  But if they list a character that's associated with a specific time, maybe before the Second Sundering, you can write it for then.  Just remember, the gods names were different then.  How did they used to play?  With modules or free-style-ish as I described?  Go ahead and ask.  Are they TTRPGers to the core, or did they play a lot of CRPGs?  If so, what CRPGs?  That can help narrow down a time period.  When in doubt, just go 'modern' (late 15th century DR).  

Don't be afraid to use the internet as a resource, or dare I say it, Chat-GPT even.  It's gotten very good and can answer pretty complex questions about DnD lore - with insane accuracy I've found.  It's impossible to know it all, so I find myself calling upon it more and more to fill in areas I either forgot, or never knew in the first place.  You can't do that as you're playing, but in prepping, its a useful resource.  Ask it for ideas for story driven campaigns - I've never gone so far as to ask that much, but I be you'll be surprised by all the ideas it spits back at you.

Dragon of Icespire Peak is somewhat regular combat but it's definitely not any sort of horror (unless you twist it that way).  Fairly straightforward though.

There is a series of modules made for Pathfinder 1e that can be adapted to 5e called Kingdoms of legend   you can find them here: Kingdoms of legend

By now you may have run it already, but as a parent I can tell you that spending time with you and seeing you engaged with something you love is going to be way more important than the depth or complexity of your adventure. All you need for it to be good enough is to show up!