Need an adventure idea for kids

[TechnoViking]

I'm running a Fantasy Hero game at an event at our local library. The event is call Fantasy Game day, and it is an event to get teens interested in reading and math.

 

I plan to run a session of Fantasy Hero there, and I need an adventure idea for a group of teens with little or no experience in RPGs and none with Hero System.

 

Thanks for any ideas,

Mike

[PerennialRook]

Little or no experience with RPG's and none with hero? Are you insane? Trying to teach basic RPG, the basic hero system, and start a new adventure in one afternoon...

 

Try a quick and rewarding dungeon crawl with a handful of interesting NPC's.

 

Let them kill stuff. Insert a good quick hack and slash with a bit of a challenge.

 

Have a traveling minstrel of sorts acompany them and then have him/her regail crowds with tales of their adventures in a heroic, nearly fantastic light.

 

Create a clear antagonist, like the classic dark priest of the necromatic arts (remember that they will not have run into two or three hundred of these before, as most of us have).

 

Reward the PC's with things most apealing to teenagers.

 

And, most important, make sure they have fun with it.

 

Just a few suggestions,

-Preston

[tkdguy]

I have to agree with PerennialRook about keeping it simple. Put in some combat, but don't make it a purely hack-&-slash game. Use the interesting NPCs to encourage roleplay. Chances are, they've seen the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films, even if they haven't read the books. They'll probably be expecting something along those lines.

 

But Harry Potter blasting orcs with fireballs is just wrong!

[Pattern Ghost]

Originally posted by tkdguy

But Harry Potter blasting orcs with fireballs is just wrong!

 

Definately! Harry does his blasting with curses!

[Pattern Ghost]

This is a tough one. I'd say KISS is definately good advice. Let's see...

 

Characters should:

• Be low points. Maybe 50+50 or so.
  
• Tough enough to get the job done.
  
• Simple. Don't load each one down with skills lists or custom powers for cinematic play. I'd even avoid martial arts at first.
  
• Everything that needs to be calculated should be pre-calculated.
  
• Each character should have a chance to use one or more skills in the scenario. Write some into the scenario if possible.
  
• Naturally, eliminate everything marked "optional."
  
• Use only the simplest powers, with basic limitations.
  
• You might consider only giving out 2 pt OCV-only levels and 8 point All Combat Levels. Saves some explaining about ranged vs. melee application of the 3 and 5 pt levels, but still gives them something juicy to play with.
  
• You can use the activation roll method for partial armor if you're inclined to use realistic armor. It's fast and reasonble.
  
• Have two of each archetype you're bringing to the table. This does two things: First, chances are if someone wants an archetype, they'll have a crack at getting the one they want. It's a one-shot, so it's cool to have some duplications. Second, it shows how two characters of the same basic type can be different.
  
• Should have interesting, but brief, background stories. Encourage the players to put themselves in the places of their characters.
  
• All I can think of offhand. Heck, I'll write up some sample characters if I get bored here tonight.
  

 

Scenario:

 

• Should be straightforward.
  
• Might steal a fairly well-known plot. Examples: Seven Samurai/Dirty Dozen, the PCs have to save a town from an outside threat. Romeo and Juliet: Can the characters help the starcrossed lovers from feuding families find true love? Can they do it when the potential inlaws are using evil magic and demonic minions in their feud? (That one would be heavy on roleplay, with some swashbuckling, I think.) Harry Potter/Typical Teen Coming of Age: The heroes are the player's ages more or less, and have to deal with a threat while either gaining the respect of, or avoiding the scrutiny of, their elders. Or both. Uh. Some plots don't work b/c they focus on a single character too much. The classic dungeon crawl to get the maguffin that's needed to accomplish something else is always useful.
  
• Should have at least a handful of interesting NPCs filling key roles. For a short game, try to focus the interaction on key figures and on anyone the PCs chose to interview.
  
• Should have a three-dimensional antagonist with clear goals. Suppose the party is travelling, oh, say South. They hit the next little hamlet on their journy only to find out that a troll is holding the Southbound bridge hostage. Now, they've got to get rid of that troll. Of course, he's too tough to get rid of easily -- far, far too tough -- so it's time to negotiate. Suppose the troll has a legitamte grievance? What if he's a disgruntled veteran from the Dark Lord's army who got shafted out of his retirement and has no other way to make a living? Encouraging alternate solutions and RPing is cool, even with the villains.
  
• Should have at least one good fight. Any combat should support the story, though, and if the PCs avoid it through ingenuity, all the better.
  
• Umm, I'm out of ideas.
  

 

Just figured I'd toss a few things out. Hope not too much of it was too obvious.

[BobGreenwade]

I'm pretty much along with everything Pattern Ghost said, but one additional general recommendation and a couple of specific suggestions for stories.

 

My additional general recommendation is to make the plot something the players will be able to relate to on an emotional level. General thoughts would be to deal, however indirectly, with an issue currently affecting teens, or with a typical teen misbehavior as seen through the eyes of adults.

 

And now, my two specific suggestions:

 

1) Do the Pied Piper thing in reverse -- an evil wizard has kidnaped everyone in the village above the age of 17. It's everything the 13-17 year olds can do to keep the basic needs coming, with their meager skills, while those 3-8 run wild with minimal supervision. What does the wizard want with the parents? I don't know; maybe he wants to distill their brains and become the ultimate intellect.

 

2) Again with the evil wizard. This time he's been sneaking a magic potion into the teen population. The potion gives a sense of euphoria, making it a very popular concoction (it gets trafficked through the local society like cocaine and meth do today), but after enough applications it transforms the users into monsters to do the wizard's bidding. The worst part is that the stuff is quickly addictive, so even after the first kids transform the rest still compulsively use the stuff even though they know what's going to eventually happen to them.

 

Just what I could come up with off the top of my head.

[Pattern Ghost]

I accidentally had another thought on characters: Don't use the big dumb strong guy as a type. Or any other type that encourages the lower common denominator for roleplaying. No need to get anyone off on a bad foot.

 

Oops, just had another thought: Each character should have some unique ability. Whether it's a really great stealth roll for a rogue, or a wizard's magic, or a priest's ability to heal by his faith, or a demi-human's unique abilities (dwarven bump of direction, nose for precious minerals, or elven dex and spd, and keen vision and hearing, etc.) AND a chance to use them at least once.

[MordeanGrey]

Here are a couple of suggestions.

 

No matter what plot you use, it would be good to make up a quick reference handout for each player on basic stuff like an OCV vs. DCV table to see what they need to hit, a list of basic combat maneuvers, a range chart, etc.

 

All of those things are very beneficial to new players so they don't have to get lost in the rulebook or trying to interpret their character sheets.

 

If you plan on having a spell caster be sure to have a sheet with his basic spell descriptions and what he needs to roll, etc.

 

HTH

 

Mordean

[Toadmaster]

Re: Need an adventure idea for kids

 

Originally posted by Mike Basinger

I'm running a Fantasy Hero game at an event at our local library. The event is call Fantasy Game day, and it is an event to get teens interested in reading and math.

 

I plan to run a session of Fantasy Hero there, and I need an adventure idea for a group of teens with little or no experience in RPGs and none with Hero System.

 

Thanks for any ideas,

Mike

 

Another thought is go to the library and look for fantasy books popular with the age group (check with the librarian, they should be able to help), this might help with ideas and the level of complexity of plot. Avoid the use of devils / demons / witches etc (at least in name), no need to get into the old D&D is evil thing. You might also include more problem solving than normal, particularly word or math types (word jumbles, double meanings, riddles, math problems etc) to reinforce to the adults the positive sides of RPG's, my mother was never to thrilled with them but eventually she learned that my association with RPG's improved my handwritting, spelling, vocabulary and math skills and was much more supportive after that. So consider the view point of the parents too when developing your plotline, can't be too helpful if you get the kids hooked on gaming and the parents ban it.

[dugfromthearth]

I recommend powerful characters.

 

when trying to introduce new players I used to go with weaker characters. They always like powerful characters better and they are easier to understand - stealth 18 instead of 13, strength 25 instead of 15. That way they are totally stealthy or amazingly strong.

[Badger]

-Yeah you should definitely avoid any demon-type stuff. No need for any religious parents finding and burning you at the stake or something.

 

-You might have to spell out what the attributes and stuff actually mean and do. Things like STR and DEX are fairly obvious. But a newcomer looking at DCV is gonna go "What?".

 

I remember the good ol days when everybody thought D&D was evil. The propaganda at youth activities against it was crazy. I think one mentioned it was evil because to generate your characters you used 3 6-sided dice. (This is sarcasm, in case anybody is thinking especially slowly today:rolleyes: )

[TechnoViking]

Originally posted by PerennialRook

Little or no experience with RPG's and none with hero? Are you insane? Trying to teach basic RPG, the basic hero system, and start a new adventure in one afternoon...

My daddy use to say if you are going to learn to drive, do it with a stick-shift. Every thing else will be easy.

 

Mike

[Pattern Ghost]

On things like spell or power descriptions, don't put down the game mechanics in standard format. Instead, write it descriptively, so that the player can picture what's happening. So, instead of Mystic Bolt: 2d6+1 RKA, Gestures (Two hands, throughout), Incantations (throughout), Full Phase, Concentration Half DCV, Reduced Range (25") you write, "Arcane Bolt: The wizard creates a bolt of pure magical energy, which strikes his enemies for 2d6+1 killing damage. This spell is slow, but powerful, using the caster's full action phase. The caster needs to make arcane gestures with both hands, and chant clearly while casting the spell, it will fail if he is prevented or interrupted. The caster will be at half DCV throughout the spell. This attack has a range of about 50 meters (yards)."

 

Of course, you can just make a note of all of the common conditions for each spell, such as Gestures and Incantations at the top of the magic section on the character sheet, explaining that all of the spells require the caster to be able to make his G&I.

 

And if you write a better spell description in that format, it'll have just as much "flavor" as any other game's spell descriptions.

[Farkling]

They're teens.

 

The plot needs to get them away form their parents, but not by sneaking out (unless the fate of the kingdom is in the balance.

 

Try setting characters up from orphanages and the streets also...then the "evading parental restrictions" becomes a moot point. Instead they have a permissive or restrictive "orphange director" to elude.

 

Puzzles/Riddles/Problem Solving needs to be present in the game, so does some gratuitous violence. They are teens.

 

Dungeon crawls with room for lateral thinking are good. (We could tear down the wall and go that way, we can swim/climb/teleport up there, etc.)

 

Have their favorite person get locked up on trumped up charges (the Hagrid effect). Give one or two of the players a handout about the actual crime and what they witnessed. Let them search for clues/solve the mystery. Something along the lines of the latest Harry Potter story...

 

Or send them to find one of the character's older sibling, an infamous adventurer that must return to the kingdom and perform a specific task.

"You have been chosen to go in search of Galstan Goodworth, and to try and convince him to return the ancient Key of the Sky. The Key is vital to saving the kingdom from the invading army, and you are the only people we that can be spared to accompany Susie Goodworth. He surely cannot refuse his sister. Tina Farmer is in charge of your little group, and must be certain that Susie survives to confront Galstan."

 

Institute a time limit for the invasion. Kill NPC Tina Farmer at a point that they cannot go back. See what they do.

[Pattern Ghost]

Originally posted by Farkling

They're teens.

 

The plot needs to get them away form their parents, but not by sneaking out (unless the fate of the kingdom is in the balance.

 

While the players may be teens, in a typical medieval pastiche culture, characters their age could well be considered adults. Imagine the look on their faces when you tell the group, "Your characters are all fourteen to sixteen year old recruits in the King's militia..."

 

 

----------------------------

 

You know, before TSR dumped the "basic" Dungeons and Dragons line, they produced some introductory modules that were pretty decent. Some of these focused on younger characters, and if you could lay your hands on some used copies, might be pretty easy to adapt or to mine for ideas.

[Pattern Ghost]

Oh! Here's another thought: Don't make the scenario too open-ended. Remember, the players will not have a firm picture of the world, nor will there be time to paint one, in such a short encounter. Furthermore, while most gamers have a good enough common language to go from that we can sit down and sketch out a world in a kind of shorthand of genre tropes, those tools won't be available to new gamers unless they're avid readers of fantasy. (And even if so, there will be differences.) So, while you don't want the players to be railroaded, you do want the objective to both be clearly defined, and to be attainable based on decisions that can be made with the information given. Any decision points that rely on knowledge of genre tropes or assumptions about cultural norms within the game world should be avoided.

[Pteryx]

Make sure there's more than one way to solve any major problems, and always a way to do it without violence. Whenever it makes sense, though, there should be a violent solution too.

 

Make obvious things that an experienced gamer would take for granted -- for example, the fact that there's a town guard that's stronger than them.

 

Give the prefab characters non-attack abilities with obvious uses and a relatively high rate of success (like a good illusion spell for a wizard).

 

I second the idea of providing at least two characters per archetype, as well as finding out what your audience likes for literature. Someone weaned on Harry Potter, Oz, and/or A Wrinkle in Time isn't going to be expecting a dungeon crawl. -- Pteryx

[Pattern Ghost]

so.. have you gotten anything set up yet, Mike?