D&D Birthday party ideas!

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

Necrozius

Legendary Pubber
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Messages
4,289
Reaction score
10,602
My son is turning 10 at the end of April! He would like a D&D birthday party.

I’ll be running a brief adventure for him and his friends (there will be 5 players in total). The invitations will have character options listed out and we’ll be asking the RSVP to include their choice so that I can prepare their characters in advance.

Anyway: any recommendations or ideas? For the one shot itself, decorations, gift bags etc…

All the kids will be getting their own set of dice and dice bags.
 
No one has any ideas?

Any parents out there who've done something like this in the past?
 
I'd suggest a short adventure that could be completed in the time allotted.
For sure. I’m thinking:

  • simple puzzle room
  • Quick skirmish (1-hit mooks)
  • Trap room (think Zelda style)
  • Boss battle with neat terrain to climb and hide behind. Not a gruelling battle of attrition though
 
For sure. I’m thinking:

  • simple puzzle room
  • Quick skirmish (1-hit mooks)
  • Trap room (think Zelda style)
  • Boss battle with neat terrain to climb and hide behind. Not a gruelling battle of attrition though
You might add disposable henchmen to give the illusion of lethality without anyone getting knocked out.
 
- Fill the adventure you run with fun, jokes, japes, craziness and fun characters and action. Droning DM narratives and interminable character write up sessions are just death to a roleplaying session, so be sure to serve up an adventure or setting situation that has plenty of sauce.
- Get out of the way as much as possible. When I was just barely older than these kids, some of my most formative and memorable experiences were early roleplaying game sessions with my friends, with no involvement of our parents wanted or needed. I'm also a parent and 'get' how great it can be to help young kids discover things you love, but also the part of it they will remember best is the crazy stuff they come up with with each other.
 
A friend of mine once wrote a Paranoia scenario about delivering a cake to a high-ranking citizen. Stick with that, or convert it to a D&D dungeon crawl with... probably not too much effort. I have a copy of it that I can share if you want, just message me with your preferred email address.
 
There's gotta be a bday themed adventure out there somewhere. I recall a level of the 2e Castle Greyhawk module (unfairly disparaged by purists imo).being based on a bunch of monsters preparing an elaborate feast for some kinda special occasion. May have been a bday but even if it wasn't it would be easy to change it to that theme. I recall it being one of my favourite levels in the module.
 
How are we over 10 replies in and NOBODY has suggested that the D&D movies be screened...

*ducks the tomatoes*
:smile:

Seriously, at 10 I'm not sure they'll hate it. But, even if they think it's terrible that is likely a great age for them to do some movie activities. (Mind you, I also have no idea if there is anything you would think is inappropriate in them for the age group.) I mean, if they don't like movie bingo they will in another 60 years! (You would obviously need to come up with the bingo cards.) Create your own movie activities and share the laughs, even if at the expense of the movie!

How about some kind of stat your self activity? Given them some tests for each of the stats and then using your high level parenting math skills (having helped your kids with the new math homework at school) reveal to them their stats. Given your knowledge of your kids friends, I leave it to you to determine whether aligning the tests as relevant to the skills (which may or may not be appreciated or used to bully other kids) or having the tests be absurd things (thereby reducing the likelihood of anyone using the results in a derogatory manner) up to you. Be creative. Use things your kid and friends enjoy... or things they hate... you know... be a parent and be embarrassing!
 
Integrate some lessons from LARP.
(Yes, I know nobody expected me to say that, but kids tend to love that:shade:).

For example, if you can make a cake themed after a monster, that monster is the villain. You only get the cake after defeating the monster:grin:!
 
Integrate some lessons from LARP.
(Yes, I know nobody expected me to say that, but kids tend to love that:shade:).

For example, if you can make a cake themed after a monster, that monster is the villain. You only get the cake after defeating the monster:grin:!

Best of all, if the monster defeats the kids, you get to keep the cake (and eat it too)!
 
Not my idea, but a D&D themed Murder Mystery.
I agree with Asen, If you're going that route just go the whole hog and go for a light fantasy LARP.

The difference isn't that big anyway when you get to the "interactive murder mystery" side of things.
 
A dungeon delve into the basement with a party of kids armed with nerf guns always goes over a treat. Get some of those gold chocolate coins for loot and someone to dress up as the boss monster. I've used stuffed toys as the little monsters too. Throw in some creepy music and you have a hit on your hands.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top