This is a bit different, but I hope it is still relevant:
My younger cousin is staying at my grandmas for the weekend, and although she's only in 3rd grade, I think it would be fun to do some sort of "campaign" for her. Would this be possible? I can't do anything violent, but I think she would like a big adventure with a few little puzzles. What are some ideas I could do to keep her interested? She does like a fantasy series (I think it's called the rainbow fairies or something like that) and I could base the adventure off of the plot of the book or something. I would also be doing this in Spanish, although she speaks English too. It wouldn't really be dnd, but she would still be making the decisions and the character.
How about an overgrown maze made of hedges and she has to find and clear the path through them? Only have puzzles that magically clear parts of the path every time she solves one. And have a fountain with a pony trapped in the middle.
It's sometimes ok to have action or violence (every Disney movie in the past 30 years). At 3rd grade kids know when certain actions need to be taken. They understand that there are times when you must use violence to protect yourself or others. Of course, like every game, leave options open.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
My kids are 2nd and 4th, and they TOTALLY play 5e. We're doing the Tiamat campaign because the 2nd grader LOVES THE DRAGONS.
Kids can handle a lot more complexity than we think. But yes, keeping the murdering down a bit is always good. We do a lot of tying up the bad guys when possible, and a lot of saving people when we can. Seriously, they wouldn't leave the camp after rescuing the captive (2nd chapter, I think) without doing a mass prisoner breakout because they were sad the prisoners were so mistreated.
The kids will surprise you for sure. My own kid I am biased about and she still took to it better than i'd have thought. She's 5 so she can't read the rules or anything. She wanted to know what this game is I'm playing all the time.
So we made her character. I described what a fantasy world is and asked her what her character would be in a world with knights and sorcerers. She said a genie (like Shimer and Shine) and she wants to cast magic. I asked what her spells would do and she said bring animals to help her. So she's an Air Genasi Druid. I gave her the standard array and put her 15 in wis, cause she's a druid. I asked her what she thought was most and least important to Holly, her character, between strength, speed, health, intelligence and friendliness. She ranked her remaining stats con, cha, str, int, dex... And so she met gundren and started for Phandelver.
It turns out to be a fun way to work on her addition and subtraction. "You rolled this big die. What number is that? 18, thats right very good, what is 5 more than 18?" In a normal game you rolled an 18 I know you hit before you find your total if you didn't give me your total to begin with we're moving on already. In her game she needs to add.
Her character has the whole spell book prepared for her level. She doesn't need to know what spells she has or what they do. She just tells me what she wants her spell to do and I tell her what happens. She wants to talk to the horses...
LMoP Chapter 1 Spoilers
Gundren and Sildar's horses are still alive in her story. Speak with Animals? you can cast that. They warn her about what happened to their masters.
Goblins appear. She casts a spell to catch them in a cage. Entangle? you can cast that. She wants to make a powerful weapon. Shillelagh? you can cast that. She wants to throw fire (I did tell her she was capable of that one before she picked it.) Produce flame! ... There's wolves in there. "I want to tame them I give him a bone." (Minecraft taught her that). She uses magic to make it her friend. Beast Bond! "The Goblin is way up there" I say. "Daddy, I'm a genie I can fly." It's true... I'd forgotten she could cast levitate. Her health is low. I warn her. She turns into a Rhinocerous. No those are CR 2! ... How is this little stipulation the first thing she wants to do that she can't? I let it slide. She's a rhino with reduced stats.
Now she seems to think her character is all powerful and whatever she says her character can do she in fact can. She asked to draw on the map. She drew a bird cage in the mountains. She tells me that's where Gundren is... She mounts an expedition into the mountain to find him, but he's not there. The map must have been wrong, and it's bedtime... She wants more of course. At this rate she's going to out level my regular players in a week.
This is a bit different, but I hope it is still relevant:
My younger cousin is staying at my grandmas for the weekend, and although she's only in 3rd grade, I think it would be fun to do some sort of "campaign" for her. Would this be possible? I can't do anything violent, but I think she would like a big adventure with a few little puzzles. What are some ideas I could do to keep her interested? She does like a fantasy series (I think it's called the rainbow fairies or something like that) and I could base the adventure off of the plot of the book or something. I would also be doing this in Spanish, although she speaks English too. It wouldn't really be dnd, but she would still be making the decisions and the character.
How about an overgrown maze made of hedges and she has to find and clear the path through them? Only have puzzles that magically clear parts of the path every time she solves one. And have a fountain with a pony trapped in the middle.
Professional computer geek
Yes you can use puzzles, but there is an option that you can search for. just google D&D campaigns for kids.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/MS_HeroesHesiod.pdf
and there are some ideas that will pop up. the one I provided is from Wizards of the Coast.
You can run a campaign that doesn't use normal rules and they can't fight.
<(*_*)> Giffard
It's sometimes ok to have action or violence (every Disney movie in the past 30 years). At 3rd grade kids know when certain actions need to be taken. They understand that there are times when you must use violence to protect yourself or others. Of course, like every game, leave options open.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
My kids are 2nd and 4th, and they TOTALLY play 5e. We're doing the Tiamat campaign because the 2nd grader LOVES THE DRAGONS.
Kids can handle a lot more complexity than we think. But yes, keeping the murdering down a bit is always good. We do a lot of tying up the bad guys when possible, and a lot of saving people when we can. Seriously, they wouldn't leave the camp after rescuing the captive (2nd chapter, I think) without doing a mass prisoner breakout because they were sad the prisoners were so mistreated.
The kids will surprise you for sure. My own kid I am biased about and she still took to it better than i'd have thought. She's 5 so she can't read the rules or anything. She wanted to know what this game is I'm playing all the time.
So we made her character. I described what a fantasy world is and asked her what her character would be in a world with knights and sorcerers. She said a genie (like Shimer and Shine) and she wants to cast magic. I asked what her spells would do and she said bring animals to help her. So she's an Air Genasi Druid. I gave her the standard array and put her 15 in wis, cause she's a druid. I asked her what she thought was most and least important to Holly, her character, between strength, speed, health, intelligence and friendliness. She ranked her remaining stats con, cha, str, int, dex... And so she met gundren and started for Phandelver.
It turns out to be a fun way to work on her addition and subtraction. "You rolled this big die. What number is that? 18, thats right very good, what is 5 more than 18?" In a normal game you rolled an 18 I know you hit before you find your total if you didn't give me your total to begin with we're moving on already. In her game she needs to add.
Her character has the whole spell book prepared for her level. She doesn't need to know what spells she has or what they do. She just tells me what she wants her spell to do and I tell her what happens. She wants to talk to the horses...
LMoP Chapter 1 Spoilers
Gundren and Sildar's horses are still alive in her story. Speak with Animals? you can cast that. They warn her about what happened to their masters.
Goblins appear. She casts a spell to catch them in a cage. Entangle? you can cast that. She wants to make a powerful weapon. Shillelagh? you can cast that. She wants to throw fire (I did tell her she was capable of that one before she picked it.) Produce flame! ... There's wolves in there. "I want to tame them I give him a bone." (Minecraft taught her that). She uses magic to make it her friend. Beast Bond! "The Goblin is way up there" I say. "Daddy, I'm a genie I can fly." It's true... I'd forgotten she could cast levitate. Her health is low. I warn her. She turns into a Rhinocerous. No those are CR 2! ... How is this little stipulation the first thing she wants to do that she can't? I let it slide. She's a rhino with reduced stats.
Now she seems to think her character is all powerful and whatever she says her character can do she in fact can. She asked to draw on the map. She drew a bird cage in the mountains. She tells me that's where Gundren is... She mounts an expedition into the mountain to find him, but he's not there. The map must have been wrong, and it's bedtime... She wants more of course. At this rate she's going to out level my regular players in a week.
Extended Signature
That's brilliant!! What a great way to teach her and have fun at the same time!!! Great job!
Professional computer geek
That is a great story. Lots of family bonding time. Good Job!!!!
What an amazing story! Makes me excited for when my little one gets older so we can play together! (shes 1 atm so i have some waiting to do..)