My youngest daughter loves to play one-on-one D&D with me (she also likes playing with the rest of the family, but we do that less often). This week we started a mini campaign together. She wanted to try playing a druid, and I welded together a bunch of Disney princesses movies and fairy tales for her campaign story.
This was our first session.
Play time: 1 hour
Characters: Rose the Druid (2)
Call to Action!
Rose awoke to a scratch at the door. It was her friend, Mittens the jaguar. Mittens told Rose that there was a problem in the forest and led her to the Heart Grove where she showed her that the five Forest Gems had been stolen. Mittens said there were five suspicious places to investigate and Rose chose the Gem Mines.
Fairy Tale Shenanigans
As she headed east to the mines, Rose discovered a huge bean stalk in a clearing. She climbed up into the sky and found a giant angry goose paddling through the clouds. Rose observed the goose for a while, and then carefully started a conversation. She learned that Hank the goose had been attacked by some mean dwarves who lived in the Gem Mines. They threw gold nuggets at him to steal his giant eggs (I guess boy geese can lay eggs in this world?). Rose healed Hank’s wing and got a gold nugget from the wound, and then Hank agreed to fly her to the mines.
Into the Mines
Rose struck a torch and headed into the dark mines, the walls sparkling with gems. When she came to a fork, she turned right and discovered a pair of giant moles. They said the dwarves were using the power of the Forest Gem to make them dig tunnels and mine gems for them, so Rose left them alone and headed back.
Returning to the fork, she took the left tunnel and found the dark cavern home of the evil dwarves: Merry, Pippin, and Sam! Rose hid herself in a cloud of fog and stole the Forest Gem right out of Sam’s hand. While the dwarves argued about who lost the gem, Rose discovered a woman sleeping in a glass box. It was her school friend, Neve!
The Big Escape
Just then, Rose’s fog spell ended and the dwarves spotted her. The chase was on! Rose picked up the sleeping Neve and ran through the mines. When she got outside, Rose used her powers to make a landslide cover the entrance and seal the dwarves inside.
Finally, Rose used the Forest Gem to break the curse and wake Neve, who agreed to return the gem to the Heart Grove while Rose went to find the next gem.
And that’s where we ended!
DM Notes
Playing with young kids is a mixed bag. On the one hand, they have already consumed a lot of media and can quickly recognize some tropes, like a giant bean stalk, and know how to interact with them. On the other hand, they can sometimes be overwhelmed by an open-ended question like, “What do you do next?”
I try to talk my daughter through these situations to give her a general sense of her options, like sneaking versus talking, or being friendly versus being bossy, without explicitly telling her to choose from three specific courses of action. As always, I was very proud of the moments when my daughter explained her analysis of a situation and made a thoughtful choice.
We played for about an hour and had a great time, and she is looking forward to the next game when she gets to look for the next Forest Gem!
