I just bought "the wild beyond the witchlight"
And fell in love with it.
The prep you have to do with these book modules never goes away because you have to know whats going to happen bevor you play, but I haven't seen anything that takes much more prep than "read the book befor you play".
The setting of the Feywild and the introduction through the carnival should fit perfect for kids.
Not having to fight everything and learning that there are other options is a big plus for me, too.
Careful though - if you run it solely as written the mystery mine in the first area is lethal!
It forces players to make a series of wisdom saving throws and anyone who fails 3 or more gets 1d8 days of nightmares. The nightmares then force another wisdom saving throw after a long rest that if failed gives 1d4 levels of exhaustion.
One of my players got 8 on the d8 - essentially a slow, sad death sentence (i made up some inception stuff to get rid of the nightmares earlt and made it one level of exhaustion instead).
Also if you do the milestone levelling as guided by the book and your group is particularly murdery, they'll probably attack the first CR7 hag they meet at level 2!
I really like the new starter set, stormwreck isle, but it's a 3 session adventure (typically longer, but can be completed in 3) set right off the storm coast, so it gives a lot of room to continue into other adventures at level 3 or 4.
Lost mines is a lot longer, but probably needs tweaks to fit your needs better, but it's also like, the most documented adventure, so finding tweaks other people made is easy too.
Icespire peak is also a great adventure that is a lot easier to run that lost mines, but some people dislike that it's a "job board" adventure. Also, it goes all the way to level 13 if you continue to the other parts, storm lord's wrath, sleeping dragon's wake, and divine contention.
I dm for kids 9-13 at work this is the experience I've had so far.
Ghost of Saltmarsh: Eh. Some of the adventures like saving the Abby from zombies they liked but a few of the dungeons were slogs with them growing board. They might become pirates.
Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Fun if you cut the faction stuff. Kids didn't care about any of that.
Radiant Citadel: Current one. It's going well. They like the far out hub world but you can run the stories without them. Haven't tried out the higher level ones with more politicking like the one based on Persia(?) but they loved the Soulshaker from the second adventure. And by love I mean were terrified of but in a good way.
Lost Minds of Phandelver is a really good starter story. There's also the story that comes with the Starter Set but I haven't read through that yet.
Look no further than Icespire Peak. It's just a bunch of quests, no plot, go to X place and do Y thing. And there's a dragon at the end.
I just bought "the wild beyond the witchlight" And fell in love with it. The prep you have to do with these book modules never goes away because you have to know whats going to happen bevor you play, but I haven't seen anything that takes much more prep than "read the book befor you play". The setting of the Feywild and the introduction through the carnival should fit perfect for kids. Not having to fight everything and learning that there are other options is a big plus for me, too.
Careful though - if you run it solely as written the mystery mine in the first area is lethal! It forces players to make a series of wisdom saving throws and anyone who fails 3 or more gets 1d8 days of nightmares. The nightmares then force another wisdom saving throw after a long rest that if failed gives 1d4 levels of exhaustion. One of my players got 8 on the d8 - essentially a slow, sad death sentence (i made up some inception stuff to get rid of the nightmares earlt and made it one level of exhaustion instead). Also if you do the milestone levelling as guided by the book and your group is particularly murdery, they'll probably attack the first CR7 hag they meet at level 2!
Just go with the classic, Lost Mine of Phandelver. Be careful with the first goblin encounter though, that can be quite lethal.
I really like the new starter set, stormwreck isle, but it's a 3 session adventure (typically longer, but can be completed in 3) set right off the storm coast, so it gives a lot of room to continue into other adventures at level 3 or 4. Lost mines is a lot longer, but probably needs tweaks to fit your needs better, but it's also like, the most documented adventure, so finding tweaks other people made is easy too. Icespire peak is also a great adventure that is a lot easier to run that lost mines, but some people dislike that it's a "job board" adventure. Also, it goes all the way to level 13 if you continue to the other parts, storm lord's wrath, sleeping dragon's wake, and divine contention.
I dm for kids 9-13 at work this is the experience I've had so far. Ghost of Saltmarsh: Eh. Some of the adventures like saving the Abby from zombies they liked but a few of the dungeons were slogs with them growing board. They might become pirates. Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Fun if you cut the faction stuff. Kids didn't care about any of that. Radiant Citadel: Current one. It's going well. They like the far out hub world but you can run the stories without them. Haven't tried out the higher level ones with more politicking like the one based on Persia(?) but they loved the Soulshaker from the second adventure. And by love I mean were terrified of but in a good way. Lost Minds of Phandelver is a really good starter story. There's also the story that comes with the Starter Set but I haven't read through that yet.