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PnP for kids, adventure books preferable

Lord of Riva

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Strap Yourselves In Pathfinder: Wrath
Dear Codexers,

I am currently looking for a decent Starter RPG for ~7 year old kids (my son and friends) and I would love some decently designed adventure sources too. I guess it must be somewhat dumbed down as while all of them are clever and can decently use logic it's still first graders we are talking about.

Is there anything you could recommend?

While I could just GM myself on this I would rather concentrate on making adjustements for systems rather than completely creating my own stuff. I Imagine I will already be pre-occupied by helping them understand how this works.

Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

Bonus points for things in german, but that is not a necessity I can translate if need be. Also please no Clown world shit.
 

Mortmal

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You can easily DM 5E for them , use the starter or essential kits , some friend do it for the kids around same age. Do not waste time reinventing the wheel . Mines of phandelver or some one shot for 5E, you will find plenty of those. Then if you really dont like 5E ,any of the OSR clones we speak about in this subforum. The B/X ones are probably easier to figure it out.
As for german.. why dont you just play the dark eye , das schwarze auge , like all the other germans ?
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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basicger.jpg
expertger.jpg
companionger.jpg

b4ger.jpg
b5ger.jpg
x1ger.jpg


Note that the German module B1 is actually B5 The Horror on the Hill, and E1 is X1 The Isle of Dread. At least 25 D&D (i.e. not AD&D) adventure modules were translated into German, although there are a few classics missing such as B10 Night's Dark Terror.
 

Lord Rocket

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I was reading my copy of this the other day:

FF.jpg


(it's Fighting Fantasy: The Introductory Role-Playing Game if the image doesn't show)
I first played the gamebooks when I was 8yo., by myself, so the rules won't be a problem for them, and the good news is if you played the gamebooks yourself you already remember all the rules so you don't have to buy anything. Just make up some spells and you're good to go. The book does come with a couple of moon-logic adventures to play but you can make those yourself anyway.
tbh though if I was going to use these rules multi-player I'd make monsters do extra damage to make up for the player's high stamina pools. Or just make stamina 2d6+6. Or both. No PC balance either but balance is retarded so w/e.

There's also an 'advanced' version that worsens the PC balance issues via a poorly thought out skills system, but adds a proper magic system:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/186396/AFF-Advanced-Fighting-Fantasy-2nd-Ed
 

Lord of Riva

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Thanks for all the answers, I was not at my PC this weekend and will check out your input.

You can easily DM 5E for them , use the starter or essential kits , some friend do it for the kids around same age. Do not waste time reinventing the wheel . Mines of phandelver or some one shot for 5E, you will find plenty of those. Then if you really dont like 5E ,any of the OSR clones we speak about in this subforum. The B/X ones are probably easier to figure it out.
As for german.. why dont you just play the dark eye , das schwarze auge , like all the other germans ?

I have played DSA when I was a child but found the way skill checks are done are incredibly complicated at least in 3rd and 4th editions. I am not sure where we are now edition wise but I think i would lose them over these. I also do not find the world that interesting in retrospect. I have played Shadowrun for the longest time, never DnD (apart from CRPGs of course) and Shadowrun is hardly kids friendly theme wise.
 

deuxhero

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Adventure books? The Trail of the Apprentice series (versions of the same adventures printed for PF and 5E) is an adventure set made specifically for young people and those who are total newcomers to the concept. It starts with a cliche "go kill bandit orcs in cave to recover goods", but then moves onto more exotic setpieces worthy of a "normal" adventure. Ends at like level 6.

I would never introduce anyone, let alone kids, with 5E. The entire system's math is bonkers and depends on DM throwing them advantage to make them not suck at things they're supposed to be good at. PF1 has its issues, but at low level it's totally controllable.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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DragonStrike (without a space) was also a cool game, but completely irrelevant to this thread:

owmUlne.png



For introducing RPG concepts to young children, you might begin with CYOAs and then the gamebooks that combined that combined CYOA with RPG elements, such as TSR's own Endless Quest CYOA series (several of which were translated into German) and AD&D gamebook series:

eq1-09g.jpg
add06.jpg



And then there were also a number of solo adventure modules published by TSR, which themselves were influenced by CYOA format, at least two of which were translated into German:

msolo1ger2nd.jpg
msolo2ger.jpg
 

madbringer

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I remember when I was around 7 or 8 my uncle introduced me to The Eye of Yrrhedes.

oko_yrrhedesa_okladka.jpg


It's a very basic RPG game slash CYOA with some dark undertones and makes-you-think puzzles. That is the book that got me into RPGs.
 

Lord of Riva

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Strap Yourselves In Pathfinder: Wrath
Adventure books? The Trail of the Apprentice series (versions of the same adventures printed for PF and 5E) is an adventure set made specifically for young people and those who are total newcomers to the concept. It starts with a cliche "go kill bandit orcs in cave to recover goods", but then moves onto more exotic setpieces worthy of a "normal" adventure. Ends at like level 6.

I would never introduce anyone, let alone kids, with 5E. The entire system's math is bonkers and depends on DM throwing them advantage to make them not suck at things they're supposed to be good at. PF1 has its issues, but at low level it's totally controllable.

I went with the Trail of the Apprentice series in the Pathfinder system. That looks servicable for the purposes even if I will have to translate stuff.

I was interested in the old DnD stuff but availability is a factor there. I will look into these in the future though, as I am very interested in the older DnD Stuff for sure

Thanks for all the Input !
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

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I'm very into cock and ball torture
Seconding Mortmal , 5e Lost Mine of Phandelver is as beginner friendly as it gets. There is only a tiny balance problem in there as WotC forgot that thugs have multi attack, so do not run it as a harsh DM obviously.

Apart from that, the most fun I ever had with adventure books was Sorcery!. Those are great, very much puzzle based and the adventure locations are full of wonders.
 

deuxhero

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Adventure books? The Trail of the Apprentice series (versions of the same adventures printed for PF and 5E) is an adventure set made specifically for young people and those who are total newcomers to the concept. It starts with a cliche "go kill bandit orcs in cave to recover goods", but then moves onto more exotic setpieces worthy of a "normal" adventure. Ends at like level 6.

I would never introduce anyone, let alone kids, with 5E. The entire system's math is bonkers and depends on DM throwing them advantage to make them not suck at things they're supposed to be good at. PF1 has its issues, but at low level it's totally controllable.

I went with the Trail of the Apprentice series in the Pathfinder system. That looks servicable for the purposes even if I will have to translate stuff.

I was interested in the old DnD stuff but availability is a factor there. I will look into these in the future though, as I am very interested in the older DnD Stuff for sure

Thanks for all the Input !

For classes, the following ones are in the same relative power level: Barbarian/Bloodrager, Bard/Skald, Paladin, Ranger (not dual wielding), Unchained Rogue, Alchemist, Magus, Slayer, and Warpriest. Vigilante, some Kineticist, Investigator and Mesmerist are also in this power level, but are far harder to play and build (especially the first two). Barbarian/Bloodrager has the lowest floor but most of them only need one or two points to not fail
Barbarian/Bloodrager: Does it have good strength and decent constitution, a two handed weapon and power attack? If yes, it will do fine no matter what other choices you make.
Bard/Skald: Lingering Performance is a must, otherwise dozens of ways to build it. Skald largely depends on the party being non-Barbarian melee heavy to be effective.
Paladin: Just avoid trying to play heal bot in-combat and its fine at killing evil things as long as its stat spread is fine.
Ranger: Some combat styles are better than others (archery>>>dual wielding), boon companion makes their animal companion a really potent melee character. As with all archery that will be in a party with melee characters, precise shot ASAP is a must.
Unchained Rogue: Basicly a fixed version of core Rogue. Avoid temptation to dual wield and its fine.
Alchemist: First discovery should be a bomb type that does damage other than fire (fire resist is relatively common) if you're not replacing bombs entirely to make them a melee beast. If you don't include crafting, replace brew potion with extra bombs (this is an official rule in organized play)
Magus: Spell selection can be a bit tricky, but aside from that it's solid.
Slayer: Like Ranger, some combat styles suck. Otherwise it's what Fighter should have been.
Warpriest: Don't force them into healbot and make sure they use their fervor to lower the action taken to self buff (that's their main gimmick). Otherwise fine. Arsenal Chaplain is largely a straight upgrade.

Fullcasters like Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard are either extremely powerful or extremely bad based on spell selection. I'm partial to replacing casting with spheres but that may be a bit much to throw at new players. Don't be afraid to allow extra sources though (the first few hardcovers are the best, though the whole system's mechanics are legally free online), since the core rulebook holds the most broken stuff and the least viable builds

Not recommended classes:
Fighter: Hits things, but not even that well. Needs high understanding of system and otherwise obscure books to make work.
Monk (non-unchained monk): Hits things, but really bad at it.
Rogue: Not horrible, but many bad bits of design and 100% replaced by Unchained Rogue
Cavalier/Samurai: Most dungeons can't fit a horse
Gunslinger: Dependent upon bad subsystem
Inquisitor: Mechanically strong because it has a good spell list, otherwise the class is an unfocused clusterfuck of design that can't decide what it wants to do.
Shifter: Only class to never be playtested. Literally every other shapeshifting option in the system is better.
Summoner: Loves to slow down the game. Original version has no limits and devolves into big stick monster+support caster. Unchained version is nerfed version with more viable option variety, but still slows down play and very dependent upon being built well.
Swashbuckler: Takes a combat style that doesn't really work well in the system, and doesn't really fix it. Requires dumping two feats (weapon focus+slashing/fencing grace) to even be remotely playable.
Non-Kineticist, non-mesmerist occult classes: Aside from Medium, these are just worse versions of existing classes with some weird extra rulings. Medium is a special case of bad in that it was a class designed for flexibility but it went from ~50 options it could pick at will to 6 in the design phase, and those 6 weren't buffed to compensate, and it gets no abilities that compensate for feats and ability scores being fixed so it can't even use its flexibility.
 
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Zed Duke of Banville

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It appears that he was advised to play a system where the fighter class "needs high understanding of system and otherwise obscure books to make work" but bards & skalds are useful characters. :rpgcodex:
 

deuxhero

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Hey, I didn't make the system. I fully admit PF has a lot of chaff, but that's better than the central mechanics of the system being broken like 5ED&D. Dex bard, archer bard, caster bard, and more all work reasonable enough without too many hoops, as does melee Skald in the right party, and they're pretty good characters out of combat. Fighters, in the absolute best case, are only good in combat except for using tricks anyone can use. It's a universal problem for the "Fighter" class across editions.
 

catfood

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Don't waste your time and money with this official D&D crap. Get instead Swords and Wizardry Continual Light. It's a short book with about 50 pages with big ass fonts and lots of pretty pictures. As the name suggests it is a light system with just enough rules to get a beginner going. The only dice it uses are the d20 for your typical roles and the d6 + modifiers for various damage rolls and for skills. It comes with 4 races and 4 classes. It also has several "advanced" classes that operate just like the base ones except they get one extra gimmick. One cool thing I found about it is that there are no XP points. Instead characters level up after they've completed a certain number of adventures. For 3 bucks you get a 50 pages pdf with everything you'll ever need: rules for players, rules for DM, items, spells, monsters, and they even throw a beginner level adventure at the end to boot! It's a perfect product for beginners.

The best part? There's a German version too!

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Self-Ejected

Zizka

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I ‘member Dragon Strike. It came with a VHS and only the dungeon master was allowed to look at certain sequences. Afaik, it’s available on YouTube.

The game itself was fun and simple.

I’d stay away from the D&D stuff to get started personally.

I’d personally recommend Hero Quest (1989).
MRWadET.jpg

(Keep in mind that miniatures are not painted out of the box).

It was a perfect introduction to the genre for me. We used to mix the Dragon Strike set with Hero Quest for more variety. I think the kids would enjoy this a lot, I know I did.

 

Lord Rocket

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Actually I feel a bit bad for talking shit about Advanced Fighting Fantasy because my comments were based on the first edition, ie. the one I have. I checked some reviews and it seems like the linked, SECOND, edition cleans up some of the goofiness by constraining the stats range and adding a point-buy system (barf to the latter though).
 

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