Classic D&D Palace of the Silver Princess is great.  It's railroady, but that works well for beginners.   There are also so many classic, basic monsters.  

With the age range you mention, I'd try using the old Basic/Expert D&D (Moldvay/Cook B/X, Mentzer BECMI, or Allston Cyclopedia) or the modern retro-clone Labyrinth Lord. AD&D presents a lot of options and has a lot of odd stuff that might be a bit much for a younger crowd these days.

Also, there's Jimm Johnson's "D&D for Kids," which can be used with any of the original editions but cuts the "player interface" with the system down to the very basics so that they can play and not worry about paperwork. It's designed for younger kids, but I find it works nicely for older kids and even adults:

http://cubeofquazar.blogspot.com/2010/1 ... -kids.html

As for modules, B2 is the classic, but you might go for B1 instead. B2 is extremely combat heavy, and without fudging die rolls or having each player run two characters, death can come very quickly. B1 adds in a lot more interesting things and dungeon exploration; I think it is the better all-around dungeon adventure, as it introduces players to a wider variety of elements of the dungeon. Maybe use it as the "Cave of the Unknown," then move the players on to the "Caves of Chaos," that way you can still use the Keep on the Borderlands as a home base...

My thoughts:

B1 - ok
B2 - bad idea.  Mostly combat, minimal story, and requires strong organization and tactical skill to survive
B3 - ok
B4 - very good

N1 - inconspicuous investigation is probably too hard for kids
T1 - similar to B2
U1 - ok/good.  Does require a pretty large party, as written, though
B11 - ?
N4 - ?


Also, the Thunder Rift series is very beginner-oriented, although I'm only slightly familiar with it
http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/dd/dd.htm
9342 Quest for the Silver Sword
9350 Assault on Raven�s Ruin
9387 Sword and Shield
9434 The Knight of Newts
9435 Rage of the Rakasta
9436 In the Phantom�s Wake

And the 3 box sets were designed to be intros to RPGs, with some board gamish trappings.  Again, haven't ever used them.
1073 The Dragon's Den
1076 The Goblin's Lair
1081 The Haunted Tower


You might also want to consider starting with 1-2 really simple things (like the Moldvay Basic sample dungeon) before moving into a 'full-scale module'.

mordrin wrote:My thoughts:
Also, the Thunder Rift series is very beginner-oriented, although I'm only slightly familiar with it
http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/dd/dd.htm
9342 Quest for the Silver Sword
9350 Assault on Raven�s Ruin
9387 Sword and Shield
9434 The Knight of Newts
9435 Rage of the Rakasta
9436 In the Phantom�s Wake

And the 3 box sets were designed to be intros to RPGs, with some board gamish trappings.  Again, haven't ever used them.
1073 The Dragon's Den
1076 The Goblin's Lair
1081 The Haunted Tower
.

My choice with my kids who were 8, 10 and 12 at the time. Used the Challeger rules set (black box). Also, you get to use all those cardboard cut out figures and miniature scale maps that come with all those modules and boxed sets. I think the visual aspect really helps with kids. It makes things very easy on you as a DM, too.

I'm in a similar position with my eldest being 9 but working at school at age 12. He's really into fantasy books so I'm planning starting something on our Saturday gaming evenings soon.

I've already bought some board games from Thud! to Circus Maximus just for the gaming side of things, but I was interested in the Dungeon! reprint just announced and with it already mentioned in this thread, might pick that up.

I have the Moldvay set, so again, may go for the basic adventure simply to test the gaming out before either running a simple home brew scenario on U1 etc

Tomb of Horrors.  Day One.
Have to cull the weak players from the herd right from the start.

My son (just turned 15) and I are in two father & son games, one 2e, one 3.5e with me as the DM. It's caused some confusion, trying to remember how each system works, and each seems to have its own benefits and drawbacks, but I think he prefers 3.5. It has more complex rules, but since for every die roll you want to roll high, I think he finds it simpler. Plus, everything adds, rather than some things adding, some things subtracting. For example, anything that gives you an AC bonus ADDS to your AC. So, rather than having bracers that set your AC to, say, 7, they just give you a +2 bonus. That way, if they're paired with armor, you don't have to figure out how the bonuses add up.

Regardless, it's been a great bonding experience, both for he and I and for the two of us with the other father & son pairs.

should add that they enjoyed the fact that the characters used Copeland Island as their base of operations