
Ask HN: Tabletop RPGs for 7-8 Year-Olds - yawz
Hi folks,<p>I enjoyed tabletop role-playing games as I was growing up, but I wasn&#x27;t as young as 7-8 when I started. Are there any good ones that you could recommend for me to play with my son and his friends?<p>Thank you.
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johncoltrane
I ran a couple of Dungeon Squad games with my son when he was 6-7. Easy
character creation, simple mechanics… that was really fun.

[http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/dungeon-squad](http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/dungeon-
squad) [https://www.metafilter.com/110941/DUNGEON-SQUAD-IN-
COLOR](https://www.metafilter.com/110941/DUNGEON-SQUAD-IN-COLOR)

~~~
garmaine
Wow, this is great. Thank you.

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floren
Beyond The Wall is a reasonably lightweight game with a fun character-creation
minigame (you're rolling in tables that might say things like "The character
sitting to your right knows your deep dark secret" and then the two of you can
work out what that is). It's also got some tools to help the GM build
adventures, which should be helpful.

In general, almost any game should work at that age, you just have to be
prepared to adapt. Plenty of 8 year old kids have picked up their older
sibling's D&D book and played with their friends, having a lot of fun even if
they're not calculating Base Attack Bonus properly. Kids are imaginative, so
I'd try and encourage roleplaying and worry less about the pure mechanics of
rolling dice, which is easy to screw up.

Biggest advice: make sure you understand the magic system well. Even among
adults I've seen confusion about how exactly spells work (for instance in
Beyond the Wall, there's cantrips which always work and spells which have a %
failure chance, and that trips people up)

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emddudley
Hero Kids [http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/106605/Hero-Kids--
Fantas...](http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/106605/Hero-Kids--Fantasy-RPG)

Short self-contained adventures with a simple ruleset

~~~
andolanra
Strong second for Hero Kids: it's a surprisingly robust grid-maps-and-dice-
rolling system where most of the character/world details are contained on
printable cards. It's great for quick-and-dirty dungeon crawls without having
too many rules up-front, and it's got extra rules which can be optionally
included depending on the level of sophistication of the players. (e.g. you
don't _need_ to include rules for the equivalent of charisma checks to begin
with, but can easily include them in later adventures as the players get more
comfortable with the system.)

If you're looking for something more "storytelling-focused" rather than
dungeon-crawls-and-monster-fighting, there's another good child-focused
tabletop game called _The Princes ' Kingdom_ by Clinton R. Nixon, which in
turn is a hack of _Dogs in the Vineyard_ by Vincent Baker. It's about the
young rulers of an island kingdom travelling around from island to island and
solving their citizens' problems, and has a really interesting conflict
resolution system it borrows from _Dogs_ which involves rolling a bunch of
dice up-front and then using the rolled as resources in a back-and-forth
conflict:
[https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12593.phtml](https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12593.phtml)

------
Adamantcheese
If you're going to be the dungeon master, I see no reason that Dungeons and
Dragons 5th Edition won't work fine as an entry into the genre. Other systems
tend to be very complicated and rely on the players knowing much more about
the game to make it go smoothly.

You could also try some board-game RPG's instead.

~~~
yawz
Hmmm... I was afraid that the system would be too complex/off-putting for kids
that young. I'll reconsider. Thank you.

~~~
squeaky-clean
I DM'd for some 8 year olds while working at a summer camp once. I was using
one of the 3e starter boxes that comes with a simplified rule book and premade
characters. You also have to be okay with just ignoring some rules that may
add confusion like attacks-of-opportunity.

But overall it went great, maybe too great, haha. Afterwards they'd frequently
try to suggest that instead of any normal camp activities they could play D&D.
The camp basically made a rule against it because too many kids got interested
and you'd either have an unmanageably large game, or have to exclude kids from
the game.

I think the 5e starter box is somewhat similar. I know it comes with a reduced
rule soft-book with just the important rules and spells. I believe it includes
premade characters too but I'm not 100% sure.

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zelos
I just bought No Thank You Evil and I've had a couple of good games with my 7
year old son. He's also played once as Narrator (DM) with me as a player and
loved it.

The 3 adventures it comes with are a _little_ weak IMHO, although that may
just be my poor story telling ability. The ones in Little Wizards look better,
but I haven't had a chance to try those out yet.

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gglitch
Easy recommendation, esp if they're into Loony Toons: Toon, the RPG, by Steve
Jackson. It's super simple, super fun, and since characters don't (can't) die,
it rewards extreme silliness and imagination.

[http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG30-1203](http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG30-1203)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toon_(role-
playing_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toon_\(role-playing_game\))

------
padthai
Take the system that you are most comfortable with and tone it down. Start
incorporating rules if you feel that your kids can handle them.

Dice and systems should not get in the way. Just teach them the very basic
(what is passing/failing a dice roll) and add nuance from there.

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thorin
Was Heroquest any good? I did tunnels and trolls as a teenager but 7-8 sounds
a bit young. At that age I was interested in solo roleplaying e.g. Fighting
Fantasy, Choose Your Own Adventure, Lone Wolf etc which were in the local
library.

~~~
jedimastert
According to this guys, it's the best

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8sl2uC46A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8sl2uC46A)

~~~
thorin
I'll have to check that out later! Just remembered another 2 favorites:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_the_Tiger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_the_Tiger)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grailquest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grailquest)

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scrooched_moose
You could try easing them into it with Munchkin. It's very D&D inspired but
games are simpler, only last about an hour, and there's quite a bit of "family
friendly" humor.

I'd suggest finding a youtube tutorial though, the rulebook is unnecessarily
verbose and confusing.

~~~
floren
In my experience the _game_ lasts 20 minutes, followed by 40 minutes of
constant dreary dickery as the players repeatedly stalemate each others'
attempts to finally win and finish the game.

edit: I haven't played Munchkin in 10 years, so they may have updated the
rules somewhat.

~~~
Jtsummers
It still works that way. There's a tacit agreement amongst my friends to call
it after 30 minutes or so if no one has been able to win by that point.

Some of the variations can be fun to play (they add interesting complications
to it). But only in small doses for me.

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DanTheManPR
Mice and Mystics [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124708/mice-and-
mystics](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124708/mice-and-mystics)

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cl42
Has anyone here used the FATE system to design such a game?

Now that we're talking about this, I'm curious of any good FATE games to try,
particularly for a 2-player group as we try to learn the system.

~~~
Yoric
I've used (custom, simplified) FATE with young children. Worked like a charm.

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pwason
Tunnels & Trolls + Monsters! Monsters!

Way simpler than D&D, and has a lot more humor built-in. You can get pretty
much all the rules and stuff for free, online.

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simongray
I played Hero Quest as a kid. Loved it. I was my introduction to role-playing
games.

~~~
jedimastert
It is, after all, the best game[1]

[1]:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8sl2uC46A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8sl2uC46A)

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vorpalhex
\+ [Fate Core]([https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-
core/](https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core/))

\+ Pure D20

\+ Slim down D&D 5e and play it a bit fast and loose

I remember playing "D&D" with my dad at about that age. He used a D6, but
basically he used a simplified D20 system with a lot of fudged rolls and
minimal mechanics.

Fate Core is great at just telling a really good action adventure without
concepts of inventory or death. It has some optional mechanics to let the
players add to the story (recognizing the person who has kidnapped them,
having been a smuggler in this town before, etc).

If your players enjoy jenga and horror, you can always run
[Dread]([https://dreadthegame.wordpress.com/about-dread-the-
game/](https://dreadthegame.wordpress.com/about-dread-the-game/)) which is
very fast to get running and runs very smoothly, even for folks who haven't
played an RPG before.

~~~
WorldMaker
Also Fate Accelerated is even thinner/lighter starting place for Fate.

------
ansible
I've been playing the 1st edition of Decent recently. I think kids that age
could probably handle it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent:_Journeys_in_the_Dark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent:_Journeys_in_the_Dark)

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dfansteel
City of Mist. Very cinematic with a lot of Comic Book overtones. Simple rules.
All you need are 2d6. Starter kit comes with some great characters.
[https://www.cityofmist.co](https://www.cityofmist.co)

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DanBC
If you just want to get them used to rolling dice I'd suggest Button Men, a
very short game of fighting.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_Men](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_Men)

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Yoric
If you speak Spanish or French, I strongly suggest Pequeños Detectives de
Monstres / Petits Détectives de Monstres. Played it with 4 year olds, it's
great, collaborative, non-violent (the only enemy is the Fear of Monsters),
has a little song, encourages to use physical accessories to represent in-game
objects, etc. It's also designed to be played along older siblings.

Oh, and finally, game sessions last only about 15 minutes, which fits within
the attention span of children.

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amerine
Little Wizards or No Thanks, Evil

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fraser
My brother wrote a Wizard of Oz RPG with a recommended minimum age of 8.
[http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/83891/Adventures-in-
Oz-F...](http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/83891/Adventures-in-Oz-Fantasy-
Roleplaying-Beyond-the-Yellow-Brick-Road)

------
larrydag
Small World is a decent boardgame / RPG. Its more boardgame than RPG but it is
a little like dungeon crawling.

[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-
world](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world)

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nickthegreek
Dungeon World is supposed to be good for kids with its easy to understand
mechanics. It is a soft pg-13 though, so ymmv. But if you are the DM, you can
control the level of violence. I'd recommend doing more research on it or
checking out their reddit with additional questions.

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Jtsummers
Like Adamantcheese says, if you're the one running it, whatever complexity may
be beyond them you can handle.

D&D 5th Edition does streamline a lot of things compared to 3rd and 4th
edition. It also brings D&D (to some extent) back to its roots (your
characters aren't veritable superheroes out the gate like a lot of them seem
to be in 4th, for instance, and you aren't selecting from tons of classes
across the various splat books like in 3rd).

Castles & Crusades is a D&D-like system that's fairly light and meant to call
back to 1st and 2nd edition. No skills, no feats. No THAC0-like complexity in
the rules. You have a target number to hit based on your primary stats, and
modifiers based on the situation and abilities. A fair number of published
modules of decent to good quality and if you have experience with making your
own it won't take you long to come up with new adventures for them.

Fiasco (though you'll want to use different playsets than the book contains)
is a _very_ light but fun story-focused system. The main playsets are not at
all kid appropriate, better ones for that age range are available online. It
also has a stronger focus on imagination and storytelling versus mechanics
(really, the mechanics only exist to set up the scenario and resolve a few
things at two points in the play).

[http://fiascoplaysets.com/genre:kid-
friendly](http://fiascoplaysets.com/genre:kid-friendly) \- I have no
experience with any of these, so I can't comment on quality and actual kid-
friendliness.

Dread is technically a horror game. But the mechanics are ludicrously simple.
As the game master you talk to the kids and help them develop characters, and
relationships between the characters. Then you put them in a situation.
Whenever they do something challenging, they pull from a Jenga tower (7-8,
this may be more difficult for them to do _well_ , but there are other
variations). If the tower falls, the character is out of play (in most Dread
games this means dead, catatonic, severely wounded; with kids you may want to
bring them back in but have the character unable to do much for a few rounds).
Kids would probably have fun with it as the tension rises with the tower.

Both Dread and Fiasco can be used for any genre, fantasy, contemporary,
horror, scifi. Just steal the mechanics and fit the experience to the kids
interests.

Also check out [https://rpggeek.com](https://rpggeek.com) and
[https://reddit.com/r/rpg](https://reddit.com/r/rpg). Both are good sources
for information like this.

~~~
dsnuh
Fiasco with 7-8 year olds? What could go wrong? ;)

~~~
Jtsummers
Well, if you use the standard playsets, hopefully a lot! Fiasco games are
boring if the plans go right.

~~~
dsnuh
Oh, I know! I was just thinking of just how horribly and disgustingly wrong my
games with adults have been. Such a great game. I do think you'd need to
simplify some of the setup and game dynamics. Even with first time adult
players, it usually takes about an hour for me to get everyone grokking the
rules.

------
EventH-
Have a look at Maze Rats, designed to be simple and easy to pick up:
[http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197158/Maze-
Rats](http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197158/Maze-Rats)

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d4mi3n
I have a librarian friend who's been running a Mouseguard campaign for the
local kids. They seem to like it:
[http://www.mouseguard.net/](http://www.mouseguard.net/)

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BerislavLopac
How about Tales from the Loop? The characters in the game are 10-15 years old,
which is to 7-8 yo ones just as fantastical as playing Elves or Klingons to us
adults.

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pdpi
Mouse Guard might work. An RPG about anthropomorphic mouse rangers, based on
the comics of the same name

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hprotagonist
that’s when i learned AD&D 2e.

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WorldMaker
Any system _can_ work, depending on the kids' level of interest in math, and
the willingness to fiddle with things as the GM. Most RPG system math is basic
addition/subtraction and really applies to most age groups.

The best system is really some combination of: A) what setting do you think
they will enjoy? B) what would you most enjoy running for them? C) given the
huge variety in systems, what style of gaming are you aiming for? ("Crunch
heavy" versus storytelling-focused, simulationist versus abstractionist, etc)

Some other ideas to throw into the pot of interesting starter systems:

Mice & Mystics is a self-contained boardgame version of an RPG with cool
miniatures and an interesting story. Compares to the Descent boardgame
mentioned by someone else, but with a stranger setting. (Mice adventurers
battling roaches and cats, etc.) ([https://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/mice-
and-mystics](https://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/mice-and-mystics))

Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple can be a gentle introduction to shared
storytelling (and encourage some writing skills work):
[https://www.evilhat.com/home/do-pilgrims-of-the-flying-
templ...](https://www.evilhat.com/home/do-pilgrims-of-the-flying-temple/)

Fiasco is a great rules-light storytelling game, that can be adapted to a
younger audience (most of the playsets are relatively mature, given the basis
in Coen Brothers cozy fiasco movies).
([http://bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/](http://bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/))

QAGS is a very simple system (single D20 for each player and a bag of candy
for the GM): [http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28315/QAGS-Second-
Editio...](http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28315/QAGS-Second-Edition)

The Basic Roleplaying System is what it says on the tin (d100/2d10 percentile
roles) and you can describe the system on a cocktail napkin almost. There's a
ton of content already tuned for it, especially if you have interest in
Lovecraftian settings.

I've been told that the Pip System of Third Eye Games was designed with young
players in mind and built to scale up with player age/attention/interest.
[https://thirdeyegames.net/](https://thirdeyegames.net/)

Savage Worlds is the most "crunchy" system I would typically recommend, and
there are a number of good settings. It's goal is "Fast. Fun. Furious.", and
it has a pretty good ramp from very simple system rules to some more complex
ones as Settings/Scenarios warrant them: [https://www.peginc.com/product-
category/savage-worlds/](https://www.peginc.com/product-category/savage-
worlds/)

A current infatuation of mine from a systems design standpoint (it is closest
in spirit to an unfinished design of my own I've been meaning to finish) is
CAPERS. It currently only has one setting (1920s "gangster" superheroes), but
a unique, easy-to-learn system (press-your-luck playing card flipping):
[http://www.nerdburgergames.com/capers/](http://www.nerdburgergames.com/capers/)

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kuroguro
You really shouldn't let your kids play with RPGs.

~~~
yawz
Is this RPG video games that you're talking about? Or are you categorically
against all role-playing games such as the tabletop ones that we're talking
about here? Can you elaborate on why kids shouldn't play RPGs?

~~~
jrockway
I think he's making a joke around an alternative expansion of the acronym
"RPG".

~~~
kuroguro
Yeah, the OPs title alone had me confused, hence the joke.

