OK, so I ended up pulling something out of my ass so my sons (ages 13 and 9) could play in. I have been very - uninspired? - lately in terms of thinking things up but wanted to figure out something simple for them to do.
THE CHARACTERS: Jack Stone - A Dwarven Fighter. Has a Battle Axe and Shield. Is Overconfident so he runs up to the biggest thing and hits them. (Played by my 13yo Gavin).
Wizard of All - A Wizard who can fight with a mace and wears some leather armor. Likes to shoot fire bolts at things. Uses a bow when there will possibly extended long range combat. Hates evil wizards and never says no to a person in need. (Played by my 9yo Jacob.)
They were hired as caravan guards from the cloth merchant Explanator to escort a caravan from the town of Greenlund to the town of South Green Man. Firrst thing Wizard of All (WoA) wanted to do was buy a horse and carriage in case Jack got too injured he had a way to get him around. WoA was sort of sad he needed to earn money to even just get the horse, but he decided being a caravan guard will at least work toward it.
On their way there they made notice rolls and saw in the distance unarmed orcs coming towards them. They challenged the Orcs but the Orcs only groaned in response. Jack went out to meet them and once they tried to assault him he started taking their heads off. Jack noticed there was very little bleeding and found this quite curious. WoA suspected they were sleepwalking Orcs. Eventually they dispatched the Orcs with magic and axe and a common knowledge roll later realized the Orcs were actually Zombies, which means some foul wizard was animating them. WoA wanted to go after the wizard but Jack Stone reminded him their duty to the caravan and they could always come back.
Well, they made it to South Green Man, which was a bustle of activity, reinforcing the palisade and arming the citizens. An Orc attack was coming at any time and the pair were asked to help with the defenses. Jack Stone agreed to be part of the group that would be held in reserve in case any broke through and WoA went on the battlement with his bow. Since the first part of the fight was missile weapons I did it as a Quick Encounter with WoA so that we could get to the point with the Orcs breaking into the town so Jack Stone could be involved. Jacob rolled very well so half his arrows were expended while I describe him pegging various Orcs with arrows,
I figured the mass combat rules could wait for another time so when the Orcs broke in I had them deal with the Chieftain and his two bodyguards. Jack Stone ran past the bodyguards and went right after the Chieftain while WoA started pegging the bodyguards with fire bolts. Things started getting a bit scary for Jack Stone as Gavin was burning through bennies like they were going out of style. WoA took care of one of the bodyguards and then decided to go after the chieftain instead with his "Super Fire Bolt" (the 3d6 version). His first firing of it, Jacob Rolled 2 6's and a 5. After rerolling the 6's the bolt did enough damage to do 5 wounds to the Orc Chieftain. He soaked down to 3. Then WoA hit him next round (poor Jack Stone was just trying to not get killed at this point) and had exploding damage dice once again. This resulted in the chieftain going down. This broke the Orc ranks and the Orcs retreated. Jacob celebrated by jumping on top of a (sturdy thank god) end table and playing "They are Taking the Hobbits to Isenguard" on his ipod. WoA and Jack Stone were hailed as heroes.
Then we decided to watch the Helm's Deep battle from LOTR: The Two Towers. All in all a good night.
However, there were times where Jacob was distracted and just went off on non gaming tangents. Normally I would run with them and just enjoy the time with my son but Gavin was getting annoyed and wanted to focus on the story. How do I balance that?