Adventurers 15 and younger

[Arlaten]

I thought I might try something a little bit different by beginning with the adventure’s as children. It’s a takeoff on the Griffin Mountain idea, but instead of beginning the game as a Primitive the players begin the game as children. The idea is that they take part in an adventure that adults either couldn’t or wouldn’t do because of their size or common sense, but youthful kids would gain some ‘initiation into the world’ benefit from it. In addition they have the opportunity to gain valuable clues and an item that will be key to solving an adventure years later.

I opened this up on another thread, but I thought it might be better to make it its own separate thread, because other GMs may like the idea and want to hash it out, here. Tell me what you think.

Players roll d4 and add the result to 11 for their starting age.

I am treating kids as a sort of profession. I think they would have better climbing and athletic skills, and I had to separate some skills because kids develop in them at different rates. So I give Acrobatics 10%, Climbing 40%, Dodge 20%, Swimming 45% (the starting village is on a river), Move Quietly 15%, Perception 25%, Animal Lore 25%, Hide 55%, Conceal 30% at age 12.

They can also have a special hobby Craft, Ride, Tracking, or Survival at 10%. Optionally they may choose one of the hobby type skills above (such as Animal Lore or Climbing – but not Perception or Dodge). The hobby skill will not decrease as other skills do because of age.

Kids lose 5% per year (on their birthdays) in Acrobatics, Climbing, Dodge, Hide, Move Quietly, Perception, Swimming until they reach their professional basic skill bonus at age 15. So a character who showed himself to be an explorer by his choice of using skills would gain +20% in World Lore and Two of Language, Lore (Astronomy), Lore (Geography), Shiphandling (Viking longships), and Survival, if he began at age 15, but his Perception would go down to 5%, and he would lose Acrobatics, his Climbing would go down to 20%, he would lose Dodge, Swimming would go down to 25%, etc.

Of course, if the kids use their skills often, they may not lose them (by virtue of them increasing by experience). And any other skills they use will increase as well, so that by the time they are 15, they will have more experience than the average beginning player (which is what you would expect if the kids were adventurous types.)

Experience rolls would come a bit more often (based on the idea that children learn faster than adults). I am toying with the idea that they will not lose any points in a year if they increase a skill by at least 5% (meaning that they would keep their base skill and increase it by 5%, as well), but I'm not sure about that yet. It would cause players to want to use those skills often just to keep them, but that may not be a bad thing. It will encourage players to use subterfuge rather than force.

I am having a problem with parents, though. The children should not be tied to parents who want to know where they are. On the other hand I want them to be part of the community (know the butcher, baker, candlestick maker, and be able to talk with them without fear of being rounded up and taken home, etc.) and I haven’t quite worked out a solid reasoning for this. I've thought about the orphan idea (the village doesn't have an orphanage- a culture thing) and I've thought about the street waif idea, but I don't like that. I don’t want to divert the thread too much with this, but any suggestions would be… helpful.

 

[frogspawner]

There's no problem. The idea of childhood lasting so late is a basically Victorian invention - just a modern cultural thing. Before then, I believe, children were simply regarded as small people. Certainly in the 12-15 age range they can be independent if they want to be.

 

[Mage]

Make the kids orphans. It sounds cruel, but it may woprk. Either that or you modify the setting of your society they live in. Either that or they have bad parents who don't care. May be harsh but it will serve a better purpose. Think that Conan and the little warriors TV show.

 

[Cut]

Or give their parents some jobs with certain responsibilities, like being on watch or duty or something. So the kids could have the daytime for themselves, and if they are gone in the late hours the parents can start searching for them, but they might be gone for good by then.

 

[Arlaten]

How does this sound for an adventure?

Children, the Barbarians

In the second age a Balazaring weaponsmith explains to his son that in the Dawn Age Hyalor Horsebreaker’s sons held Peloria in thrall until the Yelm Priests called upon their god for help. Shortly after the Dawn, help arrived, just as it had occurred for Yelm himself. After the battle many dead lay upon the fields with runic weapons of strength (steel). The Balazarings collected some of these weapons and learned the secret of recreating the runic metal from bronze. Only one clan of Balazarings keeps this family secret.

The adventurers are sons (or daughters) and friends of the sons/daughters of the weaponsmith. At some point in their youth an EWF clan thunders through their settlement, burning the village and taking the weapons with them. The children, along with children from other plundered villages are taken back to a settlement to push the great wheel on the plain that grinds the grain.

A few years later, a band of Orlanthi attack the mill after a hard winter. They kill the EWF settlers and take the children with them back to their village (in Dragon Pass). They are actually considered small adults and are taken on as helpers (in other words they do all the work the apprentices don’t want to do) in a trade of the player’s choice. They also receive training from time to time. Rather than going to their own homes at night they go to the boys hall where they eat at long tables and sleep on them at night with other apprentices. Because of this, they have duties to attend to in the daytime, but they can be gone for several days at a time (they will just receive a good beating and even harder work for a week when they return- see Konrad, a Warhammer novel). At 15 the character will realize the benefits of this training.

In the meantime the Dragon cult is amassing membership in Dragon Pass.