I've had this post in backburner as a draft for a while and I think it's time to wrap it up.
On the weekend of May 21st three of my nephews stayed for a sleepover. One is 10, one is 11, just like my son, and the oldest is 14. He was the one that asked me if I could run some D&D for them. I said yes right away and went to gather all my AD&D 1e stuff: PHB, DMG, MM, battle mat, miniatures and dice tower. I also took from my bookshelf the module
B1-9 "In Search of Adventure" which I've never used before.
This was not the first time they've played D&D. I've already ran a couple of one-shot games for them, but that was long ago. They loved it, but I guess they were too young to really appreciate the game.
I started like it was the first time they were playing, explaining the attributes and rolling some dices to created their characters. I used the 4d6 drop lower method and maximum hit points at 1st level. Then it was the time for the races and classes. After a while they had Jibbeth the elf fighter, Rip the gnome fighter, Gurk the half-orc cleric and Eduardo the elf thief.
I distributed some armor and weapons suitable for their race/class choices, and the asked them what would they put in a backpack before going adventuring. Food, water, beer and rope were their choices. I had them note that, even if all could see in the dark, they would need some light source for certain tasks. Torches, flint & steel and oil were then added to the equipment list. They were ready!
I put some choices on the table about what to do next: 1) A wealthy noble had acquired a ruined castle near the town and wanted it cleared of critters. 2) An elven merchant needed to send a message to his town deep in the woods. 3) Rumors of a renegade cleric and a band of orcs were harassing the border farms. Which way would they go?
After a brief discussion, and pondering of pros and cons, they decided to explore the abandoned castle. So off they went into CASTLE CALDWELL. They explored the upper works and found some goblins that they tried to talk to, with little luck. A fight followed and ended with a couple of dead goblins, one escaped with the last one surrendered and promised to serve the half-orc cleric. Then they found some giant mosquitoes (stirges) from which they fled after the goblin was attacked and killed. I threw in a large furry humanoid (bugbear), leader of the goblins that went to see what was all the ruckus, to see how they did, and after some lucky rolls they managed to defeat it. They left the castle back to town with some treasure to spend and some wounds to heal.
On their second foray into the castle they found a female cleric, that posed as a prisoner of some bandits (I didn't use the traders), but was actually their leader. She was thankful and sought revenge, so they agreed to help her. They found the thieves and when combat broke she turned on them! The thieves were slain but the cleric escaped. They took the bandit's treasure and continued exploring. The group came across some small dog-men (kobolds) that the half-orc quickly subdued into his service. The creatures told them about the fire-spitting beetles (I didn't use the wolves) and they decided to investigate. The hungry beetles attacked them on sight, but they managed to defeat the monsters. They cleverly took their fiery glands to sell in town. The party left the castle with more treasure and a retinue of kobolds.
After recovering from their wounds, selling some treasure and getting better equipment, they went back to the castle to finish exploring, only to find there were some dungeons below. They went down and were puzzled by the clean rooms and corridors. A cubic mass of semi-transparent jelly (gelatinous cube) surprised them but they managed to escape.
We ended the session here.
