When, as my kids like to refer to them, we had the 'cousins' to stay in early December (boy 11, girl 9 (who is reading the Lord of the Rings! after finishing the Hobbit), boy 7) it only required minimal of nagging from my two children, to return to the campaign world, because shock horror, and at my son's request, now the King had gone missing.
Rescue the King
Once again I used Jimm Johnson's excellent Kid's D&D rules and character sheets. A perfect complexity for this age group.
I also had access to my Warhammer miniatures - goblins, characters a manticore!
For a map I did a quick google search for D&D castle maps and stumbled on drnuncheons gameblog who alerted me to this modification of Castle Caldwell by Warlock's Home Brew.
I only used the ground level map and made room 24 (where the King was being held) only accessible from the secret door in room 13. The secret door can only be opened with a password that must be spoken in elven.
Each corner tower has a magic mouth that gives the following letters in order. P E N O
Below are some notes I made.
Room
AA - 6 goblins with bows (I made the dots in the room a metal portcullis which the goblins were hiding behind.)
1 - dining hall - magic food that heals if can answer a riddle
I found the first riddle from here.
Why are cooks cruel?
Because they whip cream and beat eggs!!
The next two riddles are from here.
Mary's father has 4 children; three are named Nana, Nene, and Nini. So what is is the 4th child's name?
Mary
It lives without a body, hears without ears, speaks without a mouth, and is born in air. What is it?
Echo
2 - sleeping quarters
7. Statue
Crystal Statue from Labyrinth Lord
No. Enc.: 1d6 (1d6)
Alignment: Lawful
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 2 (fists)
Damage: 1d6/1d6
Save: F3
Morale: 11
Hoard Class: None
XP: 65
10. Two tables with large table cloth - 2 goblins hiding and jump out
11 Church - pray, answer 1 question. (1 question per player)
13 - 'OPEN' in elvish to get through secret door
Manticore also from Labyrinth Lord
And I could use my Warhammer Dark Elf Miniature.
No. Enc.: 1d2 (1d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')
Fly: 180' (60')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6 + 1
Attacks: 3 (2 claws, bite) or 1 (spikes)
Damage: 1d4/1d4/2d4 or see below
Save: F6
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XIX
XP: 980
15 - Button on pillar 'Push me" - if do door locks and water starts to fill. Plug in floor.
21 - 2 large snakes in pit
Giant Python from LL
No. Enc.: 1d3 (1d3)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 2 (bite, constrict)
Damage: 1d4/2d8
Save: F3
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: VI
XP: 350
19/22 - sleeping quarters
= hidden gold in chamber pot, other pots have goblin wee. Yuck!
23 - empty
24 - king
25 - kitchen
Big ogre cook keeps saying
"Get out of my kitchen"
Ogre stats
Feedback
The Kids D&D rules are superb. Maybe after a few sessions they'll be ready to try B/X.
The riddles went down very well with the kids.
My son (the youngest player by 2 years) kept wanting to bash walls down with his head and lose 1 HP each time, but wasn't that disruptive.
All in all a great session. Yesterday we played again, at cousin enthusiasm, which inspired me to first write up this session. The theme for yesterday was 'Rescue the Queen' (what an unlucky family) and an army of dragons, both at my son's request . Hope to tell you about that session soon!
Went searching through your blog for that Isle of the Dead adventure and, even more interesting (to me), the ransacking of Castle Amber. Did not find. So then I visited your homepage (stumbled onto "Rescue the King" via an image search) and learned it has been a few months since your last post.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've been having a great time returning to D&D gaming. If you ever get around to either Castle Amber or Isle of the Dead, there will be at least one reader out here waiting to read your online report. Thanks for sharing "Keep on the Borderlands" and "Rescue the King" with interested folk out on the Interwebs.